FILFY teacher
by Vimesenthusiast
Summary: A Harry Potter who has tried to take control of his destiny from second year on finds himself in need of a fresh start due to his marital status changing abruptly. Armed with some abilities beyond the norm, a Mastery of Defense and a muggle-style teacher's license, Harry takes his daughter Lily Luna and takes a job offer at Kuoh Academy. Pairings undecided save Harry/Rias/many?
1. Chapter 1

Merry Christmas Dess!

So, as a lot of my long time fans might have noticed, I routinely put out story chapters as presents to my fans in December. This is one of this year's. It is based on an idea I shared with my Patty Ron fans months ago, so they will have already seen it, though this version isn't quite so raw, but has not been beta-read by anyone.

If I ever picked this story up (tough, since I already have a story working in the DxD verse) I would probably come back and enlarge this chapter somewhat to give more of a background for Harry. But this should give you at least an idea of how different this Harry is from canon and how he will be interacting with the ladies of DxD, IE in a way that I have never seen before: that of an adult who knows what he likes and while is not a pervert has a libido along with a certain small… complication LOL. You'll have to read to see what I mean when I say that so without further ado...

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Days in the Life of Harry Potter**

 **OOO Year 2: From tiny Pebbles an avalanche begins OOO**

Harry Potter was a normally a self-effacing, indeed rather shy, young boy. This had become his normal operating procedure given his life with his so-called relatives, the Dursleys. The more silent and unseen he could be, the less abuse they heaped on him. Oh, the Dursleys never hit him, or very rarely did at any rate. So long as he was out of sight out of mind and did his chores they let him alone. But whenever anything 'freakish' happened the abuse escalated from their normal uncaring disdain and contempt to outright hate. When that happened, Harry would normally try to become as invisible as he possibly could without the use of magic in order to wait out the storm.

Right now however besides being sore, aching and bleeding, Harry was rather angry. That anger was not just directed at his relatives so-called relatives, but at himself as he groaned in pain on his bed, listening to his uncle install a cat flap on the door after having placed bars on the door on the windows. _Thank goodness Hedwig was out hunting last night and I warned her not to come home. At least one of us can be free this way._

Having come home from his first year at Hogwarts, Harry had been told that they weren't allowed to use spells at home for some reason. Admittedly he understood the Statute of Secrecy, but shouldn't there be some way of practicing what you learned at home? Hermione had pointed out how much she would have liked to be able to show her parents what she was learning, and Harry couldn't imagine she was the only one. But they had all been told in no uncertain terms that he couldn't use magic at home.

Harry had fully expected the Dursleys to be worse than when he left and in a way they were. Outside of ordering him around they utterly ignored him, which included food. Even if they had given him one of Dudley's rooms, the one devoted to smashed toys and other broken things, it barely made up for the rest of their neglect. They also knew he couldn't use magic. Apparently Petunia had remembered that from his mother's time at Hogwarts.

So there Harry was, just trying to get by, hidden in his room as per his uncle's orders while he had a client and his family over. Then a magical creature called a house-elf had shown up. It had spouted something about not letting Harry go back to Hogwarts, and about not letting his friends contact him because of some threat there. Harry had tried to convince Dobby to stop his attempts at keeping Harry away from Hogwarts but instead the little creature had tried to get him in trouble with his relatives, something he had succeeded at magnificently.

Vernon had also taken his belt to Harry's back. Then Vernon had put bars on the windows while leaving Harry lying in his bed with a bleeding and badly bruised back.

"What the bloody hell is a house-elf anyway?" Harry groaned now, wincing as his sore back pained him even while he was lying on his stomach like this. He had done his best to clean the wounds, knowing they might go bad, but there was scant little he could do except let them heal on their own. He knew he'd heal eventually he had always done so before when the Dursleys hit him after all.

Not knowing about magical species was just one thing going through Harry's head at the moment. The other was a message that had arrived via a strange owl telling him he was being given a citation for underage magic from the ministry. A ministry Harry had only heard about occasionally from fellow students and from Hagrid, without any real idea what it was supposed to be. One that seemed to be on a hair trigger and was willing to see him expelled if he used magic out of school again, a fate worse than death in his opinion. _There's so much I don't know, and that damn ghost Binns is no help! And the less said about my classwork the better._

Harry was tired of feeling like that. _I'm tired of this, I am tired of just trying to get along, I'm tired of being pushed, I'm tired of being_ _ **ignorant**_ _! Trying to blend in and stay out of the way isn't working here any longer, and it's impossible to do at school thanks to my bloody damn Title! I need to really start applying myself, especially if my relatives are going to treat me like this._

With that Harry got up, and moved to his bed, pulling out the books he had stashed there. Everything else he owned was in his trunk downstairs, in his former bedroom. He had taken out his books early on in the summer to help him do his homework then decided to hide them after he realized Petunia knew he couldn't use magic.

Despite being in pain, Harry felt his lips curl into a grim smile. Hedwig after all was still out and about, and he could reach through the bars at least. _There has to be some way of getting books here? And I the house-elf is no longer blocking my mail too, or else the ministry message couldn't have gotten through. Still I wonder what Hermione and Ron are up to? Hope they'll believe me when I tell them about Dobby the thieving elf._

 **OOOOOOO**

Rumors were once again flying around about him, and Harry decided he had enough. _If no one else is going to say anything to comment the rumors, maybe I can._ "I don't get it Hermione, you would think that having a **best friend** who is a first born would show people that I can't be this 'Heir of Slytherin'. But I suppose that inbreeding **is** supposed to effect the brain," he said in a loud voice as he stood up from the table, pulling Hermione to her feet too. "Come on, let's leave before we catch their stupidity."

"That could just be cover!" shouted a voice from the Ravenclaw table. "You could be using Granger to…"

The Ravenclaw girl's voice slid to a halt as Hermione turned to glare at her, a glare that Hedwig would have been proud of. "You must not know me very well if you think I'd go along with that, or not notice anything unusual. You're right Harry," she went on in a loud voice. "If the fact your friends with me and a pureblood from a family known to have nonmagical sympathies like Ronald can't seem to convince these people they're wrong, then nothing well. Such a pity."

With that they both laughed, ignoring the glares from their way since there were also a few thoughtful looks mixed in with them. At least there were from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. Slytherin was united against them, though Harry felt that few of them believed him to be the Heir. If only because they refused to belief a half-blood like him could be.

Hermione honestly doubted Harry's demonstration would do much in the long term but at least it would do something to deflect the Hogwarts rumor mill. _Honestly, that thing seems to have a life of its own sometimes._ As they left however, her mind was on something else entirely. "Harry you called me your best friend?"

"Well yeah," Harry said with one of his small, shy smiles she so liked to see. "Haven't you noticed how often Ron and I have argued this year? He just wants to skive through but after last year, I don't know if that's a smart decision for me in the long term."

Hermione frowned, slowly nodding. She had noticed a change in her friend this year, and arguing with Ron was just part of it. She had been pleased to see he wasn't trying to play dumb any longer in class for one thing. Of course Hermione had noticed that Harry was smart: he was always one of the first ones to cast the spell correctly in the practical portions of their classes, though his writing style and handwriting itself had left much to be desired. Both had improved measurably this year. That hadn't helped in Potions of course, but if she were honest Hermione doubted anything would.

He also seemed to be reading all the time, not for their classes but about the magical world as well as books from the nonmagical world too. When she had asked him about it, Harry had told Hermione about the house elf who had tried to get him into trouble, and that it lead to him thinking he was too ignorant about too many things, and the best way to combat that was to read and learn. That was a sentiment Hermione could get behind and they had both started to study more about the magical world together.

The only thing that had marred their friendship this year was their argument about the professors, in particular Lockhart. Hermione maintained that because they were professors they should be respected, but Harry had actually not shown up to Lockhart's class the day before, and Hermione knew he was going to get in trouble for it.

Now she broached that subject delicately, or as delicately as she knew how. "I know Harry, and I'm really happy to see you apply yourself more, but that doesn't mean you can just stop coming to classes like you did the other day with Defense." She looked at the glint in Harry's eyes behind his glasses and felt her own eyes narrow. "Does it?"

Before Harry could reply they were interrupted by a voice behind them. "Mr. Potter, I need to speak to you for a moment."

The two students turned to see Professor McGonagall had come out of the hall main hall after them. She caught up to them quickly, looking down at them for a moment before allowing a faint smile on her face. "Well done in there Potter, you might not have stayed around long enough to see it but the Weasleys and several others are now backing up your claim. In particular the Quidditch team is now willing to hex anyone who says anything bad about you in their presence. I do not know if your speech will change many of the student's minds given your ability with Parseltongue but at least half of those who were willing to believe it no longer are."

"I had to do something Professor or else those rumors would've just continued to grow just like the one's last year about how I had lost Gryffindor house so many points, let alone about what happened to Professor Quirell. Especially since you and the other professors seem content to let the rumors continue to fly. I wonder if you would've stepped in if they had started to send spells my way instead of insults," Harry said. His tone was mild, almost contemplative, but his green eyes, the eyes everyone said he got from his mom, had narrowed into hard, dangerous looking emeralds as he stared up at the Scotswoman.

McGonagall drew herself up glaring down at the boy. "I'll thank you not to take that tone with me but Mr. Potter. Of course we would've stepped in!"

"Oh, even if it was just my word against theirs? You did not seem so quick to take our word for it last year when we warned you someone was going after the Stone," Harry retorted, now looking up at her with a weary expression. McGonagall flinched slightly at that and Harry went on. "And whose bright idea was it to send three first-year students into the Forbidden Forest? Yours, Hagrid's, or someone else's, especially when there was something out there killing unicorns? If you were willing to send me into danger like that, why should I trust you'd protect me from more?"

Professor McGonagall clamped down on her Highland temper for a moment, because the boy did have a point, and when she spoke her voice had a note of contrition to it. "…I was not told you were assigned to the forbidden Forest until after the fact Mr. Potter. I suppose I should have come to you and apologize for that at the time, and for that I will say I'm sorry. And I will also say concerning the incident with the Stone, I should have listened, and I did not."

"What exactly did you want with us Professor?" Harry asked after acknowledging her apologies with the barest nod.

The lack of response to her words and the lingering look in Harry's eyes made Minerva to want to shake her head, though she refrained. James and Lily's little boy should not look so, so old, so cynical. _What have those Dursleys done to you? What did the confrontation with Quirell last year do to you?_

Shaking those thoughts off she went on brusquely deciding to, as she always did, concentrate on her job. "Professor Lockhart stated that you were not in class today or yesterday? If you are injured I would understand, but as it is I'm afraid he has asked that I pass on that you will be spending detention with him this evening."

"No professor, I will not," Harry said evenly while Hermione's eyes widened.

"This is not up for debate Mr. Potter!" McGonagall said, now becoming quite angry with the boy. Standing up for himself was one thing, even calling her out on her mistakes from last year she could forgive. But outright disobedience she could not accept.

"I will not serve a single detention for skipping that class Professor," Harry went on even as Hermione frantically squeezed his hand trying to get him to stop. "Because it is in fact **not** a defense course. It is a course on Prof. Lockhart's books, nothing more nothing less. I doubt there's a student in that class who's learned a single spell since it began. I certainly haven't! And with the threat of being attacked from behind, and whatever is causing these petrifications I refuse to go to a class that can't teach me anything useful."

Minerva sighed. She knew hiring Gilderoy was a mistake, but Albus had said no one else had applied for the job. "Mr. Potter I can understand your concerns, but that does not mean you can simply flaunt the rules of the school."

"Classes are supposed to teach, not just waste our time. According to the student handbook I found a copy of in the library, If a student and I quote 'finds that a class is not teaching to his or her standards, he can elect to self-study so long as he submits both his current grades and agrees to a monthly exam by the Wizarding Examinations Authority'. I submitted my grades and got the okay to self-study yesterday."

Harry would be lying if he said that being the Boy Who Lived hadn't helped grease the wheels, but for this he was more than willing to use his name. Without his so-called fame, it was completely likely that the entire school year might've gone by before he got a reply.

McGonagall's lips thinned. "That request should've gone through me as your head of house, Potter" she said coldly.

"After last year can you blame me for not trusting you to see my point of view?" Harry asked tartly, not backing down. _I've had enough of being walked over!_

The two of them stared at one another then McGonagall sighed nodding her head slightly. She had after all apologized for last year just now, nearly halfway through the school year. And it had also fallen on Harry to try to fight the rumors about him too. "Very well, I will veto Lockhart's demand that you sit a detention with him for now. However, I will also sit in on your testing, and if you cannot perform to the standard demanded Potter, I will see you in detention for a week with Professor Snape!"

"That is fine by us Professor," Harry said with a smile, tugging Hermione along. "In that case though, we have some studying to do."

"Wow Harry, I would've figured she'd throw the book at you!" Hermione whispered. Harry's logical denouncement of McGonagall's actions from last year had somewhat rattled Hermione's faith in the woman which caused her to remain silent. But she still was an authority figure and Harry had practically challenged her outright, something that Hermione was still very in two minds about.

"She couldn't say anything Hermione, not really. She knew I was right," Harry said with a shrug. "So, you want to self-study with me, or go back to Lockhart?"

"I'm insulted that you even have to ask," Hermione said loftily, her nose in the air before giggling. As they walked off however, she asked hesitantly, "But um, what about Ron?"

"He actually doesn't care about schooling. Ron says he's going to be a professional Quidditch player, so I figure he's got his life planned out anyway. Me, I don't know what I want." _Except a family of my own, maybe. Oh and to never go back to the Dursleys, that's important too._ "That's why I'm taking my studies more seriously this year." _That, and knowledge is power too. I'm done with being pushed around!_

"Good for you," Hermione said briskly, her mind excitedly turning to the amount of studying they could do now with a class free. "Now, how far have you gotten and what books have you been using? I'll have to come up with a study plan for us of course. Then maybe we'll have to find an abandoned classroom for the practical side of things and ooh how about some targets or…"

Laughing Harry followed his best friend, always amused at how she had this urge to coordinate things and happy she was willing to work with him on this.

 **OOO Year 3: the Avalanche continues to Roll OOO**

Harry gasped as he pushed Hermione out of the way of Remus' attack, fighting back with a wave of his wand while also keeping a hold of the unconscious rat in his other hand. _Thank god that I demanded he go back to rat form before stunning him_! "Stupefy!" The spell was supposed to knock the target back, but with Remus in his werewolf form it only served to push him a few feet away.

On the ground Hermione rolled to one side, lifting her wand and attacking Remus with a spell of her own. But her Stupefy did nothing but irritate the werewolf, not even knocking him off balance.

A second later Remus was smashed to one side by the giant black dog that was Sirius Black, Harry's newfound godfather. The two large beasts rolled around on the ground ripping and snarling at one another. But as weak as Sirius was from having been on the run for so long he was hurled aside swiftly. The triumphant werewolf howled, charging towards the two teens, its mouth gaping.

Seeing this Harry flung up a Protego between them, watching the angry werewolf bounce off for a moment before leaping to one side in an attempt to get around the shield. "Hermione, run! We can't try and fight Remus with the Dementors still somewhere aroundddd…" As if his words had conjured them the dementors appeared in the distance, a black tide moving towards them. "Shiiittt…."

"Run!" Hermione shouted, not even taking the time to tell him off for cursing. The two turned and raced away, with Ron lobbing spells behind them from his position in the air above Hermione, held there by her Leviosa spell and pulled along by the point of her want. Ron had reclaimed his wand from Sirius when Sirius went into dog form and was trying his best to help his friends, but not really having much luck.

Concentrating so much on his prey, Remus hadn't spotted the dementors yet. He lunged forward at Harry underneath Ron's spells, and even though Harry dodged most of the werewolf's charge, the tip of Remus' fangs still cut along Harry's arm, leaving a deep gash there.

A second later the werewolf finally caught sight of the dementors and for the first time since arriving at the school the Dementors actually helped the students there. The werewolf ran off whimpering like a kicked puppy with his tail between his legs as the eldritch horrors floated closer.

Seeing this Harry thought it was a sign of the man in in the wolf coming out. _He knew my parents and didn't come forward! He was one of my father's best friends, and this year is the first bloody time I see him? And even then I was the one who had to search him out!?_ Harry wasn't certain what to think about that or a lot of what else he had learned today. Frankly his thoughts of this entire evening were still in a jumble combined with the fact that a werewolf had just ripped into his arm, and Harry knew what that meant.

Thanks to Sirius having already touched the special knot that made the Whumping Willow go still for a few minutes and the dementor's lack of speed, they reached the entrance to the tunnel underneath the willow within minutes. _A tunnel's as good as any place to confine myself I suppose,_ Harry thought morbidly, watching as Hermione, with Ron still hovering in the air right in front of her now, slipped into the tunnel.

"Sorry I've not been much help tonight mates," Ron said, shaking his head as he bumped across the ceiling of the tunnel.

"Oh hush! It's not your fault that despite being innocent Sirius Black is a little **insane** in how much he focuses on the dratted rat!" Hermione groused, shuddering as she pushed Ron along with her wand's motions, trying desperately to ignore the creeping cold of the Dementors coming closer.

Harry however had stopped by the entrance. Now as his friends put more distance between them he raised his wand to the ceiling, waiting until his friends covered another 20 feet or so before he whispered, "Reducto." He let only a trickle of power out into the spell, which promptly hit and shattered the ceiling. There was a rumble and a crash and Harry had a brief moment to see Hermione turn back with a shriek, her brown eyes widening as she saw Harry was on the other side of the cave in.

"Harry!" She shouted as the rubble began to settle, and Harry could hear her rushing back, then scrambling at the rubble. "Harry, are you alright!?"

"I'm fine for now Hermione, but I won't be for long. Ron, cast a Protego spell over the rubble, and keep her on that side of it, whatever happens." Harry said grimly.

Even as Ron answered in a confused affirmative Hermione gasped in sudden realization. "Harry, why… you… were you bitten, Harry?" she asked, her voice trailing off and becoming smaller and frailer as she went on.

"Remus got me in the arm Hermione," Harry said, sitting down against the wall of the tunnel and turning to stare out of the tunnel's entrance. "I don't know how long I have, do you?"

Using the side of the tunnel Ron pushed himself to his feet before reaching for his wand which had fallen to the floor of the tunnel. His face was lined with worry, and fear at what had happened to his friend.

At the same time, Hermione began to think about anything she knew about the process of someone being turned into a werewolf. "There isn't much writing about the subject," she said, trying to keep her voice unemotional, but the trembling in it came through. "You should, should normally be seeing a change within three to four hours under normal circumstances. However it's a full moon tonight, so you might be changing far faster than that. Noticeable changes occur first in the area around where you are bitten, flowing outwards from there to your entire body. Once, once it has, has reached your head it will be, will start to… Oh, Harry!"

"You still there Ron?" Harry asked.

"Yeah Harry, I'm here," Ron said, having situated himself to face the rubble, and having just cast another Stupefy at the rat just in case. No way in hell was that thing getting out of here.

"You know what to do. No matter what you hear, no matter what Hermione tries, don't let her move the rubble and keep yourselves safe."

"You got it Harry," Ron said grimly, raising his wants to face the rubble, motioning Hermione out of the way. _What is it with me being bloody cut off from Harry when he faces trouble, huh? Though I suppose in this case it's a good thing…_

Hermione did so very reluctantly and Ron threw up a Protego spell, then some spells at the rubble trying to make it impervious. Those kind of spells could be broken through by brute force if the brute force was stronger than the caster's spell, but they would hold for a bit and he could always renew them.

Turning away Hermione raced down the tunnel hoping to get some help. About ten feet beyond her line of sight however, she found that Harry's attempt to separate himself from them had damaged the tunnel severely. There was at least one more pile of rubble in the way back to Hogwarts. Rushing back she whispered this to Ron, who nodded grimly. "We're going to stick this out together then, good."

On the other side of the rubble Harry looked down in growing fear as the area around where he had been bitten began to change, visible even in the dark of the cavern thanks to the moon outside streaming slightly into the entrance. His arm hairs quickly grew and his arm also seemed to bulk up for a moment, and then the changes continued. But Hermione had been wrong about one thing: the changes didn't start hitting the mind when the physical changes reached the head, that aspect started right away.

Harry could feel anger and fury and an animalistic hunger building up inside of him and he gasped, moving away quickly from the rubble towards the entrance as he tried to concentrate on his meditation practices. He had taken to studying meditation and Occlumency in his second year from a book he'd found in Borgin and Burkes during his accidental trip through the floo network, having picked it up on a whim remembering the pain in his scar whenever Quirellmort was around and his promise to do whatever he could to become less ignorant about the world around him. It had led to his further falling out with Professor Snape when he realized the man had been occasionally sifting through his mind, but he hadn't been able to prove it yet.

 _It might come in handy now to keep control though,_ he thought. Slumping against the wall of the tunnel Harry tried to enter a meditation state even as the anger and hunger assaulted his mind. Soon, Harry found his psyche pulled into his mental realm. It wasn't a very good mental realm yet being modeled after the Quidditch pitch. He had yet to build any defenses or real organization intp it, and that came back to haunt him now as he felt a shivering through his mental plane.

The sky above him became stormy and black with lightning bolts of red and yellow, and suddenly there was a large black wolf-like creature in front of him snarling at him. Between one second and the next it charged towards Harry's mental representation. It's charge bore Harry to the grass of the pitch and it continued to attack, its teeth seeking his throat.

Harry fought back, grabbing the wolf-thing's maw with his hands, holding it back as he remembered all of the things that he'd read about Occlumency. _This is my mind, this is_ _ **my**_ _mind! I am as strong as I can imagine myself to be here_. With his imagined strength Harry was able to hold the werewolf's fangs away from his throat as he glared into its mad red eyes. "I'm not giving in! I'm not going to let you win!"

 _But, is that the way forward?_ thought a small part of Harry's mind. While thinking that Harry heaved the wolf off him to the side. When the wolf tried to scramble back on top of him again, Harry dodged slightly to one side, then lashed out somehow getting the large wolf-creature in a headlock. Using that, Harry rolled them both around on the ground for a moment until he was behind the wolf-creature and then clung on, locking a headlock in around the wolf's throat while his legs latched around its middle.

The wolf howled bucking up and racing off through his mental plane but Harry clung grimly on, unwilling to be hurled off. He knew the moment he did the wolf would savage him. While his body, or at least his mental representation of it was busy, Harry decided to follow up that last thought for a moment.

Okay _, so the change is irreversible correct yes? And Remus obviously fights his werewolf's side all the time, he's always tired and exhausted after the full moon. It's obvious he doesn't give in like Fenrir Grayback probably does. But is there a difference between not giving in to the instincts and just… accepting the change?_

 _Are you serious you want to give in to the wolf?_ Thought another part of Harry's mind, which he thought was probably his snarky side, since the first side sounded like his analytical mind.

 _No, I want to absorb it. We need to admit that the wolf is now part of us, to take the wolf into ourselves and make it part of the whole. Think about it: Humans have instincts, we have emotions of anger, fear, and hunger of course. While we control them they_ _ **are**_ _part of us, we do not turn around and say they are not and shove them into a corner. The wolf has instincts, the wolf has strengths. If the wolf will not go away, we_ _ **have**_ _to make it part of ourselves._

 _That must be what happens to Remus!_ Harry suddenly realized. _He fought the wolf and lost, and ever since he has to fight it again and again. He's always afraid of the curse then. And Fenrir, he uses the wolf but he was a monster before the wolf take took him, wasn't he?_

After Snape had assigned the subject to their class Hermione and Harry had looked up famous werewolves of the last few centuries. Both had quickly found out what Remus was though neither cared so long as he didn't attack Harry and actually taught Defense. Grayback was the worst of the bunch, but he had already been a murderer before being turned into a werewolf. He might have eventually absorbed the wolf aspect of himself, but on his own terms.

"What if I do it my way? What if I absorbed the Wolf, but don't become the monster?" Harry asked himself aloud, the words reverberating around him while the wolf-creature continued to try and throw him off.

Harry gathered himself, then looks down at the wolf-creature, twisting its head around so he could glare into its eyes. "I'm not doing this every month! I'm not going to give in to my instincts like you want me to but I'm also not going to always have to fight you day in and day out for the rest of my damned life either. **You're part of me now!** " he shouted and with that he began to concentrate he imagine his self-image absorbing the wolf-creature underneath. "This is my mind my world, and what I say goes!" and

The spirit of the werewolf curse fought him for a moment howling out its rage. Then it seemed to realize what was going on, and the madness of rage and even the fear, which Harry had only just noticed, left its eyes. The wolf spirit slowly disappeared into Harry's mental representation, and as it did, Harry found himself back in his physical body.

While Harry had been fighting the wolf on his mental plane, the werewolf's instincts had been running his body. He had smashed through much of the rubble, trying hard to get away from the cold creatures that were attempting to enter the tunnel and also get at the two humans his nose could scent on the other side of the rocks.

The Dementors had been drawn by Harry's struggle against the werewolf curse, but most of them couldn't get close thanks to the Whumping Willow. Whatever Dementors looked like underneath their robes, they had enough corporeal substance for them to feel the willow's attacks and the tree had gone crazy, lashing out at them as soon as it had come out of its torpor.

One of them however had gotten past its flailing branches, and had entered the tunnel with difficulty. After all it was not made for anyone taller than four feet. It now loomed as Harry came back to himself, reaching for him.

But having been stuck in his mental plane, Harry hadn't been subjected to the cold depressing touch of the Dementor's presence. Now, as his mother's voice echoed in his mind shouting, "No, not Harry, not Harry," Harry grabbed up his wand from the tunnel's floor and turned to face the Dementor.

 _I didn't give in to one monster I am not going to have my soul eaten by another! I am_ _ **not**_ _going back to the bloody Dursleys, Sirius and I will live together and I will finally have a_ _ **real**_ _family!_ Those thoughts, the idea of a family that loved him, merged in Harry's mind with the happy moments he'd had since coming to Hogwarts: his first time flying, his Quidditch matches and spending time with Hermione and Ron.

It wasn't any one thought, it was all merged into a jumble, but it was enough for Harry to power his spell. He tried to shout out the words to the spell, but they came out in a jumble, his jaw and tongue strangely unable to form the words. "Exrepgo Pashronum!"

Despite his maw mangling the words the spell rocketed out of his wand filling the tunnel with blazing silver light. The form was that of a giant stag which filled the tunnel celling to floor and then some. It lunged at the suddenly retreating dementor, skewering the monster on its tines. The Dementor let out a wail like a steam engine being tortured as the stag barreled on, the Dementor still stuck on it's tines, smashing it into the top of the tunnel. A second later the wail trailed off into a gurgle as the stag's tine's dug deeper into the thing and the robe suddenly went slack as the thing inside it began to disintegrate into dust which Harry could just make out by the light of the Patronus falling like water to the ground.

"WROw…" Harry muttered as he watched the dementor die. A minute later his Patronus dissipated, a lot of its energy consumed by the deed.

As it did, Harry took stock of himself. His body had changed of course, he had expected that. Judging by how he had to duck his head somewhat Harry though his were-form was about a foot taller than his normal body, and he was also somewhat less skinny if Harry was any judge looking down at his own body. He was of course covered in hair and had a wolfish appearance from what he could tell looking at his hands and feet. He had also burst out of his robes and the jeans he wore underneath, though his undershirt was somewhat in place. His new body was also definitely designed to run on four legs just as well as two, his forearms longer than they had been.

"H, Harry?" a hesitant female voice asked, and he looked up quickly, his ears pricking forward, a sensation he could feel somehow. Turning he saw that the werewolf had made a large hole in the rubble wall somehow in its attempt to get away from the Dementor and it was from this hole that the voice was coming from. "Harry Are you there?" said the voice again sounding rather shrill and as if it was sore from shouting.

Harry's lips twisted, and he tried to form words but all he got was out was "gres, gres Herrrriorre."

Ron pushed Hermione to one side to look through the whole Harry had made in the door. He saw his friend in full werewolf mode lying against the far wall looking back and jerked back slightly before he looked again. "Um, mate, are you in full control in there?"

Harry looked him in the eye in slowly nodded his head. Then, feeling somewhat mischievous after his recent brush with death and curse, he leaped forward. Before Ron could back away Harry's long tongue licked out, slobbering all over his face.

"OH, yuck Harry, gahhhh!" Ron bawled, falling back and wiping irritably at his face. But even so, he smiled, shaking his head. "Yeah, that's Harry in there, unless werewolves kill their victims with slobber. Licking better not be enough to give me the curse mate, or else I'm gonna sic me mum on you!"

"That's impossible! Er, both the slobber doing that Ronald and you being in control Harry!" Hermione said shaking her head, moving back into the hole so that Harry could see her face. "That, that just doesn't happen!" She then paused, looking at Ron and then Harry, who hadn't moved very far away from the hole and was now panting in doggy amusement. "And if you try to slobber me Harry Potter I will cut off your boy bits understood? I am a cat person!"

After whimpering at that image Harry again tried to form words, but they came out mangled once more. A wolf's muzzle couldn't quite form them though Harry didn't think he looked as much of a warped amalgam of human and werewolf as Remus had seemed to be. "Ahhs crn't cralk crand rexolan rkke rhis!"

"Oh," Hermione said nodding faintly, her adrenaline slowly fading and leaving her rather weak in the knees at everything that had happened. "He says he can't explain like this."

"I understood him!" Ron said indignantly, shaking his head and staring at Harry for a moment. "But blimey Harry, you don't do anything by halves do you?"

Harry simply shrugged his shoulders, his tongue rolling out as he laughed at them both. "Rince Ren rash rryr lirre rren rormal."

After they translated those words to 'since when has my life been normal' the two friends could only nod their heads in agreement. "When you're right, you're right Harry," Ron muttered.

Suddenly there was a clamor from outside the tunnel and Hermione shimmied through the whole in the rubble. She smiled as Harry made way for her, moving against one side of the tunnel as she glanced out from underneath the whomping willow's roots. "It's a group of Aurors, they are banishing the dementors using that Patronus spell Professor Lupin's been trying to teach you Harry. Strange though, the dementors seem to have already started running before they arrived on the scene…" she frowned, then, looking down at a mound of black robes she hadn't noticed before she gasped turning back to Harry, a lock of shock on her face.

Before she could ask, the far end of the tunnel from where Ron still was began to move. Each of them rose into the air, moving to either side and then up into the tunnel's roof like so many pieces in a jigsaw filling in the tunnel and making it look like it was brand new.

A second later Albus Dumbledore stepped through smiling slightly. "That would be because I told them to come here, Ms. Granger. A large black dog told me they would be needed. I understand however that you have a rat about your person?"

Harry growled a little, moving forward towards the headmaster who quickly turned in his direction, his body no longer showing any sign of his age as his wand came up, his jovial mood dissipating slowly. "Mr. Potter?" He said cautiously, "Are you in there?"

"RRill rere rand rin ronrrol ressor (Still here and in control professor)," Harry growled, one long finger pointing to the rat still in Ron's hand. "Strrruprry rit regrrain, rit's a rrricky rrittler rastard (Stupefy the rat again it's a tricky little bastard)."

"Language Harry," Hermione said automatically, then had the good grace to flush as Ron and Harry both looked at her askance.

Unlike his friends it took Dumbledore a few moments to realize what Harry was trying to say. He then nodded slowly and his wand flicked to one side, a silent and narrow-beamed Stupefy lashing out with pinpoint accuracy straight into the rat's head, knocking it backwards in Ron's grip.

The youngest Weasley boy whistled appreciatively. "Wow Professor!"

Dumbledore winked at him then looked back to Harry thoughtfully before glancing over the changed boy's shoulder towards what looked like a crumpled up black robe and some kind of crystal skull. "I see that you three have a definite tale to tell here," he said mildly. However, I doubt that anyone would be served in the knowledge of Harry's new status becoming common knowledge."

With that he walked past Harry and blocked up the entrance despite the fact that there were several dozen across outside working to corral the Dementors. "Come with me children, we will hide Harry in a spare room for now. That is so long as you do not know if you can change back Harry?"

"Professor, all the books said that a werewolf couldn't change back during the full moon!"

"Yes, but books about such subjects are often tainted by the opinions of those who write them Ms. Granger."

With that Albus looked back at Harry who shrugged. "RII Rouldn't reen row rere ro rart ressor."

"Yes," Dumbledore said after a moment translating that to 'I wouldn't even know where to start professor'. "I suppose that would be a problem. You haven't had any lectures about Animagus forms yet have you? Pity, still we can get Sirius to help you I think." With that he let the way through the tunnel into the school, and then up to an empty classroom quickly, all of them covered by a mass disillusionment charm just in case.

Once ensconced there, Dumbledore left them for a moment before returning with Sirius in his dog form. The instant the door closed behind them he changed back into his human body and rushed Harry, hugging the werewolf Harry tightly. "Oh Harry," he said, shaking slightly, "I'm so sorry!"

Harry looked a little uncomfortable at being hugged, but also quite happy. The werewolf was part wolf after all, and wolves were much more social in a touchy-feely way than Harry was used to. A low rumble of pleasure actually reverberated through Harry's chest, and Hermione looked at him for a moment shaking his head.

Werewolf Harry was actually quite decent looking for the breed she supposed, reminding her more of the American comic book version werewolves, who were noble beasts at times, rather than the ravening terrors they were in most magical books. He actually reminded Hermione of a teenage version of a werewolf in a comic book her father had called Gold something or other.

"So," Sirius said somewhat briskly, clapping Harry on the shoulders once before stepping back. "Dumbledore says you want to see if you can change right? Do you know any Occlumency?"

Harry nodded. "Res, rit's rone of re rearonr rhy ri rink ri'm rin cronrol, RI rort rof abrorbed rhe rolf." Hearing his disjoined words he scowled, pouting as much as his snout would allow him to and falling silent.

After spending a few seconds to translate this Sirius nodded thoughtfully. "Absorb is new, but the other part isn't. Other Occlumency users have been attacked by werewolves of course, though none have ever shared their experiences during that time. So what you need to do is picture your human body on one side, and your present image of yourself on the other, and then sort of fill up the image of your human body like it's a cup with the image of your present self."

"Whatever you do, don't stop halfway through, you need to force your entire present image into the cup of your normal body, if you stop halfway you won't change cleanly," Sirius warned. Given practice it's a lot easier and in time you won't even need to picture that most of the time, but you will need it for your first attempt."

Harry nodded, and closed his eyes but after several minutes of silent meditations he shook his head. "CRan't picrrrurrre ryrelf," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Cock," Sirius muttered under his breath, drawing a hissed gasp from Hermione which the older man ignored. "That probably means there's some kind of carryover, you'll be stuck in that form until the full moon ends then Harry, I'm sorry."

Harry shrugged, looking at Hermione dolefully, "Rooks (books)?"

Hermione laughed, reaching forward to fling her arms around her friend as Ron began to chuckle too, shaking his head. "Bloody nutters, the pair of you!"

Just then Harry's stomach rumbled like the animal he looked and Hermione squeaked slightly looking up at Harry's now sheepish expression. Ron on the other hand pointed at Harry's stomach. "See mate, at least part of ya knows what's really important!"

"I shall assign a house-elf to bring you food as you ask for it Harry, no doubt you will be hungry tonight." Albus said, smiling slightly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot I need to make certain occurs tonight. Sirius, you may stay with Harry until I call for you. Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, I should no doubt be urging you two to head to your dorms, but you may stay up and have a late meal with your friend as well. After that however, I must ask you to take yourselves off to bed."

So Harry was stuck in that room for the rest of the night. He spent out some of it reading, but most of the time he spent sleeping or eating. He ate a lot, even more than Ron would each time he called for food and a lot of it was heavier than he usually ate, steaks and fried chicken being the heaviest.

When Harry woke up, it was to a completely changed world, though notice it at first, and a changed Harry. "Mr. Potter," said a familiar voice near his bed, one he'd heard before in a somewhat similar situation. "Back with us I see."

Harry looked up from his bed, which Dumbledore had transfigured form into a giant doggie bed, to see the headmaster standing there. "Professor," he said, then gasped as the word came out clear for the first time since he'd changed. He quickly reached up, and found that his face was no longer hairy, human once more rather than the werewolf's lupine snout.

"Yes you've changed forms. It also seems that Sirius was correct: your human body has developed some carryover from the curse of the werewolf. We might have to use an illusion charm on you for a time, at least until this summer. I remember that young children do go through growth spurts, though yours is rather more pronounced than most." There was a laugh in the old man's voice, despite his obviously exhausted appearance.

Harry quickly stood up moving to the old man before helping the headmaster sit down on the bed looking at him with his head cocked to on side. "You look exhausted Sir, what's been going on?"

The two of them had had a bit of a rocky relationship honestly after Harry had started to go out of his way to solve his own ignorance of the magical world. That had changed when Dumbledore had given him a present to make up for his failings in first year upon hearing of what Harry had gone through with his relatives from Ms. Weasley. Of course Harry had decided not to share anything with Ms. Weasley after that, but this one time her inability to not keep a secret had seemingly paid off. The book on combat transfiguration had been an amazing find, one well above his current level of course, though what little he understood was still helpful. It had also served to somewhat bridge the gap between Dumbledore and Harry.

"Quite a lot has been going on Mr. Potter. First, I and Ms. Amelia Bones, do you know who that is?" Harry nodded impatiently and Dumbledore went on. "We were able to ram through an emergency trial for Sirius Black, and he is now innocent and free."

He looked at Harry thoughtfully, his eyes not twinkling for once. "I have made many mistakes in my life Mr. Potter, and I know that my… call it my grip on current reality is sometimes skewed thanks to my old age. It never occurred to me that a family would abuse a relative as the Dursleys did you, and I fear I also trusted the wrong watchwoman to make certain you were treated well. For that and putting you with your relatives I apologize, but you no longer need to live there if you do not wish to. You will be moving in with Sirius this summer, I trust?"

"That was the plan if we could get him free Professor, thank you!" Harry said, sitting down on the floor abruptly, a grin, the widest grin he'd ever had appearing on his face. He would've had to be in his werewolf form to make it any wider.

"I thought as much," Albus said with a smile. "The Black mansion has numerous defensive wards on it, and we can also put it under Fidelius, making myself the secret keeper. That will be simple enough and I think you will learn quite a bit from Sirius and from Remus who apparently is going to be moving in with him."

Harry winced a little. He was not looking forward to meeting with Remus again.

Catching that Albus sighed, reaching up to push his spectacles back up his nose. "I ask that you forgive him Harry. Remus Lupin has fought his curse every day of his life since Fenrir Greyback turned him. A lesser man would have given in to it at some point."

"I can forgive him for that professor and I would never judge him for being a werewolf in the first place. But I will smack him upside the head for forgetting his bloody potion last night!" Harry quipped. He did however resent Remus having never contacted him, even though he was supposedly one of his father's best friends.

Having no idea what Harry was actually thinking Albus merely laughed, going on to tell Harry about the trial. Thanks to Amelia Bones they had gotten the word out about it quickly. They did so despite the minister's attempt to block them from doing so fearing the backlash if it became known that he had ordered a kill on sight order for an innocent man and had in fact been involved with keeping him in the prison despite that innocence.

"The fact Sirius is heir to the House of Black, a noble and important, that is to say ancient and rich, house is also a massive problem for Minister Fudge. A mere hint that he was trying to block his innocence because it is Black money which has made the Malfoys so important and he is too busy covering his rear end to get in our way." Albus said, smiling complacently and leaning back on the bed as Harry laughed.

That discussion went on for some time until they were interrupted by a knock on the door. Harry moved to open it before Dumbledore could say anything, as he heard Hermione asking in a small voice, "Harry, are you awake?"

He opened the door to find Hermione and Ron both outside. Hermione took one look and blinked in shock, a light dusting of pink coming to her cheeks before she looked away quickly. "Harry!"

Ron shook his head, turning his head to one side and holding up a hand to his eyes. "My eyes I'm blind, why, just why mate!?"

Harry looked down at himself, and found that he was only wearing a rather torn pair of boxers and a ripped undershirt. Squeaking slightly he hurried behind the door, as Albus moved towards him conjuring up a pair of clothing for him despite his own chuckles.

Once their friend was dressed the two came in, and Hermione could only stare at the changes that had come over their friend. Before, Harry had been one of the shortest in their grade, and rather…underfed looking. She had attempted at one point to talk to Harry about his home life, but had been shut down so quickly she never tried to bring it up again directly. She knew enough however to be certain the Dursleys had, if they had not abused him physically had at least not fed or clothed Harry as they should have.

Now he stood as tall as Ron, and was a little wider in the shoulders. His emaciated form had filled out with wiry muscle, all of the food he had eaten during the night being transformed directly into muscles thanks to his new werewolf curse. Harry was quite fanciable now, Hermione thought, if in a slightly clinical manner, before she shook her head. _Stop that, he's a friend, a handsome friend but still a friend._

"Yes," Dumbledore mused, "definitely some illusion spells will be necessary there. For now however, I think we should figure out what to do in the future Mr. Potter with your other form, your training with it, and what to do on full moons…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Coming home to Grimauld Place was an experience despite Sirius having done as much cleaning as he could over the last few months. First it was Harry's first experience with side-along apparition, and he found he hated it. The instant the motion stopped Harry fell to his knees, grabbing at his stomach and groaning as a bout of queasiness hit him. Hearing laughter from next to him Harry glared up at Sirius despite his dry heaves. "What was that?!"

Sirius merely continued to laugh along with two other people, ruffling Harry's head. "Sorry about that pup, I didn't expect you to react like that to apparition. Most of the time it's the easiest form of magical transportation."

"I suppose it could be worse, the few times I've used the floo I've come out going arse over kettle," Harry grunted, pushing himself to his feet and looking around at the others who had laughed at his entrance.

One was a young woman, Harry guessed her age to be early 20s at the oldest. She looked somewhat familiar, as if Harry had seen her in passing a time or two, though her pink hair was definitely something he had never seen before. She was dressed in tight jeans with a few holes in them, and a Weird Sisters T-shirt, along with a small black choker around her neck. She was quite pretty Harry had to admit, in a sort of in your face kind of way, and older to boot.

Beside her stood Remus, and Harry had to fight back a growl at seeing the man. The full moon had just past, and Harry had spent his last full moon at Hogwarts running through the woods getting to know his other form. Remus however had not shown up. The man obviously felt shame for what he had done, and wasn't willing to face Harry just yet. Looking at him now as Harry tried to catch his eyes Remus looked away again, and Harry fought back another growl. "Remus, stop it!" he ordered

Remus looked up at him, and Harry shook his head. "I won't say I'm happy when you bit me, but it happened, it's a thing, get over it! You didn't mean to do it, it was the wolf who attacked us not Remus Lupin. Understood?"

Remus nodded, but still looked shamefaced, looking away as if he didn't really believe Harry. Harry sighed turning away from him to look at the woman, who had looked on this diatribe with amusement. "That's what I've been saying all along wolfie," she said pushing Remus playfully in the shoulder before moving towards Harry holding out her hand.

Before she could introduce herself however Sirius spoke up. "The hyphen club is all here!" he said, grinning at them both.

Harry looked at him quizzically, and Sirius went on. "We have Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, and this is Tonks, She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named."

Harry looked at the girl who shrugged. "I hate my first name I'm not even going to tell you what is it. Just call me Tonks okay? If I ever hear you say my first name then we're going to have **problems**. I'm this madman's cousin. One of only two relatives he actually admits ta knowing for my sins, which even if I don't remember 'em must've been whoppers to stick me with this old dog and his sense of humor."

"One of only two relatives I still have after disinheriting both of my other cousins you mean," Sirius said seriously. "It's a work in progress to bring the Black family name back to something like reputable status, or" he smiled, his eyebrows waggling "as reputable as I want it to be."

"Two people doesn't make a club Sirius," Harry said dryly, ignoring Sirius's attempt at a joke. "Unless you're talking about Remus over there, or He-Who-Is-Mopey?"

Remus chuckled wanly at that, and Sirius shook his head. "Nope. You're looking at Sirius black, The-king-Of-FAMMMK!"

"All right that's enough!" Tonks said slapping her hand over her cousin's mouth. "Keep it PG in front of the kid would you?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I haven't been a kid since the first time my aunt took a frying pan to the back of my head for messing up dinner." As Tonks gaped at him Harry ignored her turning to Sirius. "So, where do you want me to put my stuff, and when do we start training?"

"Training." Tonks asked, noticeably changing what she was about to say, her hair turning bright blue for a moment. "What's that about?"

"That would be why I wanted you to take an oath of secrecy cuz," Sirius said, putting his arms around both of them and moving them towards the door, twitching his head towards Remus to follow them. "Let's get Harry situated, and then I'll show you the training room, and why Harry needs it. It turns out," he went on as they walked out the door, "that the Dark Wanker isn't quite dead enough, and we need to prepare just in case."

 **OOO Year 4: The Avalanche becomes ever stronger OOO**

"I wonder if I should just attack this Moody character now given our past record with Defense teachers..." Harry mused, and it said a lot for their past few years that neither Ron nor Hermione objected to this idea.

"Hmm… a preemptive strike? You might be onta something there Harry," Ron mumbled between his brutal assault on the food in front of them, which had not ended when the headmaster began his announcements. In Ron's view, there was no quarter ever given in the war to sate his hunger. "But, 'e's Moody rig'? Me da's always over at his house on account of some charms he's go' on the property, but he's righ' famous."

By this point Hermione had enough and cut in sharply, smacking Ron on the shoulder. "Don't talk with your mouth full Ronald!" As Ron quieted, she turned to Harry. "As for your idea, I would say if it was anyone but a famous Dark Wizard hunter, your idea might have merit, but as it is, I think we should wait and see." Since Hermione was smiling slightly when she said this one would be hard pressed to figure out if she was serious or not and Hermione wasn't telling.

"It was just a thought. I wouldn't want to attack him here anyway, too many witnesses." Harry said winking at his friends who both laughed.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Harry Potter…" Dumbledore said, to the sound of sudden silence in the hall.

Groaning, Harry began to bang his head against the wood of the table in front of him. At the same time Hermione began to actually curse beside him. Across from them Ron looked dyspeptic for a moment.

"Harry, you'll have to fight this quickly unless you want another round of Harry Potter rumormongering," Hermione whispered.

Harry nodded getting up quickly and looking around at the faces of those all around him. The Hufflepuff table looked murderous, as if Harry had stolen their champion's chance at glory on purpose. The Slytherins looked amused, angry and contemptuous in turns, the Ravenclaws looked angry (though that might have been from events earlier in the year dealing with a young blonde girl who was sitting next to Ginny at present), and his own house looked torn between shock and adulation.

 _Odd reaction from my own house, but I suppose they think I somehow managed to cheat my way in. Shows a piss poor understanding of my personality, that does._ Swiftly Harry held out his hand, and shouted "Ergo fides: I Harry Potter did not enter myself in this tournament, nor did I ever want to enter! Ergo Fides!"

That caused the side comments to stop and Dumbledore to halt from where he had been getting up out of his chair. All of them looked at Harry in shock as magic flared from his wand acknowledging his oath. A second later, Harry held his wand up once more and colored flared out from the end of it. "Wow," he said in a bland tone, "it looks as if I was telling the truth. Now, if that's all Professor, can I sit back down? I'd like to have one ruddy year without something deadly trying to happen to me."

"I'm afraid it isn't that simple Harry," Dumbledore said softly, staring at the piece of paper in his hand. "Please, come with me."

It turned out that Harry would have to compete, something he was not at all happy about. Somehow someone had been able to enter him into this tournament, using a bit of parchment from a past test which had his magical signature on it to enter him. If he did not compete that would be enough for the goblet, an old and very finicky magical artifact, to drain him of his magic. Harry and Dumbledore had an argument about it, and decided that while Harry might willingly be able to live among Muggles what the effect of losing his magic would do to his being a werewolf was utterly unknown, and not something they wanted to play with.

So, once again Harry was forced to face a life or death struggle, rather than getting to know girls as he had wanted to. He had noticed the looks he was getting once his 'growth spurt' ended, and had been **interested** in seeing where some of those looks led.

Despite that however, months later when it came time to look for a date for the Yule Ball he decided to go with someone he could actually have a conversation with rather than try to date someone based on looks alone like so many other boys seemed to be doing. _Not mind you that Hermione isn't a looker, whatever she might think_ Harry thought as he sat across from her in the library.

His friend had grown up, and though she still worried about her teeth and her hair was still frizzy, she was becoming a very good-looking young woman. Her style of beauty was somewhat understated in comparison to say Lavender Brown or Susan Bones, the two girls who were the most 'shagable' in his grade as the boys put it, but it was definitely there.

Hermione looked up smiling in welcome and Harry smiled back before deciding to just blurt it out. _Gryffindors charge!_ "So, would you like to go to that will Yule Ball with me?"

At that Hermione blinked in shock before looking down, poking at her book with a finger for a moment. "I um, wow, are you sure you want to go with me? I mean, I know other girls have thought about asking you, and that is a major breach of etiquette, and I thought, I mean, wouldn't it be best if you went with someone prettier?"

Harry shrugged. "I'll admit that there are some good-looking girls out there, but you're good-looking to, and I know you, you're someone I can have an actual conversation with. Besides, how many of those girls think of me as simply a good-looking guy, or the Boy-Who-Lived rather than just, Harry Potter, the whole package?"

He reached over touching her hand with one of his gently. "Besides, who knows where it could lead?" He said hesitantly, looking into her eyes.

Hermione blushed a little, understanding what he was really saying there, and nodded hesitantly.

The night of the dance the idea that his 'friend-who-is-a-girl' Hermione was simply pretty went out of Harry's mind the instant she walked down the stairs in that periwinkle blue dress _. Okay, she is not beautiful, she's bloody_ _ **gorgeous**_ _! Why haven't I noticed this before!?_

With Hermione on his arm, Harry had quite a lot of fun, the two of them talking laughing and dancing. They were both leaning towards this being an actual date rather than simply some kind of practice date sort of thing. Thanks to Harry's help, and Sirius paying for a suit for him in recompense for his leg, Ron had fun too, dancing the night away with Parvati. The two of them hadn't returned by the time Harry and Hermione made their way back up to the Gryffindor common room.

"Well this has been an amazing night Harry," Hermione said, hugging Harry tightly around the chest.

"It was only amazing because of the company," Harry said with a grin, looking down at her. Having spent the summer with Tonks and Sirius had done wonders for his ability to flirt. One as a target who never, ever blushed but had no problem making Harry do so, and the other for giving perfect examples of lines that should never ever work.

"I see Sirius' lessons are doing you a world of good," Hermione chuckled, seemed to make a decision. Blushing slightly she leaned her head to the side as she tilted her neck upwards, her eyes closed as she closed the distance.

Harry hesitated a moment, then did the same, and the two exchanged a kiss. It was… nice. Just… nice. Hermione wrinkled her nose, leaning back slightly and looked up as Harry blinked in confusion, before they both leaned in and kissed again. Again it was just… nice. There was no spark there, no desire to take it further.

"That is odd…" Hermione muttered.

The two of them looked at one another frowning a little. "I don't… hmmm…" Harry muttered then looked away frowning as he scratched the back of his head.

Hermione nodded. "I thought there would be I mean…"

They both looked at one another than laughed shaking their heads. "Okay, so maybe this whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing wouldn't work out for us?"

"I suppose not," Hermione thought shaking your head. "I guess, I mean yeah. I'm sorry Harry, I find you attractive, but it's just I don't feel that attraction on an emotional level I guess? I didn't really understand that until right now."

"Me too," Harry said. "I mean you're gorgeous, and if anyone says differently I will bloody smack them for you, but that was like… I mean it felt like I was trying to kiss a sister. Or well you know what I mean."

"Like Tonks?" Hermione teased.

Harry blushed a little, shaking his head. Tonks had actually kissed him once over the summer after Sirius introduced Harry to the pleasures of alcohol and the two of them had gotten drunk. It had been slobbery and not very good frankly, and both of them had been embarrassed by it. He thought she was attractive, but she felt he was a little too young for her, and preferred older guys anyway. The two of them had a lot of fun, but there was no spark of attraction between them.

"So better as friends?" Harry said holding out his hand.

Hermione shook it gratefully. "Better as friends," she said. Then she cocked her head thoughtfully to one side. "What girl do you think you're interested in? I mean you don't really talk to many people outside Ron, your teammates and I. Maybe Katie then?"

"No, she, Alicia and Angelina are pretty much just teammates and friends, you know I don't like them that way," Harry sighed but not backing away. "As to what kind of girl fiery I guess, I mean I've always admired how you stand up for yourself, so that's part of it, and then there's what all I've been told about my mom standing up for herself and for other people. She also apparently had a temper on her that was slow to boil but once someone set it off they had better watch out."

"Hmm, so fiery, okay, but what about physically? Hair color? Tall, leggy, chesty, what?" Hermione asked, getting into the teasing.

"Red I guess, I mean I'm always looking at Susan and that redheaded Seventh year Slytherin." Harry said with a smirk.

"McDougal I think," Hermione said trying to bring the girl to mind. She was a quiet one, but evidently a power to be reckoned with in her own house at least, considering that she hadn't been pressure to join any of the Slytherin's cliques. "So fiery with red hair, can stand up for herself and intelligent?"

"Oh yes," Harry said with a wink deciding to turn the teasing on her now. "Brainy girls are definitely a turn on. Hopefully there will be other people who realize the same thing."

It worked and Hermione blushed, swatting at his shoulder even as she looked pleased.

Neither of them noticed that Ginny had returned from her own date with Neville Longbottom, having left Neville behind to help drag Seamus and Dean to bed, both of whom had somehow gotten drunk on spiked punch, no doubt brought in by the twins. She was standing near the entrance way with it cracked open, listening to their conversation with a smile on her face.

 **OOOOOOO**

The entire stadium had gone into a tizzy the moment Harry had disappeared, even the judges and Sirius and a few others running around trying to find out how. Dumbledore's face was practically a storm cloud of fury and Sirius and Tonks both looked angry, the metamorph's hair writhing around like a pit of black snakes. Hermione watched anxiously, not knowing enough to help, something that galled her really, while Ron was a simmering pile of redheaded rage beside her, his fingers twitching where they held his wand. "Where the bloody hell is Harry, and who the bloody fucking hell took him!?"

So worried was she about their friend Hermione didn't even try to correct Ron's language. "I don't know, but both he and Cedric touched the cup. It must have been a portkey, and only the professors and judges should have had access to it…"

"Moody, Snape, Karkaroff," Ron muttered, nodding his head and looking around. "Harry really should have launched that preemptive strike he mentioned. Then we'd only have to worry about two possible death eaters…"

Just as Ron began to look around for the possible culprit Harry returned with the dead body of Cedric next to him. One of Harry's arms had been slashed open from the hand up to the shoulder while another cut crossed his chest, and half his head looked as if it had been singed in a fire, blinding him temporarily in one eye. "He's back," Harry muttered as Sirius and the others rushed toward him, "Voldemort is back," he said, before collapsing forward.

 **OOO After Hogwarts: things fall apart OOO**

The war had begun that day but through many trials and travails Harry and his friends had made it through with their bodies and minds as intact as could be expected. Through incompetent ministers, and their own side's unwillingness to get their hands dirty or let the kids actually do their own fighting, they had survived and moved on to start making real lives of their own. Harry and Ginny dated for a time, breaking up, then getting back together until they had bitten the bullet and married one day in a small ceremony despite Ginny's desire to have the largest wedding in the history of Britain.

At times Harry thought that Ginny had fallen in love more with the idea of Harry's title as the Boy-Who-Lived, but at other times married life was almost blissful but despite his married life not being as plaseant as he could have hoped, one thing had come along that made it worth it: his daughter Lily Luna Potter. Seven years old and a bundle of red-haired energy, she was Harry's pride and joy, and he let his thoughts turn to her now, taking him away from the small if tastefully designed room.

 _Hmm… I finished these tests early, I could pick Lily up early and head out for some ice cream before heading home in time for dinner… no, I should at least wait to make certain she behaved for Luna and Rolf._

"Congratulations Mister Potter. I have seen countless wizards take their NEWTS and even Mastery tests, but you are the first to break the records for both your Defense NEWT and Mastery test."

Harry looked up as the head of the Wizarding Examining Authority spoke from where he had been sipping calmly from a pot of tea as he thought not of the test he'd just had but of his daughter and seeing her after having had to spend two days away from her and her mother. Thought admittedly it wasn't a test as most thought it, and Harry was probably the first examinee who had taken to it somewhat calmly before or after.

Even the test's name The Defense Against the Dark Arts Mastery Examination, was not an appropriate label for the test in Harry's opinion. Rather in his mind it would be better to term them as Combat and Magical Tactics Mastery. There was a reason why defense masteries were so very rare, **far** rarer than any other mastery, or even dueling champions.

As part of his test Harry had of course both a practical and theoretical. The theoretical test made the examinee walk his way through various tactical problems, examined his knowledge of spells and their use in various environments. The practical put the examinee against a series of professional duelists, Aurors, Hit-wizards, and monsters on an ever increasing scale of danger.

"Well, fighting the Chimera one on one was tough, but other than that it was rather like old home week to me Miss." Harry said, shrugging his shoulders. _Heh, and hadn't the chimera been surprised when its poison didn't work on me. Had the devil of a time convincing the examiners I didn't cheat though. You'd think cheating like that would have earned me more points not suspicion, but no, it's a bloody test to see how you do in combat, of course you can't cheat. Ugh._

"Hmmf, it says a lot for your life that I have no doubt of the veracity of that statement Mister Potter." Griselda Marchbanks muttered, before looking down and stamping the scroll in front of her before tying it up with a piece of velum, and holding it out to Harry. "Congratulations on now having the paperwork to tell the world what it already knew Mister Potter: that you are a Defense phenomenon," She finished dryly.

Harry chuckled at that, taking the parchment from her and tucking it into his mokeskin pouch, a gift from Hagrid he took everywhere he went unless his wife had asked to use it on a shopping trip. He shook hands with Griselda, then turned and walked out of the examination center, which was a part of the ICW's headquarters in Paris, France. It wasn't always there of course, the ICW headquarters shifted countries every five years among it's members.

Walking through the magical district, Paris' equivalent of Diagon Alley and it's offshoots, Harry frowned as he saw the looks sent his way. Some were admiring, some were filled with awe, others fear.

 _Man-Who-Conquered bah, you can keep it. Fame is a bloody curse as bad as the one on the Defense position at Hogwarts. It's as if just because I fought my enemies the way they fought me that I am a step away from going Dark to some people, whatever the bloody fuck that's supposed to mean. Then there's the people who think I'm some kind of infallible superhero, those who see my stance on 'muggleborn' rights and werewolf rights a sign that I'm a threat to their way of life, and those who just want to use me or my name for their own reasons! Is it any bloody wonder I spend so much time in the nonmagical world?_

That was actually a major bone of contention between Ginny and Harry, right up there with Harry wanting to live simply rather than live the highlife. Harry was very careful with his money and with the few things his family had left him, and almost never used his name to get anything. He'd tried occasionally to use his fame in the political arena to help Neville ram some new laws down the Wizengamot's collective throat right after finishing school. But those attempts had withered and died on the vine in the face of the opposition, and Harry had given up the political and social arenas in disgust.

In contrast, Ginny wasn't a huge spender on her own, but she wasn't careful either. She wanted to live the high life, go to the same parties that people like the Malfoys threw, hob nob with the famous and rich in that order. She followed Quidditch, and spent a lot of money going to the games she could.

She always seemed personally insulted when Harry would rather go flying on his own with Lily Luna or spend time at home rather than go to a game or a ball or out in public. She often accused him of not wanting to spend time with her, but when the things she wanted to spend time doing were things he hated, could anyone blame him?

As for Harry enjoying the muggle world, Ginny was rather conservative in her views of the nonmagical world, much like most magicals, even those like her father who were fascinated by them. They thought that muggles were fascinating, but always in a condescending manner, and never really believed they could really do or achieve much without magic.

She disliked the fact Harry and Hermione had both gone back to school and actually finished college, seeing the idea as a waste of time despite the number of things the non-magicals had come up with that were simply better than anything the magicals had.

Harry had actually gotten a mastery in Education from Cambridge, as Hermione had in science. Harry wanted to be a teacher, possibly at Hogwarts to teach the new generation how to defend themselves and about the nonmagical world. Ginny just didn't understand that, since he could have made a lot more as an Auror, or just skive by on his family's money.

Ginny had nixed the idea of having muggle things like 'ekilticity' in their house. Not wanting to have another argument with her that would no doubt have involved her shouting at him, Harry had given in on that. Instead he routinely brought Lily Luna with him into the non-magical world, and had, with Hermione and Tonk's connivance, started to teach her about the nonmagical world.

 _Maybe that's part of the issue._ Harry paused as he stepped toward the international portkey point, stepping to one side to avoid being run into by the man behind him with a speed that took the man by surprise though he still hurried forward to take his place in queue. _Is Ginny jealous of the time I spend around Tonks and Hermione? Bloody hell, I never accuse her of anything when she hangs around Seamus, Neville or Dean do I? Sheesh, I see them both as sisters, there's never been anything between Tonks and me besides a prank war, and after that kiss we tried during our date at the Yule Ball Hermione and I have never looked at one another like that._

That actually brought to Harry's mind another problem lying between him and Ginny. Harry wanted a large family, but Ginny had made her opinion on that very plain, her mother might have been a big family woman, she however wasn't. She had done her duty and supplied an heir, that was it for her.

Harry was more than willing to accede the point, after all even the best pain diluting potions couldn't do anything to make the birth process easier, not without damaging the baby. Harry was totally on board that that was Ginny's decision.

But Ginny also wasn't very… adventuresome in the bedroom. She wasn't a missionary style only kind of girl by any means, but after they had married Ginny had become increasingly less responsive to his attempts to try new things. She didn't really seem to want much foreplay these days, and the few times he had tried to initiate 'a romantic moment' out of the bedroom she had shot him down and even called him a deviant for doing so. _I made certain Lily Luna wasn't home, wasn't that enough?_

Still, Harry had to admit that aspect of their relationship was his fault, or rather his condition's fault. As a werewolf Harry had stamina to spare: he could go on for an entire night without really resting. _Those bodice rippers Tonks hid in Grimauld at least had that part of it right._ Ginny, while quite lusty herself, also finished very quickly, and became increasingly irritable the more Harry tried to continue after she was finished.

 _We married too early, that's the problem. We didn't date long enough, didn't really get to know one another. We should have lived together for a few years, get to know one another. Now after a little bit under seven years the glow's gone, and all we're both seeing are the warts._

Shaking his head to banish his marital woes from his mind, Harry took the portkey, a small steel bracelet this time, and was suddenly back in Britain's Ministerial building, nearly falling as he always did. _Why am I still bloody bothered by every kind of magical transportation there is, seriously!?_ Quickly recovering Harry made his way out of the building as fast as possible, unwilling to be roped into any more publicity stunts or talks with any of the high muckities who thought they were so important here.

Moments later Harry had barely opened the gates to the Rookery's front yard when he was hit by a small red-haired missile which thumped into his legs. "Daddy, you're back!"

Laughing happily Harry leaned down picking up his daughter in his hands and hugging her tightly as he nuzzled into her cheek. "Hey Red Moon," he said, his voice gentle and full of love. "How are you doing today? Have you been a good girl for Luna?"

"Of course daddy!" Lily Luna leaned back, looking at him, trying to look down her pert little nose at him. "As if I'm **ever** anything else."

Lily Luna Potter was a fit, athletic little seven year old, with a face that was a mix of her mother's and her father's. She had the same emerald eyes Harry had gotten from his mother above her mother's dimples and a smattering of freckles along with Harry's jaw. Her hair was darker than her mother's by quite a ways, showing her paternal grandmother's genes mixing with the Weasley ginger.

At seven years of age Lily Luna was a precocious little girl, quite a bit more intelligent than her age would lead most people to expect which Harry supposed was another thing she got from his mother. She also had an ever-increasing vocabulary thanks to Hermione gleefully helping the girl along. Luna helped too, as did Harry of course. He actually spoiled Lily Luna rotten according to Ginny, but Harry couldn't find it in himself to care. If Ginny was going to be his only child she would damn well be spoiled rotten thank you!

Behind his daughter Harry could see Luna coming down the walkway with Rolf, both of them smiling in welcome. Rolf Scamander was a large well-muscled young man whose view of the world fit Luna's like a glove. The two of them spent most of their time traveling the world looking for the mythical creatures Scamander put in his books, hence why Lily Luna had wanted to spend the days Harry was gone with the two of them. Harry couldn't say he was close to Rolf, despite having spent several years at Hogwarts with him since Rolf had been a Hufflepuff and Harry's interactions with that house were a little stormy to say the least.

But he was good for Luna, and that made him alright in Harry's book. He clasped the other young man's arm firmly then looked at Luna. "Has she been good?" he asked, now nuzzling into his daughter's hair and making no move to let her down, which she seemed quite happy about.

"Quite good. She only changed all of the colors in her room to green and blue once this trip.. Oh, and she scared my father f when she had a bit of accidental magic outside his office. His hair might never be the same again." Luna supplied, giggling even as she spoke.

"I think we have a different definition of good Luna," Harry replied.

At that Lily Luna looked away pouting. "He shouldn't have been ignoring me," she muttered.

"Red Moon what've I told you about accidental magic like that.…" Harry said warningly, leaning away from their hug to look her in the eyes.

"That it isn't accidental, and that I should know to control myself," Lily Luna over parroted, before scowling. "So, no ice cream?"

"Tell you what," Harry said leaning forward to rub noses with her. "How about we go over and pick up your mother first and then we'll go out for ice cream as a family. I did after all just receive my defense mastery so we **do** have a reason to celebrate, even if you haven't earned a reward…"

"Okay!" Lily said with a grin. After all, ice cream was ice cream, regardless of the reason.

Both Potters missed the small frown coming over Luna's face, her eyes going a little silver for a moment before she shook her head. "That sounds like an excellent idea. I wish we could go with you, but Rolf and I still need to pack for our trip later today."

The four of them talked for a few more moments before Harry and Lily Luna took their leave. After their guests left, Rolf looked at his wife questioningly. "You went into a seer mode for a moment there, what did you just see?" He was one of the few who knew Luna was sometimes able to discern the future in small brief glimpses though very rarely did she see anything useful.

"Something Harry has to see I'm afraid, before moving on to his real life."

Harry and Lily took a portkey home, only to find Grimauld's wards shut for a moment against them. As Harry was patriarch of the family however he was able to open the wards anyway, frowning as he did so. _I wonder why the wards were up like that?_

His public wand in one hand Harry moved towards the doorway, pushing Lily Luna behind him with his other hand just in case. After quieting the hinges Harry opened the door slowly then his frown deepened as a scent hit him from deeper within the house. Even in his human body, Harry had heightened senses. He could smell the scent of sex in the air of the mansion and worse the scent of another man.

"Lily Luna, stay here for a moment," he said softly, waving his wand over her for a moment, casting a Muffilatio spell and a few protective charms. "I'm going to go talk with your mother."

Lily Luna knew that tone of voice. Papa always took that tone when he was going to argue with Mother, and she wondered what Mother had done this time. Her parents seemed to always be arguing about something or other, but she routinely took her father's side, never realizing that that too was part of the growing problems between them. It was just the things Harry wanted to do with her were so much more interesting than staying home and watching her Mother or read the same old stories all the time. And Papa always had time for her, while Mother didn't.

Walking inside Harry slowly closed the door, locking it just in case Lily Luna tried to come after him. Then he stalked through the house, stopping outside one of the guest rooms, reining in his anger, which was fueled this time by his werewolf instincts, with the ease of long practice. _At least she had decency not to do it on our own wedding bed!_

He opened the door swiftly, striding inside and finding what he knew we would: Ginny was on top of another man, who looked like someone Harry knew from school, a Ravenclaw boy maybe. On one of the chairs nearby there was a Puddlemere United jersey and two broomsticks.

Both of them had turned at the door banging open and scrambled to dive apart, staring at Harry in shock. "What…" Ginny stuttered, "Harry, what are you doing back so early?"

Harry shook his head slowly. His rage had left him now, and all he felt was simple disgust. _I wonder when I fell out of love with you Ginny that this doesn't really impact me more than it is._

"My lawyers will see you in the morning Ginny," he said coldly, turning away as he called over his shoulder. "And if you think you're getting any kind of custody with Lily Luna, you can bloody well think again!"

 **OOOOOOO**

Hermione stared over the table at her oldest and best friend shaking her head slowly. "She really was cheating on you? I thought something was going on, but I didn't want to say anything given your already frequent arguments without solid proof. I'm sorry Harry I should have…"

"No, you're right, if you said anything it would've gotten Ginny's back up, and I would have been forced to take sides. And on a topic like that I would've had to side with her unless the evidence was overwhelming. Then she might've become more circumspect about it. Better this way I think. If we were ever in love we grew out of it over the years. Honestly it was only because of Lily Luna that I was even trying to make it work, it just took this to make me realize it."

Hermione nodded. "My mother once told me that moving in with someone would show you all of their flaws quickly. It's why she demanded that Padma and I live together for a time before formalizing our relationship."

The two brightest witches of their generation getting together had not surprised Harry honestly. He had seen his friend date several boys during their time in Hogwarts, but there always seemed to be something missing. And Padma had never dated anyone outside of going to the Yule Ball with one of her fellow Ravenclaws.

The two of them had been friends and rivals for much of their time in Hogwarts, and one drunken night in their seventh year had tried to kiss one another. Hermione had explained later that what she hadn't felt for Harry or any of the boys she dated, the sparks of desire had definitely been there when she kissed Padma, though both of them hadn't been in their right mind.

The two of them had quickly moved to Barcelona in Spain, which was much more relaxed in its outlook on such things than England, where witches being with witches was still seen as somehow depraved. "Have you told Lily Luna?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, we had a talk about it. I don't know how much she understood, but she knows that she won't be seeing her mother any more until she's older at the very least. She doesn't seem sad about it at all, which I suppose says something about their own relationship.

Hermione winced, but nodded. "What will you do now?" she asked. "You're welcome to stay here with us of course."

"I don't know. I just don't know. I'm going to take some time to think about it. Moving abroad is definitely part of it, I don't want to deal with Ginny or any of her friends or family. Did you hear that she's turned Mrs. Weasley against me on my refusing Ginny custody of Lily Luna?"

"Yes she definitely has views about certain things doesn't she?" Hermione replied tartly, having had to deal with howlers from the woman several times since she and Padma had gotten together. For some reason the woman had thought she would get together with Ron, despite Ron not wanting to be in a permanent relationship, travelling around with his Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons. Hermione shuddered now, thinking about that. _Ugh, what did she expect me to be, some kind of housewife?_

She tuned back in on her friend's words as Harry went on. "It's just a question of what nation. Not America, I've looked at some of their laws, and while the non-magical America is known as the land of the free, the magical America is anything but especially for werewolves. If my secret got out…" Harry shrugged. "To say nothing about what might happen to Lily Luna if my curse passes on to her somehow."

"Understandable, but if you want to move to a country that might look kinder upon your status you scould look for countries that have no ties to the ICW. According to what I've seen China, Japan and Malaysia are actually much more at home with such things." Hermione said before going on hesitantly, actually looking around as if worried she would be overheard. "I will warn you though I've been researching magic worldwide, and there have been strange gaps in my research, especially where it coincides with religious sites and past events."

"Gaps?" Harry asked.

"Like someone's hiding the information from the public," Hermione said firmly. "I don't like that, but I can't explain why it is, not yet. The amount varies from country to country, with the most occurring in Italy, and the second most in Israel."

"Understood. I'll be on the lookout then," Harry said with a shrug.

"Will you stay here tonight?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head. "No, I put myself and Luna up at a local hotel. I didn't want to put you and Padma out. After all you're coming up on your anniversary aren't you?" _And the two of you can get ruddy loud when you get going which is a problem on many levels._

"Harry you could never impose and you know it!" Hermione said with a laugh. "Though I will say it's nice that you remembered."

"How could I forget, the grin the both war the day after you officially got together were the widest I've ever seen you wear Hermione," He leaned over, hugging Hermione gently. "I'll see you around okay?"

Hermione nodded, watching as he made for the door before sighing and shaking her head. "Why can't life ever be normal for you Harry Potter?"

 **OOO New Beginnings OOO**

Harry took Lily Luna around Barcelona for a time seeing the sights. The girl particularly liked going to the zoo and the aquarium, becoming entranced with the dolphins. The day was so busy and so interesting that by the time they returned to the hotel Lily Luna was asleep on his shoulder.

He dropped her off in their room and then spent several minutes casting various defensive wards around the place. Since Lily Luna had been born she had been targeted by wizards aiming to get back at Harry for Riddle's death twice. None of them had survived the attempts, which had done nothing to dissuade those who thought Harry was a Dark Lord in the making, but Harry didn't care. In his mind you mess with his daughter you die, plain and simple.

But now that he wasn't watching his daughter, Harry decided he needed a drink. _Maybe I could find some companionship for the evening. It's certainly been long enough, and even a one night fling will make me feel better after this past week._

He entered the hotel's bar, and almost immediately stopped staring at a well-dressed man sitting in a booth by himself as he leaned back sipping at something. It wasn't the young man's looks that had grabbed Harry's attention of course but the color of his hair. The other man looked up at him one eyebrow cocked in query and Harry shook his head. "Sorry I was staring it's just your hair's the same color as my daughter's." He said in English, cursing himself for forgetting to translate his words to Spanish.

The man chuckled. "Interesting, I imagine that isn't exactly a normal color around here?" he asked, his English only slightly accented.

"Not really no," Harry said dryly, grateful the man had understood him. "She's a bit of a sport in that area. Her mother, who is the reason I'm here to drink, is a ginger. My mother was also a ginger, even if a slightly darker color."

"Ouch," the man said, waving at a waiter to come over. "There seems to be a tale there. Care to share with a stranger?"

Harry sighed, but sat in the booth across from the man. "Can I ask where you come from? I can't place your accent," Harry said as the waiter took his order and left. "And is red hair normal there?"

"Japan actually, I've only recently learned English for business purposes though my family has British blood in us, according to my mother anyway. The red hair is a hallmark of my father's side of the family, so I suppose you could say yes it's normal in a very limited circle." The man replied dryly. "I am Sirzechs by the way. And you are?"

"Harry Potter," Harry said, watching the man closely for any sign of recognition. There wasn't any, though something was telling Harry that the man **did** recognize the name. He shook that thought off as paranoia however, as the drinks arrived.

"So, that story…" Sirzechs hinted, and Harry sighed before he began.

After explaining his story on the other man, Sirzechs did the same talking about his wife. They loved one another dearly, but Sirzechs was very laidback ,while his wife was uptight and very formal. They also had a lot of demands on their time, and couldn't spend much time together. However what kept them together was their shared passions, including their son, family, and simply spending time together however they could.

The two men then bonded over pranks of all things, with Harry talking about Sirius and his pranks. Sirius had died in the war, but had truly become the father figure Harry had needed for many years. After that, they got onto the subject of kids, and it turned out they were both doting dads. Harry talked about Lily Luna and Sirzechs talked about his own son, Milicas.

After they had shared more than a dozen drinks Harry asked, "So what brings you here?"

"I am actually hunting up people to take on a few jobs. You see, I am a sponsor for a private high school in Japan, and they have recently opened their doors to boys but several of their teachers left in protest. That leaves us scrambling before the school year begins to find teachers for all the positions."

"What positions are you talking about?" Harry asked suddenly interested. Japan after all was not an ICW country, and this could be a moment of good fortune. Later, Harry would wonder why he ever thought that good fortune happened to him without a hidden cost, but at the moment that was the furthest thing from his mind.

"English and Physical education are the last slots I've got to fill, but unfortunately it has to be a single person. Our budget just won't let me hire two more teachers to fill both slots."

Harry looked at him then smiled slightly. "I think you're in luck then. I happen to be a teacher, and I am looking for a job that gets me as far away from my wife and her family as possible. Do you want to see my credentials? Or do you want to set up a formal interview?" _After all, I can always use a translation spell to learn Japanese quickly, and I certainly know enough about athletics to teach Gym._

Sirzechs looked down at his drink for a moment before pushing it to one side. "Meh, these were kind of weak anyway, so if you have your credentials on you now, we can do this now."

Harry nodded, and excused himself for a moment before returning with his résumé. The two of them talked some more and Sirzechs eventually offered Harry the job. The two of them hammered out the details, and Harry walked out of the bar with a new job to look forward to and plans to make for the future.

Behind Harry a silver haired young woman dressed in a business outfit she looked rather uncomfortable in sat down across from Sirzechs, looking at him thoughtfully. "Are you sure about this?"

"You felt the power in him. You know what that young man is." Sirzechs stated rather than asked, his own eyes locked on the door Harry had just walked through, looking far more serious than he had during his conversation with Harry. "And I am not talking about his werewolf curse."

The young woman nodded. "That is not what I am asking, are you sure about getting him involved with Rias-sama's issue?"

"I don't want my younger sister married to that bastard of a Phenex!" Sirzechs said, his face morphing into a grim line. "But given my position, and the number of spells my father placed on her, my hands are personally tied. This simply gives Rias-chan another way of out of possibly breaking that agreement, and one that could be more much more certain then simply hoping she finds enough powerful people to add to her peerage."

"You're putting a lot of faith both in that young man, and in your sister to actually ask for help when the time comes," she said critically. "Judging from his character I have to admit that the first one doesn't seem like that far a stretch any longer but the question is will Rias-sama be willing to ask for help from him?"

"We shall see," the young man replied with a faint smile.

 **OOOOOOO**

Traveling with a young child on a plane flight fourteen hours long would be a trying experience for anyone, but Harry had planned accordingly. Thus whenever his daughter was awake she was occupied with coloring books, small toys, or a set of foam puzzles. Those were her favorite, little puzzle pieces that she could fit into various box-based designs, which she seemed to find fascinating. This allowed Harry to do some reading and paperwork. The paperwork was for his new job, and the reading was mostly about Japan and its relationship with the ICW.

It turned out that the magical Japanese had to deal with their version of the Black Ships and the Perry Intervention in the past, but had, unlike the mundanes, actually turned the attempt to open their borders aside refusing to become part of the ICW. And unlike the mundane governments, the ICW had not decided to try to him force their rule with force.

Instead they had compromised: Japan was allowed to keep all of its magical traditions, local laws and rules, but they had to uphold the Statute of Secrecy. How they went about that was up to them, and they seemed to have developed both an entirely new way of doing so on top of using the tried and true method of warded areas under Notice-Me Not and anti-nonmagical arrays. Unlike Britain however, they didn't stick some of theirs directly in the center of non-magical population zones, following the far more sensible idea of sticking them as far away from most people as possible, mostly up north, with one area in a large national forest the locals called 'the Suicide Forest'.

On top of that, they seemed to have developed a control over the nation's media that was both quite subtle and rather astonishing. Whenever magic appeared in the news they ran with the story and added embellishments, making it obvious that it was a tabloid type tale rather than reality. At the same time they erased any non-magical witnesses of the memory and hunted down random recordings of the incident. The combination was extremely effective, and Japan had the least number of true threats to the Statute of any country.

They also strangely had far more firstborns, what the UK called muggleborn, than most countries. The book Harry had found on the country didn't seem to have any opinion on why that was, but it was an interesting point. So they had no local equivalent of the pureblood movement that continually ravaged Europe and the UK. They weren't exactly welcoming of outsiders however, even beyond the mundane side of the country, something that had been heightened to near rabid paranoia after WW2.

Finally Harry heard the announcement they were finally going into land, and Lily Luna quickly turned, opening the blinds of the plane and staring out avidly. The city below them was large, very modern, with a kind of tower in the distance that Harry realized must be the famous Tokyo Tower, which his book had mentioned. Other than that, it looked relatively normal to his senses, but Lily continued to look out the window, pressing her face against it as if that would let her see better.

The two Potters disembarked and passed through customs without any difficulty, with Lily Luna chatting excitedly about what she wanted to do first. Fourteen hours of sitting down had made the girl go a little stir crazy, and Harry decided that the first thing they would do would be to find a park so she could work off some of that energy. With no need to pick up any actual luggage, Harry having shrunk their trunks and stuck them in his mokeskin pouch, the two quickly exited the airport, and began to look for a bus to take them elsewhere in the city.

However near the luggage area they were accosted by a middle-aged woman, who smiled politely at them holding up a sign that said 'Potter' on it. Bowing briefly from the waist she addressed them formally but in English. "Mr. Potter, your car is this way, please follow me."

Harry stopped suddenly, moving his hand from holding Lily Luna's to pushing her back behind him as his eyes narrowed. "I don't recall asking for a car," he said mildly, but there was nothing mild about his suddenly hard eyes. "May I ask who did?"

The woman's smile faded slightly, and she held up her free hand quickly to show she wasn't carrying a wand. Looking around she made sure that no one was nearby and spoke quietly. "Peace Mr. Potter. You've only dealt with the non-magical variety of customs. you now have to deal with the magical."

Harry nodded at that, but he was still tense as the woman gestured him to follow her.

Instead of heading out into the car park they walked towards a door with a sign that said 'maintenance' on it, passing through a Notice-me-Not field that extended a few yards away from the doorway. Lily Luna paused, pointing at the edge of the Notice Me Not ward where it hit one of the walls. "What's that Papa?"

Harry turned to look, and cocked his head thoughtfully. "That looks like a piece of paper with some kind of runic array on it honey, though I didn't think paper could hold runes."

"Not your European variety," the woman said somewhat proudly, or perhaps arrogantly. "Our runic language is much more subtle than your brute force methodology. We can also perform a far wider array of tricks than your rune-based arrays can through the use of our talismans."

"It's pretty," Lily Luna said, trotting over to look at the design on it for a moment before turning back and moving over to her father once more.

The woman chuckled at that, and opened the door for the two Potters as Lily Luna tried to strike up a conversation with her. The woman replied quickly enough, seemingly enjoying answering the young foreign girl's questions, though Harry noticed that she was still somewhat condescending.

The supposed maintenance hall on the other side of the door was instead a large room with two desks in it. One desk was set to one side with a few mugs of drinks and a plate of local finger food while the other desk was set in the direct center of the room. Two men sat there, one middle aged, one elderly. The older man was sitting with his eyes closed as if sleeping, his feet pulled up under him in a mediation pose Harry recognized and was wearing a kimono. The other, a thin man with glasses and wearing a very good business suit, was scribbling something on paper while several other pieces of paper waited beside him.

The two men however were not what grabbed Harry's attention. That honor was given to the two large red humanoid-looking creatures, , that stood on either side of the desk. They looked like miniature giants mated to demons, complete with heavy clubs and tiny horns rising from their foreheads. They stared forward dumbly, and both of them had a collar around their necks which was festooned by more talismans.

"Wow!" Lily Luna exclaimed, escaping from Harry's hand for a moment to rush over to one of the monsters and stare up at it. Shaking his head, Harry made his way forward, nonchalantly casting a tether spell on his daughter, which would allow him to pull her like he had cast a an Accio on her towards him quickly without him needing to cast the spell in the near future. It could also be used to bounce her away just in case.

Harry was not intimidated by the large red things. He'd dealt with far more dangerous creatures then two ogres like that. So he simply sat in the chair facing the desk with the two men without being asked and leaned back slightly, his wand in one hand but hidden behind his other forearm as he crossed his arms, staring around him. "I can't say I approve of the decor, and if either of those things even look at Lily Luna wrong you're going to have to clean their innards off your pretty white walls."

The man with the glasses looked up at that and frowned slightly an internal debate obviously going on behind his eyes. He could continue with his attempt to intimidate Harry or he could simply get to the reason why Harry was here. "…You would find that they are magically immune to a very high degree." He replied, prevaricating slightly.

"I've fought giants who thought they were magically immune to a high degree too. Boy, were they surprised," Harry said blandly, his eyes meeting the man's unflinchingly.

To his side and completely ignoring the tension between the two men Lily Luna had moved around the giants, staring at them before sighing and moving over to the corner where the middle-aged woman had moved to stand by the small desk with refreshments. Knowing the rules about such things she took a cup of tea from the woman, then hurried over to her father, who cast some spells over it despite the locals' frowns. "It's clean, just the local version of Earl Grey but I don't think you really need to the sugar do you?"

"Silly Papa!" Lily Luna said loftily, "I'm a young girl, young girls always need sugar."

The woman chuckled at that, but the man simply continued to stare at Harry and Harry returned his gaze blandly. Finally the man sighed and shook his head. "So you really are **the** Harry Potter, The Man Who Conquered?"

"Have to admit I like that moniker more than the old Boy Who Lived nonsense, even if the fame grates badly these days." Harry said nodding. "Why, do you get many people trying to it sell themselves off as Harry Potter?"

"We don't get much foreigners in this country at all let alone famous ones, and that's the way we like it," the man said bluntly, not giving his name. "The purpose for your visit here, Mr. Potter?"

"Business. I was offered a job at a local non-magical school and I wanted to get away from the adulation of the Man Who Conquered bollocks." Harry replied, his eyes shifting slightly over to the older man before back to the one who was doing all the talking.

"And you were having some familial difficulties with your ex-wife," the man said glancing down in a paper on his desk. "Understandable I suppose, though if that had occurred in this country you would have no need to be the one to move away rather…" he paused and shook his head. "I'm getting off-topic."

"Considering you haven't even told me you why I'm here, yes," Harry retorted mildly, though his eyes flashed at the mention of his 'issue' with his ex-wife.

The man caught that and hurried on, trying not to show that he was somewhat intimidated by the Englishman. "We have rules about wands and foci of that nature Mr. Potter," he said, gesturing at Harry's wand. "Our citizens use other mediums to cast their spells or learn wandless magic as you all put it, and there are severe fines for adults using magic in a non-magically warded area. To stay in the country you'll have to agree to be trained in the local magic and agree to abide by our laws."

"So long as your laws have places in them for self-defense and the defense of family, I'll provisionally agree to that," Harry said nodding his head and mellowing noticeably now that the attempts at intimidation were over with. "Learning how to do wandless magic sounds fascinating really."

The man blinked. "Most foreigners immediately decide they want to leave when they're told that their wand will have to be exchanged."

"What do you mean exchanged?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowing.

"We will exchange the magical core from your wand into a wooden bracelet. That is the normal median here for most spells. It is a somewhat painful process for adults I've been told as they have to a certain extent bonded with their wand as is."

"Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if I could bond with an entirely new wand. Still, that's fine by me," Harry said thoughtfully, looking down at his Phoenix wand for a moment. His old wand of course still worked for him, but it wasn't like it was his only one these days and it definitely did not react to his willpower like it used to.

Harry actually preferred the Elder Wand he had won from Dumbledore during a spar with him, though he very rarely used it. Harry thought that using it had become one of Albus is crutches later in life, that he relied on the Elder Wand rather than his own abilities.

He didn't like to think about Dumbledore though. The man had made so many mistakes with Harry and in general in his final years but he had also admitted to many of them and tried to do the right thing. Or at least what he thought was the right thing, which in Harry's opinion had not always been the same thing.

"Very well," the man said, somewhat off-balance now that Harry had agreed to that stipulation. "There are also several fines to be levied for moving into the country in the first place. As I said, we do not encourage European magicals to remain in our country overlong."

"Your blunt about it which I actually approve of frankly. Better to be up front about that kind of thing then try to be subtle. Besides, it won't be the first time I've dealt with prejudice." Harry replied with a faint smirk.

"Which brings us to another point: We understand that in Europe there is some kind of pureblood nonsense? We do not have that here," the man said firmly, not rising to the jab about prejudice or even noticing it. "Non-magicals have just as many rights as magicals, and firstborn just as many rights as those born into magically gifted families. If you have any other thoughts on that matter, then we will help you make reservations on the next flight out."

To one side Lily Luna pouted shaking her head. "No way! I am not getting back on a plane for another fourteen hours, not even for one more hour! Even taking a few portkeys would be better than that," she finished, though she looked a little queasy at the very idea. Lily Luna had developed many of the same issues with magical transportation her father had, though her stomach was able to handle apparition better than Harry's had initially.

"I rather think that pureblood business is all nonsense myself," Harry said with a shrug. "That was one type of prejudice that I was talking about having dealt with before. Unfortunately it's almost an institutional thing in Britain and in many other European countries. Even the families that like nonmagicals look down their noses at them."

The man nodded then looked quizzically at Lily Luna and back to Harry, now looking worried once more. "You will also have to, that is… certain information about you has…" he trailed off trying to think of a way to speak about this subject in front of the girl.

"I have no secrets from Lily Luna," Harry said with a faint frown, already discerning what this was about.

The man nodded quickly. "We know you are a werewolf Mr. Potter, we also know that you have somehow made peace with the inner beast. We would like you to either give interviews about that process or write up an instructional lesson on it. There are many were-creatures in Japan and China who could benefit from such thing."

"It occurs to me that that is a little beyond the pale for simply moving into your country." Harry said musingly, though he wondered how the Japanese had found that out since it wasn't exactly common knowledge back home. "How much would instruction in the local magical style cost, and how much would you be willing to pay for the kind of lessons you're asking me for?"

The two of them haggled for a time, while Lily Luna talked to the woman about anything that caught her fancy. This included a poster for a magical girl live action show that had been in the airport a few days back. "You mean one of them is really magical!?"

"Oh yes, many of the live magical girl shows have at least one actual magical involved to do the special effects. It's part of why they're so popular. People try to figure out how they can have such amazing special effects with such a primitive setup. No one has ever cottoned on to the idea it might all be real magic of course."

"Papa!" Lily Luna shouted looking over and causing Harry to look up from his discussion with the man wearing glasses. "I want to be a magical girl like Sailor Moon!"

The man in glasses chuckled into one hand, while the silent man's lips twitched a little and Harry rolled his eyes. "You're already a witch luv, how much more magical do you want to be?"

"Not like that!" Lily Luna pouted, stamping one foot. "I mean like in one of the local magical girl shows!"

Harry looked at the woman blandly and she had the grace to blush a little. "Where exactly will I be going to buy her an outfit like that?" he asked in a tone of long suffering. Of course if he had spotted the poster and seen what Sailor Moon actually wore, he would never have allowed his daughter anywhere near it. The woman hurriedly gave directions, and Harry sighed memorizing them before turning back to his haggling.

It turned out the Japanese magicals had a small workshop setup right there in the airport, where visitors were fitted with either a magical inhibitor if they were just there for shorts amount of time, or the local equivalent of a wand. Harry looked at the bracelets, nodding in approval since they were much more practical than wands. They wouldn't stick out, in fact they looked like extremely elaborate friendship bracelets, or something a child would give to a parent, which suited him down to the ground.

In fact Harry had Lily Luna pick out the design for him, while Harry was tested on a few core ingredients. Basilisk venom was a surprise to everyone but Harry, though he was happy that he also still reacted to the Phoenix feather core in his original wand. It turned out it was simply the holly wood that was causing a bit of an issue rather than the core.

Taking his wand apart was indeed as painful as he had been warned about, but Harry had dealt with much worse, and even joked, "Compared to the Cruciatus, this is child's play." The joke fell flat when everyone realized he actually had been put under the cruciatus and looked at him, rather appalled at the idea someone would joke about it.

Harry's bracelet was made of ancient oak, which was then steeped in the basilisk venom, creating a greenish tinge to the wood before it was then dried swiftly via a few spells. Then the Phoenix feather was infused into the bracelet, a process that was fascinating to watch even for Lily Luna.

Eventually Harry put on the bracelet and looked at his daughter questioningly holding it out to her. "What do you think, does it make me look pretty?"

She giggled but hugged his hand, and he lifted her into his arms. The little girl was also proud that her father had decided to go with the design she found. It looked like an intricate carving of scales and feathers going around the bracelet.

"Do you have a familiar?" the man asked as they filled out more paperwork after Harry's fitting.

He was looking a little smug, as if Harry having decided to use one of the local tools rather than his wand had been a major point of contention. It would turn out later that bracelet also had a limiter on it, which was supposed to limit how much of Harry's power it could let out at one point, as well as a tracer on it that would allow them to track him anywhere.

Harry broke both of them easily that evening, having had a crash course in such things from Sirius, though the reasoning for that had been to get away with pranks rather than anything serious. The limiter he simply broke, the tracer he eventually put on one of Lily's most infrequently used toys

"No," Harry said his voice suddenly very cold and the man backed away slightly. "Not anymore." Hedwig had died in the war taking a killing curse that had been meant for Harry, and her death was still a sore point for him, as was Sirius's, though Harry had been able to move on from that easier, considering the man had gone down with a bang, taking both Lestranges with him.

The man in glasses nodded, handing Harry a small slip of paper with an address written on it. "I apologize for asking, but if you had we would've had to register it. You will be expected at this location tomorrow morning to begin instruction in our magical methodology. Any spells outside of the spells from our school of magic you use will have to be in self-defense, or in your own habitation once you set up wards. If you use them in public where they can be seen you will be fined and if they are seen, the fines are quite exorbitant save in cases of clear self-defense."

This was both a way to keep the Statute of Secrecy and a way to discourage foreign magics of course but Harry nodded nonetheless. The locals really weren't very welcoming, but he could deal with that, he'd dealt with far worse in his life. And besides, learning a whole new magical methodology was no doubt going to be fascinating. For some reason Harry was looking forward to being a student again. "Will Lily Luna be allowed to take local classes, or will I have to teach her myself?" Harry asked.

"We start magical education later than ICW countries at around 15, but we expect that families have already begun personal instruction before that," the man said. He still hadn't introduced himself, which Harry decided was some kind of local discourtesy and so ignored it. "We also demand that all magicals are as at home in the non-magical environment as they are in the magical. Will that be a problem?"

Harry shook his head with a laugh. "No, though that means I will have to take some time to look around for a school for Lily Luna."

With all the paperwork done the two Potters were allowed to leave the airport, Harry with his new bracelet wand on his wrist and still holding Lily Luna's hand with his other.

 **OOOOOOO**

"What did you think of him?" asked the middle-aged woman to the silent man, standing with her two colleagues by a window that was following Harry and his daughter as they walked off.

"He is dangerous," the heretofore silent man said simply. "He has the eyes of a warrior, someone who has fought and killed, which is only to be expected. He also was hiding something, though it wasn't anything dangerous to us so long as we do not become a danger to him. But he was not lying about being able to deal with the Oni. In fact he was confident he could deal with all of us despite his daughter being there. His attitude was not false bravado at all."

The man who had been doing all the talking turned to the current speaker with a startled look. "But surely that's wrong master Morimoto. An oni's magical durability is one of the highest of any species!"

"So are giants, and he said he dealt with them easily and I did not detect any lie." The man said sharply. "He is the Man Who Conquered for a reason. Remember that, and look past the prejudices of him being a foreigner. Or he may just surprise us all in a way you won't like."

The two government officials bowed their heads deeply to Truthspotter Iori Morimoto, before turning and leaving to go about their business. Morimoto stood there for a silent moment, staring out the window towards Harry, frowning.

He hadn't told the two of them what else he sensed about the young man, uncertain what to make of it. Even a soldier who was also a werewolf should not have such a Dark, dangerous aura to him, especially one like Harry, who was noticeably drawn to the Light side of the spectrum. It was a mystery, and he wondered what to make of it for a moment before sighing. _If it causes trouble I'll no doubt find about it in time._

 **OOOOOOO**

With an objective in mind Harry and Lily Luna headed into Tokyo proper, looking around in interest at the city while asking directions for where they could go to pick up a costume for his daughter. Harry figured it would be a nice gift to commemorate their moving to a new country.

His mastery of the local language brought both smiles and frowns, and Harry wondered what to make of that at first though he decided to simply ignore it after a little while. He knew that the non-magical Japanese were almost as biased against foreigners as the magical variety, and supposed it had something to do with that.

Eventually they were given directions to a section of the city called Akihabara which was supposedly more than an hour's walk away. But since both of them had spent most of the last day and a half sitting down, Harry and Lily Luna decided to walk and pick up some food on the way.

They were about halfway there when Lily Luna stopped and pointed. "Look Papa! There's a magical girl!"

Harry looked, and shook his head slightly. "I don't think that's the right style for being a magical girl Little Luna. That looks more like a personal style to me."

The young girl in question was around 15 or so Harry guessed, with blonde hair done in the twin-tail style. The blonde hair made her stick out in the crowd here and she was wearing what he thought looked like some kind of maid suit as she walked down the street.

Lily Luna paused, thinking. "Well, I think actually that looks a little better than the outfit I saw the magical girls wearing on that poster."

"And since you can actually walk around in it, I'll approve of it too," Harry said with a chuckle ruffling her hair. He had seen a poster for that show as they were walking, and feared what would happen when they actually got to the costume shop and saw one in person.

With that Lily Luna moved through the crowd to the girl. "Excuse me miss."

The girl turned to her, a somewhat haughty look on her face, which seemed to dissipate slightly when she noticed the age of the individual who had stopped her. "Yes what is it chibi?"

Lily Luna pouted at that understanding it was some kind of insult, but went on gamely. "Where can I get a dress like yours?"

That caused the girl to smile and puff herself up slightly one hand flicking one of her pony tails behind her as her other hand came to rest on her hip. "This? This is something I designed and sewed myself. You'll never be able to find a dress to match it. There are a few though that sells similar things," she said after a few seconds and she quickly gave Lily Luna a few directions.

She didn't notice Harry coming up behind his daughter busy talking to the young girl about color and fashions, which seemed to be something of a passion for her. She did look up though when another female voice interrupted them. "And who's this little cutie you're talking to rather than meeting with us, or did you just get lost again Mittelt?"

"Hush you!" The girl said turning angrily to address the woman, noticeably biting off her reply given the crowd still moving all around them.

The new woman was tallish, with long blue hair flowing down her back to her rear. Harry had no idea if the blue was natural or not, but it did look good on her. She was wearing a tight short crimson skirt and a matching jacket which was open nearly down to her belly button to allow a massive amount of her large cleavage to be seen.

Harry had to pause for a moment to take in the woman's appearance, shaking his head slightly and banishing his baser urges for a moment with the fact his daughter was right there. _While as a man I have to approve, as a father I'm not certain I want my daughter to associate with these two any longer..._

The woman however immediately got back on his good side when she knelt down in front of Lily Luna winking at her. "I love your hair! But I think going all black and white like my friend here would be a little too dreary. I think you'd look better in brighter colors."

"She's right you know, Red Moon," Harry said, placing a hand on Lily Luna's head. Suddenly both women were mindful of his presence and looked up at him, the woman who had knelt down straightening up, though she still had to look slightly upwards at Harry's face. He was quite tall thanks to his werewolf curse and how he dealt with it, standing at 6' 9".

"Is this little cutie yours?" The woman asked, flushing slightly at the handsome man in front of her.

"Yep," Harry said with a grin, patting Lily Luna's hair . "Oh, but where's my manners, my name is Harry Potter, and this is Lily Luna, my daughter. May I have the pleasure of knowing who I'm addressing ladies?" he asked, taking a note straight from Sirius' little black book in how to introduce himself.

"Well Harry Potter, this is Mittelt and I'm Kalawarner and I think the pleasure is mutual, or could be anyway…" Kalawarner said, smiling and moving slightly closer to Harry so that he could see even more of her cleavage. Her smile widened as the man's mesmerizing eyes flicked down once before coming back up to lock on her face. "Hmm…despite your mastery of Japanese, I can tell you're a foreigner. British, right?"

"Indeed miss," Harry said, his nostrils almost flaring as the woman's scent hit him. Next to him Lily Luna and Mittelt struck up a conversation of their own about local fashions and anime shows of all things, which Harry was quite thankful for at present. "What gave me away?"

Kalawarner shrugged. "Your looks, the way you speak. Your sentence structure is off, though your daughter's accent is more obvious. I don't suppose I could ask for your help sometime in the future to brush up on my own English? My mastery of French is good, but my English could use some work." Her tongue flicked out, lightly licking at her upper lip. "I just can't get my tongue around the words. You think you could help me with that?"

Harry's voice was deep and throaty as he replied, only his daughter's presence keeping him from upping the flirting beyond words. "Oh, I'm certain we could find some way to solve that problem of yours, certain exercises for your tongue that might help..."

Next to her friend, Mittelt shook her head looking down at her watch. "Anyway, we need to get going, we're supposed to meet up with some friends and we're already running late."

Her words helped Harry snap out of it, and he shook his head one hand falling to his daughter's head to better steady himself in the here and now. "Yes, um yes. Actually we should be on our way too if we're going to get Lily Luna fitted for her dress and still catch the train we need to. It was a distinct pleasure meeting you Kalawarner." Harry said, his eyes flashing with desire.

Allowing a faint blush to appear on her cheeks Kalawarner smiled in reply, holding out a card with her number on it, pulling the card out from under her blouse from somewhere. It was still warm when Harry took it from her. "Call me sometime, hopefully we'll see eachother again soon."

Mittelt nodded, looking at Harry thoughtfully for a moment, then took out a small card of her own, handing it over to them. "In case you have any more for questions about what real fashion is like," she said haughtily, winking at the red little redhead, before turning to walk down the road, dragging Kalawarner with her for a moment as the blue-haired beauty winked at Harry.

Behind them Harry watched them thoughtfully, his eyes narrowed as he watched them disappear into the crowd. Something was a little off about those two, and more importantly his reaction to the woman. _A Veela maybe, or something similar. I didn't feel anything malicious about it, but it definitely got through my defenses in a way I don't like looking back on it. I'm going to have to be wary of that if she and I ever meet again. Still would have been a lot of fun though…_

 **OOOOOOO**

"Did you feel that?! That guy's got to have a Sacred Gear of some kind!"

"If he does, it's a fully awakened one Mittelt, and even without one that man is dangerous." the woman "That was a soldier some kind or I'll eat my bra. He also had the aura of some kind of were-creature, though I couldn't tell what kind." Kalawarner replied warningly, before blushing slightly as she licked her lips. "And he's quite an attractive man too."

"Don't tell me you're going to try to seduce him? When has that worked in the past hundred years you old hag!" Mittelt groaned.

"Tell me again which of us has the better track record?" The woman replied tartly shaking her head, reining in her temper at the jab at her age with the ease of painful practice. "There are better ways to get what we want then brute force sometimes. Don't be angry at me simply because you can't use seduction except against people with Lolita tendencies!"

As Mittelt simmered at that Kalawarner went on. "Now come on, we're already late for meeting up with Dohnaseek and Raynare."

 **OOOOOOO**

After buying Lily Luna a dress to match the woman Mittelt's in style but which was white with yellow highlights rather than black, the two of them continued to explore the city until Lily Luna declared she was hungry. After that Harry led them to the train which would take them to the district where his new job was before buying them both some food for the train.

The public transportation of Japan was amazing: on time, clean, and very quick. The bullet train took them from Tokyo and dropped them off at their destination after only about 40 minutes whereas trying to get there by car would've taken them four hours.

Upon arriving in Kuoh, Harry checked in at the school and was shown around the campus by the headmaster, an elderly man with a bent back and frail appearance. Despite that appearance he was noticeably quite spry on his feet as he moved around the campus showing Harry where everything was.

"Our induction ceremony is in five days, and we expect you to be a part of it," he said at one point near the end of the orientation. "We welcome the new teachers there as well the incoming freshman class. You'll be one of four new teachers."

"I understand that you opened your campus to boys for the first time this year? Have there been any problems so far organizational and facility-wise?" Harry asked, looking around in slight awe at the size of the campus.

"Not so much other than the teachers who quit," the man said dryly. "That was quite a large problem of course especially given how much of the budget we had to use to set up facilities, like men's rooms changing areas and so forth. But thanks to your hiring we seem to have solved them all."

"I'll want you to have your lesson plans for the English course ready the evening before the induction ceremony at the latest," the headmaster went on seriously. "You won't have to submit all of them for review, but as this is your first job I insist on looking over at least your first week's of classes for both English and Physical Education."

"I have them ready now," Harry said shrugging. "I worked on them over the past few days. Of course I'll want to tailor them to each class, but I've made them flexible enough to do that easily enough once school starts."

"Excellent, e-mail them to me tomorrow morning and I'll go over them and either approve or ask for corrections. You did make allowances for the fact that Japan's educational standards are different than the UK's correct?"

"Of course."

The headmaster nodded agreeably, then asked, "And have you found an apartment or something similar?"

"Actually I'm going to be buying a small house if I can manage it. I'll be looking around for one over the next few days. Until then, my daughter and I will be staying in a hotel."

The headmaster nodded again, and the discussion turned once more to scholastic topics until Harry picked up Lily Luna from two of the teachers who were already on campus that had agreed to watch her as he and the principal talked. By the time he did it was obvious both middle-aged women had fallen under Lily Luna's spell as they were gushing about how cute she was, and Harry could only sigh. _Wait until she has a bad day. Red Moon can be a right little hellion at times._

The next day, Harry showed up for his appointment to start learning the locals' magic, only to be surprised. "Wait, you mean they're distant courses?"

"For someone your age sure," the young man said from across the small desk. It was in an equally small office, part of dozens of others that looked this like any other non-magical office space really. "Normally, the distant courses are used for people following up on their Masters, we don't get many gaijin who want to learn what real magic is like," the man said blithely ignorant of Harry's twitching eyebrow at his unthinking condescension. "But we still have classes. We simply transfer the in-class stuff online and have you do all the work with none of the actual in-class instruction. It's a hardship of course but the textbook should be good enough."

Again not noticing or ignoring Harry's twitching eyebrow, the man went on. "The login codes are magically locked. If someone overheard your code they couldn't login to Magi-net nor could your daughter accidentally. So if I could have you use this blood quill for a moment?"

Harry sighed but picked up the blood quill and then wrote out his name. _Hermione will go spare when I tell her about how much magic and technology are mixed in Japan,_ he thought with an inner laugh. _She might actually convince Padma to move here just for that!_

 _Although come to think of it, Tonks and Teddy might be the two who move here first,_ Harry thought, letting that happy idea keep his spirits up. Remus had died late in the war, but before that Tonks had snagged him after more than a year of chasing the older werewolf, and they had rather quickly gotten serious, even secretly marrying when Tonks had gotten pregnant. Harry had served as a groomsmen at the wedding, and had helped Sirius chase Remus down when he'd had cold feet. Tonks had hinted at the idea of following him with Teddy, but hadn't yet made up her mind when Harry had met Sirzechs.

His renewed good humor did not stop Harry from twitting the man nameless office drone for his condescension. After the man was finished magically copying Harry's magical signature, into a computer format Harry lit the blood quill on fire along with the piece of parchment containing his name.

At the man's astonished look Harry replied blandly, "Sorry, I've had bad experiences being signed up for things through the use of papers with my magical signature on them before. And in fact I'd like your assurances that that computer format couldn't be changed back or used without my permission."

Over the next few days Harry began to teach himself some of the local magic, while also spending time with Lily Luna looking at houses and generally getting to know the town that the school was located in. He also became interested in the number of strange auras he could vaguely sense around him at times as he and Lily Luna moved around the town. It was evident that there were other magicals in the area, or something similar anyway.

 _I wonder if Sirzechs knew about that._ Harry hadn't been able to sense anything off about the man when they met, but that didn't really mean anything, especially since Harry had a hunch the man had recognized his name.

He and Lily Luna eventually found a small two-story house that had a large and varied backyard that they both fell in love with immediately. There was a tree right by the back of the house, where someone apparently had begun to build a sort of deck out and around it, a tiny little pond, and a large fence around the area, which was covered with ivy. The price was astronomical of course, which had scared off many buyers, but not Harry who thought it an excellent investment.

With that done they started to buy furniture and move in while Harry also put down wards around the area and began to create a permanent ward scheme. That would take several weeks of course even for Harry but by the time he was done this place would be as well defended as he could make it, to the level of Grimauld Place or maybe even better.

Soon after that, the first day of school began and after dropping Lily Luna off at a local elementary school, Harry headed into work. Striding through the front gates Harry noticed immediately how many girls there were on campus in comparison to the boys. There were also several exceptionally attractive girls, just as the teachers he had met so far had been somewhat good-looking, and the academy's uniform did not help matters.

 _Dammit! It's been too damn long if I'm looking at high school girls like that! Maybe I really should have found a local girl for a tumble for bit back in Barcelona, or called Kalawarner over the last few days despite how her presence affected me._

A few of the girls stuck out to him the first being a redheaded girl who grabbed his attention immediately. She had blood-red hair flowing down her back in a wave to the back of her knees and was very buxom with fair skin. Her heart-shaped face with high cheek bones and dimples was dominated by blue-green eyes which sparkled as she looked around her. Despite her age, the redhead was one of the most attractive girls Harry had ever seen.

Yet right next to her was another girl of similar beauty. The second girl's long black hair was tied in a long ponytail the end of which fell to her knees like her friend's, with an orange ribbon keeping it in place and two strands sticking out from the top of her ponytail and sloping backwards. Her face was more traditionally Japanese, slightly thinner than her friends with no sign of dimples, and her eyes were black. She also had the largest chest Harry had ever seen, larger even than Kalawarner's, though that could possibly be said about the redhead too.

 _I'd have to examine them much more closely to be certain though…_ Harry shook his head quickly from such thoughts however, despite his werewolf side wanting to sit up and howl at the very sight of the two. Their bodies were precisely the kind his werewolf instincts thought most attractive though Harry had to admit he could say he liked the that body type too, especially after being with Ginny for so long, who was more an athletic tomboy type.

The redheaded girl looked in his direction, and Harry winked at her for a moment before turning and heading towards the gym where the induction ceremony would occur. _Down boy, no flirting with the students now, that was just you being friendly…_

 **OOOOOOO**

Behind him the girl, one Rias Gremory, blushed slightly at the older man's wink, shaking her head. "That was a very handsome man," she murmured to her friend. "But what's he doing on campus and dressed like a teacher too? Do you have any idea Akeno?"

Her friend Sona Sitri spoke up before Akeno could. Sona was slightly taller than Rias though not as tall as Akeno, and was less busty than the two of them. But she was still markedly attractive, with a cool, regal expression on her face and a trim body underneath the school's uniform. She was also the student body president, while Rias was head of the Occult Research Club. "He's our new teacher, English and Phys Ed. apparently. One of the administrators, I haven't found out who, reached out to him rather than vice versa. His name is Harry Potter."

"Interesting," Rias said shaking her head. "Is it just me or does he have a noticeable aura of power around him?"

"It's not just you," Akeno said from behind her, shivering in place and licking her lips slightly. "I felt it too. A powerful aura, though a very odd one. It looked like a strange dichotomy of light and dark, as if each side was somehow two sides of a coin rather than the usual mix, and I could be wrong but there also seemed a bit of animal to it too."

"That is what I sensed too, the animal part, not the strange dichotomy," Rias said. "I wonder if he has a Sacred Gear, or if he's some kind of Magician from the Magical Association? I can send some magic around him too."

"Most Magicians aren't that powerful though," Sona muttered shaking her head, having felt some of the same things that her friends had, as did Tsubaki Shinra, her vice president. "Nonetheless, we'll find out more in time. Come on, it wouldn't due for four honor students to be late to the induction ceremony, would it?"

 **OOOOOOO**

 _My God when they said the ratio between boys and girls was uneven I didn't realize it was this bad!_ Harry thought to himself as he stood with the other new teachers, nodding his head towards the crowd as he was introduced. _There can't be more than one boy for every seven or eight girls max!_

The headmaster having finished introducing Harry and the other new teachers Harry sat back down. He listened to the rest of the ceremony while his eyes roamed over the crowd, trying not to let them linger on any of the frankly gorgeous looking young women out there. After several weeks without any physical affection that was hard, but Harry kept the fact he was a teacher now firmly in mind and fought back his body's demands.

Harry noticed one blonde girl was looking back at him intently, her eyes narrowed in thought. She was very attractive as well, with a chest that was close to the two he had seen that morning, dark brown eyes and a clear, healthy expression and a lively looking face. He couldn't figure out why she was staring at him so intensely, but decided to put it out of his mind for now.

Instead, he concentrated on what the principal was saying as he forced his mind into teacher mode, readying himself for his first-class. There was no gym class today since gym classes were all scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a shorter class on Saturday. But he had four classes of English to teach today.

Harry walked into his new class confidently. He didn't actually have a specific classroom assigned to him since as a new teacher he hadn't been given authority over a homeroom class and in Japan outside of lab classes teachers traveled to their classrooms rather than the students coming to them. That of course made him unable to rearrange the classroom as he wanted, but Harry was fine with that.

After a few minutes writing on the whiteboard he turned with a smile. "Good morning class, my name is Mr. Potter, and I am your new English teacher." He then repeated himself in Japanese. "I will be taking role now and then we can get down to business."

At the sound of his only slightly accented Japanese the girls and two boys in this class all blinked in shock looking at the foreign teacher in the interest. Many of the girls had hearts in their eyes, others were just as obviously undressing him, while the two boys seemed to be glaring at him. Harry had no idea what was going on there, though he had a good idea as to what was happening on the girl's side of things. _No Harry, bad Harry, don't look at your students like that!_

"Now, as a new teacher I'm sure you're curious about me, just as I am curious about you. So for half the period we will play a little game. You can ask me any questions you like, so long as they are in English. I reserve the right to not answer of course if they are too personal, and I will be asking the students who volunteer to try one or two questions in turn, which they must answer in English. If a student can answer all three questions without any coaching from her or his fellows, they will receive a get out of homework card they can use this first month if they so wish," Harry said before falling silent, not repeating himself in Japanese this time.

Knowing how much prior knowledge this class, which was a sophomore level class, Harry was unsurprised to see that a little under a third of the students raised their hands while the others slowly worked through what he said. English was apparently very hard of Japanese to learn just like vice-versa, but Kuoh was a **very** prestigious school. With that in mind he smiled and moved around his desk to lean against the front of it staring out over his students.

When he spoke, he spoke in English first, then Japanese once more. "Please state your name first then your question. Remember however, that I did say I reserve the right to not answer any question I deem too personal or disruptive to the class."

To his amusement those last two points seemed to curb the student's enthusiasm, but there were still four hands to choose from. One was one of the two boys, and Harry pointed at him. "Karisomo, Hayate sensei. Are you from England or from America?"

"I am from Britain, which is England yes. Are there any good family restaurants around here?" Harr asked.

"A few," Hayate replied, then began to list a few such, starting from the nearest, and even gave directions, all in English before translating back to Japanese. The young boy, a rather mousy sort both in size and attitude, knew his stuff.

Harry waved him back into his seat and turned to the next, a tall, athletic looking girl who asked whether Harry played any sports, and if he was also going to be their Phys Ed. teacher, something that had been mentioned in the introduction ceremony. Harry answered in the affirmative, then asked about the school's sports clubs, and if there was a self-defense seminar or club. The girl, whose name was Murayama Shiratori (though she introduced herself family name first, which Harry knew was the Japanese way), replied with a quizzical expression. "I'm not certain if I understand Sensei, what do you mean a self-defense club? We have kendo and various martial arts clubs..."

"Those are nice and all, but if you don't walk around with a, what do you call those wooden play swords?"

Murayama bristled slightly at the 'play swords' line, but still answered. "We call them bokken sensei."

"Yes those. But what if you don't have one on you? What if you find yourself in a situation where you're suddenly set upon or have your purse stolen from you? That is what I mean when I talk about defense. It is more of a mindset than anything else, though I suppose martial arts clubs and the like would be able to teach the same thing." Harry replied, waving the girl into her chair. "Well done Shiratori-san."

This left only two more students with their hands up and Harry saw they were the two girls he had noticed this morning. Smiling, he gestured to the one with black hair to ask her question first, trying as hard as he could to keep his eyes on their faces as he did.

"Himejima Akeno, sensei. Can I ask what brings you to Japan, and what do you miss most from Britain?" Akeno said, smiling back, though there was something in her violet eyes that made Harry's spine stiffen slightly, though he hid it well. _That is a far more mature look than I'd have expected from a normal high school student._

"A chance to start over and a very well-paying job brought me to Japan. As for what I miss most, I suppose that I have yet to get used to the local teas, and much of the local food is still new to me. Not bad, I hasten to add, just new." Harry replied, then paused and asked, "Now for my question: Is the cafeteria here any good, and if so what would you recommend?"

"It is alright I suppose sensei, but most of the good food goes quickly," Akeno laughed, raising one hand to hide her mouth, something that made Harry angle his head to one side in question. "Even girls get hungry sensei, and the cafeteria can be something of a battlefield at times. I would recommend that you bring something to eat, lest you be mobbed in your pursuit of food, both for that, and for… other things…" Akeno finished slowly, her eyes raking Harry up and down.

If Harry had been a younger man he might have blushed. Instead, he simply smiled, crossing his arms over his chest and looked back, shaking his head. "Unfortunately I wasn't looking for food for myself here on campus but something to take home for dinner for my daughter and me since I doubt I'll have time to make us anything after finishing here." _At least not until I get used to the workload._

There was a loud murmuring at that throughout the class, as he translated his words to Japanese as he had been doing all along. At the back of the class one girl, who Harry couldn't' see through her fellows, whispered loudly, "So he's a DILF? Oh that's so hot!"

That made Harry nearly lose his cool and laugh out loud, but he coughed into his hand and quickly turned to the last student who had raised her hand to answer his earlier challenge. "Yes, well, last student. Then we are going to do a few group exercises to give me an idea of your grasp on grammar, vocabulary and above all the written version of English. In fact Ms. Akeno if you could hand these papers out while your friend here asks her questions?"

Akeno answered in the affirmative, getting up from her seat quickly. She made a point of rubbing slightly against Harry as he stood by the papers before turning away, not having gotten any reaction from him, which she thought was both a pity and rather telling. _Mr. Potter might be young for a teacher, but he has a certain amount of self-control. But this close I can sense more of the animalistic side of him. He's definitely a were-creature of some kind._

For her part Rias smiled thinking of what to ask. She knew what most of the class was interested in, but she knew that Mr. Potter would not respond to such personal questions such as if he was married or not. Besides, she had already spotted the answer. He wore no ring on his finger any longer but there was a slight band of discoloration on his ring finger. That meant he had been married at one point, and if it had ended poorly for whatever reason. Rias had no interest in opening up that can of worms.

Instead she decided to get to know him another way, through his daughter. "My name is Gremory Rias sensei. You mentioned a daughter, what is she like, and does she go to school near here? Can she speak Japanese as well as you can?"

It was immediately evident that she had taken the right tack as Harry's eyes and face softened noticeably. A look of love came into those emerald eyes that quite took the breath away from many of the girls looking at him, including Rias, though she didn't show it as much as those around her.

Reaching into a pocket Harry pulled out a nonmagical photograph of Lily Luna, smiling at it before handing it to the girl in the desk right in front of him. "That's my little Red Moon, Lily Luna. She is a bundle of energy, quite intelligent for her age."

While the girls of the classroom all cooed about the photo or shot looks between it and Rias, Harry went on to answer the rest of Rias' questions. He had already noticed that Rias' hair was only a little darker than his daughter's. "I enrolled her in Kuoh Elementary, and yes she can speak Japanese. We both have a good ear for languages, which has served us well here. The culture is still an issue but I think we are settling down as well as we can."

When it reached her, Rias understood immediately why people had been looking between her and the girl. The hair color and some of the face did look like the two of them could be related. Still, Rias knew they weren't it was simply a coincidence. Though she did think the young girl was a real cutie pie.

"Hmmm… as for my question…" Harry thought for a moment, not wanting to waste his question on what he thought obvious: that the girl was related to the man who had offered him this position, Sirzechs. Yet for some reason Harry was having a lot of trouble stopping himself from asking any one of a dozen inappropriate questions that had been going through his mind since Akeno had eyed him moments ago.

After a few seconds contemplation as his picture returned to him and Akeno signaled she was done passing out papers Harry shrugged. "For my question Ms. Gremory, answer me this: where around here would I go to purchase some good teas?"

Rias smiled happily, and went into a lengthy explanation of a few of the local tea stores while Akeno reclaimed her seat pouting slightly. She habitually made the two of them tea whenever they were in their club room, but Rias too enjoyed making and drinking it.

Smiling at the redhead's enthusiasm, Harry clapped his hands looking around at all of the students, making a point to nod at the four who had taken up his challenge. "Very well done, I am impressed. However we need to make certain that your information and knowledge is not the exception but the rule." He said once more in English then converting to Japanese.

"In front of you is a page of multiple choice and short answer questions. Don't worry, this is not going to be graded, this is only for my own understanding of your individual levels. You have fifteen minutes to complete these, then we will go over the sheet together for the rest of the time. In the last five minutes we will discuss required reading and the syllabus for this course."

Harry spent the next fifteen minutes walking around the room, talking quietly to any student who needed his help. He found that some of the girls still tried to make doe eyes at him but didn't thankfully outright flirt with him, though Akeno did wink at him, and Rias smiled at him before looking away demurely.

The class were all finished the assessment paper in the allotted time, and Harry spent the rest of the class doing as he said he would. When they got to it they were several questions about the syllabus, noticeably about how little actual graded quizzes there were, and the amount of reading homework which was a marked difference from their first classes. There were also a few questions about how Harry wanted them to record themselves speaking specific lines in English and prepare them for class the next day.

Some of his choices for reading were also questioned, since he hadn't included as many of the known classics as was normal. Instead he had mixed in several modern fantasy and science fiction novels and even magazines from popular culture. Harry answered their questions easily, and the class realized to an individual that maybe this class was actually going to be fun.

Altogether Harry was quite happy how his first class had gone, and dismissed his first class happily. Now he had lunch free before his next class, though the rest of the day would see him without further breaks.

"Potter-sensei," Akeno said, moving towards him as the rest of the class hurried out, while Rias waited nearby to ask her own question. Akeno stood almost pressing Harry back against his desk, obviously flirting with him in a way he was surprised to see from a student to a teacher. "Seeing as you mentioned being concerned about being able to cook for you and your daughter, I could stop by this evening and cook you something?"

Surprised, and despite himself becoming quite excited by the girl's closeness Harry almost replied in the affirmative before his self-control reasserted himself. _Down boy, she's a student remember, and a high school girl, no matter that she has a body any adult woman would kill for GAH stop it!_ "That would hardly be appropriate Himejima-san. What would people think of you being alone in a teacher's house?"

"Ara, but I wouldn't be alone with you would I, your daughter would be there too," Akeno replied disingenuously. "Besides, I am certain you wouldn't do anything I wouldn't want you to after all."

"I think that would rather be the problem Himejima-san, what exactly would you **not** like me to do to you?" Harry replied before he could stop himself, his voice deepening for a moment as his eyes bore into Akeno's. To Akeno's chagrin she was the first to look away, a blush coming to her cheeks.

Shaking his head Harry regained control of himself and turned away to fiddle with some papers on his desk. "Thank you for the offer though, it was very kind."

Akeno nodded her head still looking away rather flustered and moved toward the door, while behind her Rias chuckled, shaking her head. It was obvious that while you could get Mr. Potter to respond to physical flirtations, he would either reply in kind and turn the attack back on you or ignore it and make you feel silly. _I suppose he is more experienced than either Akeno or I attempt to fool ourselves and others into thinking. In any event, that kind of flirtation is more Akeno's style than mine._

 _No, it's best to go for a soft sell to find out what exactly Mr. Potter is and if he would like to join my peerage._ Rias did not like trying to manipulate people, she was honestly quite a straightforward girl when she could be. But at present she was facing an issue in the near future that was slowly starting to dominate her mind and she had to do something to combat it.

To get out of that fate, she was willing to be underhanded. _And besides, it isn't like I am going to hurt Harry or his daughter,_ she consoled herself. _And they can always say no, I refuse to force anyone to join if they don't want to. I'd rather have friends than nothing._

Moving forward to take her friend's place near Mr. Potter, Rias kept some distance between them unlike Akeno, just enough to make their talk more informal but not close enough to make it seem she was flirting with him. "I wanted to ask Mr. Potter if you have decided if you will oversee a club yet? You mentioned something about defense?"

"I haven't no, but as for defense that is a passion of mine you might say, though given how many martial arts clubs Shiratori-san mentioned it doesn't seem to be necessary. Why, do you have a club in mind, or would you like some defense lessons?" Harry asked looking at the redhead with interest.

Now that Akeno wasn't flirting with him and there weren't other people around, Harry became aware of a feeling in the air, a sense just beyond his ability to discern. It was like Rias was giving off a kind of magical aura, but not one he was familiar with, just like the ones he had sometimes sensed walking around town. _Interesting._

"Well, I happen to be the president of the Occult Research Club. We go around looking at mysteries and discuss the supernatural." Rias smiled at Harry, noticing his lips twitching at that, not as if he was making fun of her, but as if he knew something she didn't.

Rias saw that, and realized that yes, Mr. Potter knew what he was and about the occult world, or at least parts of it. That would make it easier to approach him later on. "We don't have an advisor however, Miss Imuya left after the school declared it would become coed. If you think you could, that would be a major help in organizing trips and other things of that nature. We could also be open to babysitting Lily Luna after school if you're busy with paperwork or just want a night out on the town Sensei."

"Hmm… I'll think about it Gremory-san," Harry said, standing fully upright and gesturing toward the door. This brought him slightly into Rias' personal space, which caused her to blush for some reason, though he didn't notice. "For now though I think you should get to your next class before you're late."

Rias nodded bowed politely. "In that case I will see you tomorrow Sensei." Despite her desire not to come on physically as Akeno had however she couldn't stop herself from adding an extra little swing to her hips as she turned away and Rias smiled when she spotted Harry's eyes trailing down her back in the door's window as she made for the door.

Shaking his head Harry moved around the desk to stand by his heretofore unused chair. _This is going to be an interesting job for certain. I wonder if I really understood what I'd be getting into as a teacher, especially here…_

 **End Chapter**

* * *

t occurred to me that the point before Harry meets Sirzechs could be a great moment use what has preceded as a story starter chapter. So if anyone wants to use or expand on the above, please send me a message and we can talk about it.

Obviously this story would need a lot of work - above and beyond Harry's past, I would like to delve more into the magic of Japan, its spells, its talismans and so forth, as well as how it overlaps the Youkai and Magic Associations of DxD. I would of course also have to explain the difference between magicians and wizards as well, both how and why wizards have remained separate from the Three Factions and why.

As an exercise I actually enjoyed working with this chapter, but the amount of world building and the fact I already have a story going in Highschool DxD mean I probably won't continue this, unless a lot of people request it and are willing to do so over on Patty R on. Still it works as a Christmas gift for my fans here on fanfic and I hope you all liked it as much as I enjoyed writing it.


	2. Chapter 2

Rowling is British and I ain't, and I can't draw.

Surprise! I want to thank all of my readers who reviewed this story. The response to this fic was amazing, and I hope it continues. Going into the future, I will treat this fic and my other Highschool DxD crossover like I do my Star Wars crossovers: it will be put on my Pat R on page as a separate poll, which will run from the time I put it up to the end of the month. Then the winner will join the small story poll to see which two small stories will be updated in the next month. Yes, it will be a Pat R on **only** poll. If you wish to have a say in it, please join us. You'll get access to several omakes, my new Fairy Tail/Ranma crossover and a few one shots. If you don't want to do that or can't, you can win points for this or any of my other small stories by testing your artistic side and come up with a title picture.

For January, this story won first place here on fanfic bringing in 405 votes, I put down a 100 of my own votes on it because of my promise to put a 100 votes down on the two small HP stories due to the ATP chapter not being the one I had intended to put out and brought in 344 votes over on Pat R on, giving it 849 votes total.

One or two reviewers noted I'd made a mistake claiming that either I had made a mistake or this was the first year Kuoh had been open to boys. However, just because this is the first year it's been open to the boys, doesn't mean that Issei and co will be coming in as freshman. It just means they were transferees. Given the level of perversion in all three and the fact one of them is academically inclined I could easily see them putting in the effort to pass an entrance exam. "For our harems!"

Another issue many of you pointed out was how the Sensei had to leave to move to his next class, with the students remaining in a single class throughout the day. This has been corrected in the last chapter, and I will keep it in mind going forward.

Others have also expressed concern about the idea of using Rias for various reasons as the main girl in this story. I will argue against that below.

She's over used.

Ehhh I don't think so. She is the main female character for one thing, and for another she's sexy as hell and can be damned powerful too if people actually push her to grow unlike in the original which never really allowed her to move past being the source of a lot of the Ecchi comedy and the 'princess' type of heroine: the one whose need to be saved powers the story. And if you count out the utter dreck and the stories which force crossover characters to become part of her peerage rather than making their own way, there aren't very many good stories with her in them. Or at all in this fandom considering that last point, which pisses me off a **LOT** : people dying against Raynare and her coterie, who are scrubs in terms of her power level in terms of the original story, and super powerful people being forced to become devils. Makes no sense. Yes my standards are high, is that a problem?

Rias's age and Harry's.

This is a more relevant point in many ways. However, Rias and Akeno, and to a lesser extent Tsubaki and Sona all have bodies that are those of college age women at worst. In many ways they are better looking and more mature than most women that age. Akeno's is… just impossible. And I think Rias and Sona in particular will have had to grow up faster mentally than they would have otherwise. Plus, the actual age difference isn't all that big a deal even in the real world. We hear about couples with ages differences all the time.

They are teacher and student, that's immoral!

In the **real world** yes. In the real world I would **never ever** condone this. I would sooner see the teacher drawn and quartered. However the same could be said for the perverted trio. The instant they started to try and spy on girls changing they should have been expelled. The moment that one asshole admits to being a Lolita he should have been kicked out and forced to see psychiatric help. However they are not and this is not the real world. THIS… IS… FICTION! In this world perverts can survive beatings, hordes of students create almost cults worshipping their idols, and oh yes, magic and everything else exists.

Further, I'm not the first to go with this idea, though I might be the second or third to write this idea into this particular fandom. Several Japanese manga and Korean manhwas deal with student/teacher relationships for good or ill, older man/younger woman and older woman/younger man. So while they couldn't be open about their relationship if it occurs, the actual relationship is not revolutionary.

Besides, we tend to forget that Rias and the other characters are devils. They have a sense of morality true, but their morals differ from normal humans in many ways. And in my opinion Kuoh Academy was recreated in a way to allow Sona and Rias to go there and control the territory in the first place. It is very doubtful they could do anything wrong and be called out for it, and even if they did, hey presto devils magic for the win.

It also remains to be seen if Rias will be the main girl in the harem, or simply one of several, with another girl getting past her for the prize as it were first.

For other women I am willing to look at the older women in the series, but other than Yubelluna and Kalawarner, none of the ones who aren't already in a relationship interest me - yes Kuroka is being considered, we'll see, but some of the choices she has made, beyond running off in order to protect her sister, would not sit well with Harry. Feel free to try and convince me, but that is just how I see things, and please remember I **won't** break up happy couples, so no Grayfia, Veneleana or others. There was a review who asked for Grayfia despite my showing that she and Sirzechs were together and Millicas around, so this has to be said.

This chapter has been betaed by Nad Destroyer. Thank him for his work please, as without it there would have been a lot more mistakes than there no doubt still are LOL.

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Perverts Come in All Shapes and Sexes**

The rest of Harry's first day as a Sensei at Kuoh was a solid block of classes from lunchtime on but out of four classes, he only really ran into two further issues that first day. One was his first freshman class, which he had right after lunch.

The issue started immediately as he entered the room where the class was taking place. This class, 3-A, or the best and brightest freshman class, was three floors down from his first class. The Japanese believed in separating the grades by floor, and even kept all of the labs and other specialty classrooms on a single floor.

As Harry entered the room he took a sniff of the air his werewolf enhanced senses almost going haywire as the distinct smell of cat reached him. The reason for this was easily apparent as he looked around, the students all standing up and bowing as he did, though Harry quickly waved them back to their seats.

The smell was coming from the student nearest the windows in the first row of students. She was a short white-haired girl, who probably could have been an example for the term petite beauty. She was quite cute with short silver hair and an athletic looking body type though her face was markedly expressionless. The girl also had a yellow issue eyes which were locked on Harry the instant the door opened.

 _Now without those eyes, I'd have just thought that she was simply a cat person who owned a lot of the furry little murderballs. Those eyes, and the way she's looking at me though tell me something different. Is she some kind of were-creature?_ Harry had done some reading on local were-people, and he knew that there were a few were-people in the world that were not traditionally found in Europe, werecats being one of them.

Shaking that off Harry moved to the front of the classroom smiling at the class. "Good afternoon, my name is Mister Potter, as you all probably no doubt know by this point. As I am a new Sensei here, I am in the same boat as all of you are: getting to know the school and getting to know the students and the other Senseis. As such, whenever I ask you a question, could you please state your name before you give me the answer?" Harry spoke in Japanese and while worded that as a question, it was obvious to the freshman that he meant it as an order.

"Can I have a volunteer for a moment please to come up and take these books for me?" He said in English, gesturing to the large pile of small paperback books he had carried in.

The sudden switch seemed to startle many of the students, but more than half of the class understood what he said, and a few raised their hands. Harry chose one of them randomly, and she stood up, giving her name and said "Traditionally jobs like that are given to the class representative Sensei."

Harry laughed. "That might be, but you're all freshman, and it's the first day of class so you don't have a classroom rep, do you?"

That won him some laughs, and the girl ruefully replied that they did not, just that she had been a classroom rep at the middle school she had been in the year previous. Harry nodded affably and said "Well if you win the job again, I'll be sure to remember that. For now please, Miss Sana, please distribute copies of this book."

The girl did so, reading the cover of it as she did, which read, Terry Pratchett's _Witch's Abroad_.

"I'm assigning this book as a sort of assessment," Harry said going on as the girl went down the rows, trying not to look in the white-haired girl's direction though he could feel her eyes still on him. "As this is the first day, I would like to perform an assessment of your skill levels personally, rather than relying on the grades that I saw from your old schools. I realize this might be a little unusual, but I hope to show that learning English he doesn't always have to be difficult, or dominated by reading what are known as 'classics'."

Harry held up his fingers making the quotation mark around the word 'classics' while still speaking in practically flawless Japanese before switching to English as he went on. "This however is a slightly teenage book, so if you are irritated by curses, or curse words, or find magic as a topic offensive, please raise your hand and you won't have to participate. There's nothing dirty in these books of course, but they are set in a Middle Ages sort of world, and people cursed a lot back then."

That won him more laughs from the people who were still able to follow what he was saying, and they quickly shared what they were hearing with their neighbors, which was partly why Harry had switched. Students learned best when they were learning together after all, and he wanted them all to get into the mindset of helping one another quickly.

Harry was also happy to see that this class had five boys rather than the two that his first class had, and all of them looked the studious type. Harry noticed one of them exchanging shy glances with a girl next to him, and wondered if there were already couples among the kids. _Not my business,_ Harry thought determinedly.

He began to walk around front of the classroom, handing out syllabuses. "This is going to be our syllabus for the rest of the year. We'll go over it first before we get to the fun part, during which I want you all to take out your notebooks and pencils."

As Harry was about to reach the girl with the silver hair one of the students at the front row quickly held up a hand. Harry turned and nodded. The boy stated his name, then asked "I don't see any actual textbooks on here sensei."

"I'm not going to assign full textbooks. You will be giving excerpts and writing assignments from a few textbooks, but I hope to create a more natural learning environment in this class than would be the case if we just followed along with a single textbook." Harry said in English before repeating himself in Japanese. As he did he finished putting down the paper in front of the white-haired girl, and whispered in a tone that no one but another were-person would have been able to hear. "I don't have an issue with you unless you start one kitty."

The girl twitched, but some of the tension seemed to leave her body as Harry went on, moving across each line of desks and handing out papers. At the same time he fielded questions about the syllabus, which was a good sign, they were reading it, and looking ahead rather than waiting for him to give them all the information. One of the first questions had to do with the assigned weekend reading Harry had inserted into the syllabus.

"Every week you'll read a chapter from an English book. You can pick one out of every five at the start, and you have four days to choose them, but I expect you to start reading them right away. You will be required to write small chapter summaries in English over the weekend followed by a question-and-answer sessions on Mondays. During those question and answers sections we'll cover areas such as grammar, specific vocabulary words, and any difficulties you run into during the reading. Those summaries can range from five sentences, the bare minimum I'll accept, to twenty if you want to show off and maybe earn some extra points."

"Extra points?" asked a student, not giving her name.

Harry looked at her, pausing in handing out syllabuses until she muttered her name and apologized. Harry nodded, and went on as if nothing happened. "Extra points can go towards specific quizzes or test grades to bring your grades up, or homework. As I said I'll also be assigning you specific fill in the blank type worksheets every night except over the weekend so you can use a good twenty sentence summary say to get out of a night's work if you have a test coming up in another class. Though if you do have another test in another classroom coming up please tell me. I'm very flexible in making certain that we don't overburden you."

Many of the students looked grateful at that since Kuoh was a prestigious school and the workload reflected that.

Finished handing out syllabuses, Harry moved up to the front of the classroom. "Now, to read these books there are a few extremely odd names you'll need to get used to speaking. We'll go over those now. Repeat after me," Harry said as he turned to the whiteboard and began to write on it.

Soon enough he had the characters of the Discworld series written out, and some of the students were whispering, and one of them stood raised her hand gave her name and asked quizzically, "Is the Luggage really a character?"

Harry smiled at her which caused the girl to blush but Harry ignored that figuring the students would get over their reaction to him soon enough. _Oh please let them get over it, especially those two from my last class._

Shaking his head from an image of red hair and black hair and bodies built for sin Harry asked the girl to look to the back of the book, where the characters were. "Open your books to that page, and let us all read along with Miss Ikki as she tells us about… the Luggage."

After the reading, Harry translated some of the more hard to understand words, and gave a brief overview of how to change Japanese sentence structure into English. There was now a lot of interest in the books, all of the students looking down at them thoughtfully as they realized that this was a fantasy novel that maybe could get into even if it was assigned reading.

This was helped by Harry saying that he would read it first, and continually translating from English into Japanese as they went.

By the time he was done reading the first five pages, the students were into the story, smiling at one another. Harry then stopped, looked at them all and asked, "Now how many words did you notice there that you didn't already understand?"

Most of the students had three, some of them had as many as seven. But this was within the ballpark of what Harry had expected from this class and he nodded. "Good we'll go over those now, and then let's start from the end of the first row and go across towards the windows then back and forth. Each student will read five sentences, and you can ask for help on words two times. Let's see if you can make it interesting too, I'd like to see some accents if you're speaking as a character. How do you interpret the character's speaking, what kind of tone do they use, can you speak like a stuck up king type?" Harry said, changing his voice to match that, getting giggles and laughter from the entire class. "Can you speak like an airhead? Or a belligerent warrior?"

Again his impressions won him more giggles and laughter from all the students save from the white-haired girl, who had only allowed a small smile to flit across her face and that was all. _The unresponsive type? That's not fun; we'll have to do something about that._

The students did frequently need to ask for help, but Harry took that in stride writing the word up on the whiteboard to make certain that all of the students understood that they needed to write those words down to, and when questions about grammar came along, answered them quickly. They only stopped the storytelling when they got to Ms. Koneko, who stated her five sentences flatly, without asking for help which was a good thing, but without any kind of emotion or happiness in her town, staring straight at the book.

When she finished, Harry shook his head sadly. "Lame."

The girl looked up at him narrowing her eyes. "Not lame," she said firmly as if the word was a personal affront to her.

Smirking slightly, Harry realized it might well be though why he didn't know. "No, that was quite lame. I mean come on. I asked the class to put some imagination some passion into it, and you do that? If we ever get to a story about robots perhaps that would be the proper tone to use, but not here. Now come on Ms. Toujo, give me an impression of Granny Weatherwax."

Harry ignored the fact that most of the girls had blushed when he had said the word 'passion', feeling their reaction to that was just a little on the creepy side. Rias and Akeno, for all that they were third year high school girls had the bodies of fully grown women and attitudes more like that of college girls so their flirting (subtly in Rias's case) didn't freak him out nearly as much as being looked at like this did by the younger students. _I_ _ **really**_ _hope they get over this kind of thing quickly._

Eyes narrowed Koneko stared at him for a moment, but when Harry smirked back at her making it clear he wasn't going to let the next student pick up the tale until she obeyed his request, she sighed then reread the section she had just read. She gave a near perfect rendition of Granny Weatherwax as she had appeared in a cartoon Harry had watched with his daughter at one point.

"Well done!" Harry said, clapping, which caused the rest of the class to clap.

This caused Koneko in turn to flush slightly, sitting down abruptly. She perked up however, when Harry pulled out a bag of local sweets.

"I will give one of these sweets out to every person who we think did the best job both reading in English and the best impression of any voice that she had to do. I think we can all agree that Ms. Koneko, once she was prompted, did the best." Harry said winking at the young girl. With that Harry handed the girl a sweet before motioning for the young girl behind her to start up.

With something to actually win the rest of the class was far more determined and Harry smiled slightly. At this stage, the student should be moving from exterior motivation to interior motivation, but it wasn't as if the change was like flipping a switch, and apparently the truism that all kids liked candy was true in Japan as much as it would've been back in England.

By the time the class ended, the students had about thirty words they would need to study how to speak, though only four whose meaning they hadn't understood. On top of this there were only three points of grammar that they would have to memorize. So Harry was quite pleased with the level of education and interest that they were already showing.

He ended the class with a smile on his face, storing the books in the back after reminding the kids to look at the book list for the weekend reading by Friday. That day they would be able to pick them up from the bookstore.

Still feeling Koneko's eyes on him Harry left after that and headed for his next class. That next class was a simple one, another freshman grade class. Harry again had quite a bit of fun, with none of the students reacting as Koneko had to his presence. On top of that he had become somewhat inured to the blushing and stairs from this students. It still struck him as extremely creepy coming from girls this young but he was able to get us past it.

His fourth class for the day however was a sophomore class, where the ratio of girls to boys reverted to type. There were only three boys in this class and they swiftly proved to be the second problem Harry ran into that first day.

All three of them were in the back of the class crowded around one of their desks. Apparently they had decided to take the time between their last Sensei leaving and Harry turning up to talk about the girls in class.

"Oh my God! I am so glad we transferred Look at the ratio here! Boys we are in oppai heaven! Here it is, right here, I will start down the road of a Harem King!"

"I know! And the uniforms here, they are so damn sexy!"

"Bah who cares about the uniforms, it's the bodies underneath! Have you seen some of the oppai and asses around here, fantastic! I am so glad we were able to get in."

"Your thanks are duly noted," said one of the three to the other two, pushing up a pair of round glasses on his nose. He was the shortest of the three, with messy black hair. The other one who had talked about 'oppai heaven', whatever oppai was, was the middle of them in terms of height. He had brown hair, brown eyes and looked altogether normal beyond the leering expression on his face. The last was the tallest with a cru-cut and a more athletic body type than the other two.

Harry had entered the classroom silently, having gotten used to the idea that the students would notice his arrival, and one or more would then tell the rest of the class to stand and bow. This did not happen this time as most of the girls were too busy glaring back of the boys who didn't seem to realize that their quiet discussion wasn't quiet at all. Nor had the boy noticed the expressions of disgust and growing fury on the faces of the girls all around them.

Deciding to nip both sides of this issue in the bud, Harry reached behind him and forcefully slammed the door shut. The slam did its work, jolting everyone's eyes towards him. "Ladies and gentlemen, I realize it is the last class of the day, but that is in no way a sign that you are allowed to slack off. **Eyes front**!" He barked, and all of the class jolted, quickly staring forward toward Harry as he marched into the room.

The other classes Harry had been able to handle rather gently but here he would have to tailor his teaching style to his audience. "My name is Mr. Potter and I will be your English Sensei," he said, still in Japanese, before repeating himself in English.

"I am not a very strict disciplinarian, but I do demand that you concentrate on what we are learning, and that certain discussions do not occur in my classroom." He said looking at the three boys, only one of whom had the decency to look sheepish about being caught out. "As for your discussion boys, which was quite loud whatever you might've thought and not at all private, if you're looking for a girlfriend might I suggest that you get to know girls first rather than simply ogling them? Girls don't like it if you only like them for their bodies."

"But the bodies are this thing you have to know first! You can get to know them later," said one of the boys waving that office if it was of no consequence.

"We must be true to ourselves after all!" the boy with glasses said nodding his head firmly.

The one who had looked sheepish before nodded sternly with the others. "There are only two types of men in the world, closet and open perverts. We are upfront with our desires! And I love oppai!"

"It is our power of perversion that sets us apart, that drives us to succeed!" the taller one shouted.

The girls all began to shout, but Harry stopped them with a simple single word. " **Enough.** " It'd taken him months of training with Professor McGonagall to get the Teacher Tone down, but paid off here.

The classroom immediately quieted, and Harry looked at the boys. "If you're not willing to listen to my advice on that point, that is your own problem. However, if I find you harassing girls, concentrating on other things in my classroom when you should be concentrating on learning English, or in any way acting inappropriately for a classroom or scholastic setting, I will have you suspended at the very least. Then you can kiss your oppai kingdom, whatever oppai is I haven't heard that word before and I'm not certain I want to, goodbye."

Harry looked around the girls. "That goes for the rest of you as well. There will be no shouting in this class unless it is in character," Harry said holding up one of the books he was going to hand out. There will be no violence either," he added, looking at one of the girls who had looked like she was going to hit the boy sitting next to her. "Bottle up that emotion and use it in the Phys. Ed. class. It will be particularly useful when we play dodgeball."

There were some laughs at that as two out of the three anyway cringed. The one boy who looked a bit more athletic than the other simply smirked, leaning back and crossing his arms arrogantly.

Harry sighed realizing that his little diatribe wasn't sinking in and decided to move the class on. "I didn't have to cover this with any of my other classrooms, but if you do act out breaking my simple rules of the classroom, or do not perform adequately on your homework, there will be consequences and punishments. These punishments can range from physical such as having to do push-ups for the entire class say, or perhaps coming up and performing a little play in English for us all complete with costume. Now sit down, pay attention and you might learn something above and beyond English ladies and gentlemen."

The rest of the class went somewhat better than it had started, though he was interrupted a few times by the boys trying to comment on one of the girls when they stood up to speak and once when Harry saw one of them had actually pulled out a porn magazine. "This is what I was talking about before when I mentioned disruptions in my class and not concentrating Mr. Motohama." He said grabbing it the hands of the boy in glasses, whose name was Motohama, before he could do more than twitch.

"But Sensei, it's educational! It's not only in English, but it uses foreign bra sizes, that's important information!" The jock, Matsuda, protested.

"Wrong answer Mr. Matsuda." Harry held up the offending magazine, noting that the girl on one cover was being groped from behind while standing in a train, and the one on the back was in chains. That was a sign to Harry and he added a little more force to the glare he sent at the trio.

Holding that glare on the three he ripped the thick magazine in half and then into quarters which seemed to send the boy into paroxysms of grief, there were even tears in his eyes. "Consider yourself lucky. I can't imagine that it's legal for someone your age to own that kind of magazine at all, which means you either stole it or got it from your parents. I suppose I could call and ask if your father's missing a…"

"No, no that's fine!" Said Matsuda hurriedly said, indicating without actually saying it that the magazine had been his.

"I thought so." Harry replied grimly, returning to the front of the class. He had to wonder if this would be a constant battle or if the boys might actually shape up and put aside their childish fantasies.

Harry moved on from there, not covering nearly as much of _Witches Abroad_ as the first two freshman classes had. This class also had a lot more new words they would need to practice and several more grammar issues than the other classes he taught. This was especially sad considering they were a year older than hit the two freshman classes.

Later that day Harry left the school heading toward the elementary school he had had enrolled Lily in. Even as he was walking Harry was still thinking about the students here.

 _Besides Koneko there was a very odd feel to some of them. I've never felt anything like it wizards don't give off feelings like that unless they're really powerful._ It was a sense of something right on the edge of his awareness, something about them was telling him they were more than they appear. In that manner it reminded Harry of the two women he and Lily met in Tokyo that first day.

 _If I could've trusted my werewolf side to behave I might've tried to smell Rias and Akeno to see what I could detect from that. But there's no way I could have. Damn it, I didn't realize I was so pent up to react the way I did today to flirt, however lightly with my students whatever their looks or maturity. I'll have to do something about that tonight if I can…_

 _Still, that can wait until after I pick up Lily, have dinner, and help her with her homework if I need to. Then I have my first class in the local school of magic to get to. That should be fun at least._ Yes Harry decided, despite the issues with the perverts and the mysteries surrounding his strangely mature students and, Harry was pleased with how the day went.

 **OOOOOOO**

After school let out for that, Rias, Akeno, Sona and Tsubaki met up in the Occult Research Clubs meeting room. It was still somewhat more comfortable for long conversations then the Student Council's office and since Rias had been the one to call the meeting and have personal information about the mystery they were discussing it happened in her territory.

Sona looked at her friend, pushing her glasses up her nose as she did. "So he's a good teacher at least?" She hadn't had Mister Potter's class yet. Before the class began she and Rias had decided to stay in two separate classes so they could more easily compete against one another via school activities in the future. Mr. Potter would have her class and two sophomore classes the next day along with his first two PE classes.

"A very good teacher, actually. Different certainly, and not very authoritarian I think, but very good." Rias said looking over Akeno who nodded. "He seems to wants to teach us how to speak English in as natural format as he can. Koneko, what did you think?"

Koneko shrugged. She was still a little irritated at being called lame, even though she had enjoyed the sweet that Harry he had given her. She also knew she would have to be more emotive in the future in that class, having gotten the impression Mr. Potter would call her out on it if she wasn't. Still, he didn't seem to be too violent or biased against her thanks to her heritage, so she was okay with that and he had given her sweets. "He's a good werewolf," she supplied, munching on the last sweet.

"So he is a werewolf?" Sona asked, prompting Koneko to nod once.

"Well done Koneko-chan!" Rias praised, reaching over to gently stroke the younger girl's hair. The girl leaned against her quickly, pushing her head against her king's hand.

"So he would be a rook for certain if we offered her him a position in either of our peerages."

"No, Mr. Potter also has quite a bit of magical power within him," Rias said thinking aloud. "In fact I think he'd be perfect for the Queen position, but then that one's already been taken," she said teasingly, winking over at her oldest friend, who giggled in reply.

"Ara, I could transfer to become our second Bishop Rias-sama. I'd certainly be more than willing to… serve… under … him." She finished sultrily, her eyes going half-lidded as she licked her full lips.

Sona rolled her eyes at Akeno's seductive tone while Rias simply laughed. "Personally I am uninterested in adding a man to my peerage at this moment. It would wreck our internal dynamics too much. However I do have news of my own about Harry Potter."

As Rias and Akeno looked at her Sona sighed, looked back at Rias seriously. "Mr. Potter was scouted and offered the job by Lucifer-sama."

Rias nodded evincing no surprise at that. "A bodyguard for certain then for both of us I presume, just in case we run into anything we can't handle. Still, he's not one of my Oni-sama's peerage, which could give him a plausible deniability if that ever came to light." She finished musingly. "And he's not a devil of any kind, so if he can be recruited. He could be a major asset."

"True, but I'd caution you about being a little too quick to jump on that idea. He is after all an adult, and frankly I don't see him willing to be easily forced into a submissive position." Sona replied.

Rias glared at her. "I have never treated my peerage like that!"

"No you haven't, but you are still the head of your little family, and he might not be willing to submit even to that." Sona said smiling, patting her friend's hand in apology for how Rias had taken her words.

Rias smiled, taking her hand and squeezing it once in response to that, and nodded thoughtfully. "I thought of that too, and I will be careful."

"There is also the whole Sensei-student thing to consider," Sona went on seriously. "We might be devils, but there's a limit to what we can get away with even here at the center of our territory, not without a lot of memory changing magic. He would get fired unless we continually changed people's memories and you possibly sent back home if any kind of connection between the two of you came to light and got back to our families. This isn't a manga after all," Sona finished, teasing her friend lightly.

Rias nodded, not taking umbrage at the dig to her favorite pastime. "I thought of that too. But building up my peerage is easily the best way to get out of a certain issue that you know is coming up. And Harry Potter represents power of some kind. I'm not going to leap into this. But I do want to find out more about him."

"Perfectly sensible," Sona said standing up. "Now if you'll excuse me, there's a lot of work I need to get done before I head home." She exchanged hugs with Rias before exiting the room with her Queen Tsubaki following her quickly.

After her friends left, Rias moved over to the chest puzzle that Akeno had set up, her eyes peering down at the board but not seeing it for the moment. There were several ways she had thought of to get out of the unwanted marriage to Riser Phenex that her parents had foisted on her before she was even born. Building up her peerage to the point where she could challenge him for the right to her hand and beat him soundly was easily the best of those options, hence why she and the others trained every weekend they could to become stronger, but there were others. One of which would probably have extremely negative long-term consequences, but it was an idea.

 _Funny,_ Rias thought, _I liked how Harry looked at me; it strangely made me feel good to be looked at like that by a man rather than a boy._ Rias thought of Riser as a boy despite his being older than her. Riser Phenex was too consumed by his passions, too grasping and childish in other ways especially his arrogance, for her to treat him as anything but. But Harry Potter, he was something else. What that something else was, she had yet to determine.

So busy was she thinking about their new teacher that Rias neglected to think about the other students at all and how they could help her with their unwanted engagement. She even forgot that she had sent Kiba to keep an eye on one Issei Hyoudou, who she had felt some kind of power from.

Quickly solving the chess problem her queen had laid out, Rias looked over to Akeno. "Could you prepare a magic circle Akeno? I think I'm going to send out my familiars for a little scouting mission."

Akeno nodded readily, having anticipated that command and looking forward to it. Koneko, unable to use the same spell the two of them were, simply pulled out her homework and began to do it, munching on her sweets at the same time while waiting for their peerage's fourth member to show up.

 **OOOOOOO**

Lily stood with the other students of her elementary school, glowering at a group of older boys and girls. Even elementary school kids formed cliques, and the older boys and girls especially the group she was glaring at seemed to lord it over the younger kids. As a girl who was perhaps a full grade or perhaps even two grades ahead academically of where she would be normally, Lily was perfectly well aware of that and didn't like it one bit.

Since she was a foreigner on top of being a newcomer, Lily had garnered a lot of negative attention from that group and others. _I won't do anything about words or whispers, not unless they try to become physical. If they do, then Kapow!_

Lily liked the word Kapow. She had seen it in a comic book, and really liked the comedic yet violent nature of the made up word. That and Kazzaam. Kazzaam after all could be used for magical effects and Lily loved magic. She often thought that was another problem between her daddy and mother. Mother took magic for granted, seeing it as the normal way of things. Daddy loved magic, and never stopped learning about it.

Several of the boys and girls she was looking at looked over at Lily glaring back at her, mouthing the words gaijin witch at her, and she scoffed, not breaking eye contact but crossing her arms. As if being called a witch was supposed to be a curse. Her mommy was a witch, Hermione and Luna, her favoritest people in the whole world next to her daddy were both witches and Lily knew she was a witch too. Lily thought these bullies were calling her that because red hair, but if so that was stupid too.

"Lily!" a loved voice said, and her eyes quickly shifted over to where it had come from a wide smile on her face.

"Hey daddy!" She shouted, quickly bowing to the Sensei and picking up her bookbag moving over to her father who stood at the entrance to the school.

The Sensei walked her over, and Lily noticed several of the mothers who were hanging around the jungle gym which was part of the elementary school's front yard blushing at the tall handsome foreigner. Rolling her eyes, Lily grabbed her father's hand and pulled him away. "Come on daddy! I'm hungry."

Harry laughed, letting his daughter pull him away, though he had wanted to talk to one of her teachers about how she was fitting in. Still, that could wait until Saturday, giving Lily more time to fit in and the teachers' time to get to know her. "Does that mean you want to stop on the way home?"

Lily stuck out her tongue in thought for a moment then nodded. The two of them had had a few bad experiences with the food here, the most horrifying being something called natto, which Lily would never eat ever again. Some of the sushi had also been pretty nasty, though some of the others were good.

"All right, let's see if we can find one of those little street stall places. They seem to have decent and quick food. Heh, I doubt I'll ever get over the idea of KFC and McDonalds being high end family food here. Were you assigned a lot of homework? I've got a few things I need to work on too."

"Only a few worksheets," Lily said, waving that off. "The teachers were really surprised by how good my Japanese was already daddy, thought they stuck me with my age group 2."

"Well that probably won't last week don't worry Lily," Harry said, smiling affectionately at his precocious daughter and rubbing her head. "Have you made any friends?"

"Hmm, not yet," Lily said, frowning a little. "I think they'll need a bit to warm up to me, and me to them too. After all this is the first time I've gone to school, and fitting in is hard."

"That makes sense I suppose," Harry replied, not happy about it but understanding that sometimes it took kids time to get used to one another. Not everyone could make friends like he and Ron had right off the bat after all and they were older than Lily was to boot.

The conversation continued as they walked down the street until Lily spotted one of these small food stalls and pulled Harry towards it. The fact that it advertised oden, which was one of the things that she had really enjoyed trying over the past few weeks, explained the urgency.

Harry however paused as he was about to push his way under the stall's flap, staring up into the sky where he had noticed something flying around near one of the rooftops, frowning. _A bat? But it's not that dark out yet. Bloody hell, I hope that doesn't mean there are vampires around. Arrogant arseholes the lot of them._

 **OOOOOOO**

Back in the Occult Research Club's headquarters, Rias and Akeno were looking through the eyes of Rias's familiar via a magical spells they had learned to use in conjunction with their familiars. As one they let out involuntarily squeals at how cute Lily looked the instant she ran over to her father.

"Wow!" Akeno muttered, pushing her shoulder against Rias's. "She really does look like you when you were younger. Except perhaps for a certain air of innocence that you never had."

"Ouch," Rias said, holding a hand up to her large chest. Then she cancelled the spell, sighing slightly. "We won't follow them further for today. I just wanted to see what Lily looked like, intruding like this on family time is a little wrong."

"Ara, so you don't want to find out more about them?" Akeno teased, knowing what the answer was already.

"I didn't say that," Rias said smiling. "While I don't want to observe the two of them having family time or anything like that, that doesn't mean I don't want to snoop around their house little. After all, this is our territory, and if Harry, er Mister Potter is operating within it even with my Oni-sama's approval, we need to know more about him, don't we. Now, why don't you call up your little Oni?"

Akeno nodded, smiling happily at the justification Rias had come up with for their spying. Akeno didn't really need any of that; she was far too interested in trying to get to the bottom of the mystery that was Harry Potter to bother with justifications of any sort.

Waving one hand in the air, she summoned up her Oni. They appeared in the air, all five of them hovering there before falling, landing lightly on their feet. In appearance they were little creatures about the size of her hand that appeared to have skin colored in various shades of neon. They also wore traditional Oni clothing, complete with tiny clubs strapped to their backs. As she looked at them they lined up, saluting. "Desu!"

Giggling Akeno reached down, picking up and hugging each of them to her in turn, causing each Oni to blush as it disappeared into her chest for a moment. "My dears you're going to go on a bit of an espionage mission. Don't be seen, and please remember to work together, this isn't a competition understood?"

"Desu!" the five little Oni chorused, saluting once more as Akeno set the last of them down in the magical circle. Two of them looked a little sheepish at her words of admonishment, but they were sincere in their understanding of her orders, so that was fine.

Stepping back Akeno held her hands out over the magic circle beginning to chant a spell. Rias supplied her with Harry Potter's address, and she finished the spell which should have teleported the little things away,

Instead, the spell fizzled blocked by something. The two devils exchanged a glance and then Rias said "Send your little friend to the house next to Mr. Potter's. Let's see what happens."

That time the spell worked and Akeno nodded. "Some kind of anti-teleportation spell?"

"Well we knew he was a magician," Rias said, shrugging philosophically. "I've never heard of one of them being able to block a devilic type teleportation spell, but it isn't exactly outside the realm of possibility. It simply tells us more about Harry doesn't it?"

Akeno giggled. "So he's no longer Mister Potter at all is he?"

"Oh hush," Rias admonished, moving forward to join her friend as the circle changed, showing the area around the five Oni.

They watched as one of the Akeno's other devils stop started to climb a tree on the property they had been teleported to, which was directly behind Mr. Potter's place. As it climbed it was followed by the others, exchanging orders with them as it dropped a rope to help their climb along. "Desu. Desu Desu Desu!" The Oni in the lead ordered, the others obeying the climbing specialist quickly.

As always, both girls giggled as they heard the Onis speaking. To their ears it was only a single word, but the Oni could have entire conversations simply repeating that single word.

Unfortunately for the tiny explorers there was no tree on the other side of the fence separating the two properties. After some discussion it was decided one of them would have to jump for it. A brisk competition of rock paper scissors followed, and the little blue-skinned Oni came out the loser.

Grumbling Desus under its breath it walked back along the tree branch to get a running start before leaping off the edge of the branch shouting its battle cry. "DESUUUUUU!"

However rather than land on the grass on the other side of the fence separating the two properties, it splatted against something unseen. The jumper slammed into it like it was a solid object and the blue-skinned Oni slid down to the ground as if he had hit a window of glass. "Des…u…" the little being moaned, hitting the fence and then flopping back down to the ground.

"Some kind of solid barrier?" Akeno said intrigued. She wasn't worried about her little Oni. Despite their size they were tough, and could take massive impacts only to come bouncing back like rubber.

"Can your other Oni look inside the property?" Rias said, though she suspected the answer would be a negative. It was, and she smiled brightly. "Well now, that **is** interesting."

"Such a reaction could definitely not come from a Sacred gear, and I've never heard of a magician able to keep familiars out let alone stop them from seeing into his property at all," Akeno said, one hand coming up to rest on her chin that arm cradled by her other arm under her breasts.

This pushed those two giant mounds forward to a degree that made Rias twitch a little. "It reminds me of something we were told to avoid coming to Japan but not quite. Certainly I never heard of the hehe, going splat phenomenon before just the idea of an aversion field. Still it wouldn't affect familiars like that, this is something different."

Akeno looked at her quizzically, and Rias waved that off. "I'll think about it, we weren't given much information about the aversion fields, just to avoid going anywhere where we felt that kind of feeling."

As her queen watched Rias began to pace thoughtfully, going over everything they had already learned of the foreign Sensei, not noticing a smile had appeared on her face as she contemplated the mystery. Akeno did notice it, and was wondering if that was for the mystery, or if Rias was simply interested in Harry. It would be the first time Rias actually showed interest in a boy at all or rather a man in this case, and Akeno idly pondered how much fun she would have with that if such was in fact the case.

For her part Akeno knew she was interested in Potter the man not just the mystery. He was handsome, strong, and seemed to have a lot of willpower. What wasn't to like?

She had enjoyed trying to flirt with the man, and when he had let out that little response to her it sent a thrill up her spine. It was **so** much more interesting playing the game with someone who was willing to respond in kind rather than simply blushing, stammering or bowing to her every whim.

"We'll continue to try to get close to him," Rias decided. "But I don't think we'll keep trying to spy on him outside of class. If he became aware of our actions, it could count negatively against our getting to know him."

 _And frankly it was making me a little uncomfortable watching Harry and his daughter walk around like that,_ Rias thought but did not say aloud. Of all of her peerage, only Rias came from something which could be called a happy family, though her relationship with her father wasn't the best, and hadn't been for close to nine years now. But that was nothing compared to Koneko, Akeno or Kiba's past, and she refused to rub that into Akeno's face.

Akeno nodded and moved over to get them some tea while Rias moved over to their backpacks and got out their books.

 **OOOOOOO**

Harry decided he and Lily could eat out in their backyard for the day, having had enough of being inside for one day while at work. _That's one thing I've never heard other werewolves talk about,_ Harry thought as he brought out two small desks and his laptop sitting with his back to a tree. _Staying inside for any length of time makes us antsy. I wonder how much of that is werewolf instincts and the number of artificial scents that we smell when inside buildings, and how much of it is simply being enclosed?_

 _I also wonder how much of that will carry over to Lily_. Harry smiled slightly as he watched his daughter race out of the house, then over to a tree, climbing up it quickly then down before coming over to him an eager light in his eyes. "Work first luv, then we can play."

The young girl's eyes narrowed. Harry could almost see the wheels turn in her head as she debated trying her dreaded puppy dog eyes attack and he quickly held up a hand. "I mean it Lily. I have work I need to do too, so I wouldn't be able to play with you for very long anyway. But if we both work hard through the week, we can go running on Sunday. So let's eat while we work, and then maybe we can have some play time before your bedtime. "

That caused Lily to nod rapidly, dropping down next to her father, leaning not against the tree Harry was using as a back, but his side and pulling out her bookbag. Lily loved running, which Harry knew was her werewolf side coming out.

As Lily pulled out the food containers in turn and set them up on one of the desks, Harry's watched, a faint smile on his face not showing his thoughts. Lily and Teddy were not the first children of half-werewolf couples of course, but given the unique way Harry had dealt with the werewolf curse, Harry had to wonder how much of it would transfer over. Teddy was a year older, but he hadn't shown anything more than some slightly enhanced senses, and a more than normal hankering for meat. That made him pretty normal for kids like them.

Lily had the first, though she hadn't developed the latter, enhanced speed and, to Harry's chagrin, some enhanced strength too. He had found that out when Lily had fallen off his broom after 'borrowing it' the year before. Ginny's rage at that had been something to see, reminding Harry of Mrs. Weasley at her worst, but Lily hadn't been hurt much despite falling twenty feet, and Harry had declared that it must have been a Potter tradition to steal their parents brooms. Sirius had told him both James and Charlus, Harry's grandfather, had done the same thing.

"Here Daddy, the oden's ready. Eat it while it's hot, you know it goes manky if it gets cold," Lily said, then giggled, holding out a fork to Harry's face threatening to actually put the food in his eye rather than his mouth. "Say aahhh!"

"Ahhh," Harry said obligingly leaning forward and eating the meal off the fork. As Lily laughed, Harry put an arm around her, gently turning her to the meal and the desk containing her first day's homework. "Now, let's see what you were assigned hmmm?"

For the most part Lily was able to handle the workload easily. Math was math after all, and reading Japanese was easy enough with Harry there to help and the translation spell he had cast on the two of them. However the writing assignments, small worksheets with words she would have to copy, were a different matter. This was repetitive work, which Lily promptly began to hate with a passion. Still Harry was quick to help her, guiding her hand to write the first dozen words in kanji before leaving her to it.

With Lily thus unhappily occupied, Harry opened his laptop and signed on to his first class in the local magic. Skimming through the syllabus he found it was decently organized, but all in Japanese of course. And while he was getting used to reading it like Lily had to, he still had an issue reading down the page and from right to left, another thing he had in common with Lily.

The first class was a history lesson rather than a magical one, which was rather interesting to Harry. It detailed how the Japanese magicals had interacted with the Chinese and Korean magicals in the past, which basically had been marked with several short, **very** sharp wars. Whole communities had been wiped out in those wars, which had thoroughly mixed the different magical backgrounds up to that point. And then came World War 2.

It turned out that the Chinese magicals been wiped out during the war in China. There was a common theory between the surviving Japanese magical communities that some of their own, who had embraced the idea of Japan's racial superiority much like the Japanese military at the time, had instigated the rape of Nanking. Nanking had been the center of China's magical civilization.

Later near the end of the war the group which might have been behind it was wiped out in turn by MACUSA. The same government that would have forced Harry and Lily to carry trackers and bind their magical cores had no mercy on their enemies in a war of survival.

This had halved the size of Japan's magical population, as well as wiping out many native species, leaving only the groups that were isolationist pacifists. They had kept to themselves, hid and didn't fight in WW2 at all, and their wards were pretty incredible according to the history, and they had a pact with something called the Yokai association. After the war the surviving magicals had left behind their isolationist policies and expanded into the rest of Japan, forgoing their seclusion for a more active type of secrecy, hiding among the multitude. There were numerous references to that time that went over Harry's head, but what he understood was interesting enough. After that bit of reading however, Harry began to get to what really fascinated him: the magic of the Japanese wizards, or Onmyodo as they called themselves.

As the idea of multiple separate communities implied, magic in Japan was old, going **much** further back than Japan as a united nation did, but magic as it was practiced today came from two different presiding principles. One was based on native concepts called Kotodama. The second was based on the ancient Chinese methodology that the locals had absorbed during their wars with the mainland and it was named Onmyodo, and had given its name to the local magic-users as a whole.

There was also a third principle, called Jugondo, but the chapter Harry had been assigned as his first class - which read like a broad overview - said it was no longer practiced outside very select families. These families were almost an entirely separate community, harkening back to the same almost xenophobic ideal that the rest of the magicals had left behind after World War 2. The chapter was very blunt about that, which told Harry very bad things about how those families were both viewed, and how they possibly protected their favored status.

Harry smiled, letting loose a small 'Ahh', as he finally got to the real magic bit. This caused Lily to look up and she turned to him, eager for any excuse to take a break from her own repetitive writing assignment. "What's so interesting Daddy?" Poking her head between Harry's arms she looked at the computer screen only to see a rather intimidating wall of Japanese kanji. "Eep…"

"Heh. No worries Lily. Once I have a handle on the local magics I'll share with you. But the first thing is interesting because it highlights how different Europeans and the Japanese see magic."

"You mean like transfiguration, charms etc?" Lily asked, her little brow furrowing as she put to work everything Harry and Hermione, and Luna to a lesser extent, had told her about magic.

"Mmm sort of, since the locals don't seem to break their magical types down like that. But no, this is a bit over your head at the moment. Unless you can tell me what the idea of there being five elements instead of four would mean to transfiguration and wards?" Harry teased.

With a pout Lily turned away, smacking her dad in the side with an elbow as she went back to her own work.

Chuckling, Harry went back to reading.

Despite Onmyodo having given its name to the Japanese magicals, it was Kotodama which formed the basis of both disciplines. Translating the word to English, Kodama became 'Word of the soul' literally the idea that there were words that could impact the world around one and the individual. There were four stages to learning in Kotodama, which further broke down into mastery of the body, the world around you, the mind, and finally the soul. Those segments were further connected to the Five Basic Elements as the Asians saw the world: water, fire, wood, metal and earth, rather than wind, water, fire and earth. These elements combined to become the five pointed star which became the center of every major runic work and was called Seimei Kikyo.

First came way of the body, or Earth, since that was the element the body came from. This broke down to meaning that a healthy body equaled a healthy magical core, or at least that was what the first chapter stated. Many of the spells under this discipline however, while not being offensive or flashy were incredibly important. Several chapters were devoted to physical enhancement and other things of that nature, which Harry had never heard of before. _Combined they could let a normal magic user fight a werewolf on equal footing. But if you combine it with a werewolf's strength, you can take them to a far higher level._

Lily looked up again as her father began to hum. Sticking her head under his arm again she watched him flipping through pages, highlighting several chapter headings. "Hmm?"

"Heh, just some new and interesting spells to learn, these I might teach you first once we get to magic spells. But that's for later nosy one." Harry said with a chuckle, pushing her head back down and away. This turned into a bit of a game, but eventually Harry went back to reading as Lily once more girded herself and began to continue her writing practice.

Then came the way of the word, or wood since that was the medium used to relate the words. This directly led into the other discipline of Onmyodo, but initially was simply spells which could change the physical world around you. Charms and Transfiguration for the most part fell under this discipline and DADA equivalent offensive spells though Harry was unimpressed in the extreme by the spells the book covered. _Maybe that will be covered in greater detail by other textbooks in the future, but I somehow doubt it. I think the locals rely on Onmyodo and long term rituals rather than direct impact spells. Their rituals could be helpful though._ Harry was also intrigued by the transfiguration spells listed however, since they looked to be far more permanent and stable than the European style.

Then came the way of the soul, and here Harry made a point of breaking out his highlighter once more, since all magic dealing with the soul was seen as Dark in Europe. Here that was not the case, and the importance of the soul was pointed out in no uncertain term by it being represented by the ciphers for water and fire, or the Yin/yang symbol.

A lot of these spells were defensive in nature, protecting your sense of self from others, not your mind so much as your body, though to Harry's way of thinking the soul and mind shouldn't be separated like that. But the book talked about protecting the soul from corruption, and had spells and various defensive meditations to throw off such corruption. There were also other spells to connect ongoing magical spells directly to your soul, so you could set sort of alarms on wards which would tell you if they were tripped, something Harry had rarely seen done in Europe. It also talked about taking over the souls of animals and other beings, though not other magicals. Illusion spells and spells to fool the senses also came under this heading, since most of them worked with the glyphs for water and fire.

One line also mentioned being able to connect to 'the soul of a place' which was odd to Harry's mind, though thinking about it he supposed it meant someplace like Hogwarts. Anyone who stayed in the castle for any length of time could tell you it was alive in a way, and the idea of connecting to the castle's soul, or any place similar was interesting.

Another hint this area had about advanced learning was called aura reading. This again tied into the idea of the soul, but this was about seeing another person's soul, or rather their auras, but it tied into the idea of seeing magic in general. Advanced practitioners of the way of the soul could see people's auras, if they were trustworthy, hiding something, human, not completely human, corrupt, under the effect of spells and other things.

Of course this text didn't actually have any spell to do that, but Harry made a note to see if he could find a text which did. That classification of spells was far too useful to wait on. _And maybe with it I'll figure out why Gremory, Himejima and several of the other students seem to feel more than human to my senses, and not just Ms. Toujo._

On top of making a note about that, Harry wrote down a more specific one in the document he had opened to make notes. _"What about the Unforgiveables or an equivalent?"_ was what the message read, since there was no mention of spells that attacked the soul like Avada Kedavra or Crucio. Crucio bypassed the body entirely and basically tortured the soul, while Avada Kedavra, the spell Voldemort had used to kill Harry's mother and so many other people simply snuffed out the soul. The omission of even a mention of spells that targeted the soul could be explained away by the beginner's nature of this course, but Harry wasn't certain about that.

Last came the way of the mind, Harry read. This was contained in the way of the metal element because if you have steel protecting your mind, you could guard against foreign influences. According to the chapter few practitioners made it to that point, simply because of how tough it was, and because mental magics weren't' flashy enough for modern magic users. Indeed, the book was somewhat disdainful of mental magics beyond the requirement to defend you mind from intrusion, and skipping ahead, Harry found no lessons on this discipline within the textbook he had been assigned. _Darn it, it would have been interesting to see how different the local mental magics are to Occlumency. Still, we'll have to see when we get there._

From there the introduction chapter gave a brief overview of Onmyodo, or as Harry thought of it, Runes and Arithmancy. Onmyodo was built on the use of talismans, the runic equivalent, and looking ahead saw that two-thirds of the book was devoted to teaching this ancient text. And the thing that came away to Harry after reading the summary was the word diversity. Onmyodo could use talismans to do a lot of the things Europeans would use direct effect spells for, and use them for longer. Their wards weren't as brute force powerful as the European equivalent: they wouldn't be able to hide an entire community in the center of a bustling city. But they would be able to hide it far more subtly in say a national park.

Talismans could be used to bind, blind, defend against offensive spells and physical attacks; force someone or something to submit, and other, far more subtle things. They could affect the mind like a permanent Imperio almost, so long as the talisman was on the individual. The summary had a picture of an Oni like the two Harry had seen in the airport upon their arrival. The Oni had a naturally high level of magical resistance but with the collars on them and the number of talismans there directly touching their skin, that could be bypassed and their minds were quite weak in comparison. Talismans could even be used to ward an area, though they needed to be connected to a power source, and even conjure or as the locals put it, summon things.

At this point Harry noticed that Lily was almost finished her writing assignment and decided to set his work aside for the night, knowing once she became bored Lily became a right little hellion. He would have to write up a summary of what he had just read and submit it. His classes would begin in earnest next week. Those classes would again be more about history and local laws. The actual magic spells didn't begin for another month, though Harry certainly wasn't going to stick to that schedule. _Aura sensing spells, then illusion spells I think, and after that start work on Onmyodo. I should be able to skip ahead like that and keep working on the history and law lessons if I'm careful about it. Doing so while working is irritating, but I just have to get through this segment before we get to the good stuff. For now though, I have a slowly sizzling redhead to diffuse._

With that thought Harry shut down his laptop and stood, grabbing the desk under his laptop. "Okay, I think that's enough work for one evening. Let's clean up a bit Lily, then we can play Hunt the Snitch for a bit."

 **OOOOOOO**

"With so many devils there it's making me nervous, I'm glad that our orders were just to observe for a few weeks before acting if the boy's sacred gear seems to be on the verge of activating." A black haired woman was saying to two familiar faces and one unfamiliar male face. She seemed to be a high school student, with a very good body, if not quite as top heavy as Rias let alone Akeno, with a face that could have graced many a painting or sculpture, matching her body for allure.

"And that doesn't even include the new teacher." She concluded scowling angrily. The expression twisted her angelic features into something not nearly as pretty.

"New teacher, what about him? Is he another devil we'll have to watch out for Raynare?" asked the man.

"He's some kind of were-creature I think," the now named Raynare said, scowling angrily. "Of course I couldn't take the chance of trying to cast a spell on him, but he definitely gave off that kind of wild vibe. And he's quite powerful too."

Both of the others, Kalawarner and Mittelt perked up. "Handsome twenty-something with raven-black hair, emerald eyes, tall with dreamy physique?" asked Kalawarner.

"That's him," Raynare said, then paused. "Wait, he's the one you two mentioned… That's a bizarre coincidence."

"I don't believe in coincidences," said Mittelt and the man it at the same time, before glaring at one another. "Hey don't copy me. Stop it!"

"Shut it you two," Raynare ordered, pacing around pews of the abandoned church that was their headquarters in Kuoh Town, thinking hard. The fact of the matter was that Harry Potter scared her for some reason. There was an aura of power and experience around him. As a soldier herself Raynare could spot such things in others. "We're going to have to be on the lookout for him and be very, very careful."

"Or, I could run into him by chance… He was interested in me when we ran into one another before. That way I'll be close enough to surprise him if he acts against us for some reason, and keep an eye on him too." Kalawarner said diffidently.

Kalawarner was a little worried about that idea since it might mean taking action against Lily and one thing she had never done was kill or even harm a child. But if it was that or being forced to go rogue after disobeying their superior in the Grigori orders, then she would have to do it.

The man scoffed. "Please, not everyone can fall for that kind of stupidity Kalawarner."

"Just because you fell through violence doesn't mean you can look down on those of us who fell for more subtle reasons Dohnaseek," Kalawarner shot back firmly "And unless you want to die in a blaze of glory against the number of high level devils there are around here, I suggest you keep it under control."

Waving them both to silence Raynare addressed Kalawarner's idea. "Hmm… I'll think about it. The problem is what if he notices what you are while you're getting close to him?" She asked.

Kalawarner smiled, reaching up to her hair she stroked her fingers through it, then moved her hand down her body, accentuated her curves. Like all Fallen Angels, Kalawarner's body was built to seduce, and she knew it. "Knowing what I am is a far cry from being able to think about what it means and take action against me. Leave it to me Raynare, don't worry."

The Gothic Lolita shook her head at that, but had to admit it was a good point. Many a powerful man had been done in by a pretty face and a sexy body and though she hated to admit it, Kalawarner was pretty good at that game. _Now if only I could convince myself that it was a good idea in this case?_ She thought to herself wondering what power Harry Potter hid as Raynare turned back to the original discussion about the target they were actually here to watch.

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day, Harry woke up early enough to cook a large breakfast for both him and Lily with time left over to prepare a lunch for his daughter as well. However, after checking his schedule for the day, Harry decided to spend the rest of his time that morning after waking Lily up for a shower to prepare himself. _FUUCKKK! I really didn't think this through hard enough._

Several minutes later Lily came down hopping from one step to another, pausing in the doorway into the kitchen as she spotted the look on her father's face. "Why are you looking so sour daddy?"

Harry smiled at her wanly, unwilling to tell her why. It would be his first physical education class today, something he had been looking forward to meeting his students and seeing their reaction to him. _There are supposed to be rules about teacher-student relations, right? Did they not get the memo on that?_ _I hope that at least Gremory and Himejima don't continue where they left off yesterday._ To help combat this however, Harry had locked away his instincts his werewolf side and his libido in three different cells in his mind via legilimency.

"It's nothing to concern yourself with Lily," Harry said aloud with a smile, reaching down to ruffle her hair. "Now eat up and I'll walk you to school before heading off to work."

Lily noted that there will seems to be an inordinate amount of mothers there this morning as her father dropped her off, and she glared at them all, before hugging her father tightly around the middle. "I'm fine now daddy, remember you have to get to work." She admonished, waving a finger up at him and wanting him out of there as fast as possible.

Harry but he did turn away, ignoring the looks of the women around them which had been Lily's objective anyway. With a final wave his way she turned, rolling her eyes at the various mothers around. Many of them had hidden their ring hands behind their bodies, though Lily hadn't noticed that, just the interest they had towards her daddy. Giving them the stink-eye, Lily then rushed off to class.

At Kuoh Harry's day started early. His first class was set in the first period of the day, the final freshman English class, followed by the two sophomore years. His first class went very well. Evidently word had gotten around about how he ran his classes, and he didn't run into any disciplinary issues like he had with the three perverts or the girls who wanted to beat them up. Instead the freshman boys and girls vied eagerly by the sweets as they had in Koneko's class.

His second class however went a little bit oddly. As Harry was moving around the room, handing out syllabuses and generally getting to know the students by asking them questions and having them tell him their names at the same time, he paused, staring at one girl at the far back.

The girl had glasses and rather unkempt long darkish hair to go with a thin, bookish build. She was staring at Harry, her eyes glazed over and actual drool coming running from her mouth. He blinked moving to one side, and watched her almost glazed eyes track his face as he did.

Coughing and feeling decidedly uncomfortable for some reason Harry gestured to her as he looked around at the rest of the class. "Something seems to be wrong with her. Would one of you take her to the nurse's office?"

More than a few of the girls looked back, and groaned a little while many of the others giggled. The girl in question however answered before any of them could, muttering, "Eight, eight and a half inches and five around."

For some reason, those words caused many of the girls around her to blush hotly as they stared at Harry,, and Harry resolutely turned his back deciding he really, really didn't want to know. Hiding behind his desk from the girl's gaze, which he now realized was locked on his crotch, Harry began the class.

When it became time for her to read, the girl didn't respond to any of the questions and he shook his head. "I don't know what you are drooling or thinking about but I am going to have to send you to detention Miss Kiryuu. You'll serve it with the Student council president, who I understand is named Shitori-san."

At the mention of the student Council President's name, Aika Kiryuu sobered up quickly, staring at him in shock. "No wait, I'm awake, I'll read it, I'll read the lines and I'll even do voices like you got the freshies to do." Then she twisted her face into what she might have thought was sultry but which just looked disturbing to Harry. "Though if you insist on giving me a detention I'll serve with you sensei. Whatever you order me to…"

"I don't think so. This isn't such a huge issue that I want you to become the first person to have detention with me, and besides, the way you reacting to her very name tells me that you'll possibly learn not to act like this in the future if I force you to serve at Shitori-san's pleasure."

Aika slumped a little, muttering something about stupid sexy foreigners not going along with her fantasies, and Harry shuddered once more. Shaking that idea out of his mind Harry resolutely gestured to the next girl in the back row moving on with the class.

After that was lunch and Harry hid in the teacher's lounge, asking the other teachers plaintively "Can anyone tell me what's wrong with a girl named Aika Kiryuu?"

Several of the teachers laughed at that. "She is a pervert!" said one of the female Senseis shaking her head. "One of the few female perverts I've ever known."

One of the men shivered. "Yeah, Kiryuu s got this weird power, where she accurately guesses your um… proportions. Like that one new sophomore Matsuda is supposedly able to do to girls."

Harry blinked. He never actually measured himself, but now that he thought about it that sounded accurate enough. Shaking his head angrily he looked around and asked "So what we do about her and that trio?"

"Kiryuu keeps her grades up; in fact she's one of the smartest students in the sophomore year. And she's never actually gone beyond taking everyone's 'measurements' and lewd suggestions," said one of the other male teachers sheepishly. "So our ability to do anything about her is limited. We can assign detentions if Aika's a little too loud in class, but that's about it.

"And in your case, that would probably be counter-productive." A female teacher said dryly. She looked Harry up and down, shaking your head dramatically. "Oh if only I wasn't married…"

Harry chuckled at that, but turned back to the other teacher. "I actually found a better way to threaten her. I assigned Kiryuu detention with the Student Council President and sent the classroom rep to tell Shitori-san about it."

"That will work," said more than one of the teachers. "Sona-sama is both respected and feared by the rest of the students, if anyone can keep her in line she well." Finished one of the older teachers.

After having a relatively pleasant lunch meal with the other teachers Harry sighed, then went into the small changing room for the teachers before making his way to the track field. Once there he began to bring out various equipment from the storage shed waiting for the students to arrive, both anticipating and dreading it.

Once the students began to arrive Harry groaned, tearing his eyes away from two students in particular as he realized that the first physical education class was for the third years. And that the girls here all wore bloomers and t-shirts, as he had seen in some pictures here and there while walking around the town.

The bloomers left little to the imagination, showing off legs and rear easily. Most of the girls he could avoid looking at, they were still young teens and had teen bodies. But Akeno and Rias, along with the black-haired girl he knew was the student council president did not have teen bodies. Shitori-san was tall and leggy, her legs such that models would weep to have their equal, her body shown off to a great degree.

However it was Rias and Akeno who took his breath away. Their legs were not nearly as svelte, but they had wider, more womanly curves, their rears tight but still soft looking. Their chests, in particular Akeno's, strained under their t-shirts to a degree that made Harry idly wonder if the shirts could feel pain. They were altogether delectable, and the moment Harry saw them cracks began to appear in the wall of the cages he had pushed his libido and werewolf instincts into.

It was as if the moment he looked at them something about the women hit his mental defenses with the power of a cannon, slipping under and through it. Harry suddenly wanted to grab those breasts, to play with them, to hear their owners moaning his name. He wanted to lick them from head to toe, to fist his hands in their hair and kiss their breath away.

 _Damn it, it's like they are Veela only a slightly darker and far more subtle sort, just like that Kalawarner woman. My mental defenses can't handle it, not with their bodies or their allure or whatever calling out to my own instincts and werewolf side._

Turning away Harry grabbed his mental control with both metaphorical hands, slapping another wall of steel around the cages, before he turned, smiling brightly at the third years and not letting his eyes linger on the girls who had such an impact on him. "All right boys and girls, five minutes to loosen up, and then I want you to line up over here."

Harry watched, as the girls separated from the boys moving into groups of two as they began to stretch. The boys all gathered together, and Harry moved toward them, describing a few leg and hand exercises that they could do. The girls seemed to have a better idea of what to do stretching wise, but many of them listened in too.

Though he didn't know it, this was because Harry was showing the boys examples of the stretches, not that the girls didn't know them or alternatives. Harry was incredibly well-built, with the build of a swimmer, heavily muscled upper body and trim legs. At one point his shirt actually rode up as he did a stretch, showing off a very well defined torso.

Observing the girls Harry was unsurprised to see Rias and Akeno pairing up and resolutely turned away as Akeno began to do dips, not incidentally thrusting her rear out towards Harry. Then she began to stretch her arms up above her head and work out the kinks and in her neck, having again turned so that she was thrusting her chest out towards where Harry was roaming around. It was an obvious come on, but she made it seem so natural Harry doubted any of the other students noticed save Rias who rolled her eyes.

For her part Rias was simply going through the motions of stretching out, watching as Akeno bent and contorted her body, trying to get a reaction out of Harry as she had somewhat done the day before. However, Rias was not surprised to see that Harry had clamped down on his reaction to them. I _f he hadn't, I might've actually lost some respect for him. After all he is a Sensei, it shouldn't be so easy to get his attention as all that._

Someone coughed nearby, causing Akeno to huff mock-irritably and stop what she was doing. "I'm just having fun Shitori-sama, there's nothing against that." she whispered.

"Actually there probably is a specific law against it, even if it is the 'minor' who initiates things." Sona said, pushing up her glasses as she turned away from Akeno to rejoined stretching with her own Tsubaki.

After five minutes had elapsed Harry called the class together. He split them all up into two teams, making certain to split Rias and Akeno up as well as Sona and Tsubaki. Akeno and the Tsubaki found themselves on one team, and Rias and Sona on the other. He had no idea about what the four of them were, only that something, some sense that he couldn't quite name, was telling him that they were more than they seemed to be, and he didn't want the two teams to be uneven.

The two kings exchanged a glance, shrugging as Harry began to kick a football over into the middle of the football field. "The game is football ladies and gentlemen. I expect you to nominate a team captain, decide on a goalie and forward positions and all of that yourselves. The objective is to win. The losing team has to do ten laps for every point they are behind."

Akeno held a hand up to her cheek, blushing slightly. "Ara, that's so sadistic~~."

Next to her Tsubaki rolled her eyes, and promptly moved over towards the goal. "I will be goalie Himejima-san please pick out your forward strikers, and the students who will have to sit out this first rotation."

"I wish we were on opposing sides for this," Rias said, shaking her head as she stood next to her friend Sona who had been unanimously elected captain. Rias herself would be goalie.

"True, but I have to admit to having wondered about how I would stack up against your queen in a purely physical contest like this." Sona replied

All devils were almost all devils were naturally competitive, and these two was no exception. "Ah, I could say the same thing, Rias said, shaking her friend's hand then moving towards the goal. Moments later the game began.

For the next hour Harry raced from one end of the pitch to the other, always moving with the ball, and calling the game fairly. When he saw a few student tiring out, he ordered them to rotate with a few others who were standing on the sidelines of the two teams. He had also already prepared some Gatorade for them.

During this Harry made a note of the students who were most athletic and those who were not athletic at all, the better to make certain that there were no bullying allowed and to make certain he had a good idea of how hard to push all of them. He wasn't certain that the physical kind of bullying was an issue among girls, but he assumed it might be.

The game ended with Rias and Sona victorious by one point. In fact, that one point was the only point scored throughout the entire game. The two teams had been incredibly even, with Akeno actually being slightly better at football than Sona, but she had been unable to coordinate her team nearly as well.

"How do you run in those?" Sona said pointing angrily at Akeno's chest as they all moved to over the track.

Akeno bounced in place once or twice, setting her giant breasts to jiggling in a manner that caused every boy in the class to look away with a blush on his face. Harry had already looked away, determined not to get involved in that conversation. Especially since his mental cages had grown several more giant cracks in them.

"It's just a talent I suppose. Don't worry Shitori-san," Akeno said chuckling gleefully. "Eventually you'll be able to have a body like this too. Perhaps some time when you're in your thirties?"

Sona glared at her, and Rias stepped between the two whispering that the other king shouldn't let Akeno get to her like that. This was a bit of a pot calling the kettle black, as Rias had been envious of the Akeno's figure for the longest time and still was slightly, though nowhere near as much as she had been when they were all younger.

Akeno's amusement ended however as Harry blew his whistle, ordering her team to start moving around the track. "10 laps for you ladies and gentlemen, and as for the winners, you only have to do two. However, if you are lapped by any of those who are doing more, I'll tack on some more to your own amount."

"Mmmm~~, so merciless~~," Akeno moaned. She and the other devils then blinked in surprise as Harry joined them racing along easily before passing through them.

"And if I pass any of you twice, you'll have to do twenty more laps!" He shouted over his shoulder.

With that everyone began to run around the track. Harry ran along beside them for a time or ahead of them and then slowly coming up behind the slower runners, egging them on.

Harry loved to run. He had been a decent sprinter when he was younger, the better to get away from Dudley and his gang, but since he had been bitten that had turned into a true love of running. Thanks to his werewolf side, Harry could out run sprinters and keep going long after endurance runners fell over dead.

As Harry ran he resolutely kept his eyes straight ahead above the crowd not looking at the girls who were obviously not wearing bras. Akeno in particular bounced with every step she took, though Rias was only slightly behind her in the bouncy department and Rias had worn a sports bra.

Coming up behind the two of them who along with Sona and her Tsubaki were in the lead, Harry said, "Better put a move on ladies, or I'm going to pass you for the second time."

He did this somewhat deliberately. For one thing, the four of them seemed to be the trendsetters among this grade and possibly the entire student body. If he won them over, and if the other students saw him working them just as hard as he worked the rest of the students in or out of the classroom, then he hoped he wouldn't have problems in the future in terms of discipline or students simply skiving off.

The other reason was wondering what they were and if whatever it was translated into physical skills. The game seemed to point to that: all four of them had outperformed the rest of the class. But this might well give him another clue as to what they were.

An instant later as he passed through them, Harry felt something. Watching out of the corner of his eye he saw Rias's eyes change color for a brief second to red before going back to normal. Afterwards however she and the others sped up quickly, catching up to him, their tiredness seemingly disappearing.

 _It looked as if they used magic there, or perhaps something like removing a limiter_? Harry wasn't certain what he was feeling just then, but there was definitely a greater presence about the four of them, of something beyond human then there had been.

Moments later, the two Kings finished the run, stepping over to the side. Rias began to shout encouragement to the rest of her team, as Sona did the same, only a very different matter. While Rias simply cheered, she shouted "Don't you dare embarrass Kuoh Academy by letting the new Sensei pass you twice!"

This actually seemed to work even on the boys and Harry decided to call it a day, letting the others stay ahead of him. Of course, that was partially because of time limitations, but it was still a decent enough showing.

"Well done everyone! As you can all see, I intend to make our physical education classes as team oriented as I can. We'll switch off sports occasionally like this as well as other team-based games. But we will also always be putting in some sprinting time along the track every week, and we'll also start integrating weightlifting and other things of that nature for the boys and any girls who wish to work on that rather than their overall endurance next class."

"That was quite interesting Potter-sensei," Rias said, moving up beside Harry as the others made for the changing rooms.

"I thought so," Harry said looking down at her.

"You aren't even sweating," Rias said making her tone one of marvel as she looked him up and down and not just to check for sweat. He was a very handsome man after all, and Rias actually felt a thrill having to look up at him like this, his emerald eyes looking into her own.

"Neither are you any longer," He retorted, giving her a very direct look.

Rias looked away smiling slightly. "Well, we do all have our own little secrets."

Harry smiled politely at that. "I won't pry if you don't?"

"That might not be an option for me," Rias said regretfully, before bowing and turning away moving over to join Akeno by the doorway into the ladies changing area. Akeno winked at Harry, turning away as she ran her hair her fingers through her hair, swaying her hips as she followed her king.

Harry frowned thoughtfully, wondering what Rias had meant by that, and further once more wondering just what she and those four students were. He was certain they were all of a kind, but beyond that he didn't really know. _Definitely going to skip ahead to the lessons about discerning auras as soon as I bloody well can,_ He vowed, moving off to put the gear away.

 **OOOOOOO**

"You were awfully up front with him there Rias," Sona said dispassionately.

"Sona, it's obvious Potter-sensei can tell that we are different from the other students already." Rias said, lathering some soap into her hair, as water ran down her curves. Those curves were such that most adult women would be willing to literally kill or damn her soul for, large yet perky beasts, flat stomach and thin waist. The water ran down to her nice, firm but still soft rear then fell down her long legs taking with it the suds of the soap. "It is better to be up front about such things than try to prevaricate beyond what we already are doing."

"I suppose…" Sona said. "I just wish we could tell more about what Potter is beyond a werewolf and a magician. That aura of his is very strong. And I think we need to keep what we are a secret from him whatever happens."

Tsubaki had taken the time during class to get a proper reading of Harry's aura and much of her findings matched up with what Akeno had discerned the day before. There was a strange dichotomy of white and black and his aura, though Tsubaki reported that at least the black portion looked like it was artificial, the remnant of a curse. The werewolf portion of it showed clearly to Tsubaki, but even that was diluted by other things, slight difference in color as it were that Tsubaki Shinra had never seen before. The fact he could use magic too was at least obvious.

But it was the power of that aura, as well as the odd dichotomy of light and dark that worried Sona. A magic user in itself wasn't something that would concern her, magicians could never match devils for sheer power and there were few spells which could bother a devil given their own innate magical defenses. But the power Potter put off was something else altogether, matching what Sona and Rias had felt fromMacGregor, the bishop in Sirzechs' peerage though there was no taint of the devilish in Potter Sensei.

It somewhat worried Rias too, but her growing fascination in what Harry could possibly be overrode that. "I understand your point, but I'm beginning to think that in this case being up front and honest with one another could be the way to go, treating Potter-sensei as an equal. I won't make a hasty decision of course, nor will I out our devil nature unless as a last second resort, but I can't say it won't happen eventually."

Sona winced at that, but conceded the point. After all, she'd be willing to take any risk too if she was to be married to Riser Phenex. "How long?" She asked, making no effort to elaborate as to what she was asking about.

"Six months or so. He could possibly jump the gun and start pressuring me in five, but I don't think my family would allow that," Rias said grimly. "So say four months before I have to make a decision one way or another about confronting Potter-sensei."

 **OOOOOOO**

After that class Harry had the freshmen and then the last sophomore English class followed swiftly by the Sophomore PE class.

During this, Harry noticed other students who were somewhat beyond the norm, though nowhere near as much as the four he had spotted earlier. It wasn't as if they were inherently a different type, it was like the difference between a powerful Wizard and a normal one in some cases, whereas others had a more solid physical feel to them.

That was all Harry could tell with his extremely limited senses, which more often than anything came down to an odd feeling of otherness and noticing which student outperformed others physically.

One sophomore in particular stood out slightly, Kiba Yuuto. He seemed to be holding himself back slightly so as not to stand out, though he did that already with his good looks and manners. Or at least he did according to the shrieks and shouts of the girls watching from the sidelines anyway. Harry was amused to note that it didn't matter what team they were on, both sides rooted for their prince, who simply smiled politely to them whenever he got a chance. Despite being just as competitive the goalies on these two teams were not nearly as good as the Tsubaki and Rias had been and Kiba's team won five to nothing, and even that was because he had held back.

Something Harry should have expected was the fact that the three perverts made trouble. They ogled the girls, shouting out incredibly demeaning words, concentrating on their oppai to the exclusion of actually participating in the class. Eventually Harry had to threaten them with a run till you drop endurance lesson to get them to shut up. That worked on the trio of boys, though Aika Kiryuu was more a problem, making lewd comments about Harry and the boys in the class as often as she could.

That day after school, Harry paused in putting away the sports equipment, heading towards the gym as he heard the sounds of wood clacking together. _That must be that sword fighting class, kendo was it?_

Entering the gym, Harry found the very boy he had been watching during the gym class instructing a few of the female students in some of the finer points of swordsmanship.

As the boy dueled his opponent, Harry move forward, analyzing the match with some difficulty. The boy was holding back his speed. Harry could see there were slight but noticeable twitches in his shoulders and arms as he moved. During their final years together Sirius had taught Harry some sword-fighting in order to offset the normal wizardly reliance on long-range spells. Then again, Harry also had his werewolf abilities, so close range never been a problem for him after being bitten. Even Albus had got into the act making sword fighting one of the few untarnished memories Harry had of his former headmaster. _He might have been going as crazy as a box of rocks, but he was still one of the better swordsmen I'll ever meet._

Unconsciously Harry opened his mouth, shouting out "Kirasa-san, move your back foot slightly to the left, your balance is off."

The girl complied quickly, and then both combatants paused as their blades locked, looking at him quizzically. "Well?" Harry said cocking an eyebrow, "What are you looking at? If you're opponent looks away, take advantage of it!"

"That seems a little dirty, sensei," Kiba said cautiously.

"Are we being awarded points for playing nice?" Harry asked sarcastically. "I thought this was a sword fighting club, not an etiquette class. I can't imagine you'd be penalized in such a moment during a match after all."

Kiba laughed at that and the girls did too, though there was a bit of an edge to their voice as Harry once more sort of denigrated the sport they had devoted a lot of time and passion to.

Once more Kiba and the girl across from him clashed, with Harry's calling out small instructions, most of which were about foot placement and grip, which seemed to carry over from European style sword-fighting to Kendo, where the strikes and upper body movement did not. Eventually the match ended with a victory for Kiba, but he had to work for it quite a bit more than he would have otherwise if Harry had not been continually correcting the girls mistakes and shouting out warnings to her predicting his attacks.

"Am I that predictable Sensei?" he asked ruefully looking over at Harry, a smile on his face though his eyes were somewhat serious.

"Your attacks are little linear, but that's not a problem really given the formal nature of kendo I'd guess," Harry said with a smile of his own.

"That was amazing sensei!" said one of the girls, practically gushing as she led the others over to Harry. "Did all that come from your knowledge of self-defense? Or are you a sword fighter too?"

"I was trained by my godfather and a rather elderly gentleman, named Albus Dumbledore. Silly name I'll admit, but he was a master at it. Far better than I am," Harry said, smiling fondly at once more the memories came. "Still, that was interesting."

"Would you care for a match sometime?" Kiba asked, somewhat innocently, somewhat to. The way Harry had analyzed his style had piqued his interest, and he knew that Rias-sama was interested in finding out more about their new teacher.

"I'm afraid not," Harry said with a laugh. "Or at least not now. Perhaps sometime in the future when I have the time you can wail on me Yuuto-san, I doubt I'd be able to keep up with your speed or style after all. Right now, I have to go pick up my daughter, in fact I'm probably going to be late as it is."

"I look forward to it then," Kiba replied.

The girls didn't want Harry to go just yet, Murayama in particular pushing him to stay and take part in the practice, but Harry waved them off, quickly exiting the gym.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Curiouser and curiouser" Rias said after her knight told him about Harry's comments during Kiba's practice with the incoming Kendo enthusiasts. He routinely helped out the Kendo Club despite being part of her ORC. She held back an urge to squeal with the ease of long practice at keeping her thoughts hidden. _I love mysteries!_

Sona however shook her head. Once more she was there with Tsubaki, the two peerages meeting to discuss the new mystery that had come to the school. "This mystery is looking to more and more like one that could bite us on the rear if handled wrong."

"Did you just say rear?" Akeno asked, mock-incredulously. When Sona glared at her she just giggled. "That's so cute."

Sona rolled her eyes, but looked over at her friend, who nodded. "I agree, but we still have to get to the bottom of the mystery come what may. Besides, his daughter is certainly real. Whatever else, Harry didn't come here to create trouble for us. His presence may, but not on purpose."

"That's true," Sona murmured. Though she hadn't seen the girl in question Rias and Akeno had told the others about Lily, being rather effusive in how they described her cuteness. "No one would bring a child into a combat situation after all."

Then she paused looking at her friend somewhat amusedly and somewhat suspiciously. "So Potter Sensei is Harry now?"

"Ara, how bold~," Akeno chimed in; always eager to tease anyone regardless of whom it was she targeted. "And scandalous too Buchou."

"Eep! N, no it's not like that you two and you know it!" Rias shouted back, while Kiba decided to make a hasty exit, followed by Koneko and the rest of the mixed peerage. This was one battle none of them wanted to be involved in.

 **OOOOOOO**

Picking Lily up from school, Harry once again noticed there was something off about his daughter's normal ebullient attitude. "Trouble at school?"

"Just new kids trouble that daddy," Lily said, holding onto his hand as they walked home. She wanted to eat out again, but Harry had vetoed that, saying they had eaten out the day before, and he had perfectly good ingredients waiting at home. "They'll get over it eventually."

"That's a remarkably mature attitude Lily," Harry said approvingly, leaning down to give her a light kiss on the forehead, then hefting her one of his shoulders as he walked on, with her giggling and holding on for dear life. "Now come on! Let's head home, I'm hungry."

 **OOOOOOO**

Thankfully for his self-control, Harry had an easier time of it after those first two days for the next two weeks, as the students got back into the scholastic mode and he got a handle on the workload both for his job and his classes. He even found the time to head out and buy a textbook from the local magic users which covered the idea of aura reading and meditating on the soul, though neither book would arrive for another week.

On the teaching side of things classes were going well, with each grade level performing decently to his expectations. There were still a few problems, the Perverted Trio made trouble whenever he had them in class, but that was easily dealt with. The girls also didn't seem to like the fact that he wouldn't just let them attack the perverts, but again, that was easily dealt with and Harry didn't even need to raise his voice again. Kiryuu still sometimes freaked him out during class, but the threat of further detention kept her in line.

PE was another matter entirely, but even there, Harry had begun to get a better handle on controlling them. He had seen the three perverts hanging around afterward several times, but again never for long enough to worry him just yet.

The best classes he had were the three freshmen classes, who he continued to force to compete for sweets every other day. It worked very well, and after two weeks most of the freshmen were ahead of where they would have been according to the syllabus he had been given to modify. The other teachers also praised him for getting Koneko to join the rest of the classes as much as she was, since it was well known that she was very much a loner before this.

On the personal side of things, by the first Friday of his time at Kuoh most of the girls seemed to back off from their flirtatious or leering ways, seeming to realize he was a teacher and took that seriously. The exception to this was Akeno who continued to subtly (and not so subtly) try to get a rise out of him. But despite a growing desire to bend her over his desk and hammer her until she cried for mercy Harry could handle a single student acting out like that, even one with a positively sinful body like hers, than he could all the girls acting like he was some kind of super star.

This was put to the test once more the second Friday of his time at Kuoh as the final bell of the day rang. Where he had class 3-A first on Mondays he had it last Friday. Now he watched As Akeno stood up from her desk, stretching out her arms above her head and thrusting her chest out before letting her hands fall down to pull at her skirt, which had ridden up showing some more of her bare legs between her long socks and skirt than was appropriate. _And is it my imagination, or did she shrink her shirt somewhat?_

Regardless Harry looked away quickly before Akeno could notice he had looked at all. By the time she turned her eyes toward him Harry was blandly watching as the students left to head home or to their clubs, idly flipping through some papers at the same time.

Akeno pouted, her eyes flashing as she it back a growl of irritation. _Darn it, you, you man, why won't you react again!?_

Rias watched this with amusement as she watched Akeno grit her teeth behind her normal Yamato Nadeshiko mask, trying and failing to keep her own reaction off her face as she moved toward the doorway, pushing her friend along before stopping to bow toward Potter-Sensei, who returned it. Akeno was used to using her feminine wiles to bend men to her whims, not so much to get them to do things, but to notice her really, and the fact that Harry had stopped reacting at all to her after that first day was driving Akeno up the wall, much to her king's amusement.

Though Rias didn't know it, Akeno had become somewhat interested in Harry beyond his magical powers. The fact he was no longer reacting to her, while she became more and more fascinated with him hurt Akeno, something even Akeno hadn't realized just yet.

For her part the redhead had taken an entirely different method of getting closer to the Englishman than her friend, which she knew had borne quite a bit of fruit. She had stopped any attempt at overt flirtation after that first day. Instead she simply talked to Potter-sensei whenever she could, after school or before school or during the lunch break sometimes. Sometimes she pressed him to agree to be her clubs advisor, other times she asked for help with her English. Many times Rias simply asked him about life in England and told him about living in Japan in return. Other times they just talked, about the weather, local parks, movies, food and other things. They exchanged recipes nearly every day, though those conversations quickly grew to include Akeno, who loved cooking just as much as Rias or more depending on who you asked.

Through this method she was learning far more about Harry the person and vice versa. Rias slowly realized as they talked that Harry didn't see her as a Gremory, something everyone else did, or as one of the Two Great Ladies, like the rest of the school. He saw her simply as Rias, his student, and, dare she think it, his friend. In turn she was beginning to see him as more than a mystery too or even a possible help in terms of her future problem, which was a dangerous shift, Rias had to admit. Still she couldn't say she was unhappy to see it.

As the two students left, Harry breathed a sigh of relief, reminded anew of the one thing that had continued to bother him over the past two weeks: the niggling at Harry's senses whenever those two or those like them were around him and the fact that despite his mental control their looks still got to him. Closing his eyes, Harry took a moment to renew his Occlumentic control over his libido and werewolf instincts before shaking his head.

 _God damn, when the book on auras and meditation arrive I will seriously need to read into them. They're impacting me almost as much as Veela, but much more subtly. At least with Rias I know she isn't doing it on purpose, but Akeno is… well she's a fucking vamp! And off limits, remember that boyo. Thank Merlin the rest of them haven't joined in on her little game._

Sighing Harry gathered up his paperwork and left to pick-up Lily, only to be reminded of something else that was bothering him over the past two weeks: the fact that Lily was having some kind of trouble at school. Against as he picked her up he noticed she wasn't as smiling and happy as she normally would be. It had nothing to do with her work, Harry knew she was whizzing through most of the work they were doing even if she was having a lot of trouble with the writing assignments.

"Practice, practice and boring practice!" Lily had become fond of wailing throwing her hands up in the air in her best impression of Ginny having a moment, as Harry had used to say after Ginny lost an argument or blew up over something small.

Looking down at his daughter, Harry decided to confront her about what was bothering her tomorrow over breakfast. He hadn't really been able to do a lot with Lily lately beyond sitting together and working on their separate work, which was not what he thought of as family. I think it's time to correct that.

Instead of letting Lily lead him away from the school, Harry leaned down hefting her onto his shoulder with a negligent show of strength that caused the mothers around him to blush even more than they had been. However he ignored them, heading off in a different direction than home. "Come on Lily, I think it's time the two of us have a 'we' night. You have no homework due tomorrow right?"

When lily nodded, hugging his head with one arm Harry smiled up at her. "In that case, let's go out to dinner and a movie. That cartoon one you wanted to see."

"It's not called cartoons here daddy, it's called anime!" Lily said with all the fervor of the convert. She had really gotten into anime and graphic novels over the past two weeks, and now was smiling happily at the idea of heading to see the newest One Piece movie.

The next day however, Harry went through with his plan to talk to Lily about whatever was going on at school. Schools in Japan had a half day on Japan for PE classes and for school activities. This was further sign that schools were intended to be the center of life from first grade on up to college to a level that would have been odd to most. But Harry, used as he was to thinking in terms of the boarding school that was Hogwarts didn't find it all that unusual.

This day however Harry knew was going to be a big one for him. First, he was going to have the students start working with actual weight machines, and then he was going to start teaching them some self defense. By this point he had seen all the various martial arts related clubs in action, and while they were good, they really didn't do anything specifically for self-defense, concentrating more on physical ability and training in the various forms to prepare their students for matches. What Harry wanted to teach the students was going to be more applicable in the real world and to boys and girls who weren't even all that athletic.

On top of that, this was the day the teachers went over the budget requests from all the various clubs before they began to recruit from among the freshman who hadn't yet made their choice. Since he was the PE teacher Harry had to be involved in that discussion as part of his job, which was irritating, but he couldn't' get out of it.

Sitting across from his daughter at breakfast that morning Harry asked causally, "So, are you having a big person problem or a little person problem still?"

Lily blinked then scowled looking down at her home made pancakes. "I should've known you'd notice. It's still a little person problem daddy. Don't worry I'll handle it, they haven't done anything more than name calling yet. I still want to handle it myself."

Narrowing his eyes, Harry nodded. He knew better than to ask where the teachers were in all this, as a teacher himself he knew teachers simply couldn't be around at all times, and bullies had a certain low cunning to them even at the elementary level. "Alright Red Moon, but if it looks as if the big people know about it and are condoning it, I want you to tell me. They shouldn't but sometimes teachers play favorites, and it is easy for bullies to show the teachers' one face, and their victims another."

Lily nodded but Harry went on poking her in the nose with a finger. "And no accidental magic, not unless I'm around to cover it up. We don't want to be kicked out of the country, and given the way they welcomed us here when we arrived that's a real concern." Harry didn't say it, but when he had gone in to buy his books on aura reading and meditation he had been given a very cold shoulder indeed. While they magicals had stopped being isolationist towards their fellow Japanese, that did not spread to their fellow magicals. They weren't being watched for some reason, but the locals were no doubt waiting for an opportunity to at least start invading their privacy in the name of making certain they kept the Statute of Secrecy.

With a pout Lily nodded. "Okay daddy."

 **OOOOOOO**

On Saturdays PE class happened in order of the grades from lowest to highest, which allowed Harry to start with the easiest (in a lot of ways) class. After walking the students through various exercises with the weight machines, he had them gather around him in a half circle sitting on the middle of the tatami mats which served the various martial arts clubs as their training area. "Today, we're going to talk about self-defense."

He waited, and was not disappointed to see several hands already rising into the air. "Do you mean like martial arts Sensei?" asked one of the students, a young girl named Emiko, who was a little more outgoing than the other students. She had become class 1-B's student rep the day before.

"Yes and no. Martial arts is both a mental and physical discipline, but it is intended to either build up your body for self-defense, or for exhibition matches, and it takes a lifetime to get any good at it. I am talking more about the mental side of things though we will include several physical lessons on self-defense. But the main drawback between a martial artist and the kind of self-defense I'm talking about is mental. I am not talking about defending yourself from another equal opponent, or someone in a match."

Harry let his expression become serious. "I am speaking about protecting yourself from people out to really attack or take advantage of you. Say you're walking home, and get robbed? That is one example, or if you're on a crowded train and/or groped from behind."

His eyes sweeping around the freshman class Harry became irritated that a lot of the girls nodded at that. With his hearing Harry could hear several discussions going on that point as many of them talked about how that had happened to them or on that some of them had seen that happen. Apparently it wasn't just a 'hentai' fantasy like the magazine Harry had confiscated and then destroyed from Matsuda. That was disturbing.

"You need to be able to switch to the right mindset in such a moment. You have to set aside any kind of sensibility, leave behind any kind of 'oh I don't want to hurt him' kind of thought." Harry said, shaking his head. "The objective is to get you home safely, to get you out of his grip safely, or to make certain that the guy can't come after you again."

Another student raised her hand, and Harry pointed at her. "You're talking more about hurting someone rather than simply holding them off or running away and calling the police right?" She asked uneasily. The male students in this class all were noticeably silent, though they were all listening at least.

"Unfortunately I am. Sometimes, calling the police isn't an option. You have to be able to look after yourself."

There were some very uneasy looks at that, though not nearly as many as Harry had expected given his research into the Japanese culture for this moment. He had thought that a lot of the students would be a little leery about taking the law into their own hands, or worried about making a scene in public which seemed to be a major reason why crimes like that weren't reported. The students here didn't seem to have those particular hang-ups thankfully. That was good.

Harry had been shocked to discover during his time at Hogwarts that he had a flare for teaching, but his passion for teaching self-defense was much more understandable. After all, if more wizards had been able to take matters into their own hands, then Voldemort and the Death Eaters would never have been the problem they were and the WIzengamot would not be the old boys club it was, warping the British magical community as it wished.

"When you become a victim of an attack like that, no target is to out there, no move dishonorable." He let those words sink in for a moment and then clapped his hands hard together, the sound echoing slightly. "Today I will be walking you through various parts of the human body you can target get the most bang for your yen as it were, places on the human body where if you hit someone hard enough they will stop thinking about anything other than the pain."

A lot of the girls giggled, while the boys cringed, and Harry nodded drolly. "Yes, I see a lot of you can think of one spot already. But there are others, and I hate to inform you ladies but I'm not going to be teaching this class on the assumption that your assailant will be a man. After all, sometimes women are criminals too." He paused then. "Well probably not molesters, but certainly criminals. And I'm not even certain about the not molester part given one of the sophomores."

There were a lot of laughter at that though more than one of the boys shivered, since the word about Aika got around quickly and so did she unfortunately. Though there were more than a few irritated looks going around too, since despite Harry's best efforts to curb their gross stupidity and perversity in his own classes the three perverts had made a name for themselves over the past two weeks. Luckily they didn't act out very often in his class, simply because of how hard Harry came down on them, and any of the girls who interrupted the class trying to assault them.

"Well also discuss defenses against theft, things you can do to not make yourself a target and the most typical types of theft and assault and defenses against." With that, Harry pulled a dummy over from a corner of the martial arts segment of the gym. Once he had it set up in front of the class he walked the students through various targets.

From there, Harry talked about how to defend themselves against being targeted at foot by thieves, and most embarrassing of all how to defend themselves from molesters on a train. Harry normally wouldn't have been that specific, but given the reaction he had gotten to that example earlier in the class, he felt it was warranted.

Once it became time to walk the students through their paces on the dummy Harry wasn't surprised to see that Koneko knew how to throw a punch, though the viciousness with which she attacked the training dummy's weak points was a bit of an eye-opener. Harry looked at her, cocking an eyebrow and Koneko looked away sheepishly "Hate perverts," she muttered under her breath, but he still heard the words.

Harry's second class of the day went pretty similarly, though he did have to stomp on the three perverts almost immediately, before getting a little bit of revenge on them, sticking them withKiryuu for the first time. They seemed to be a little freaked out by her, at least at first. By the end of the class however they seemed to get on well enough, but at least it put most of his trouble students in one specific group.

Halfway through the punching exercise however Harry was interrupted, his cell phone going off in his pocket. Harry pulled it out, looking at it with a frown and held up a hand stopping the next student from attacking the dummy. "This might be an emergency. Hold on." With that he stepped back and opened the phone. "This is Harry Potter, to whom am I speaking?"

The students watched, some in confusion, some with concern. After all, it wasn't every day that a teacher had to stop class to take a phone call, and it was probably nothing good.

"Mister Potter, this is the principle of Kuoh Elementary. I regret to inform you that your daughter was involved in a fight…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Lily scowled, crossing her little arms over her chest and looking straight ahead, not looking at the other students in the small nurse's office with her, the nurse, or the principal. She had been talked at for several minutes now about how violence was wrong, which she already knew thank you, and about how she had to turn the other cheek.

But there was a difference between turning the other cheek and being a victim, something both Hermione and her Daddy had been very clear about. It was the difference between a friend asking for help on their homework and a friend demanding that you do the homework for them. Hermione was fond of mentioning that their mutual friend Ronald had hopped across that line during their time in Hogwarts.

Next to Lily the one friend she had made since starting school trembled, leaning into Lily's side and trying to avoid the looks from most of the people in the room. Tamiko was a timid little thing in Lily's opinion, very bookish and rather too easily bullied, hence the incident today. _Grr, they're just lucky daddy warned me not to have any accidental bouts of magic, or else I'd have hurled them all over the fence or made them blow up like balloons!_

She looked up as she heard a familiar voice outside the door to the nurse's office opened. Lily and the others then watched as her father was lead by a blushing secretary and the principal, an older man who was looking rather harried along with a few other parents, into the room. Most of them were looking angry, some of them were glaring at Harry and Lily both, while Tamiko's parents were looking worried until they saw their daughter.

All of them were trying to talk at once until her dad held up a hand and they stopped speaking almost without even thinking about it. Such was the effect her father sometimes had on other people, though most of the time he didn't even notice it, Lily reflected. They just showed him deference, a word that Luna had helped her look up at one point after watching that reaction in Harrods once.

Lily smiled at him rather wanly, but made no move to race over to give him a hug given the serious face he was wearing at the moment. She was gratified however when instead of looking at the nurse or the principal or the other parents her father simply knelt in front of her and looked her in the face eye to eye seriously. "What happened, Lily?"

From there the story came out. Lily and Tamiko had been together during their free time today, a free period which most students used to play in the park. They had been working on their homework by themselves a ways away from the others when one of the other students came over and asked for help. They were fine with that, but then a few other students came over and demanded that they help them to. "That was what they did daddy, they **demanded** it, they said "Well if you're helping Kana then you have to help us too. Come on do it!'" Lily said, glaring at the two students across from her.

"That's not true at all! We simply asked her for help because we know she's smart!" Shouted one of the other students but he shut up when Harry looked over his shoulder.

"We'll get to you in a moment," Harry said mildly. Then he looked past hurt his daughter at the other girl. "Tamiko?" he asked kindly. "Is that what happened?"

The girl stuttered, but under Harry's kindly look and her own father's nod of encouragement began to tell her part of the story. It matched with Lily's for the most part, except that she added that she was routinely told to help other students. She used the word 'told' rather than asked, which was quite telling and Harry looked over at the principal and the teacher.

The other parents scowled, and one of them even had the temerity to scoff. "If that is the case, then shouldn't you have simply helped them?"

"No!" Lily shouted getting to her feet and stomping one foot before being pushed gently back into her chair by her father. "That's just enabling, that's not helping that's doing their work for them!"

 _And there's Hermione's influence in her, heh,_ Harry thought to himself. "All right, so that's what started it, what escalated it to throwing punches?"

"That's right!" one of the men there said, a hand resting on his son's shoulder. "My son has a black eye because of that…" the man caught Harry's eye and stopped what he was about to say, even though Harry made no move to do or say anything.

"They grabbed our books, and threatened to throw them in the toilets!" Tamiko said, letting the words out before putting her hands over her mouth.

"When they tried to grab them out of my hand, I pulled them away, and then one of them shoved me in the back," Lily said angrily. "I turned and hit him with a book, and then this one," she said pointing at the same boy who had spoken up earlier, "tackled me. Then I threw a punch and knocked him off me."

"And where was the teacher in all of this?" Harry asked, standing up and placing a hand on her head to show his support.

The teacher looked away. "I interrupted the goings-on as soon as I saw it, but I was dealing with a scraped knee at the time, and had to run back when I heard the commotion." She was a little older than Harry, and looked as if this was her first real emergency though she seemed to be handling it rather well.

The principal on the other hand Harry had labeled as an obstruction during their phone call, and looking at him now Harry wondered what the man was going to say. "I understand that a teacher can't watch everything especially outside like that," He said, smiling at the woman and causing her to blush slightly which caused him in turn to almost roll his eyes though he stopped himself because this was not the time for it. Even so, he had to wonder. _I didn't get this reaction back home, or did I and just not notice it?_

Shrugging that thought off Harry went on. "However it seems pretty cut and dried. You have two students, one of whom has been bullied before this, who tried to stop the bullying from occurring. The bullies get physical, and then paid for it," he said looking over the boy with the black and blue and then locking his eyes on the boy's father who seemed ready to explode. "Punish the people who started it, don't call me about my daughter getting into a fight and you taking disciplinary action against her as if it was her fault."

"Regardless of who started it, all of them will be punished for this." the principal said sternly. "We follow a strict policy of nonviolence here, and it is after all just your daughter and Ms. Tamiko's words against theirs."

"No," Harry said simply. "If you want to punish my daughter for protecting herself, then it is very obvious to me that you don't want her in your school at all. I'll simply pull her out and find another school. It's only a week into the school year after all it wouldn't cause that much disruption. I would also suggest that Ms. Tamiko do the same thing. Maybe we'll also go to the local newspaper with the story."

"Besides, it isn't just their words against Lily and Tamiko's several other students including Kana have come forward. If anything I'd suggest you suspend the two little bullies for the rest of the semester!" the teacher said quickly, eager to do her part.

"Now see here you!" the father of the boy with the black and blue eye said, growling angrily but then stopping as Harry stepped forward.

The principal was now in a quandary. He had wanted to sweep this under the rug, but the teacher wasn't going along with that, and he just knew that this wouldn't be the last incident if Lily did stay in the school. The students that Lily had pegged as bullies those first few days had indeed turned out that way, just like their older siblings in the higher grades. But their families were also prominent members in the community, and he hadn't wanted to make waves.

Still, being called out on the carpet like this by a fellow educator, who seemed perfectly willing to go through with his threat, forced his hand. "Very well, I'll be sending all of them home for the rest of the day, and suspend the two students who started this for a week." Taking that hard a line would irritate the families in question as the principal could easily see by the father's face, though the mother had been noticeably silent. Yet it would also show that he was taking a hard line against bullying which would win him more points with the other families once they heard about it.

Harry nodded, and held out his hand to Lily. "Come on Lily, go get your bookbag, it looks like your days ending a little early."

By the time Lily was ready to leave, Harry realized that he couldn't get her home and get back to the school in time for his next class. Worse Harry knew his meetings with the other teachers and the various club reps would take most of the day. With a sigh he looked down at Lily and said "Well, it looks as if you're going to have to spend the day at Kuoh with me Lily." Lily smiled happily at that, having enjoyed exploring the campus the day she had been there.

With that the two raced towards the academy, but even though they ran they barely made it in time, the seniors coming out of the gym and milling around for a moment looking for their teacher. They all spotted him and Lily at the same time and a communal squeal went up from the girls and even a few of the boys. "Oh my God she's so cute!"

They raced forward, but Harry held up a hand, in an effort to abet the rush which only served to stop them from outright abducting her. "Everyone this is my daughter Lily and yes she is cute but please don't mob her. She will be sitting over there on her own for a bit while we have class. Five minutes for stretching, and then we'll play soccer for half of the period. Then we will talk about self-defense. Given the rumor mill I have no doubt you all have an idea about what that will entail." The third years had been run through the weight machines on Thursday.

For her part, Lily was grinning at the students and then pointed at Rias. "I love your hair! Redheads rule!"

Rias laughed, winking at Harry before she knelt down and held up a high five to Lily. "I know!"

Harry rolled his eyes, but shooed the girls away from Lily and outside to the soccer field.

"I wonder what happened." Rias muttered as she began

"Probably some kind of disciplinary action," Sona replied as the two of them began to organize their teams. This time they weren't on the same side, which made this class even better in their opinion.

"Still she is a little cutie, even more so in person," Rias said, exchanging another wave with Lily, who seemed to be watching her in particular.

For some reason that made Rias decide she wanted to show off, and instead of being the goalie, she put herself in as one of the forward players. Sona did the same thing, and the rest of the class was almost left behind is the two of them battle for the ball up and down the field.

 _My daughter's watching, my daughter's watching,_ Harry thought, using the words almost like a mantra trying to look everywhere but at the two girls who most impacted his self-control. It wasn't easy despite that.

Watching Akeno run was a treat for any male. Even in a sports bra her large breasts easily the largest breasts Harry had ever seen, swayed, bounced and wobbled. Every time he saw that Harry had to fight a desire to simply sink his fingers into them. He wanted to know what color her nipples were, how sensitive they could be and whether Akeno was really as experienced as she tried to seem, or not.

Harry's reaction to Rias wasn't quite as much from his needs below the belt. She looked amazing running around the field, her legs pumping easily, her red hair like a fiery mane behind her. Harry wondered what that hair would feel like curled up in his fingers. He wondered how strong her legs were, and what she sounded like when she laughed as she was being tickled for some reason. The fact her breasts also swayed and moved when she ran was a major bonus.

 _Curse their sexy bodies and my redhead fetish! Those mediation books cannot arrive soon enough!_ Harry thought grimly, keeping his eye more often on the ball to ignore the actual players.

By the time Harry called the game to an end Rias' team was ahead by two points though thanks to what Harry had lined up for the rest of the class, he didn't have any penalties in mind for the loser this time. As Harry ordered the group into the martial arts gym Lily hopped up from where she had been sitting racing over to Rias. "That was great! You and the girl with glasses and those other two, you move almost as fast as I've seen my daddy move sometimes."

"Only almost?" Rias said with a laugh, reaching down to ruffle the girl's hair while Sona, who had come up behind her with the two queens, twitched at being called 'the girl with glasses'.

Lily reminded Rias strongly of her nephew for a moment however on top of being cuter obviously as a girl she was nowhere near as formal as Milicas in public. _Is this what he would be like if he didn't have to grow up being the son of a Maou_? The thought filled her with a sense of sadness for a moment before she shook it off. "Do you like to play football too?"

"Yep," Lily said with a nod. "I play a lot of games, mostly with my daddy and his old school friends. My mom…" Lily paused, and then shook her head knowing that Harry didn't like talking badly about Ginny even now that they were divorced. So she simply finished lamely, "My mom didn't really ever see the point."

Rias nodded, making no effort to dig for more information there. Regardless of her own interest in Harry, his past relationship was not something she needed or wanted to know about.

At that point Harry spoke up, gathering the class's attention. Lily made to leave, but Harry shook his head, gesturing her to join him up front. "Since you were so eager to throw a punch today Lily, I suppose it behooves me to make sure that you actually know how to do it."

Lilly laughed, nodding her head and making a 'kapow' noise under her breath. The rest of the class even the boys laughed too, having a very good idea now of what happened to bring the little cutie to their school for the rest of the day.

That portion of the PE class passed very quickly, and Lily again moved over to talk to Rias. She was utterly fascinated by meeting another girl with the same kind of red hair she had. That and the exhibition that Rias and her friends had put on during the soccer game had really excited her.

She began peppering the older girl with questions about the school and other things as young kids are wont to do, which Rias answered easily and without any sign of irritation. She was tempted to grill the girl for information on her father of course, but she refrained. She knew that using Lily to get to Harry in such a manner would be a very bad idea.

Harry smiled indulgently, gesturing Lily to join him. "Leave Gremory-san alone Lily, she and the others have to go into get showered and changed."

"I don't mind at all," Rias said, with a faint smile ruffling Lily's hair. "I haven't seen another redhead since I left home."

"Left home?" Lily asked.

"Yep," Rias and with a faint smile bringing one hand to rest on her ample chest before gesturing over to Akeno who had moved over to join them after taking her turn on the practice dummy. The sadist queen smiled happily at the little girl fighting the urge to squeal and hug her like she was a plushy while her king went on. "My friend Akeno and I live together in a house here, but my family doesn't live in Kuoh. They decided to let us have our own place in order to teach us self-reliance. We get a stipend to look after the house, but we need to manage it carefully."

Lily nodded. That sounded like a cool idea to her. _Just like Hogwarts, only better since you're living on your own._

Harry nodded too, realizing that was probably one of the reasons why Rias was so mature for her age. _At least mentally anyway, why she's so physically mature as an entirely different matter._ Harry thought to himself, his eyes fighting this strain down towards Rias' chest or over to Akeno, but Harry kept them on her face. He had also noticed that Rias hadn't taken the opportunity to grill a Lily about information on him, something he knew she was interested in, just as he was interested in what she was. There were still tiptoeing around one another about that and Rias's forbearance when given a priceless source of information made him respect her more.

Leaving the gym, Harry and Lily started to walk towards the school, with Harry saying he would show her around before he headed into a meeting with teachers. What she would do while he was in there was still up in the air. He stopped walking however, when he heard the sound of someone trying to move quietly and a few whispered comments.

"Keep it down you fools! We have to be silent about this. We're nearly done, we can't blow it now."

"Right!" echoed two other voices, in a sort of shouted whisper. "Onwards to Oppai paradise!"

Recognizing the voices, Harry groaned. _What the hell are those three up to now?_ "Lily, could you stay here for a moment?" He asked looking down at his daughter and patting her head, speaking quietly as he held a finger to his lips. "I have to go deal with a bit of it disciplinary issue."

Lily nodded, and moved to stand by the door while Harry quickly moved towards noises, which were coming from the back of the martial arts gym. The back of that portion of the gym was separated by the indoor pool by a short hallway, which left about two yards of space between the two buildings for most of their length. There was a series of bushes set into that area, which Harry had idly noted looked quite nice before this.

And it was from this area the voices came from. As he walked around the corner, the three perverts Matsuda, Issei and Motohama as he had known he would. They were quietly digging at one of the small bushes. As they worked, Harry looked past the bushes, only now realizing that there was a small window back there, which judging from the steam coming out of it must look into the girl's changing room. _Well, I suppose it could be the boy's changing room, but I doubt these three would be putting in this much work to see that. Kiryuu maybe, but not these three._

The three boys' whispered conversation proved this as Harry walked on near silent feet up behind them.

"Hurry it up!"

"Stop that, remember we need to make the bush removable, weren't to just doing this to peep once, but for all time!"

"But they're in there right now! Our oppai paradise, just a flimsy window away!"

"Not flimsy at all, and we still need to get past these bushes and put them back, before we can reach paradise gentlemen."

"I can't believe we were able to find such a gem. Whoever designed these buildings was a God among men! A hidden window straight into the changing room. From such things dreams are made of." Said Issei reverently.

Decided he had heard enough Harry took a final step forward allowing his shadow to fall over the trio of perverts. "You know, for students' t who apparently tried very hard to get into the school, you three are doing pretty much everything you can to get yourself kicked out." He said in a loud voice.

The three boys twirled, holding up their hands to their faces as Motohama whispered "Quiet sensei, you'll give us a way!"

"Why in the hell wouldn't I want to?" Harry said frowning and crossing his arms, hoping against hope that one of the three would have the common sense to stop digging their own graves.

"Oh come on sensei you're a man right?" Issei said standing up and moving over to conspiratorially nudge Harry in the side with an elbow. "You can't deny your urges forever. Right behind that wall is oppai paradise!" he went on dramatically, turning and gesturing with his hands. "All you have to do to take part in this is keep quit."

While Issei's comment about not being able to deny his urges forever hitting a little too close to home Harr sighed then clamped a hand around Issei's mouth. "You're just perjuring yourself further Hyodou, best to keep silent. Now move you three, you have a date with the principal."

"Scatter!" Matsuda shouted and he and Motohama tried to bolt past Harry.

But he lashed out with a light kick, tripping one and grabbing the other by his shirt while still retaining the hold around Issei's mouth, acutely lifting him off the ground almost negligently. "Don't run," Harry admonished before dropping him and picking up Matsuda in turn. "If you try to run I'll simply have to chase you, and no one wants that."

This noise had not gone unnoticed, and several of the students including Rias had exited the changing area, heading out of the gym to find out what was going on. Finding Lily outside Rias asked, "Lily-chan do you know what's going on?"

Lily shook her head. "My dad said that he had to hand out some punishments, but other than that I don't know what they're talking about." Then her eye twinkled, as she looked past the girls toward the changing room. "Is there really a paradise in there?" _Is it like the prefects bath maybe?_

"Only for perverts dear," Sona replied while several of the girls around them began to growl angrily. "Those boys are the type you should stay away from," she went on, leaning down to pat Lily on the head, frowning as she contemplated the boys.

 _I am seriously second-guessing the idea of opening the school to boys at this point. It shouldn't take three bad apples to spoil the whole bunch I suppose, but those are three_ _ **very**_ _bad apples indeed. I realize he was to double our chances of finding sacred your users, and it has admittedly already begun to pay off. But if those three continue to make a nuisance of themselves I might rescind the whole no expulsion rule to get rid of them, even if they might have a sacred gear._

The girls watched glowering angrily as Harry marched the three boys around the edge of the gym, heading towards the school. Harry was about to tell his daughter to follow them, when Matsuda did something very, very stupid. "Oh my God! Who is that little Lolita! Hey little girl, you want to play?"

Everything paused, **everything.** The girls paused in shock, shock and horror that someone could be that stupid, that open about his perversions to actually say that in front of a little girl, an actual little girl rather than a freshman who simply had a petite body like Koneko. That would've been bad enough, this was worse. And on top of that say in front of the girl's father! Even the other two perverts were staring at their jock friend.

The devils too were all frozen and then stayed that way for an entirely different reason.

For a moment Harry simply stood there before he slowly turned as if on a mount. A pressure built up that those with even rudimentary magical/spiritual senses could feel as darkness spread from him like a living shadow, an image of Death appearing there. The feel of the apparition wasn't quite magical or physical rather it was almost spiritual in nature. It spread out crushing down on everyone with the weight of its presence. The three perverts found themselves on their knees, their eyes wide and staring as they began to gibber.

The watching students all recoiled, even the devils save Akeno, who blushed, pressing her legs together, her nipple hardening and wetness beginning to make its presence known. The feel of the shadow on her, the pressure in it, the tone of voice, all of it combined to hit her buttons something fierce. _Mah~~~, I never thought that being the sub would be very fun, but this is, this is amazing! Potter-sensei, you interest me all the more~~mmmm!_

At the same time her queen was having a crisis Rias and Sona quickly began to reevaluate how powerful they thought Harry was. The power he was giving off now marked him as at least as powerful as they were, possibly somewhat more since this was an uncontrolled reaction rather than one he was directing.

"OHOHOHOHO….OHOHOHOHO…." Harry's chuckles rang out, the most evil and sadistic sound that any of his listeners had ever heard including Rias, who lived with Akeno.

Rias in point of fact was trying desperately not to look at her friend now, knowing the face she would be making would be obscene. This didn't help since she could actually hear Akeno let out a low moan, and heard her start shifting from one foot to the other.

"And here I was going to simply demand that you be expelled," Harry said as he stared at the three, his eyes now glowing emerald embers. A few of his old friends would have called them 'Harry's AK eyes' since his eyes could indeed glow like the killing curse when he was angry. "But now…now your fate will be… **legendary**."

Realizing that Harry was losing control, Rias quickly took command of situation gesturing to Sona to help her. "All right everybody, we have clubs to get to, we can't just sit around here and watch punishment be handed out. Lily, why don't you come with me? We can stay in my club room now. Akeno?" Hearing no response Rias turned. "Akeno!?"

Akeno was in her happy place, staring at Harry, her legs rubbing rhythmically together, her chest heaving as she began to hyperventilate. "Right," Rias growled, leaning over to smack her friend on the back of the head, covering her with an illusion spell at the same time, whispering sternly. "Akeno snap out of it, we're still in public!"

"Mou~~~ Buchou, can't you just let me have my fun?" Akeno pouted but at her king's glare subsided, turning away. "I call dibs on the shower back in the club room. I have need of it…"

"Damn it Akeno that is club property! If you want to do that go home and use your own darn bed!" Rias realized her mistake a second later as Akeno disappeared, leaving behind the illusion for now which to the normal student's senses simply followed behind Rias silently now. "Damn it."

Seeing the rest of the class leaving in haste seemed to galvanize the perverts out of their terrified stupor. Issei and Motohama made a break for it, but Harry grabbed them, hurling them back into the area between the two buildings. Matsuda didn't his mind almost broken under the terror of the vision around Harry.

Seeing her daddy would be busy Lily nodded. Out of all of those present she alone hadn't been affected at all by the display simply watching it, the aura Harry was putting out skirting around her automatically. Without protest Lily took Rias's hand following her the way towards the almost abandoned building that she had made her headquarters. Then she asked a question that made Rias wince and wonder if maybe she should have ordered Akeno to join in on the punishment. "What's a Lolita and why did that strange boy want me to play with him?"

Eyebrow twitching, Rias looked around for help only to see Sona and Tsubaki had already run away with the rest of the class. _Cowards!_ "Well sweetie, that's something you should probably ask your father. Just know it's not a good thing and that if anyone talks to you like that you should probably find your father right away and let him handle it."

Nodding at that Lily followed the other redhead, once more beginning to ask her questions. Rias fell into the same sort of mindset she used with her nephew and had in the past used when dealing with Koneko and even Gasper her hidden bishop, answering her questions easily. It turned out Lily was a budding Japanophile like Rias, having become utterly fascinated by the anime and graphic novels of Japan since their arrival here. Lily's interest and intelligence also stood out to Rias, once more reminding her of Millicas.

Yet even while she was talking to the little girl, Rias could tell several things about Lily by her aura. For one thing, she was a magical too, which should have been impossible given what Rias knew of the Magicians Association, but she supposed there were other associations out there and put that to the side as a relatively minor mystery. For another, she was a werewolf, or at least a werewolf half-breed. Her aura was wild, and she seemed to be very energetic, even more so than a normal seven year old girl.

 _Oh dear, I hope that she and Koneko have a problem,_ Rias thought as they reached the floor to the Occult Research Club's room. Koneko had told her about how off-balance smelling a werewolf that close had been to her that first day, though she and Harry had made their peace quickly enough.

She needn't have worried as it turned out.

Koneko looked up as the door opened, looking past Kiba's shoulder from her place on the sofa facing the doorway. She breathed in slightly then cocked her head as she looked at the little girl. She then looked up at Rias, and blinked, staring at her soulfully. "Replacing me, Buchou?"

"I think Akeno is having a negative impact on your sense of humor Koneko-chan." Rias said drolly moving around the sofa Kiba was reclined in, smiling at her friends. "Everyone this is Lily Potter. An issue came up at her school and she came to spend the day with her father here."

"And why is she following you around like a little duckie?" Koneko asked while Kiba simply smiled in welcome. He wasn't good with kids, particularly of the female variety, but at least this one looked too young to be one of the girls who routinely tried to talk him into doing things he'd get in trouble for later.

Lily scowled and darted forward, grabbing the pocky out of Koneko's hand and munching on it. "Not a duckie. Though Aunt Tonks sometimes calls me a puppy."

Narrowing her eyes Koneko scowled but then paused as Lily handed her back half of the pocky stick and hopped up onto the sofa. "You smell of cats. Do you have any, my dad's friend Hermione has this huge ginger tomcat named Crookshanks, he's sooo fluffy. Even if his face looks like a pug."

A small smile appeared on Koneko's face as she nodded, munching on the rest of the pocky and patting the little girl's head. "Hmm… cats rule."

"Nope, redheads do!" Lily replied giggling causing Rias to laugh and Koneko to chuckle. "But do you know any good sweet shops around here? I've found a few, and I was thinking of trying to get my daddy to take me to one tomorrow." Lily scowled a little, kicking her feet against the sofa. "After the last few weeks I think I deserve a treat."

"How about you take out any of your school work and work on that with Koneko-chan and I then?" Rias asked stepping in quickly before the discussion could devolve into a discussion on sweats. "That way you give Ha…Potter-sensei another reason to treat you."

Lily pouted, while Koneko looked up at her king in minor betrayal before Rias reached over and began to rub her head. Purring Koneko closed her eyes, pushing back at Rias's head, and her feeling of betrayal forgotten. "And maybe I'll treat you too Koneko-chan."

As the two younger girls got out their books and began to put them on the table between the two sofas, Rias turned to Kiba. "Could you please go and check if Potter-sensei is done with punishing the three deviants. If so, tell him his daughter is with us here. I know he's got a busy day ahead of him, so if Potter-sensei wants, we can babysit Lily here for a while."

 **OOOOOOO**

Looking down at the three battered, twitching bodies, and Harry sighed shaking his head. _I lost a little bit of control there._ Harry hadn't consciously used magic, but he was certain that his magic had acted up just then even if he wasn't wholly aware of how. _Damn it, and after I told Lily not to have any accidental magic moments! The irony is withering._

Putting that thought to the side for now, Harry glared down at the trio of perverted fools. "I think we'll leave it there for the day, but if I catch you peeping again I really **will** see you expelled. And if you Matsuda ever act on **that** kind of tendency, I will rip off your testicles and make you thank me for it, understood?"

With a half, he turned away leaving the small area behind though he did make a point of taking their shovels with him. Since they were school property he couldn't actually break them or anything like that, but without them the boys wouldn't be able to get around the bushes. _It might be best to come back and see if I can put some kind of deterrent up. I won't even need to use magic, just put some floorboards with nails down on the ground, or superglue some to the wall right under the window._

The three boys groaned twitching as their teacher left. Harry hadn't actually hit them much beyond stopping them from escaping. But being in his presence when the teacher had let out that aura of terror was more than enough to break their will. They all sat in their personal puddles for a time even though Harry was gone, their eyes wide and unseeing.

Matsuda finally spoke up, his voice a croak, his throat sore from his attempts to scream, though no noise had come out. "Hey guys." Twin groans answered him and he went on slowly. "I… I don't think I'm into lolis anymore…" This won him two further groans then all three fell silent, staring straight ahead as they waited for their bodies and minds to comb back into conjunction.

Leaving the trio behind Harry walked around the side of the gym, frowning as he wondered where his daughter had gone. _Or the rest of the class, how long did that take anyway?_

"Potter-sensei?" Harry turned as he heard a voice to find Yuuto standing there. "Buchou sent me to tell you that Lily is with her, Koneko-chan and I in the ORC room. She also said to tell you that if you want to we can look after her while you deal with your various meetings." The blonde boy said with a smile.

 _Quite thoughtful that Rias._ Checking the time, Harry sighed in irritation. "Yes, it appears I'm going to have to avail myself of that offer of hers. Tell Gremory-san thank you from me, but I have to go, I'm already late darn it."

Nodding Kiba turned away and Harry raced towards the main building. To his dismay however the meetings took up the rest of the afternoon evening and into the night. In fact it was about eight by the time the meetings finally ended.

Harry was the first out the door, heading towards the old school building where the ORC apparently made its home. But only the outside looked run down, the inside seemed to be fine, making wonder why the outside hadn't been similarly repaired.

Finding the doorway to the ORC clubhouse, he rapped on the doorway. A moment later Rias opened the door, smiling at him and waving him inside. "Lily's asleep right now," she whispered.

Coming in, Harry first looked around, noting the setup of the room. It was a long rectangular room, with a large desk at the far end complete with chair. There were several standing lights here and there, along with a table and two sofas set into the center of the room. To one side there was a small desk on which was a chess set taking up the entire table, beyond which there was a door to another room of some kind, the doorway having a window set into it going from top to bottom. On the walls were dark brown wood and some heavy dark purple drapes over the windows.

Done with his perusal Harry looked at the sofa facing the door, where his daughter was lying asleep with Koneko, the older girl curled up around the younger, both of them sharing one of the cushions as a pillow. The sight warmed Harry's heart, and he bestowed a gentle smile on Rias, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "Thank you for watching her for me. Was she any trouble?"

Desperately trying to keep a blush from her face at the feel of Harry's breath Rias shook her head. "Not at all, she was a positive darling, a rather mischievous one at times, she and Koneko got into a snatch fight for some of Koneko's sweets, but other than being confused as to why my chess pieces didn't talk or move on their own for some reason she was no trouble. I had her finish her homework however along with Koneko. Your daughter is quite a clever girl isn't she?"

"She's not a dinosaur, but I take your point." Harry said, causing Rias to break out into giggles, not having expected Harry to recognize that line. As she giggled however, Harry reached into his wallet, about to pull out some yen to pay Rias for having watched his daughter.

But Rias caught that, and shook her head quickly. "No Potter-san, there's no need for that. It was quite fun watching her, you've no need to pay me."

"Even if you didn't ask her any questions about me?" Harry asked, staring at Rias intently.

"I felt that would be an underhanded way of going forward." Rias replied primly, before softening and stepping up to Harry, nearly pressing her chest into his. "I am not willing to ruin our little game by abusing your daughter's innocence in such a manner Harry."

Harry didn't back away instead leaning down to stare into her eyes, a smile playing across his lips. Neither of them noticed how Rias had called him Harry rather than Potter Sensei. "You're a good woman Rias Gremory, even if the mystery about you and the others is slowly driving me batty."

"I could say the same about you and the mystery of where you came from. It is both enticing and frustrating," Rias replied, thrilled at being called a woman by the man in front of her. Another shiver of pleasure went through her as she looked up at the man, realizing she rather liked being shorter than him, and the kind look in his eyes were causing her insides to twist around themselves.

The atmosphere was so electric between them Harry couldn't stop himself, his libido finally getting out of his Occlumentic cage and impacting the rest of his mind. He stepped forward very lightly and deliberately pressing his chest into Rias's bust feeling her large, soft breasts right below his pecs. Almost of their own volition his hands came up, one finger tracing down Rias's face as her own hands came up, one hand taking his, the other touching his face in turn. She also stepped forward, pressing their bodies flush against one another, feeling his hard muscles and other things pressing into her body. "And is that all that's enticing, just the mysteries about me?"

Rias licked her lips, her eyes becoming half-lidded as she slowly shook her head, her body going haywire at the electric feel of the air between them, even though she was slightly worried about where this would go. Harry was a man after all, not a boy, and she wondered if he would back away. _I wonder if I want him to, but no, it's, it's only been two week's I'm not going to jump into bed with someone after only knowing them for two weeks._ "N, no… not just that…"

Harry smiled at that little stutter but the sudden turmoil he saw in Rias's eyes was enough for him to regain control of himself. Reluctantly he stepped back; forcing his arms back to his side despite the fact what he really wanted to do was drag them over Rias's body. _Damn their odd auras and my own issues! I will not let my libido dictate my actions, not alone anyway, regardless of foreign influence._ "Well, that's good to hear. However I should probably get this little one home."

Blushing now full force Rias retreated, cursing her own libido somewhat. "R, right."

Harry moved over to the sofa, only to stop as he saw Koneko looking at the two of them over his daughter's head. "…Rias-sempai, Potter-sensei… Ecchi."

"N, nothing happened Koneko-chan!" Rias spluttered, while Harry ignored the pronouncement.

Instead he reached forward, touching his daughter's cheek lightly. "Wake up Lily."

Yawning Lily came awake, smiling at her father. "Hey Daddy."

"Hey honey. Sorry I was gone so long, but those budget meetings were sooo awful." Harry said, ruffling her hair before leaning back and standing upright once more. "Come on, let's head out to eat, I don't feel like cooking tonight. I'm feeling like Italian, if we can find a restaurant, and then, maybe some ice cream?"

Koneko perked up at that, giving Harry her best kitten-eyes attack. "Me too?"

"Um, that would be rather too much like favoritism, but… I suppose could say that it's my payment to you for watching Lily." Harry mused, before winking, using the hand not already rubbing his daughter's head to ruffle Koneko's. So long as you play guide Koneko, that's fine by me,"

Koneko nodded, her eyes half closing under Harry's hand on her head. His fingers seemed to find all the right spots, and she had to fight to keep her ears from popping up and ruining her illusion spell. "MM…"

"I don't suppose you could treat me as well could you?" Rias asked, half whimsically, half seriously.

"I…" Harry paused, looking at Rias. Part of him wanted to say yes, but given what just nearly happened, he didn't think it was a good idea. But how to decline the request in front of his daughter?

 **OOOOOOO**

Elsewhere Akeno stretched luxuriantly, on her bed, certain portions of her body aching from her rather intense solo session. She didn't want to move, but needed some food, so reluctantly left the confines of her satin sheets. Unmindful of her nudity she walked through the house the four members of the ORC shared ignoring the sight of Kiba coming out of his room.

He turned immediately away heading back into his room. _Dinner can wait I suppose._

Still naked Akeno moved around the room, preparing a small meal for herself. Just as she began to put the rice cooker on however she paused, staring out the window in thought. _Now why do I get the feeling I'm missing out on a chance to tease both Rias and Harry-san?_

 **OOOOOOO**

"Kalawarner?" Raynare began, looking at the older looking Fallen Angel. She had been following her target via a pair of binoculars and had seen the apparition Harry Potter had become when that fool Matsuda had made a comment directed at Potter's daughter.

The sultry angel looked up from the romance novel she had been reading and making a correction before capping her marker and flicking it up into the air. Lots of Fallen had odd hobbies they did on their own time, but Raynare had to admit that going through romance novels and making corrections and comments in the margin was a new one on her. "Yes?"

"You're on. I want you to somehow get close to Potter. Find out what he is, and how to either eliminate him or bring him to our side. But for all that's holy don't go near his daughter!" Raynare said, shivering. "That would backfire something fierce."

"Of course it would," Kalawarner said mildly, rolling her eyes. "Fine. Give me a few days to set it up, and by this time next week I'll have him eating out of my hands."

Mittelt might have said something snarky at that point, but she fell silent as Raynare turned to her.

"You, your job will be to find as much as you can about Potter's background. He's too dangerous to go forward with any plan without somehow neutralizing him. Dohnaseek," Raynare went on without waiting for a reply. "You get to go and get our erstwhile allies. I want them here and ready for combat in two weeks. We will need their added firepower whatever happens. Lord Kokabiel has given us our orders and I mean to carry them out regardless of a new player being added to the game."

 **OOOOOOO**

In the end Harry wasn't able to, and the four of them went out and had fun time at a local Italian family restaurant. Rias and Harry made certain to not flirt or even talk to just one another, always talking to the group as a whole, knowing they had to take a step back from what had almost happened in the club room. This was made easier by Lily's budding love for all things anime related and Rias' own copious love for such things. Koneko stayed mostly silent, concentrating on her food.

Rias also made a point of saying several times that this was a payment from Harry for watching his daughter as they walked around every time she spotted another student from Kuoh. This would hopefully cover them, as was the fact Koneko and his own daughter was there. _Although having Lily around might well have made it worse if Rias was a few years older_

After they finished, the four of them walked for a time together before they came to an intersection where they would have to part ways. As they did, Rias paused, smiling at Harry and thanking him for the wonderful meal. In reply Harry smiled back, then asked, "So, that position of the ORC's advisor. Is it still open?"

The smile Rias gave him was almost enough to light the nighttime street.

 **End chapter**

* * *

MACUSA - Magical Congress of the USA - apparently canon American magical government, used in Fantastic Beasts, which I've never read or seen LOL.

This is not quite the chapter I wanted to put out, but I realized I had to space out events lest everything happen far too quickly to be believed: Harry getting close to all of the characters and vice-versa, Yuuma acting on her orders to kill Issei, and then everything snowballing after that, to make no mention of my desire to world build on the magic side of things. We won't get to that moment for at least two more chapters, which will let me continue to world build and create further interaction moments as well as scenes showing Harry incorporating more of the local magics into his personal style. And once we do, well, don't expect Harry to deal with Raynare or anyone from that group in any way I have ever seen before this…. hohohoho.


	3. Chapter 3

Don't own HP and can't draw.

Author's notes:

In March's small story poll this story came in first with a strong showing coming first both here on Fanfic and over on Pat Ron, racking in 1318 total votes, with 654 votes coming from here on fanfic. The second place winner was GDWHOM: 371 votes on fanfic, with a total of 1151.

That being said I have to apologize to my fans for my stories being out so late. Normally I'm very good about getting all my stories out as promised, but the only one I was able to post before now was Making Waves - Pat R on only Ranma/Fairy Tail crossover - two weekends ago. The reason for this is simple: lack of time. I knew I had a family thing coming up (wedding/get together) and while I thought I had planned accordingly, I **really** didn't. I didn't realize I would have almost no time at all to work on my stories - an hour a day basically at night in a room shared with two other people both of whom yelled at me for staying up late every time- and almost no access to the internet either! I could access it, but it was so slow I couldn't upload even a pm response!

Because of this you will note that only _Horse for the Force_ , which I had finished and was able to send off last weekend to Michael, one of my beta readers, is as polished as normal. The winner of the SW only poll over on Pat R on, that story will be uploaded sometime tonight/today.

Another one of my fans, Nad Destroyer, has now beta-read this story. It took me a while to get back to actually posting the changes, for which I apologize.

A lot of people have commented on Harry's lack of control. There are several reasons for this, only two of which I have hinted at, but that will be addressed in this chapter.

Others have asked, so I will say it plain: yes, Harry is the Master of Death, but it will be done in a very different way than any I have previously seen, and again that will once more be hinted at in this chapter, as Harry learns more of the local schools of magical thought, and use some things he learns on himself…

 **Chapter 3: Women Trouble and Opportunity**

Morning dawned across Kuoh the Monday after the Saturday Harry had agreed to be the Occult Research Club's advisor. And in three different houses, the individuals within greeted the day in different ways.

In the Hyodou household, the only son of the family, one Issei Hyodou, woke up hoping as he always did to see some oppai, glorious oppai today. As he woke there was a vague memory of something, some kind of unending darkness and terror coming for him in his dreams and Issei shuddered at the memory of Mr. Potter's lecture. Yet for all of the terror it had evoked at the time, it was not able to break through Issei's dedication to his perversions.

Indeed, just remembering how close they had gotten to paradise was enough to make Issei clench his jaw and stand dramatically, pointing at the ceiling as he declared, "Today, today will be the day my eyes graduate from their virgin status! Today I will see real, living, breathing, bouncing **oppai**! This I swear to the god of perverts, the almighty Horney Toad!"

"Issei stop shouting to yourself and come down for breakfast!" His mother's voice shouted from the kitchen below. Issei could hear his father mumbling in the background, probably something about why or how Issei had become such a pervert.

Issei didn't care; he was open in his perversions and was of the firm opinion that his large amount of lust was a positive. It would just take time and effort to let that truth become obvious to the world and in particular the girls around him. Still, he headed his mother's shout, heading down to breakfast quickly, despite having set his 'Oni-chan Kissu~~~!' special clock a good hour earlier than he normally would. He wanted to head to school early to make certain their hide was still intact. _And if this just lets me have it all to myself when some girls could be changing in there this morning, all the better._

Across town from the Hyodou household Rias Gremory was also waking up. She stretched, her naked body moving in an artless yet sensual show of the female form for anyone there. Rias always slept naked, unable to fall asleep if she was wearing even underwear for some reason. Her mother had once hinted she got that from her side of the family and that her father had always enjoyed it, but Rias had firmly put that under the heading of TMI and moved on.

This morning there wasn't anyone sleeping with her despite Rias's penchant for wanting someone to cuddle in her sleep. An oft abused body pillow had done it's honorable duty for the past two nights instead of Koneko or Akeno and was now laid aside with a pat on the top as Rias stood up. Still somewhat groggy, her hair falling in front of her half-closed eyes Rias moved slowly but surely into her personal bathroom. She needed to head in early to see Sona for her part of the paperwork that would make Mr. Potter's assumption of the advisory position for her club official. Given their special status and how Kuoh was set up, that wasn't the normal form letter it would have been otherwise from the student's side of things.

As the water sluiced down her body matting her hair against her head Rias couldn't help the bright smile that appeared on her face. A day removed from getting Mr. Potter to agree to take the advisory position and she was still happy about it. Not only would it, as she had told him, allow them to go on official trips, but it also meant she and Mr. Potter were getting closer. The nature of that closeness was still up in the air, but even so, she was certain this was a strong step getting to the bottom of the mystery Harry Potter was to her and the others.

Stepping out of the shower Rias dressed for the day and headed down to start breakfast. She usually cooked for the three girls of her peerage, all of whom lived together here. Akeno wasn't a morning person and after one incident where she used salt instead of sugar Rias and her queen had agreed Akeno would cook their dinners and Rias would supply breakfast. If Akeno woke up in time she would also prepare their lunchboxes for the day.

Kiba didn't live with the three girls instead living in a townhouse nearby. He had convinced Rias that all of them living together would get out eventually and would cause questions. Plus as a guy he wanted his own space, which was fair even if Rias would have preferred all her peerage to stay with her.

About twenty minutes after Rias began cooking Koneko came in, looking immaculate as ever. Despite being a nekomata and taking great pleasure in sleep of all sorts, Koneko was the fastest to go from sleeping to wakefulness than any of them, including Kiba. She took a seat at the small, homey table in the kitchen, a marked contrast to a long impersonal table that the Gremory household used. Once she sat down and had grabbed a rice ball from the pile Rias had already prepared, Koneko asked, "Do you think we'll see the puppy today?"

That had swiftly become Koneko's name for Lily, and Rias was reminded once more that in the human world cats and dogs could get along very well regardless of the phrase about them if they were introduced at a young enough age. This was certainly the case between Koneko and Lily. Koneko seemed to greatly enjoy being the taller and older of the two and Lily's general attitude had gotten through the Nekomata's natural defenses.

Chuckling, Rias moved over to Koneko hugging the girl tightly as she began to rub her head smiling as Koneko purred, her Nekomata ears coming out for a moment reveling as she always did under her king's head rubbing. Rias was far more demonstrative than even her family was routinely to their servants. The Gremory clan had always prided itself on treating their servants as family, something that saw them ridiculed by other clans but which was rewarded with the intense devotion of those servants. Yet for all of that, there was still a certain amount of distance between the kings and their respective peerages. Not so with Rias and her friends, for that was how she thought of them: friends first and foremost.

"I don't know Koneko-chan, remember she was only at the academy because she ran into problems at her own school. So we shouldn't have to see her on a day to day basis. Still, I bet we could convince Mr. Potter to let you come over to play, would you like that?" Rias smiled as she felt Koneko nod where her head was nestled under Rias's chest. "Good. I bet Lily would also like to have another friend here in Japan. I'll bring it up with him this morning."

"Hmmm." Koneko nodded, and Rias let go of her to continue making breakfast. "Hope we can continue to get along with Potter-sensei too."

"I hope so as well Koneko-chan. And I think we've taken a big step in doing that," Rias replied, while reflecting that, while her parents had always made Koneko feel at home in their mansion, neither had stepped entirely into a parental role for her. Her mother had done so somewhat just as she had for Akeno, but not her father, treating Koneko more like a caring grandfather or uncle would have.

 _Harry now, he could step into that role easily, and I think he_ _'_ _d do it gladly too._ Rias had a sudden image of her and Harry standing together as Lily and Koneko ran around with a few younger, redheaded children with emerald eyes. While she could keep her blush at the image in check by the thought, _Maou damnit, I_ _'_ _ve only known him for a few weeks!_ Rias couldn't stop the smile that grew on her face at it.

This was the scene Akeno saw as she came into the kitchen, dressed for school as the others were. She stopped in the doorway, startled by the wide smile on her king's face or the small smile on Koneko's face and shared a glance with Kiba who had as usual teleported over to join them for breakfast. _Rias-chan might be a slightly better morning person than me but seeing her smile like that_ _in the morning_ _is most unusual even so. Darn it, I sense that there is teasing material to be had, but she_ _'_ _s not telling me enough to know how to go about using it!_ "Ara Buchou, you're looking quite happily domestic. Is there something you would like to share with your loving queen?"

"Oh, I'm certain you would like to know Akeno, but given your antics on Saturday, I'm still in no mood to oblige you," Rias replied, her smile only diminishing slightly at the teasing note in her queen's voice and returning fire. "Hopefully this will teach you to have more self-control in the future."

In her seat Koneko nodded vigorously. Even with Akeno's door closed and the queen having used several cleaning spells Koneko had been able to smell what Akeno had been up to Saturday evening the next day. Anything that kept her from smelling such again from the queen was a good thing in her opinion, and she had gone along with Rias's plan to not tell the Sadist Queen anything happily.

"Mou, so mean Buchou," Akeno replied, faking a pout while Kiba rolled his eyes at the two girls banter. There was a lot more frustration in Akeno's reply than normal when she spoke to her king however. Neither Rias nor Koneko had told the others they had eaten dinner with Potter-sensei Saturday or that Harry had agreed to be the club's advisor. While Kiba was willing to wait to be told whatever it was, Akeno was literally dying from curiosity after only a single day of seeing Rias's smug, happy expression. _What the heck did I miss?_

"Now, eat up everyone but I need to get going. I've got to go into school early to do some paperwork with Potter-sensei this morning," With that and a final almost condescending smile sent her queen's way Rias walked out, grabbing her backpack on the way.

As their king left, Akeno turned to Koneko. "Really, what did I miss!?"

Koneko however merely smiled and dug into her meal, leaving Akeno stewing in her own curiosity.

Elsewhere in town, Harry woke up and unlike Rias's entirely positive attitude toward what had occurred Saturday Harry had to wonder idly if he was a masochist, something he considered seriously as he too prepared breakfast. _On the one hand, a large part of me is happy to be able to spend more time with Rias and by extension Akeno. On the other hand, well it_ _s_ _spending more time around two young women whose presence acts like diamond headed drills to the walls of my self-control! I know they are both legal age, but last I checked_ _they were still my_ _students. Bloody hell, I really might be a masochist to even think of going through with this._

At least on Sunday he'd been able to put off thinking about his issues with Rias, the mystery around her and the others like her and the way their nearness seemed to eat at his self-control. Instead Harry had spent the entire day with Lily first going bowling of all things in the morning, then out on a run through the town, which for the two Potters was an odd mix of Parkour and sprinting. Lily might only have just started to show any signs of her father's lycanthropic side, but she had always had several times more endurance and energy than a girl her age should. Her coordination… not so much.

 _Which, come to think of it, might have been another factor which drove a wedge between Lily and Ginny. Ginny just couldn_ _'_ _t handle having a child that was so active, not when she wanted to also be active with her own life, pursuing her own interests._ This coupled with another point Harry had long since realized: that for all she had been happy to have a child with Harry, Ginny had not wanted to become her mother and had fought against anything that tried to push her into that kind of mold.

Besides that they had talked about a lot of subjects. In particular Harry had warned Lily about going looking for bullies and starting fights at school. Once was enough in his opinion, especially since she had been protecting herself and her friend. "If they come to you and get physical that's one thing, but you can't pick fights, violence isn't always the answer, just one of many tools you can use if you have to." Harry had said.

That statement would not have won Harry many points with other parents especially in Japan, where not causing waves was almost a societal law. But Harry saw no problem with using violence as a solution if you had to. It was only choosing when it was appropriate and Harry made certain Lily understood that there would be consequences if she went looking for or caused trouble.

Harry had also had to devote both late Saturday and Sunday nights learning more about the laws and other bunk he had to memorize to legally be considered a magical citizen of Japan. His first test in those laws was coming up this Wednesday. After two more would be given a certificate that said he knew his rights and obligations under the law and could perform magic in Japan.

 _It_ _'_ _s a good thing that no one seems to have noticed the burst of accidental magic I had when dealing with those three perverts. I know the locals can track such beyond the trace they placed on my transformed phoenix feather wand, the chapters about their laws mention that…every single one of them. That they didn_ _'_ _t proves that there_ _'_ _s something interesting in Kuoh. I wonder if Gremory-san and the others like her are consciously causing it or it_ _'_ _s merely a benefit of what they are, whatever the bloody hell that is._

"Daddy, do you think that it would be okay if I join some of the Occult Research Club's activities?"

Turning from the stove Harry smiled at Lily as he sat the tray of tiny sausages down next to the pancakes and other things already there. "I don't know lovey, though I suppose if the elementary school doesn't offer clubs you can come along. Would you like that?"

"Mm!" Lily replied, humming as she ate a large bite of pancakes before swallowing and going on. One thing Ginny and Harry had agreed on was table manners and Lily always made certain to chew and swallow before speaking. "I really liked Koneko, and Rias is great!"

"Oh, what do you like about her?" Harry asked idly.

"She doesn't speak down to me like so many older children and teens do," Lily replied with a scowl, but one which brightened into a smile as she went on, spearing a sausage with her fork. "She treats me like a mix between Aunt Hermione, Aunt Luna and you daddy."

"…" Pursing his lips Harry shook his head, unable to see what she meant. "You're going to have to unpack that a bit Lily."

"Well… Aunts Hermione and Luna both sort of spoil me, er, in their own way…" Lily said hesitantly, but Harry nodded since it was true. Luna treated Lily like a cross between a toy and a little sister while Hermione had always enjoyed trying to fill Lily's head with as much information as she possibly could, which was indeed her way of spoiling someone.

"Rias also kind of spoiled me, answering all my questions, but she also somehow got me to agree to do my homework, even my writing homework like you do. She didn't even have to do anything, I just… couldn't argue with her once she said me and Koneko should get to work." Lily scowled. "How do you do that anyway? Every time I think I'm going to argue about it with you, I suddenly just don't want to. That's not fair!"

"It's called parenting Red Moon, it's a magic all its own," Harry replied blithely, filing that information away. "Now eat up, I'm going to be dropping you off early today I'm sorry to say. I've got some paperwork I need to do."

Later after dropping Lily off Harry thought about Koneko and Rias, and found himself smiling as he thought about the way he and Rias had been trying to figure out one another without just coming out and asking. _I'm_ _still disturbed by how Rias and Akeno and even Sona and Tsubaki affect me through my mental control, but that_ _'_ _s entirely separate to the fact that I_ _'_ _m enjoying this game of ours. And that from what I_ _'_ _ve seen so far they are good people. Maybe this whole advisor thing will be fun._

Entering the school Harry paused, Seeing Issei there and sneaking around the outer edge of the wall surrounding the academy. He stopped sneaking as he got near the gym whereupon he made a dash toward the gym itself. _Don_ _'_ _t tell me he_ _'_ _s going back to the same hide I caught him and his friends at? There isn_ _'_ _t anyone in there changing this early, is there?_

Deciding the perverted youth was probably just taking a moment to make certain Harry hadn't destroyed or otherwise ruined their hiding spot -Which Harry was chagrined to realize he hadn't- Harry decided to let the boy dig his own grave for now. If he wasn't willing to learn, then he would just have to take his lumps and maybe get expelled for them. That was what Harry was going to recommend anyway, for both Hyodou the other two and more besides. It would be up to the principal to make the final decision, but Harry hoped he would make the right one. Spying on girls like that was just despicable and could be the start of even worse actions in the future.

A few moments later he knocked on the door leading into the student council's room and blinked in surprise as he heard Sona's voice. _Huh, so I_ _'_ _m not the only one getting an early start. I wonder if she makes a habit of that._

Entering the room, Harry saw it was about half the size of the teacher's lounge being just as long but not as wide with a large desk set at the far wall in front of the windows. Against the two side walls were several small desks on which computers sat, a bookcase, and map of the campus. In one corner was a small desk containing a chess set, in another an ornate tea set. No one was using the computers at the moment, but Tsubaki Shinri stood by the tea set watching it while also reading some kind of pamphlet and making corrections in it with a yellow marker.

Looking up from her desk Sona was surprised to see the school's newest and most mysterious teacher standing in the doorway. "Mr. Potter, you're here early. What can I do for you?" she asked, pushing her glasses up her nose as she looked at him curiously.

Looking at them, Harry could tell the two of them gave off the same feeling as Rias and Akeno, and felt it could rightly be said that the two women in front of him were beautiful just like Rias and Akeno were, if not in the same way.

Tsubaki was around five eight or so, and like Sona wore spectacles. She had long black hair almost as long as Akeno's, but she wore it flowing slowly down her back with split bangs and heterochromic eyes. She had a decent bust for someone her age and build, but was generally speaking built more along svelte, trim lines.

Sona was built similarly to her queen, though she was a few inches shorter. She also had short black hair in a bob cut to go with her striking violet eyes. But whereas Tsubaki had an okay bust for a girl her size and age, Sona was on the small side.

Yet for all of their beauty Harry didn't feel the rush of attraction that he did with Rias and Akeno. This, plus the fact that was rather the norm with those who felt so oddly to his senses, convinced Harry that the problem was at least partly due to his werewolf side and the type it seemed to believe was the most attractive.

"Well first Shitori-san I wanted to apologize for sending Kiryuu to serve her detention with you. I should have cleared that with you first, but I felt that it being the first week of school you and the student council would have more than enough work to keep her busy. And frankly the idea of overseeing her detention personally somewhat terrified me," Harry finished dryly as he sat across from Sona at her desk.

"That was perfectly acceptable Sensei. It isn't the first time a teacher has assigned a student to work with me," Sona said, the light coming from the windows glinting off her glasses and giving her a sinister looking appearance, something Harry knew she must have cultivated. "Indeed, I enjoy looking after such and always get my time's worth of work out of them."

"Heh, I'm sure. But I wanted to ask you if you would be willing to watch over Kiryuu's detentions in the future as well as the group that have already begun to be called the 'Perverted Trio': Matsuda, Motohama, and Hyodou. I'd be willing to do the same but given the sheer number of detention they will no doubt earn I thought that perhaps an ongoing project they could continually be ordered to work on would be better."

"That and you are no doubt worried that if the loli-lover says something about his preference you might just lose control and kill him," Sona stated sardonically.

"That too," Harry replied, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm quite protective of my daughter."

The way he said that made it clear that Mr. Potter was simply making a statement rather than implying a threat. Yet even so Sona decided to treat it as a warning for the future. _Not that I have contemplated beginning hostilities with Mr. Potter, but it is still something to make note of._

"As for the three male perverts, I am afraid I have to decline," Sona continued. "The student council is solely comprised of girls at the moment, we did use to be an all girl's school before this year after all and there is little chance of those three controlling themselves around us. They would not get any work assigned to them done and would disrupt our own. I would be willing to suggest tasks for them around the school however. For example cleaning the boy's toilets, or cleaning up the science labs?"

"Hmm, I suppose that would work, but that's more of a stopgap measure. I'd honestly like to see them suspended." Harry said, shaking his head. "Their other perversions notwithstanding they attempted to spy on girls changing. Back in the United Kingdom that would see them suspended at best, expelled at worst."

"So long as they keep their grades above a C the principal will be willing to give them some slack since there are so few boys here in the first place. If however you and the other teachers can convince him suspend them, I wouldn't mourn the loss." Sona said with a faint smile, liking the fact that Harry respected women to that extent. "But I'm afraid expulsion wouldn't even be considered save for outright molestation."

"Darn," Harry replied simply. "Still, I'm going to talk with the principal about this. I'd like to see a three strike system put in place for acts like that and for the girls too."

"Excuse me?" Sona blinked, sitting up straighter in her chair if that was possible, her humor disappearing. "What do you mean for the girls too?"

"You can't just create such a system for the boys alone Sitri-san. And before you ask, Kiryuu isn't the only problem on the distaff side of things. I think I overheard some female students saying they were going to try to get hold of 'The Prince's' underwear. But that too is harassment and an invasion of privacy, just as much as the three pervert's actions." Harry had been well out of normal hearing range when he heard that, only doing so thanks to his werewolf senses. But he hadn't seen who had been talking.

To one side of the president's desk, Tsubaki had been preparing two cups of tea for the president and the visiting teacher. Now those two worthies looked in her direction as the teakettle's handle broke in her grip. "Oh, um, oops. I think we might need a new teakettle Sitri-sama, this one seems to have worn out," the slightly taller girl said, looking down at the handle.

"I'll look into it Tsubaki. And yes, I agree that sounds just as disturbing as peeping. If you can get the majority of the teachers to back such a system, I will also endorse it for the student body and help to explain it to everyone," Sona said after turning back to Harry.

At that moment there was a knock on the door, and Rias poked her head in, her red hair falling to the side as she did. "Sona, I, oh Potter-sensei. I'm sorry am I interrupting anything?"

"I was nearly finished anyway Gremory-san." Harry said, standing up and smiling at the newcomer. "I'll see what the other teachers think about my proposal Shitori-san. Until then though, your friend here has a bit of an announcement."

Sona looked at Rias who smiled in turn, moving forward to one side of Harry as Harry paused looking more closely at the intricate chess set he had seen when he had first entered the room. "I've got good news Sona. Potter-sensei has agreed to become my club's advisor."

"Really?" Sona asked, honestly surprised and letting it show for once. Given their unique situation here in Kuoh the ORC didn't actually need an advisor, but it would make a lot of things simpler for them, including going on school funded trips or organizing fund raising events. _Which isn't_ _even considering that this way Rias will have more excuses to speak to Potter-sensei and learn more about him. And vice versa admittedly, but even so, that is a notable step in the right direction._

Sona wasn't nearly as invested as her friend was in finding out the mystery about Harry Potter, despite the amount of power she sensed in him. Having seen and even exchanged words with Lily and having seen him in action as a teacher, Sona felt there was no need to pry further. She had no wish to make him an enemy or a friend, and certainly no wish to add an older, experienced man to her peerage, nor any pressing need to do so.

Thinking about that, she looked at her friend, deciding to give voice to those thoughts. "I have to wonder who will find out more about the other side thanks to this new understanding."

"You say that like you you're not part of the mystery." Harry said, smiling gently. "I know you and Shinra-san are the same as Gremory-san, Himejima-san and others around campus, though I haven't identified you all just yet."

"True, but I don't care as much as my friend here does about unraveling your mystery. For myself, as long as it isn't something that will threaten the school or those within, I have no problem with both sides retaining their distance from one another." Sona replied.

"Whereas I on the other hand do care," Rias said impishly, though there was a serious reason behind how her interest in Harry had begun. "And so do you, or you wouldn't be willing to play the game like this."

Even though his lips twitched at the phrase 'the game' for some reason, his eyes flicking over to the chess set, Harry nodded, holding his hand out formally for Rias to shake. "In that case, let the best man win."

"Unless she's a woman," Rias replied with a laugh, shaking his hand while Sona and Tsubaki both chuckled.

Harry's teeth glinted as he smiled simply nodding at the correction, which made Rias's smile widen slightly. It was an acknowledgment that Harry did indeed realize she was a woman. "So how do we this?"

"You and Rias will need to fill in paperwork for the position, more you than her sensei, then the two of you will have a week to submit a jointly agreed upon budget and schedule. A club with an advisor will be given an increase in its budget, but must also have a plan how to use it in place quickly." Sona explained briskly. "The forms for your end of things should be in the teacher's lounge. Rias, you can come back later today and I'll have your half of the paperwork printed out."

"Would meeting in the afternoon to discuss our budget work for you sensei?" Rias asked with forced casualness. "I've been keeping my club's budget up to this point, but I understand it's a little more formal once we have an advisor and can go on trips and such like. The calendar aspect is also going to be new to me."

"I'm afraid given my need to pick up my daughter after school afternoons wouldn't work for me. How about meeting in the mornings?" Harry asked. "We could have breakfast somewhere with Lily? That would help get me out of making breakfast for a few days, which will be nice. I'm still not used to cooking the local food and we've run out of pancake and waffle mix."

Rias had trouble keeping a smile off her face at that suggestion, which built on her own in an entirely new direction. "That would certainly work for me. And I'd love the chance to see Lily again, she's a very nice girl and a delight to be around." So saying she then allowed a smirk to appear on her face, flushing as Harry's eyes flitted down from her own to look at her lips for a brief second, so brief she thought she had imagined it. "I saw some pictures online Sunday of the two of you running through the town, parkour was it?"

"Hmhhm, that was quite fun. My daughter is a very… energetic little girl, so when we have the chance we prefer to be active like that," Harry replied, downplaying it quite a bit. "I didn't realize the people taking pictures of us would have put them online though."

"Feel the power of the internet," Tsubaki said dryly, speaking up for the second time. "You would not believe what people think are appropriate to share."

"Indeed, Kuoh's had to redo their policy about pictures and phones numerous times in the past few years," Sona said, shaking her head then looking curiously at Harry, fishing for information in her own way. "I noticed you looking at my chess set earlier Sensei. Tell me, do you play?"

Harry grimaced. "Um no, not anymore. I had a friend who was into the game big time, but these days I can't stand it." Scowling Harry pointed at the chess set. "First of all, the pieces can only move as directed rather than by themselves, and even then only in a set way, which is just silly. And for another, the game ends when you can check or kill the king? How pathetic is that? If you can end a battle or war like that, with a decapitation strike then there's something very wrong going on. And besides, how the hell does the king feel, always being protected, never doing the attacking or protecting?"

There was more to his disdain for chess than that actually, a lot of it personal. Harry could all to easily remember how the trio had thought that Ron's skill with chess and Quidditch strategies would carry over to the war against Voldemort, and how it had been an utter disaster. He could also remember the way Dumbledore tried to keep him out of the fighting at first to protect him for some kind of final confrontation, as if taking out Riddle was all that mattered. Checking the king as Dumbledore had called it more than once, with many of his followers agreeing. Harry had hated that with a passion, and had gotten Sirius and even Tonks after an argument, to agree to let him to fight against the Death Eaters on his own, where he had proved to be, in Tonks's words, "Horribly good at the business of war."

"Now, if you could say train a pawn to act like a rook, or a rook to act like a knight or even a queen without the need to get to the other side of the board and somehow keep fighting after the king has fallen, that would make chess more interesting. But I still wouldn't like it given how people who play it think it's such a great strategy game when it has literally nothing to do with how war really is." Breathing a sigh Harry looked around, only now realizing he had sort of been ranting there for a moment.

Quickly he decided to lighten the mood with a little joke. "I'm sorry I seem to have said too much. Indeed, I might have just given you some more hints into the mystery about me."

"You did," Rias said, her head awhirl with not just what Harry had said but the way he had said it, making her realize things about chess and more importantly the peerage system and Rating Games that she never had before. _I'm_ _going to have to think about that later, it has a lot of implications for future training for myself and the others. After all, checking in terms of Rating Games can_ _'_ _t end the game unless the king concedes…_ "However, I think Sona and I can return the favor, to make certain the game between us stays even."

She looked over at Sona, who first frowned then smiled as Rias turned back addressing Harry once more. "You mentioned how you can tell the students who are similar to myself and Sona. Well, we break down into two groups. My group is comprised of the members of my club: Akeno, Koneko and Kiba."

Nodding, Sona took over. This wasn't very important after all, and it did give Harry some more to work on in terms of figuring out the mystery about them, just as what he had revealed did about the mystery around Harry: that he was a veteran of some kind of war, which made the power they senses in him make more sense. "And the student council are mine: Tsubaki, Tomoe Meguri, Tsubasa Yura, Momo Hanakai, Reya Kusaka." Sona wasn't nearly as picky about who she allowed to join her peerage, but she still had yet to fill in her total peerage.

"I see. And you are obviously not in direct conflict." Harry mused, smiling at the gesture from the redhead and her friend.

"Conflict no. There is some competition between us, but it's all friendly," Rias replied, with Sona once more nodding agreement.

Any further conversation was interrupted by the bell announcing the start of homeroom going off, causing the students and teacher to both blink in surprise, not having realized how long they had been talking. "Well ladies that's my cue to leave. I'll see you both in class," Harry said, bowing from the waist to both girls before leaving quickly.

Rias waited there for a moment as Sona and Tsubaki both grabbed their own schoolbags, the three of them moving to the door to head to their homerooms, where Rias knew Akeno would be waiting for her. She smiled at the idea of still keeping her queen in the dark and teasing her for a change, but her smile widened into a grin as Sona murmured. "Well done Rias."

"I wish I could take credit, but it was rather a random series of events which saw Potter-sensei agree to it. That, and the fact his daughter and Koneko got along so well. I was just able to take advantage of it." Rias sobered somewhat, looking at her fellow king seriously. "Just as I am going to take advantage of what he said about chess, its pieces, and war."

"Oh yes," Sona said grimly. "I will definitely be doing the same thing. Regardless of what Potter-sensei is, his words make far too much sense for me to ignore."

 **OOOOOOO**

The paperwork's done Kalawarner. Now if Potter bothers to look into your past for whatever reason, or more likely the devils if they discover you hovering around him they're bound to have an interest in him too, you'll seem as normal as we can make it. Your background is that of a computer programmer here in Japan from America as part of an exchange program between companies. Does that work?" Raynare asked, handing over a bundle of documents to the other Fallen Angel.

Kalawarner shrugged. "Other than the fact I don't know anything about computers, yes that works I suppose. I doubt it'll matter much, most devils aren't tech savvy either. If the devils are interested in Harry Potter, and perforce anyone showing interest in him, then they'll use magical means to try and track me. And I can match or avoid anything such young, naïve devils as the Gremory or Sitri group come up with."

"Agreed." Raynare said, biting off the word for some reason. Kalawarner wondered why, but Raynare went on before she could think about it much. "When will you move? I might want to move against the main target as quickly as possible once we are certain the Sacred Gear is worth it."

"Have our orders changed?" Said Mittelt, looking up sharply from where she'd been playing a game of solitaire in midair using her Spears as fingers.

"No, but they've given me more information about why we were sent in the first place. I have no idea why, but the higher-ups believe that pervert's Sacred Gear is going to be one of the more powerful ones. If he can't control it, it'll go off like a bomb, but if we can kill him and extract it…" Raynare smiled cruelly. "Well that could tip the balance of this peace in our favor."

Kalawarner shook her head firmly. "Regardless I'm not going to rush this. Potter feels like he's too strong, even if he was a simple werewolf that might be the case, but given the fact that he also might be a magician as well, I want to be slow and methodical about this."

"Come on Kalawarner!" Mittelt said tauntingly, "I thought you were confident about your seduction skills! Shouldn't you just be able to shake those giant udders of yours in his face and make him fall for you?"

"A great seduction is like a fine wine Mittelt," Kalawarner responded with a condescending smile. "It takes time and effort. Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you don't know that. Your targets after all tend to be more…specialized don't they?"

Mittelt glared at the older looking Fallen for that jibe. Though she was actually near the same age as Kalawarner, Mittelt had stopped aging sometime during the Great War. And she hated it, hated her tiny body with a passion, which was tied to why she had fallen. Her loli body allowed her to target men, and even a few women of a specific sexual bent, but that was no comfort at all.

"If Potter was the sort of man to fall for a pretty face and big tits immediately, he would've done so when we met him." Kalawarner went on seriously, ignoring Mittelt's glare with the ease of long practice. "I could have had them eating out of the palm of my hand right then and there, following me along like a little dog and even forgetting his daughter entirely! But he isn't that kind of man, he's too controlled for that."

"Just make sure that you remember our primary mission," Raynare interjected, her lips twisted into a sneer. "Taking him out of the equation or bringing to our side is only half the battle here. And don't forget that we might need you as a distraction for the Devils if it comes time to move against the Hyoudou. However long you want to take on this seduction of yours, you'll do well to remember that."

Nodding seriously Kalawarner fought the urge to roll her eyes at Raynare's tone. All Fallen Angels fell from grace, hence the 'Fallen' portion of the label. But the reasons for their falling were as diverse as the Fallen themselves. Mittelt for example fell through the sin of envy. She had been envious of the way other Angels had aged over time while her aging had stopped with her body seemingly stuck in the shape of a young girl.

Raynare had fallen due to the sin of pride. She had always been prideful of her combat skills and had thought herself far better than her two wings status indicated to others She consistently challenged those above them, but her pride would not allow her to admit that they were simply stronger than her. She had eventually turned on one of those fellows and stabbed him in the back, quite literally, staining her white wings with blood. Kalawarner hadn't been there at the time, but she had heard later that Raynare's wings had shifted almost instantly to black, rather than slowly changing color as was the case for most Fallen.

And of course her attitude hadn't changed since. Many Fallen became dominated by the sin that had caused them to fall in the first place. She was proud of both her beauty and her combat ability and held contempt for anyone who was weaker than her in terms of combat ability or had fallen from what she thought of as a 'softer' sin.

Such was the case with Kalawarner, who had fallen from grace because of the sin of lust. She had fallen in love, or so she thought it at the time, with a mortal man, much like Azazael had with mortal women. She had thought it was love, but it turned out that love was very different from lust. Not that Kalawarner would ever admit that. She simply smiled confidently, crossing her arms under her chest, which was larger than Raynare's something that made the prideful Fallen scowl angrily. "Don't worry Raynare, I'll remember the mission, and I'll do my part. Potter will be brought over to our side, or neutralized, one way or another."

 **OOOOOOO**

To Harry's dismay as well as many of the female population of Kuoh all the three perverts bounced back from the sense of terror Harry had instilled in them on Saturday. After school when the various clubs began to gather Harry saw them heading to their no longer secret hiding place. Since his discussion with the other teachers and the principal had bogged down as they discussed how to put the three strike rule in place, Harry decided to do something about the three of them this time on his own once more.

"You three never learn do you," he growled as he came around the corner to the little alleyway between the gym and the pool.

However the three perverts had learned something from their experience on Saturday, and even planned for further attempts at interrupting their fun. "Scatter!" One of them shouted the instant he saw Harry coming, throwing some homemade smoke pellets at him.

The small pellets hit the ground around Harry and smoke billowed out, while the other two perverts broke out from the alleyway, attempting to scatter as they fled from the scene of their crime. In their opinion so long as they weren't caught red-handed, they could simply say it wasn't them and Harry would be forced to let them go.

For all their planning they hadn't countered on Harry's sense of smell that allowed him to pinpoint all three of them through the smoke that caused however. While nearby students looked on, Harry strode through the smoke and expertly snagged Motohama and Hyoudou by the scruff of their necks.

But despite his enhanced senses, Harry might not have been able to catch the third, the more athletic Matsuda. "I salute your sacrifice dear friends!" the jock shouted as he raced away.

Yet just as Matsuda raced out of the smoke, something tripped him, sending him face first into the dirt. Only Harry saw what had tripped the pervert: a rock had caught him right on the ankle, thrown from a nearby Koneko.

Harry nodded in her direction, and heard the girl whisper "Hate perverts," thanks again to his enhanced werewolf senses.

In reply he whispered, "I'll have an extra treat for you tomorrow morning Koneko," and saw the girl perk up noticeably before she turned away.

Then Harry turned his attention back to the trio of perverts, striding over to drop the two he had caught in front of their friend. "We're going to go see the principal now," he said almost pleasantly then he snarled. "And you are going to learn why this kind of crap will no longer be tolerated here!"

"You could just leave them to us sensei, cockroaches like these need to be stomped!" said a young female voice, and Harry looked up to see the head of the kendo club and numerous others standing there, their wooden blades on their shoulders as they glared at three perverts. They were still wearing their school uniforms, though a few had buttons unhooked here and there.

The leader of the kendo club, Murayama, was the one who had spoken. Her wooden blade in hand as she pointed it angrily at the trio.

Even now the perverts couldn't help but stare at them as they had in every PE class Harry had taught with them so far. "B84-W70-H81 cm," whispered Motohama, causing his friend's jaws to drop.

Yet while the girls were pretty enough ,they weren't so gorgeous as to make Harry look at them the way he did Rias and Akeno, his Occlumentic self-control not even quivering. Instead he just laughed at the euphemism the girl had used and decided to run with it as he replied. "If you try to stomp a cockroach it can bounce back and if it does, it will simply learn how to run away. This way we either start the process to expel the three of them if they don't learn. Or they do learn, and cut this stuff out. Either way all of you, and the school as a whole, win."

"You can't expel us! All we have to do is keep our grades up," said Motohama. "Kuoh is an elevator school once you get into it after all!"

"Face it sensei," said Issei smugly, poking Harry in the ribs like he was sharing a joke with the older man. "You can't get rid of us, you'll never have all of these glorious oppai to yourself!"

 _What part of I am a sensei is hard to understand_ Harry groused mentally. Yet he only smiled grimly at the trio. "Unfortunately for you three, the principal, while not having realized that he would face serious issues such as peeping and stalking, has decided on a proactive way of dealing with things. But I'll let him explain it to you. Have a good day ladies," he said bowing politely to the kendo club, before turning back to glare at the perverts. "March!"

The three did so sullenly, wondering what was in store for them as they whispered together trying to prepare their defense. Meeting with the principal was more serious than dealing with a single teacher, and they would have to come up with something believable. After all, this time they hadn't been caught in the act and they hadn't been caught right by the window into the girls changing room either.

As they walked Harry noticed Kiba passing the other way, moving towards the gym and the kendo club. The younger man smiled politely at Harry, and Harry thought once more it looked a little too practiced, a little too plastic and fake. _Is that just because he feels he has an image to maintain, or something deeper? Of could I be letting how Rias told me that he is one of her group effect my impression of Kiba? Still… there is something far more serious about the way he practices with the sword… Though again that could tie into the whole larger mystery around him and the others._

As they marched through the school up to the principal's office, Harry and the three prisoners passed Rias and Akeno going the other way. Taking in the tableau Rias smiled impishly. "I had the initial paperwork ready for you to look at Potter-sensei, but is it safe to assume that you'll be busy for a while? We could do more of the paperwork tomorrow morning rather than jump right into the budgets stuff."

"I'm afraid so Gremory-san," Harry said with a sigh. "I need to get these three to the principal first but then I'll be back don't worry. I want to finalize the initial round of paperwork before we leave today. If you could keep it warm for me that would be great," He requested drolly.

Rias laughed while Akeno looked confused. "Ara, what paperwork would that be, Sensei?" She asked, not used to having been left out of the loop. This wasn't helped by the fact that Rias had teased her a time two during the school day about that very point. _I'm_ _the teaser not the teased darn it! What is going on here?_

"Oh I'm sorry Akeno, didn't I tell you?" Rias asked looking both apologetic and amused, while inside she was sad she'd only gotten a day of teasing her best friend before her fun had to come to an end. Opportunities to tease Akeno rather than be teased by her were few and far between after all. "Potter-sensei has agreed to be the ORC's advisor."

While Akeno blinked, her face showing both shock and pleasure at the news, the three perverts glared at Harry as if they were trying to sear him to ash by the power of their stares. "What the fuck sensei!" bellowed Matsuda. "You're acting all high and mighty when in reality you're plotting to snu-snu with the two Great Ladies!?"

"For shame! How dare you try to horde those oppai!" Issei shouted in turn.

"He's right he's right! Those oppai should be free-for-all!" Motohama said. "And now you're going to be meeting with Gremory-sama one-on one in an enclosed room!?"

Harry groaned, feeling a headache starting, as well as the urge to reach out and slap these young idiots. _Dammit I've heard of going out of control with hormones, but this is ridiculous. They make people_ _a_ _ffected by a Veela allure look normal!_

"Point one, the door will be open all the time, nor will we be alone because I've no doubt her friend Akeno will also be with us."

Akeno rallied at that point, pulling on her normal Yamato Nadeshiko mask, smiling politely at the perverts, bouncing a few times on the balls of her feet. This of course set her breasts to wobbling, and the perverts began to flush as the one in glasses muttered about her proportions.

"Ara, I'll have some tea waiting for you both sensei," she said cheerfully. "After all, I too would like to see what it is like to have you as an advisor."

Harry rolled his eyes as her words matched with the very direct way Akeno had looked at him for a second, addressing the perverted Trio once more. "Point two, not every man is a pervert like you three!"

"That's where you're wrong sensei! Every man is a pervert, we've told you that before. It's just some fools like you push them down, until they explode in an orgy of destruction!" Motohama retorted.

"And you're almost like that pretty boy Kiba in the looks department. I'd bet with a little bit of effort you could have any girl here you wanted!" Issei said. "Be open with your perversions sensei, join us and we can build an oppai paradise together!"

The reformed Lolita lover was about to speak up in agreement with his comrades but Harry's glare suddenly sharpened, while something dark and disturbing began to emanate from him. "One more word and I'll not only take you to the principal, but then tie you up and leave you for the kendo girls. I'm certain they would love for their wooden swords to make your acquaintance!"

Akeno sighed staring with any lidded eyes it Harry, her legs shifting against one another as she stood there. It was only Rias's glare that caused her to regain control of herself.

Needless to say the pervert's reaction was quite a bit different. As one the three perverts shriveled into themselves, huddling together and clutching the front of their pants. "We'll be good!"

A few moments later they were nearly as worried after they had spoken to the principal. The principal had told them about three strike system. In essence it meant every student would have three infractions against the rules of the academy or common decency. After the first, they would be warned, as the trio was this time. A second and third strike would see them suspended. If they persisted after that, then a further three strikes would see them expelled.

This and the fact other students could report their actions instead of it needing to be a teacher who caught them in the act would sharply curtail their activities. The fact it would also impact the actions of Kiryuu and the overzealous admirers of the Pretty Boy Prince didn't matter a damn to them. What did was the fact the teachers had joined the great conspiracy against their oppai paradise.

They left the principal's office grumbling and muttering to one another, but Motohama put it in perspective. Let us face facts gentleman, when we got into Kuoh we were blinded by our good fortune. We allowed our base need to get the better of us as Potter said. But we need to rise above this, we need to be strong for our dreams. We need," he said leaning forward "to play smarter, and not be caught anymore..."

 **OOOOOOO**

The meeting with Rias after he dropped off the perverts off marked the first time Harry was around either her or Akeno when their presence didn't affect his mental control. There was, after all, absolutely nothing sexy about filling out forms. The only good thing about the meeting was that Akeno had indeed used the tea pot that was in the teacher's lounge to prepare some tea for the two of them, and that it was really quite good. As they broke up however, Rias asked casually, "So, should we meet here at school tomorrow morning sensei, or somewhere else?"

While Akeno stiffened in surprise once more from where she had been cleaning the teapot, Harry shrugged. "Where would you recommend? And kindly remember that wherever we go there needs to be something that a young not even eight year old girl will eat."

Rias looked at Harry blankly then said in a deadpan tone, "I have been looking after Koneko for a number of years. Trust me Potter-sensei, I know what kind of things Lily will like. How about we meet at a small delicatessen called Union Hall? It specializes in breakfasts and selling lunch boxes too, just so you know for the future."

"Hmm, two birds with one stone then, excellent," Harry said, walking with Rias out of the main school building where they split off. Harry left the academy to pick up Lily from school, though he knew he was already late doing so, while Rias led Akeno to the old school building where the ORC made its headquarters.

"So mean Buchou." Akeno said after Harry was out of hearing range. "You could have told me."

"It's not my fault your lack of self-control caused you to miss things Akeno," Rias replied, turning her head to send a smirk her friend's way. "Besides, you can't argue with the results can you?"

Akeno sighed theatrically still pouting for a time before brightening. "I know, I can take over these meetings for you Buchou. That will let you concentrate on important kingly duties, whatever those are, while I meet with Potter-sensei. It's my job as treasurer anyway." She smiled wickedly then, tapping her chin with a finger. "Hmmm… and since it's before school, I can dress in something different than my school uniform."

"Not at all Akeno, it's no bother at all though thank you for the suggestion~," Rias trilled in response. She was enjoying the sight of her queen, and her best friend, looking equal parts chagrined at being teased and jealous at missing out on the opportunity to be around Harry.

"No, no Buchou, it would never do to have the club president do such unimportant things." Akeno tried again.

"I insist." Rias replied dryly. "But as for those important kingly duties you mentioned, I've an idea to add to my workload and everyone else's too. Potter-sensei said something to Sona and I this morning that rang far too true for me to ignore."

That caused Akeno to cock her head quizzically but then she visibly set it aside looking away nibbling at her bottom lip for some reason.

 _Is, is she really jealous of me spending time with Harry? That would be a first, but why would she feel jealous, unless she has more feelings for him than I thought?_ The idea was an odd one, but perhaps there was some truth to it. _It isn_ _'_ _t like Akeno to be so denied in using her wiles upon a man, and it might have acted on her like a lure almost. Or, or could she really have developed feelings for him? In so short a time?_

That idea bothered Rias on many levels, and she changed the subject quickly. "Now, while we're heading to the club room tell me again about what happened when you tried to teach Koneko some magic last year."

Akeno blinked at that, but complied. That explanation took them to the clubhouse, where they found Koneko and Kiba waiting for them as Rias had asked them to at lunch. "Good you're all here," Rias said, moving to sit on the sofa with Akeno sitting beside her. "I want to talk to you all about training. Specifically the need for us all to train and to cross train as best we can."

As her peerage, her friends looked at her, Rias went on slowly. "I have a confession to make. Despite my desire to treat you all as friends I had never really thought about how best to train you as individuals rather than as representatives of the type of piece I used to bring you all into my peerage. I want to rectify that now." Rias's eyes then began to gleam, and the red light of the Power of Destruction began to pulse from her hands, which she had folded in her lap. "I'm also going to be training myself too. In as many ways as I can think of."

"Is this training specifically for anything Buchou?" Kiba asked. He was the only one of them who had a real daily regimen.

"No, it will just be about us becoming stronger, more rounded fighters. That means Koneko gets trained in swords along with Rias and I, and you two learn magic as well." Kiba and Koneko both protested that, but Rias rode over their comments easily, saying it only made sense to cross train to that extent. "This isn't just for you, as I said but for me as well. I refuse to let my position as king define me. I will fight in the future in any way I can, and I expect you all to do the same."

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day Harry and Lily followed the instructions Rias had given Harry to the eatery. They found Rias there along with Koneko, a sight that caused Lily to smile happily as she raced forward to hug first Rias then Koneko, while Harry paused, taking in Rias's look. Koneko had worn her school uniform, Harry hot the impression she wasn't a girl who enjoyed changing her clothing.

Rias on the other hand was wearing something other than her uniform. Instead of the blouse and short skirt combination that was the academy's uniform for girls, she instead wore a pair of tight jeans, so tight they looked as if they had been painted on rather than simply worn. Her blouse, a black blouse with white marks here and there, also hugged her form, though oddly enough didn't so as much as her uniform did. Her hair was down too, and for some reason she had small reading glasses perched on her nose.

The sight of her like this, out of uniform, drove home to Harry once more that Rias was a woman and an attractive one. He once more felt the impact of being around her on his self-control, but he again repaired the cage around his libido and walked forward after his daughter, a smile tugging on his lips as he saw her start to jabber at the two older girls.

As Lily ran up to Koneko and her, Rias bit her lip as she caught the look in Harry's eyes for a moment there. It was a softer look than she had expected, more appreciative than lustful, though there had been a flash of that there too.

When he sat down across from her his smile nearly made her want to melt. "You didn't have to dress up like this just to meet my daughter and me Gremory-san, or are you going to say that you dress like this every morning?"

"I spend so much time in the school uniform I tend to grab at any opportunity to wear something different outside the house Sensei. Why, don't you like it?" Rias asked, mock-coquettishly.

"I didn't say that and you know it" Harry said, unable to stop his eyes roving down her body once more. "But can I ask a question?"

Rias preened slightly at that look but otherwise didn't respond to Harry's gaze shifting away from her face for a moment. "Certainly."

"Why the glasses?" Harry asked curiously.

Laughing Rias reached up tapping her glasses with a finger. "Oh, I always wear them when I'm doing paperwork. I think they make me work more efficiently."

"Well that isn't the silliest thing I've ever heard, and who knows, if it works I might wish to try it. Never liked wearing them when I was younger though," Harry laughed, while seeing yet another, rather cute, side of the mystery that was Rias Gremory.

Rias smiled at that but then turned to Koneko and Lily to answer a question from the younger redhead. Once those two had ordered, Rias looked back at Harry. "I had planned for it to just by you, Lily and this morning, but when she heard about it Koneko insisted she come along too. This girl and her appetite," Rias said fondly, rubbing her hand over the back of Koneko's head.

Though her expression didn't change, Koneko tiled her head to the side, pushing into Rias's hand. The sight won a giggle from Lily, though Harry simply looked on in amusement at the girl he assumed was a simple werecat. She pulled away, staring at Lily then very deliberately stuck her tongue out at the younger girl.

"Hah! It's fine Gremory-san, as you can see this gives Lily someone to talk to while we work. Now, what do you want to eat?" Harry asked, setting down his briefcase.

"You don't have to do that sensei." Rias protested.

"I was already going to pay for my own and Lily's. Paying for the two of you isn't that much of a hardship."

Blushing as this was becoming more and more like a date (albeit with two hangers on) Rias answered quickly. Sitting back down the two of them began to eat and work on the paperwork they needed to do today while Lily and Koneko sat and talked next to them.

Throughout this process Harry was struck once more by how mature Rias was. At 18, she had a far greater understanding of the importance of money than most her age, certainly more than Harry had at the time. Before leaving Hogwarts he had never cared about money one way or another: he didn't spend much, but he also didn't really keep track of it. That only changed when he had to look after Lily, which had forced him to realize the importance of money management. The Potters had been well-off, but not rich like the Malfoy's.

Eventually Rias leaned back, pounding on her shoulders with one of her fists. Harry absently noticed that there was a downside to having large breasts he supposed, his eyes trailing down for second as he once more felt the impact of the girl on his self-control. _There has to be something going on here, I know I_ _'_ _ve got a redhead fetish but this is ridiculous._

"I think we're done today Sensei, unless you want to be late dropping off Lily," Rias said, bringing Harry's attention back to the material world. "So far we've been able to rework the club's budget to allow for three trips." This had been half of Rias's work and half Harry's since it had used both funds the club had raised itself and some which the school had allocated to it.

"I think we should cut that down to two trips." Rias continued. "Because of our scholastic standing, all of the members of the Occult Research Club can afford to miss a few days during the year, so if we cut down on the number of trips we can make the two remaining ones longer." Trips after all was one of the main reasons why school clubs had advisors: to go with them and make certain nothing happened away from school.

"That's a good idea, but I'll warn you that I have my own work above and beyond working here. I have a lot of paperwork and reading I have to do for my own continuing education."

Rias nodded, understanding the point or rather misunderstanding. She assumed that Harry was talking about how he was going for a Doctorate in education but Harry's actual education had nothing to do with his job. "For now you're right, it's time to go."

The two of them met again the next day, this time without Koneko since they went to a more traditional Japanese breakfast place, and Koneko had no interest in anything that wasn't sweet. Lily was there once more, but Rias would have it no other way, having a growing soft spot for her fellow redhead. The three of them sat down and the two adults spent a few minutes going over Lily's homework, since Harry hadn't helped her with it the day before. Instead the two of them had spent the late afternoon barricading the small window into the girls room the perverts had found, with Lily gleefully running around fetching tools for Harry.

Doing this with Harry, watching over Lily, it gave Rias a small thrill, though she wouldn't have been able to voice why. Perhaps it was the sheer normality of the scene, or maybe it was because together the three of them looked like a family. Rias overheard that comment more than once as they sat there, though thankfully she didn't see any of the students from Kuoh.

"So where would you like to go?" Harry asked while Lily dug into her breakfast. "And will you join in the school festival in January? Also, would you like permission to run a recruitment drive?"

Harry idly wondered if she was also recruiting for this group she was a leader of it, and if so how. But he didn't bring it up.

"No to a recruitment drive at this point, but yes we would want to create a booth for the school festival. As for the trips, I want to visit several places which are famous for occult phenomenon. Of course the biggest one is Kyoto. There are several sites within the city known to have paranormal or a cult activity."

Harry laughed teasingly. "And that has nothing to do with the movie studio being there? You've already got in my daughter into anime though I'll admit she didn't really need much help there. Are you aiming to get me into it too?"

"I would say that your daughter knows quality when she sees it. And I believe you will as well Potter-sensei," Rias replied then giggled. "Soon you too will know the power of the anime side!"

"Ha! Maybe, I did like that one movie we went to, though the lead main male lead was **so** stupid! Do all those animes have a stupid male lead? I'm not certain I like the message that sends." Harry asked.

"The plural is still anime, and it depends on how you define stupid," Rias said quickly, a smile appearing unbidden on her face at talking about one of her favorite subjects. Next to Harry, Lily looked up from the small book she had been reading from, her gaze intent and Rias sent the girl a wink.

That smile and the wink caused Harry to smile in turn, realizing that while Rias was very mature, she also had a childish side to her. For some reason, that made her a little more down to earth-seeming and attractive to him. _Down boy_ , he thought to himself, noting that even now his barriers were not taking any damage from being around Rias this morning.

"A lot of shounen comedies have stupid or one dimensional male leads like that. It's believed that such appeals to young boys, rather than someone who like yourself would understand or know about relationships, which hardly ever filter into that genre. There are others aimed at a more mature art audience."

"Yes I've see the advertisements for those too," Harry said then looked at Rias in mock shock. "I would never have thought a lady like yourself would be into such filth though, how scandalous!"

"I am not! And that was not the kind of thing I was talking about," Rias said primly, then giggled at the look Harry was giving her..

"Prim and proper you're not," Harry said with a chuckle of his own at her attempt to seem offended, before he stood up hugging Lily to him. "However, I have a little daughter I need to drop off at school."

"Well then far be it from us to keep her waiting," Rias said, hopping to her feet and grabbing a paperclip putting it around the paperwork. "However I'd like for you to come by tomorrow to introduce yourself formally to the rest of the club if that's all right?"

"That's fine, and thank you for being so understanding about how long this is taking," Harry said while picking up his own folder and briefcase. After all, the work they had been doing should have taken them a bare day, if not for the time constraints and the need to give Lily some attention. "I'll see you tomorrow to iron out the trip's details Rias."

With that, he walked out the door, not realizing that was the first time he had called Rias by just her first name. Nor did he see that she was now a stuttering mess as she stared across the desk at the far wall.

The next day after school Harry picked Lily up then went back to the Academy, and introduced himself formally to the Occult Research Club at once. He had of course met them all before this, both in class and out, but since this would put him in another position of power over them, in a way at least, both he and Rias had thought it appropriate.

Harry and Lily entered the ORC's clubroom, where the others had gathered. Rias stood by her desk next to two trays of drinks and several bags of local snacks one of which Koneko had already taken for herself. She was sitting at the sofa facing the door with the bag in her hands, and even though her expression didn't change Harry could tell she was smiling and happy to see Lily and him. Next to Koneko sat Akeno, her hands folded in her lap while she crossed her long, amazing looking legs at the same time. The smile on her face was certainly visible and just as sinful and she made a point of licking her lips as Harry looked at her. Facing the two of them alone on the other sofa was Kiba, who turned to smile politely over it towards the two newcomers.

"My friends, may I formally introduce Mr. Potter and his daughter Lily. Mr. Potter has agreed to be our advisor, and we have already begun to plan our first field trips and fund raisers!" Rias said cheerfully moving forward to welcome the two Potters with two drinks for them.

Harry took his sipping at it first before, turning to the others as Lily slurped loudly at hers, though she didn't move from Harry's side as the others all stood to take their own drinks. "Ladies and gentleman, I realize we've all met before, so I'll keep this short. Gremory-san told the truth about how she and I are already planning a few trips, and one of her suggestions is that you all take two long trips away to various occult-urally important places."

He waited until Akeno, Rias and surprisingly Kiba had finished hissing at his pun while Lily just groaned next to him before going on. "Everyone's a critic. Anyway, this is a privilege and not a right. I know all of you have a B average: I expect you to keep it regardless of club activities. If you don't I won't tell you to leave the club or anything, I will simply not allow the club to plan trips in the future."

Harry paused to let that sink in then smiled. "On the other hand, as club advisor I am also supposed to act as college advisor. I know that it's early in the year for you to start thinking about that, Gremory-san, Himejima-san, but it is never too early to start thinking about what you want to do with your life. Whatever you want to do, I'll help you figure out what you need to do to make it happen."

As he said this, a pensive look crossed Himejima's face, one that looked as if she had never even considered the idea of planning for college. Kiba and Koneko's faces were blank, which was alright since they both time to think about such things. But Rias, her face was the most startling. It was an odd mix between elated, thoughtful and horribly sad for just an instant before she regained control of herself and a look of calculation took over her face.

So brief was the moment Harry wondered if he had seen it at all. Filing that away he finished his brief speech. "And with that I thank you for the welcome, and hope we all get along in the future!"

"Thank you Potter-sensei!" Chorused the ORC, and all of them drank from the cups of soda that Akeno had prepared for the event.

While Harry stood back for a moment, moving over to Kiba Lily made a beeline for Rias and Akeno. "Hey Rias, and um…" Lily frowned in thought. "Um.. Himeji-san?"

"Himejima-san," Akeno corrected, while Rias chuckled. "But you can just call me Akeno sweetheart." With that Akeno swooped down, pulling Lily up into a hug. "Oh you're soooo cuutte!" She then sent a sultry look Harry's way. "I want one."

There was no denying what her words or the look meant. But while Rias groaned at her queen's actions, Harry merely rolled his eyes and waited for the inevitable, which occurred an instant later.

"Gerroff!" Lily growled kicking and flailing, her hands smacking into Akeno's chest and stomach. Akeno let her go with a 'oof' as Lily growled, dropping to her feet. "I don't like being picked up by strangers. Head pats are fine but not cheek pulling or picking up!"

"Mou, that's not cute," Akeno muttered, then sighed and crouched down to eye level with Lily while Harry struck up a conversation with Kiba. "I apologize Lily-chan. Would you like some mochi?"

"Apology accepted and yes please!" Lily replied, her attitude doing a 180 quickly as was the wont of small children. "I've really enjoyed some of the sweets I've tried since arriving in Japan."

"Ara, well, I think you'll like these. I'm quite proud of my confectionary skills." Akeno said, picking up a tray as Rias maneuvered around her, patting Lily on the head before she joined the conversation between Kiba and Harry. The two of them were talking about Harry joining Kiba at the kendo club for some sword practices and how Kiba had come to be an informal member of the kendo club. And Rias trusted Akeno not to fish for information from Lily.

She really should have known better, but to her credit Akeno didn't fish for anything important, nor did she quiz Lily about where she had lived in the past. Instead, Akeno asked Lily a few questions about her and her father's favorite foods, which would have led into some subtle questions about the kind of girl Lily thought her father liked.

However Koneko came over grabbing Lily by the arm and pulling her away from Akeno. "Don't catch the S…" she warned, leading Lily back over to one of the sofas where Koneko had already gathered almost all of the sweets on hand.

Akeno pouted at that then turned sultry, moving over toward Harry, as he had stopped talking Kiba and Rias for a second to watch Koneko and his daughter. Before Rias could stop her of Harry move backwards Akeno had pressed her chest against Harry's, looping her arms around his neck. "Mm, I suppose that is a good place to start. So what about it s~en~sei~? Are you in S, or an M?"

Harry placed his hands on her hips and pushed Akeno away firmly, her arms falling to her side. "I don't even know what those terms mean, but I think I can safely say I'm neither," he said flatly. "And I think either you've spiked your own drink Himejima-san or you've forgotten that I'm a teacher."

"That's what makes it even dirtier, sensei~," Akeno said, but she backed off at the glare Rias was giving her, and the fact Harry had already moved around to sit by the short stack pair. He asked Koneko to describe the various sweets, which she began to do with alacrity. Soon after that the small party ended, and Harry headed home with Lily in his alarms, falling asleep after an earlier sugar rush.

Back in the Occult Research club's room, Rias smiled at the others. Well, I think it's clear we're now making progress, aren't we."

 **OOOOOOO**

Astonishingly the rest of the week passed relatively peacefully. After Harry had dragged the perverts to the principal's office on Monday, they had seemingly stopped being so overt in their perversions. He still saw them giggling in the back of the classroom occasionally, and once or twice he saw them retreating quickly from the gym and he wondered if they had found another way to look into the girl's changing room.

But he couldn't catch them in the act anymore without trying to stake them out. And that would take too much time away from his actual teaching, which just wasn't going to happen.

Meeting again Thursday morning, Harry and Rias had hammered out the full budget for her club, as well as a calendar of events that they would be working with for going forward. Harry would then submit a copy to the principal, while Rias gave Sona another.

Rias stretched, smiling happily as Harry refilled their tea from a pot she had brought along. Today instead of having met in a restaurant they had met at a small park, where they had spread out a series of calendars for the rest of the school year. Each of them had also brought along some food, miso soup and tea from Rias, and breakfast rolls from Harry. Lily was making full use of this opportunity, racing around with a few other kids out and about with other early risers.

Looking up from where he had just put the thermos of tea down Harry took in Rias's body, feeling the familiar rush of desire, the impact on his self-control. Yet alongside that intense spike of lust came some far gentler emotions, which included both appreciation and affection. "You know these morning meetings have been very nice. While the work on the budget was irritating, I can't help but think I'm going to miss these little get togethers."

Rias jumped on that quickly. "We could make it a weekly thing if you want. I greatly enjoyed talking to you as well," Rias said, giving Harry a very direct look.

While once more repairing his mental controls at what those words and Rias's gaze meant, Harry gave her a look back, an appreciative one, as he reached over to tap a finger lightly on the back of her hand which had taken the teacup from him. "We'll see. Appearances have to be considered after all, for my reputation and yours. Where we've had excuses in the past and even other people around, that isn't the case any longer." Harry said, gesturing with his free hand toward his daughter, who saw his gesture and ran over to them.

"I suppose I could change countries, or perhaps change professions and leave any bad rumors behind. Not so much you, O great lady!" Harry finished with laugh.

Rias scowled looking away, for once hating the fact that she had such a reputation at school. "Still, I don't think we should stop that from letting us meet like this in the morning? I'd certainly miss having time with this little cutie after all," Rias said, reaching over to tug lightly at Lily's hair, causing her to grin and bat Rias's hand away playfully.

"We'll see," Harry said with a smile. He had watched Rias and even Akeno and Koneko with Lily at this point, and that more than anything else had solidified in his mind that whatever they might be, the people of the Occult Research Club were good people. _And Rias will make a great mother someday._

"It has been nice…very nice." At that point Harry couldn't stop himself from looking Rias up and down and this time she caught it and blushed ever so slightly. "But for now once again I have to get this little one to school. I'll see you later Rias."

Once more Harry left leaving a faintly smiling Rias sitting there.

Thanks to the ongoing meetings with Rias, and Akeno's continued attempts at flirtation, Harry was looking forward to Sunday, only to crash headfirst into the frustrating nature of teaching Phys Ed to Akeno one more time before he could reach his much needed day off. By the end of the class Harry was almost cracking as badly as his mental defenses though he wasn't showing it.

 _No, being close to her and Rias has not deadened the effect one bit. Bloody fucking hell! I should have more control than this!_ Harry was getting very tired of having to rebuild his mental control every time he saw a Rias or Akeno in their Phys Ed. uniforms. _Maybe I have a fetish to go with whatever else is happening. Fucking hell, those books on auras cannot arrive soon enough!_

However, for Harry salvation of a sort was at hand. When he picked Lily up from school, she asked hesitantly "Daddy, do you think I can go over to a friend house for a sleepover?"

"I don't see why not so long as your friend made certain it was okay with her parents first. I'll want to drop you off and talk to them and you'd have to have an emergency portkey on you, but that's all," Harry said, carefully hiding in his glee at the idea of being able to have a night to himself.

It turned out that the parents had indeed okayed the sleep over. Lily and several other students were going to be sleeping over that night, watching anime and generally having fun.

Despite a rough start Lily had begun to make friends. Her stance against the bullies and her generally helpful attitude had won over a lot of people who had looked at Lily askance as a hotheaded foreigner before this.

So Harry cheerfully dropped Lily off after making certain she knew the word to activate her emergency portkey for the day and then threw up a series of subtle wards around the house where the sleepover was taking place just in case. He didn't notice that a bat appeared almost seconds after he began to work, watching events closely from a nearby tree before flapping away.

Nor would he have honestly cared. _Harry my lad, it_ _'_ _s time_ _you had_ _a night out on the town, time for some adult type fun._

 **OOOOOOO**

Watching Harry throw up a series of wards Rias frowned. "That energy is that of a defensive kind of spell? Though the movements are utterly unknown to me," she mused, glancing over at Akeno on the other side of the striding sphere. "What do you think?"

"Definitely defensive" Akeno replied promptly. While Rias had more flare for innovation when it came to magic, Akeno was actually better at analysis, and it had been her who had felt the magic being used in the territory along with Tsubaki. No doubt the other queen and Sona were discussing what was happening too, though Akeno couldn't spot either of their familiars. "Probably for his daughter and her friends I would wager. The pattern I am seeing it somewhat cruder and far less permanent but they should still work as advertised."

Then she smirked, running hands down her body. "You know this means he'll be home alone? I think I might just stop by to ask for some help with my… English."

Rias rolled her eyes, though the idea was tempting, more tempting than it really should have been given the fact that she had only known Harry for three weeks. _No, this is just an infatuation, one just as much based off my continued attempts to discover his secrets than on the man himself. Acting on it would be childish in the extreme._

"No, if you come on too strongly, you'll just scare them off," she said aloud. "Potter-sensei in the whole no teacher-student relationship thing despite the fact we're both of legal age. You might be able to wear him down in the long run but he won't just jump into bed with his students."

"Too bad. Hmmm. I wonder if I transferred to another school would that make a difference?" Akeno mused, then giggled at her friend's mock look of mock betrayal.

 **OOOOOOO**

After changing into a nice black button-down shirt and jeans, Harry decided to head out see the sights, get a drink and have some adult thought type fun. _Heh, I can still hear Seamus calling it_ _'_ _getting your pipe cleaned right proper!_ _'_ Seamus had been a damn dirty Irishman sometimes, but he had been a true friend more than once, and what else could anyone say about a Gryffindor?

Eventually wanderings through town, brought Harry outside a dance club which had a 21 and over sign on over the door. He drew some looks because of his foreign appearance. In particular his eyes became the source of myriad comments. But he ignored all of them in order to move through the crowd, first to the bar, then onto the dance floor, where he promptly began to dance with several of the local ladies.

"Now there is a familiar face," said a familiar sort of voice from behind Harry, a voice ripe with both promise and invitation as a new song picked up in the background. "Small world Harry Potter. Do you come here often?"

Harry turned, and suddenly it was as if the other girls all around him sort of faded into the background. Harry didn't notice however, too busy staring at Kalawarner.

Kalawarner was a tall woman, standing above six feet tall and quite buxom to boot, with legs longer than any woman Harry had seen. The skirt she wore, a black cocktail dress that barely came down to mid-thigh, also showed off a lot of her cleavage. Her long blue hair was tied up in an intricate braid down her back.

 _What is it with sexy women around here having such insanely long hair?_ Harry thought, though the sentence couldn't really stay in his brain as his Occlumentic enhanced self-control shattered. The beast he had created to house his libido smashed its way out and began to run roughshod throughout Harry's brain, shutting down a lot of his higher functions as he simply stared at the vision of sexy, sensual and above all **adult** beauty in front of him.

Inwardly Kalawarner cackled, gleeful at the response she was getting from Harry. This dress was one of her favorites, and it never failed her. "Well, are you going to stand there gawking Harry, or are you going to ask me to dance?"

Harry smiled and bowed grandly over her hand kissing the palm of it rather than the back, an intimate gesture that caused Kalawarner to shudder at the feel of his mouth on her palm. "Most assuredly my lady."

As they began in the background the song Dark Nights by Dorothy began to play, causing Kalawarner is a smile to widen for some hidden reason, even as Harry's did the same. "What are you thinking of?" Kalawarner asked questioningly.

"Oh, just how appropriate this song is."

"Is it?" Kalawarner asked suddenly worried that maybe they had all been wrong, that Harry was a unknown Fallen who wasn't part of the Grigori.

"Just something a friend said to me once." With that Harry set such thoughts aside in order to simply enjoy the sensation of having Kalawarner pressed chest to chest against him.

While he could feel the effect Kalawarner was having on his mental shields, and likened it to the effect Rias and Akeno, he really didn't take care about the effect much in this case. Kalawarner was an adult who wasn't one of his students. She was further obviously looking for some fun, which was just fine by him. Soon enough, their dancing became almost dry humping against one another, grinding their lower bodies together while Harry's arms snaked around Kalawarner's middle, holding her upright against him. It seemed the most natural thing in the world to begin to kiss her neck and so he did until she turned slightly, bringing her mouth to his.

This wouldn't be Harry's kind of thing normally. He wasn't an exhibitionist, though he was somewhat uncertain about what his kind of thing was really save for a few scattered fetishes or favorite things. But despite the idea of doing this in public bothering him somewhat Harry just was not able to see a downside to having some fun. _Bloody hell, I needed this! Curse Akeno and Rias_ _'_ _s sexy bodies and my own masochistic need to be around them!_

For her part, Kalawarner was astonished at the skill Harry was showing with his tongue. It almost seemed to vibrate in her mouth, touching all the right places and taking command of the kiss despite her best efforts to fight it. His hand too seemed to be hot as it touched her, and she shuddered to think of what the combination of those two could do to certain parts of her body.

The two of them continued to make out and dance for several more songs then wound up at the bar, where Kalawarner sat on Harry's lap. They ate a few appetizer-type dainties together exchanging kisses and generally making out for a while ignoring the rest of the club even as they began to garner some jealous looks from both sexes.

 **OOOOOOO**

The second floor of the club Harry and Kalawarner ran into one another was a VIP portion of the club, complete with separate booths, a much smaller dance floor, and several girls dressed up in various outfits serving drinks. Some of the booths overlooked the rest of the club.

In one such booth was what at first appeared to be a college aged couple, but if someone looked closer, said individual might have noticed some things were off about that idea. For one thing, the man wasn't even looking at the woman who had just returned from somewhere. Instead he was staring down at the club, a sneer twisting his somewhat rugged features as he downed a Rum Runner that had been served in a glass as large as his head. With his tanned skin and blonde hair the man looked like a delinquent, but his clothing was of very high quality and he seemed to radiate arrogance.

The woman wore a dress in purple that looked somewhat like Kalawarner's, except it had slightly thicker straps going over the shoulder and an even deeper neckline. Indeed it was pushing the bounds of decency even for a club like this, barely keeping her nipples from popping out. Her purple hair matched the dress in color perfectly, and the black garter belt and stockings she wore completed the image.

The instant the woman entered the booth her body language changed, going from haughty and aloof to subservient and embarrassed in the space of a second. She sat next to the man bowing her head deeply and spoke, her voice a sultry purr. "Master, I discerned who was giving off that odd feeling of a wild creature. It is a man who is currently involved with a young woman of similar age. I cannot discern anything from her but there is something a little… off I suppose from her. I…"

"Bah, if it was a man Riser isn't interested. Riser will have to go for his second choice to complete his peerage and add Riser's little sister on a temporary basis." The man interrupted the woman, speaking in the third person for some reason.

He fell silent as he drained his mug, slamming it down angrily. "More importantly, the Gremory's have again refused to let us move up the date of Riser's wedding to Rias, despite the fact she is of age! Riser wants her now damn it!"

"Master, you know the Phenex family and the Gremory family are allies. We can't pressure them more than we already are," the woman replied. "Any more than this and it will be seen as rudeness, and could cause a backlash. Besides, you know how devoted to family they are, young Rias wants to have some time to act human before…"

Riser once more interrupted the woman, pounding his now free hand down on the table. "Act like a human! That is just it, Rias acting, indeed wanting to live among humans, among the filth! Riser cannot understand it at all, why the Gremorys would allow such contamination, when they know all Devils should be up here, staring down at them from on high."

Sighing he leaned back. "Still Riser must admit his queen is correct. Pressuring them further at this time would be detrimental. Riser has already gotten them to agree to move up the date to when she turns 19 this year rather than after Rias has finished going to a human college. Riser supposes that will be enough."

The two of them were silent for a second then Riser clicked his fingers. "Riser feels pent up. Do something about that Yubelluna."

Knowing what this meant, Yubelluna blushed hotly, looking around into the rest of the club. While the booth was semi-private, that didn't mean people couldn't see inside it if they knew to look in the first place. "But surely master, it would be better to go home, where I and your other servants could relieve you properly?" she asked, a quiver in her voice made of equal parts embarrassment and shame.

"Are you arguing with Riser, your master?" Riser asked, his voice lowering dangerously.

"N, no master, I was merely thinking which would be the most pleasurable for you," Yubelluna hastened to reply.

"Riser did not ask for your opinion. Now… get down on your knees as you should and get to work." Riser ordered.

Sighing in resignation, Yubelluna nodded and slipped under the table, her hands moving to work the zipper of Riser's pants.

 **OOOOOOO**

Sooner than Harry thought possible he and Kalawarner were told the club was going to be closing shortly.

Kalawarner slowly removed herself from Harry's waist, looking down at him as she helped him to his feet. "Do you want to find a hotel somewhere?" she asked, making her voice that perfect ally of sensuality, interest and hesitation to make it seem as if she wasn't usually that easy, yet was quite eager at the same time and experienced.

Harry however slowly shook his head. In an effort of willpower that was akin to Atlas holding up the world he gradually redid his mental control over his libido, chains and walls appearing around the beast which had grown in the past few months, halting it's rampage. "That would be going a little too far after only a single night wouldn't it? I'm not that type of man, and I don't think you're that type of girl. Though that could be the alcohol talking," Harry said winking at Kalawarner.

Kalawarner surprised herself by laughing shaking her head even though she was very disappointed.

"Instead, can I have your number?" Harry asked, holding her hand in his as they walked out of the club.

In response Kalawarner smiled before digging a small calling card out from between her breasts, placing it in Harry's hand as Harry handed her his own. "I work all week, and I've got Lily to look after so I don't know when I'll next have some time for something like this, but if I do I'll call you and we can meet up."

Harry suddenly realized that this is the first time he ever actually approached a woman like this. He'd dated a few times when he was younger of course, but those times he'd still see the girl every day thanks to all of them living at Hogwarts, and unless they were in Slytherin Harry would have known more about them than he did Kalawarner.

"I'd be really disappointed if you didn't," Kalawarner said, then abruptly pushed Harry against the wall and kissed him hard. She managed to dominate the kiss this time, trying to give him a memory to go away with. But a few seconds into the kiss Harry turned the tables on her, grabbing her around the waist and twisting so that she was pressed up against the wall instead of him. He then deepened the kiss, his tongue plunging into her mouth and pulling out a moan from her once more as he pressed against her hard, her core rubbing against his rising arousal and her breasts pressed near flat by his chest.

Then he abruptly backed away flashing her a smirk. "Till next time?"

With that he walked off, whistling a jaunty tune as Kalawarner stared after him, her hair mussed as well as her lipstick again her eyes flashing with both desire and shock at the fact he was able to leave her alone like that. _You know, I thought this would be at least interesting once I got him in the sack, werewolves are known for their stamina after all. Now though, I think that it just might be fun too._

 **OOOOOOO**

Elsewhere in town Rias sat up abruptly in bed with a deep scowl on her face. The sudden movement caused Koneko, who was sleeping with her that night, to growl in her sleep, clutching Rias's leg as she did. _Why do I get the feeling that someone's just jumped my claim? I don't even have a claim! And why the heck do I have_ _an_ _urge to_ _f_ _ry some crows with my power of destruction?_

 **OOOOOOO**

Kalawarner was literally floating as she opened the doors to the church, smiling and almost giddy at how well the night had gone.

"Wow, looking at you I'm wondering who the seducer and who the seduced is in this little scheme of yours Kalawarner," Mittelt snarked from nearby.

"Did you make any progress?" Raynare asked, trying to keep the scorn out of her voice and failing as she looked up from a report she had been reading.

"I made quite of lot of progress actually." Kalawarner replied, ignoring Raynare's scorn and her friend's snarky tone with equal ease. "Harry a very good kisser, and he's quite pent-up with all those little devils around and untouchable by his hand. We exchanged numbers already and…"

"'Exchange numbers already'? That's it!?" Raynare said interrupting Kalawarner quick quite rudely in Kalawarner's opinion. "If he even caught a glimpse of me he'd be begging to do anything he could to just lay a hand on me! And you're supposed to be a mistress of seduction?

"I told you Raynare," Kalawarner said, her tone making it clear that she thought she was speaking to an idiot. "Seduction takes time, especially when it's of an individual already knows of the occult world, and might be wary of any one like me coming on to them to strongly. You're going to have to be patient."

"…All right, but I've discovered something that's going to complicate matters somewhat. There's another boy at the Academy who has a Sacred Gear." Raynare stated.

"Two of them at a single Academy?" Mittelt muttered. "That's incredible. And a school within the territory of two of the pillars of the underworld? It's almost enough for to make you wonder whose side God is really on."

At that ancient and rather dark joke the two other Fallen laughed. But then they sobered as Raynare took up the discussion. She had found the feel of a Sacred Gear coming from another young boy, slightly stronger than Hyoudou's, indicating that the second Sacred Gear was closer to awakening than the one they had initially come here for.

"And you no doubt spotted it before any of the other devils could!" Said Mittelt excitedly. "That gives us a window to act on both of them doesn't it?"

It was common knowledge that the Fallen were better at identifying un-awakened Sacred Gear than either Angels or devils. On the other hand the devils were far better at convincing said individuals to join their side. So it evened out most of the time.

At least for those two sides anyway. Much like in every other way since the Great War had ended, the Angels lost when it came to finding Sacred Gears. _Which is just another reason to be happy that I Fell rather than stayed with them, after all I wouldn't want to be on the losing side,_ Kalawarner thought not for the first time.

Raynare was pacing around the floor of the church thinking hard. I think we can turn Potter's presence to our advantage. The higher ranked devils are all noticeably interested in him. They are concentrating on him to the near exclusion of everything else. They aren't even doing those stupid contracts Low-level or young devils use to gather more power."

"And we still need to wait to see if these Sacred Gears are worth enough to put ourselves in danger," Mittelt said seriously. "All of the devils here might be young but they're powerful! I sure as hell don't want to get on their families bad side even if we could beat them alone."

Raynare sneered at that while Kalawarner nodded in agreement, but it was Raynare who replied. "That's what Dohnaseek and our little pawns are for…"

 **OOOOOOO**

For the next month, Harry and Lily continue to get used to their new lives, the Devils and Fallen continued did the same.

The Fallen's daily routine was the easiest. It consisted of Dohnaseek reporting in the progress he was making gathering exiled exorcists to their cause. Kalawarner either slept, read or went for walks around the town. Raynare went to school to keep up her cover or trained. Mittelt either watched TV or went around with Kalawarner. The others all had more on their plate…

Thanks to Rias's decision to cross train them as much as possible she and her peerage added training sessions to their daily routines that first weekend after Harry's formal introduction to the club. For Rias, Koneko and Akeno this was something entirely different. The only one among the devils who ever had a set training schedule like this was Kiba. Even Koneko didn't have a daily training regimen, only training on the weekends before this simply because they were too busy with other things.

Indeed, their new training schedule took away from the time they had used previously on attracting new or following up on devils contracts they had already made with the local normal human population. Contracts like that were how low ranking and even mid-rank devils could increase their power levels, siphoning off a small, tiny bit of the life energies of the people they contracted with. It was thought to be more efficient than simply training on its own.

But Rias was adamant: She was determined to cross train all the members of her peerage as much as possible so that any and all of them had some tricks up their sleeve that someone, thinking of them only as their pieces from the peerage, would be surprised. She was equally determined to think up new ways to use her own Powers of Destruction, and to train her peerage in group tactics, though that last one was going to take a while to figure out.

For Harry, while the added closeness with the Occult Research Club was nice in many ways, and he particularly liked the fact that Koneko and Lily became such good friends, Harry did indeed have cause to regret it at least two or three times a week due to the impact on his self-control. Still he didn't regret it whenever he thought about it. On the other side of the spectrum, for Rias and her peerage Harry Potter moved from a mystery to a friend and a growing part of their lives as he got to know them in his position as adviser.

Koneko was the easiest. Both in class and during their meetings around school Harry consistently tried to get her to break from her normal unresponsive nature. He also continued his method of using treats to reward particularly good performances in the freshman classes, which seemed to motivate Koneko even more than the rest of her grade.

One day however Harry forgot to renew his bag of sweets and only realized that fact as he went to start Koneko's class. With no time to try to conjure some up or to go and retrieve any he winged it. First he apologized to the class, then gave the girls pats on the head along with flowery notes he wrote on the spot with their names on them stating 'I owe you one candy', thus conserving his few real candies for the boys.

The over the top nature of his handwriting on the notes caused a laugh and the girls understood and went along with things except from Koneko, who slumped in her chair, looking for all the world like a depressed cat. _I know most can't tell what Koneko is, but good grief when she looks like that her cattish nature becomes rather obvious. Even if her face is its normal blank self._

"Don't be like that Koneko you'll still get a treat if you do well. It's just postponed." Harry patted her on the head, kneading her head as he would Lily's if she was in snit about something, his tone wheedling, as the rest of the class looked on. Though they wouldn't say it aloud, watching Harry coax the normally monosyllabic and somewhat standoffish Koneko into joining into the fun of the lessons was a highlight for the rest of her class.

To his surprise however, Koneko leaned into his head and almost immediately, a deep sort of rumble coming from her. When he would try to move away, she almost reached up to grab his hand, only remembering where they were at the last second and letting him go unmolested. Then Koneko did indeed throw off her sadness at not getting a treat immediately and read out her lines with the amount of flair Harry expected.

After school ended however, Harry was surprised to find Koneko standing next to his desk in the teacher's lounge, where he had been organizing the day's papers to take home. The few other teachers still in attendance (most of them went home directly from their last classes or to observe their various clubs) looked on in surprise too. "Yes Koneko, can I help you?"

The young white-haired freshman didn't notice the other teachers. Instead she moved close to him, so close that for a moment Harry feared the girl was going to emulate Akeno and how she tried to flirt with him. To his relief, Koneko simply tilted her head, grabbed his hand and stuck it on her head. "More head pats."

Harry laughed and began to need her head, now noticing the deep rumbling she was giving off, wondering what this looked like to the other teachers. To his surprise however, they all simply shrugged and went back to their work, leaving him to pat Koneko's head in peace.

"Does little kitten want to be pampered?" he whispered. It could have come out sensual, but he said it in a singsong voice, like people often do when talking to animals.

Koneko mewled, pushing harder against his head, and Harry could almost feel the little knobs of her ears popping up out of whatever full body transfiguration or spell was keeping them from showing. "Well I'm sorry," he went on, though he didn't stop petting her "but remember I need to go and pick up Lily. Tell you what," he said with a smile. "Lily needs some new sneakers, she wore her own out, and they're looking rather ratty."

Of course Harry could have easily used a Reparo charm on them, but while in many ways Lily was a tomboy, when it came to clothes she was her mother's daughter. "You can't just repair clothes when they wear off all the time daddy, you have to buy new ones sometimes!" She had said that morning and since there was no reason they had to conserve money to that extent, Harry had agreed, even if he dreaded shopping with any female, including his own daughter.

"You come with us, recommend a store and help her find a pair and I'll give you more head pats, even treat you to dinner how about that?" Harry asked.

Koneko's head bobbed so rapidly that it looked as if she was a bobble head.

In contrast to Koneko, Kiba was by far the most complex, and the one who swiftly became closest to Harry despite that besides Rias herself.

A few days after their formal meeting in the club room, Harry and Kiba found themselves facing one another across the kendo mat. Harry thought the amount of protective gear was rather foolish, but then again it was a sport, so he supposed they had to be careful.

After Kiba had explained the rules, the two of them waited for Murayama to signal the start of the match, and then rushed forward. Kiba was far and away faster than Harry, but Harry's reflexes were just as fast even if his body couldn't quite keep up. His footwork and stance was also slightly off for wielding a sword two-handed on the attack. But on the defense was another matter as had been shown during the time Harry had stopped by the kendo club before this. But eventually Kiba won, landing a strike through Harry's defenses.

Stepping back and holding their blades to the side signaling the end of a match, Kiba pulled off his helmet and smiled. "Well, that was fun. You really do have incredible reflexes, but I can tell you lack experience actually using a sword against a real opponent."

"I agree," Harry replied ruefully, pulling his own helmet off while the kendo club girls congratulated the two of them for a well fought match. Harry might not have scored even a single hit, but he had held out against Kiba longer than any of them could bar the team's captain and vice-captain. "I never said I finished training with my old sword instructor after all, so I know a good deal more about footwork and defense than anything else."

"Erm, if you don't mind me saying Sensei, you don't seem the type to stop something partway through," the vice-captain, Katase said. "So, um…"

"We began to clash on several…social topics, shall we say?" Harry said. He kept his tone dry even as he searched for the right words which could explain the growing wedge that had grown between himself and Albus after Voldemort's return without giving any actual information. "He disliked change of any kind and wanted to deal with the social issues plaguing that part of the United Kingdom with as soft a hand as possible. I strongly disagreed. We never completely broke away from one another, but it colored our interactions…"

From nearby Kiba chuckled, recognizing the way Harry was trying to both answer and deflect attention at the same time. Wishing to do his part he looked over at Murayama. "Well we can't just stand around all day captain-san, I think it's time someone else had a turn on the mats."

With that Harry and Kiba moved to one side. Harry moved to sit by his daughter, who he had picked up from school before returning to the club for his match with Kiba.

Kiba followed him over for a moment, speaking to Harry quietly. "I also noticed you were holding back slightly Sensei, like you were trying to fight the rules at the same time you were fighting me. Is that true?"

"Let's just say the style I was being taught by my past instructors is a lot more freewheeling than kendo," Harry replied as he sat down beside his daughter. With the rest of the ORC having already left school, Harry was free to observe the kendo club for a time before heading home.

"That sounds interesting. Would you like to have a match like that one of these days? Say, after everyone has gone home?" As someone who prided himself on his swordsmanship, Kiba was always looking to fight different opponents and learn from different styles. As a European who had been trained in that style of combat and as a werewolf, Harry represented both.

Harry looked up at him shaking his head ruefully. "You just want an opportunity to get back at me for telling you your use of English slang was all wrong, don't you? What would your admirers say if they knew you were bullying your weak old sensei?"

At that Kiba and Lily both laughed, drawing some attention from the rest of the kendo club. But despite that weak protest Harry agreed, and the very next day the two of them faced off once more, well after the rest of the kendo club had departed for the day. Lily was once more being looked after by the ORC, with Rias going over her homework along with Koneko's.

This match went very differently than their first one. Harry wielded his kendo practice sword one handed, the reason for which became apparent the instant Kiba clashed blades with him: as a werewolf, was many times stronger than a normal human could be, stronger than even a Devil like Kiba. He wouldn't be able to overpower a rook, who specialized in brute strength, but he was much stronger than Kiba had anticipated.

He also believed in using his entire body to fight with, that is, if he had to rely on his body in the first place rather than his magic. Kiba had become so used to fighting sword to sword he didn't even see the punch coming until it hammered into his chin, causing him to stumble back. "If I hadn't pulled that punch Kiba you might be without a head." Harry said warningly.

"URgh, I, I wasn't aware this was full contact match sensei." Kiba said, one hand moving to work his jaw, wincing.

"Kiba, don't take me for a fool, you know what I am. In fact, if we were keeping score, Gremory-san would be well ahead of me in our little 'figure one another out' game thanks to Koneko." Harry said. "Now, take the match seriously." That this in turn would let Harry get a better idea of Kiba's abilities, and by extension the two groups under Sona and Rias, was left unsaid.

For his part Kiba understood that. But suddenly, seeing the disappointment in Harry's face at how easily he had gotten a punch through Kiba's defenses, he didn't care about the game his king was playing with this man. Instead Kiba just wanted to hit him in turn. With that in mind, he launching himself forward with a speed that was literally beyond human forcing Harry to stumble back and further back. "Be careful what you ask for sensei!"

By the end of the fight Kiba was limping, had several large bruises that were only slowly healing. Harry in contrast was just a massive mass of bruises, though they slowly began to heal even as he stripped off armor, the only piece of equipment they had been wearing.

Both men were also wearing shit-eating grins. "That was fun!" Harry said, and then looked at Kiba seriously. "Will you be able to heal up from those bruises?"

"While nowhere near as fast as your own healing factor, my own…heritage… will see me right as rain by tomorrow morning." Kiba replied, only remembering at the last instant that Harry wasn't supposed to be told about them being devils. He thought it was silly, but Rias seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of pleasure in the game going on between her and Harry, even Akeno was to a certain extent. So he was willing to go along with it.

"I hope I didn't hurt you too hard?" He asked, mock-solicitously. "I'd hate to think my beating put you off learning the way of the sword further."

"Hah." Harry drawled, shaking his head and ruffling the younger man's hair. "You wish. No, we're going to have to do this again."

And so they did. Most of the time given their disparate schedules, the two of them only had time for a short match, but sometimes, twice a week or so; they would get together for a real spar. Their 'normal' matches became something of a circus show after class, with Kiba showing up to help the kendo club for a little bit, then Harry showing up after finishing his work and picking up Lily. Koneko would then come over to collect her and the two of them would do their homework with Rias, while Harry with practiced with Kiba.

Kiba got a lot out of the full on spars thanks to Harry's werewolf heritage. Kiba could be as hard on him as he could on Koneko and Harry actually used a sword which made for better training than against the short nekomata. Kiba also started to respect Harry as a capable fighter, having only respected him as a teacher before this despite his king's fascination with Harry. Kiba didn't have any of the special senses that Akeno or Rias had as magic users, nor did he have Koneko's ability to smell that Harry was a werewolf. So for him it was a real eye opener.

Despite that it was not their actual training that brought Kiba and Harry close but a talk they had afterwards in the men's locker room. Finishing up his shower, Kiba exited the showering area and went to change, but was surprised to find Harry waiting for him, looking at the younger man quizzically. "You're really quite good you know," he said conversationally.

"Thank you, though isn't it a bit late to compliment me on my swordsmanship skills?" Kiba asked dryly.

"That wasn't what I was talking about this time," Harry said with a chuckle but his face was serious, something Kiba only recognized belatedly. "I meant the way you don't show any of the hardship you've dealt with in your life and mannerisms."

"I don't know what you mean." Kiba replied, his eyes narrowing for just a second, only realizing a second too late that was enough to give his words the lie.

"You have very old eyes Kiba, eyes which have seen things they shouldn't have. It's only visible when we're crossing swords for real, but it becomes quite visible then. You're seeing other people when we fight, other faces, both friend and foe alike. I've seen the look before." Sirius, Moody, Shacklebolt, even Dumbledore had that kind of look, though it had been Flitwick of all people who told Harry how to see such things and what it meant.

Kiba fell silent, looking away for a moment as he continued to dress. "There's an old saying that you can figure out another person more easily by crossing blades with him than in any other manner. I hadn't thought it was true but I suppose you learn something new every day."

He kept his voice upbeat hoping Harry would drop the subject. But like any good teacher, Harry knew when to push. "It takes a lot of need and desire to become as good as you are to, and you're not just in it for the love of swordsmanship. Harry said, reaching out to grasp the younger man's shoulder and turning him around so that Harry looked into his eyes. "I'm not going to ask you what you're seeing, or why you want to be so good at your chosen craft. I will instead tell you a story."

"A story?" Kiba asked.

Nodding, Harry moved away sitting on the bench between the lockers rows of lockers. He seemed to steel himself for a moment then began. "Once upon a time, in a faraway place there was a young boy. He was a normal young boy physically and at the time mentally. There wasn't anything really special about him; unless you count the fact that he lived with relatives who utterly despised him. They loathed him for something he didn't understand at first, calling him freak, putting him down and even sometimes beating him, blaming him for things outside his control. Indeed it was only on the first day of his first grade, which occurred after his relatives were forced to send him to school lest they become a source of ridicule to their neighbors, that he realized freak wasn't actually his name."

Kiba frowned at this, staring at Harry's taut face and clenching hands. He understood then that whatever he said, this story was from Harry's past, a real tale rather than one made up. He also realized that Harry was telling him this in confidence. Indeed it was almost painful for Harry to talk about all this with Kiba, and it was a sign of Harry's trusted him that he did so at all. So Kiba simply listened, promising himself he wouldn't tell Rias about it after all.

"Later, it turned out that the reason why they hated him was for something he had no control over. But he didn't care at the time, because by the time he learned that, he'd begun to interact with other people like him. He learned eventually that his parents had died, leaving him with his relatives, more to hide him than any other reason. I'm not going to go into whether or not that was the correct choice but the reason his parents died was because they had enemies."

As Kiba's eyes rose, Harry continued as if he was going off on a tangent. "They specifically had one enemy, who came back after the younger boy eventually. That person was like a dark mirror image of the boy in many ways, and he seemed determined to take everything the boy love away from him. He too came from an abusive household, an orphanage. He too had the same ability which set him aside from his fellows. And either because of nature or nurture he became as evil a man as has ever walked the earth. He cared for nothing but power, nothing but setting himself over his fellows. Anyone who got in his way was an enemy, and enemies were for killing."

"The young boy could have become the same. He could have been become a vengeance fueled thing, avenging his childhood against those who had placed him there, the relatives who had made his life a living hell. And a time or two he even thought about it. In particular he thought about it when he discovered his parents had been betrayed by someone they thought a friend."

By this point Kiba was leaning forward, listening intently and Harry smiled grimly, turning his eyes back to stare into Kiba's own from the wall he had been looking at up to now. "But he knew that he did, if he fell to the level of his enemy, not just using his weapons against them, but fueling that use through the hatred he felt for him and his followers, that enemy would win. And the boy refused to let his enemy have any victory over him."

"I, I understand your point. But some things, some things cannot be forgiven!" Kiba said, allowing his own façade to break for a moment, allowing Harry to see the drive within him, the anger that even now Kiba still sometimes felt when he remembered his childhood under the Holy Sword Project.

Kiba had perhaps the most traumatic childhood of any of Rias's peerage. He had never known his father or mother, being an orphan taken in by the Catholic Church and put with others under the Holy Sword Project, a heretical project run then later disallowed by the Holy Church. During the training Kiba, then named Isaiah, had been subjected to cruel experiments and training, only for his friends to all be killed when the man running the project decided it was time to cut his losses. Kiba had escaped, while his friends had all died, and even Kiba had only lived thanks to Rias finding him.

"I never said they could." At that Kiba looked up sharply, and Harry laughed. It wasn't a very friendly sound. "Did I say I forgave my relatives?" he asked, setting aside the fiction his story had been about some nameless third party. "No. I said I never took any revenge against them. Sometimes the best vengeance is living happily." Harry smirked. "That and I pranked them a few times of course."

"It's, it's not the same. I, my friends… they, we all," Kiba struggled for a moment, wanting to explain his childhood to someone who might understand, yet also unwilling to share it with anyone. Not even the rest of Rias's peerage knew about the full details. Only Rias did, and she had never told anyone else anything about it. "I have to get vengeance for other people. Other people who, who never made it out," he said, which really said enough to Harry.

The older man looked at the blond boy thoughtfully for a moment then smiled sadly. "The problem is that hate and rage in the pursuit of even the best of motives can turn you into a berserker, can turn you into a threat not only to yourself, but everyone around you. That happened to me once, and I nearly got my two best friends killed in pursuit of what I thought of as justice at the time."

"It is said he's who seeks vengeance mistake to graves, one for his target and one himself. Actually," Harry said allowing himself to really chuckle for a moment. "I think that's a Chinese saying, so you might've actually heard it before."

Kiba chuckled in turn somewhat wanly having heard that from his king a time or two, but then Harry went on even more seriously. "However, it might not just be you that you're digging a grave for. It might be one of your friends, like Akeno, Rias, or Koneko. I don't know what you people are yet, but I know you all respect and even love Rias. Do you think any of them would really let you go off alone on some vengeance-fueled mission and not come after you? And what would happen to her or the others if because of that you all bit off more than you can chew?"

Kiba frowned at that, looking away but Harry could tell that his words had hit home and he decided to leave it for now. There was a certain amount of serious thoughts any individual could handle at any given time after all.

"I won't tell you you're wrong to hate, or to seek vengeance, but don't let it control you, and don't ever go about seeking it without thinking through all the consequences of doing so." With that Harry stood up, slapping Kiba on the arm. "Now, did you know that there are a number of girls who adore you so much they want to try to steal your underwear? Hearing about that was one of the things that convinced the principal and teachers to instill the three strike system."

At Kiba's gob-smacked look, Harry cackled like a Disney villain for a second. "Ah, well now. I think here is a perfect example of using two fires to offset one another. Just remember you didn't get this suggestion from me yeah?" When Kiba nodded cautiously, Harry went on. "Let the girls figure out what locker you like and then find which lockers the three perverts use. Then start to switch lockers with one of them every day. That way the girls get the one piece of underwear they least want in the world."

The young swordsman stared at the older man for a moment. Then he began to laugh, doubling over in mirth. "That, that sounds like a great idea, though we might have to move to another country if they ever discover I did it on purpose!"

Akeno too grew closer to Harry, though not in the manner she wished to or how.

A week and a bit after Harry had that conversation with Kiba, Rias woke up, her mind as usual taking a few minutes to come back online from standby mode. Despite the fact she had to get up in the morning and had indeed come to enjoy some of the perks of doing so of late, Rias was not one of nature's morning people.

During the startup process, Rias groggily realized that she wasn't alone in her bed, despite having been so last night. Gone was her body pillow which she had used the night before to cuddle up to. In its place was Akeno, her arms tightly around Rias in turn for much the same treatment.

She too was naked, her larger breasts pressing into Rias's own. Her nipples, which were hard little nubs of light purple almost rubbed against Rias's own. Akeno's legs were also intertwined with Rias's and the two of them would have looked more like lovers than friends to anyone there.

Yet even though Rias actually did enjoy the feeling of her closest friend pressed against her in such an intimate manner, she knew that Akeno's presence here was not for any such positive reason. Indeed, Rias could feel Akeno's grip around her was rather more like that of a drowning woman holding onto a lifeline than a friend seeking comfort from another friend.

It would have surprised even the majority of the Gremory household, but it wasn't always Rias who initiated their sleeping together growing up. Akeno had lived a very hard life just like Koneko and Kiba before they came into her service with her family wishing to execute her for something Akeno had no power over. She had run away and had been living on the streets for a time before Rias found her. And though she had blossomed after Rias had taken her into her household under Lady Venelana and Lord Zeoticus's care, Akeno sometimes suffered from nightmares, which persisted even now.

Knowing Akeno would be in a vulnerable frame of mind throughout the day, Rias cooked both their breakfast and the peerages lunches, allowing Akeno to soak in the bath tub for a long while before then teleporting with her to school so as to avoid the crowd of their well-wishers and fans. _Although,_ Rias thought to herself as the two of them entered the schoo _l it's not as if this is a waking up this early isn't exactly new to me. This is about the time I'd wake up to meet Harry and Lily for breakfast. Funny how you can get used to things given the right motivation._

Walking through the near silent school Akeno and Rias were both rather surprised to see Harry already in the classroom where he would have his first class of the day, rearranging desks of all things. They stopped in the doorway and stared until Harry turned, spotting them whereupon he smiled in greeting. "We're going to have a bit of a debate in the junior English classes today, so I have to rearrange the chairs," he explained.

Both of them nodded, but Harry's eyes had sharpened as he looked at Akeno, who did not look nearly as put together or impeccable as normal. Gone was her normal small secretive smile, gone was the bounce in her long ponytail and her shoulders drooped as he looked at her. Her violet eyes which normally gleamed with a certain sardonic humor were almost listless now.

 _Hmm, it looks as if someone else needs some counseling._ Shaking his head, Harry pointed the two girls into chairs near the doorway, where they and he would be visible from outside just to make certain no one thought anything improper was going on. "Wait a moment, I'll be right back."

Looking at one another, Rias shrugged for the pair of them, and helped her friend towards one of the chairs, sitting next to her and taking Akeno's hand squeezing it lightly. She knew Akeno would bounce back from her nightmare eventually, she always did, but seeing her friend like this always made Rias feel helpless. Koneko and Kiba both had nightmares occasionally, but Akeno's stayed in her mind much longer once she was awake than either of them. It was as if her waking mind kept the nightmare going, but Rias had never been able to get her to open up about whatever it was that bothered her.

Harry came back quickly, setting down two large mugs of something steaming. "Hot chocolate?" Rias asked quizzically, sniffing at her mug appreciatively. "It smells wonderful, but it's not cold out."

Akeno too sniff the concoction appreciatively, and said in a low tone "And I need to watch my waistline anyway."

Harry stood back from setting the two cups down, and for once allowed his eyes to rake over their forms, showing a surprising amount of desire for a moment. Both girls flushed, Rias with pleasure and Akeno with pleased surprise. This was the first time she'd seen that look in Harry's eyes since the day he'd first arrived at school. "Really?" he said, his eyes shifting back to professional, with a hint of a deadpan stare added in. "You need to watch your waistline? Pull the other one it's got bells on."

Rias smiled widely at that, and tilted the mug towards Harry in salute, before taking a sip. Akeno did as well, and it helped somewhat, a bit of life returning to her eyes.

But that was the best Harry could do given the time constraints before homeroom began and having no idea where to begin. Instead he tried to engage Akeno in small talk with Rias's aid, but even that didn't go anywhere.

So Akeno stayed much the same throughout the day. And when she seemed to come back to normal, she immediately began to flirt with Harry during the class. She dropped her eraser as he passed in front of her desk, and when he bent to pick it up, flashed her panties at him, opening her legs wide to do it. As he walked around, she stretched her arms above her head thrusting her amazing chest out when he was making the rounds through their class as he taught. And when he was close by she turned just enough to allow her breasts to press into his side as he passed. She also continually locked eyes with him whenever he looked at her direction, licking her lips or flicking her tongue out at him.

This was so obvious, that Rias determined she was going to have to erase the entire class's memory after they left and did so too as they all went to lunch. But to her, that wasn't nearly as bad as her friend simply collapsing into herself as she had in the past.

Harry didn't notice what Rias was doing at the time because he had called Akeno back into the classroom in an effort to deal with the problem directly. "Himejima-san," he said seriously, glaring down at her with his best professorial glare. "You are going way too far with this whole flirting thing. Yes you're attractive, and yes I know it. But I am a teacher. You can't flirt like this in the middle of class!"

"Oh my~~!"" Akeno said giggling evilly yet even that sounded forced to Harry's ears. "Does that mean I have permission to flirt with you outside of class? Whatever would the other teachers or students say to that?"

"You know what I meant Himejima-san. Do you have any idea how bad rumors could get if you keep coming onto me like this. You'll go from being called one of the great ladies to being known as a wanton girl at best. At worst they'll call you a slut." Harry scowled angrily. "You're not that kind of girl Himejima-san, so please don't let whatever is bothering you cause you to act like this!"

"Ara, does this mean I have finally deserved some kind of punishment?" She asked, ignoring Harry's last few sentences and giving him a look that told him exactly what kind of punishment she wanted.

"Not the kind you'd like for certain!"!" Harry replied tartly while wracking his brain to come up with something that would dissuade Akeno from doing this again. _I suppose I could let her get over whatever is bothering her since Rias didn't seem concerned enough to indicate this attitude would last very long. But even so.._.

"Does that mean no spanking?" Akeno asked, cocking her head to one side and pouting cutely. "I could even call you daddy if you want?"

"Okay, that is so disturbing on multiple levels. And it also gave me a clue as to what's wrong with you today." Harry said triumphantly moving to sit on his desk and staring at Akeno thoughtfully, a frown on his face. Akeno blinked, but Harry went on. "Your face told me everything when you used the word daddy. So, problems with a father figure is it? Or no father figure at all?" Harry asked, his tone abrupt and stern as he stared at Akeno.

"I'm, I'm sorry you had to see that," Akeno said, looking away.

"I'm not," Harry said mildly. "After all, I am your advisor, and I'd like to say I'm becoming a friend too. Though admittedly as a man who didn't even meet someone willing to try to be a male role model until I was 14 I don't really understand the need for one. Though I'm trying to be the best father I can for Lily. Or does that sound as if I'm trying to rub it in?"

"No," Akeno said quickly.

"You want to tell me about it? I could give you some insight. I know I tried to help Kiba last week with some issues of his, and I'd like to think it helped, though that could just be pride talking." Harry said.

Akeno paused thinking about that. Kiba had seemed a little more genuine lately, not so much like the perfect knight but a normal young man. He had actually begun to rebuff girls who flirted with him a little too much rather than simply treat them all kindly if aloofly. His normal princely attitude had also started to seemingly disappear occasionally as he let loose some snarky comments about the perverted trio or about a comment Kiryuu had made about him. He had also been noted to trade barbs with Harry after their sparring sessions.

This change of attitude had caused a bit of a fuss among the female population: their perfect knight no longer acting as perfect. However it had died down quickly, indeed many of his admirers seemed to think it was cool, the perfect knight exterior hiding a bit of the bad boy within. If that was because of Harry giving him some advice, perhaps… perhaps he could give me some. "Just want to do away with the nightmares" she muttered.

"I don't need a father figure in my life, I just… I have problems with what occurred with mine, and what happened to my mother and I because of it." She said slowly.

"And your father is at the center of that? I have to ask… did he, that is, did he harm either you or your mother, physically that is?" _Are we dealing with an abusive relationship here,_ Harry thought.

He didn't notice that his hand had gripped the side of his desk so hard it had left marks until Akeno coughed delicately. "Sensei, your hand."

Harry looked down and blinked, releasing the wood of his desk

Yet seeing how angry Harry had gotten that the mere idea of her father abusing her actually gave Akeno some courage to share at least a bit of her story with him. "No, not that, the problems he caused are more because of his absence than his presence. My family was very traditional you see," she said, understating it quite a bit. "Indeed, if they knew I was still going by my last name, they would be quite furious with me."

She didn't notice Harry's eyes narrow at that, as he made a note of her last name. It rang a small bell somewhere in his head as but a second later he concentrated entirely on her story.

"My father came from a group which was…shall we say that is not friendly with my family normally. But apparently he and my mother fell in love. But he... he abandoned us, for reasons I still do not know. And my mother, my mother died when she attempted to protect me from some of his enemies who attacked our house when he was away. And once she was dead, her extended family took me in, until they discovered my… mixed heritage. After that, they kicked me to the streets."

They hadn't just kicked her to the streets of course. The Himejima clan was a family that prided itself in its Jugondo techniques. As such they had loathed the idea that one of their own had fallen in love with any supernatural creature, let alone a fallen angel. After her death they had hoped Akeno had been borne from someone Shuri, her mother had been with before being 'brainwashed' by the fallen angel Baraqiel.

But when she showed her fallen heritage, they had kicked her to the streets, expected the then barely ten year old to die without their needing to get their hands dirty. Akeno had already learned enough magic however to make her way in the world via purifying spirits. The Himejima Clan had chased after her the moment the Onmyodo government had reported a girl matching her description and their clan name using their family techniques to try to make a living for herself on the streets, though the fact it had been the Japanese Magical government which had reported Akeno to them was something no one but the other Himejima's knew. And only the timely intervention of Rias and her father had saved her from a gruesome death.

"It just seems that everything bad in my life can be traced back to him and his… group. I hate them, I hate them all," _and I hate myself too,_ Akeno thought, but did not say aloud. She had never let anyone see that aspect of her personality, not even Rias.

"I see." For a moment Harry was silent then he sighed. There were some parallels he could draw between Lupin and Akeno's father, but the fact was, while Lupin had abandoned a certain amount of responsibility for Harry, there was no comparison between that and what Akeno was describing. "…I'm not about to say there was any reason that would allow me to excuse such an act from a man, leaving behind his wife and child."

A bitter smile twisted Akeno's lips, hearing at least some of her beliefs validated by Harry's words. But Harry wasn't done. "Yet there is a difference between hating the acts a man commits, and letting yourself hate the man or the group he represents to the exclusion of all reason. You can't let your hate paint all foreigners say, in the same mold as him."

A small frown crossed Akeno's face, realizing that Harry had interpreted her mentioning a group as being indicative of a mere racial divide. In her mind there was no comparison, but she couldn't figure out a way to explain the real differences between her family and a Fallen like her father, so let it slide for now.

"After all, I'm a foreigner to remember?" Harry finished, smiling wryly. "We are all individuals, and you need to take us as individuals."

Akeno might have protested that oversimplification, if again she could have figured out a way to explain things properly, but Harry went one before she could even try to think of one. And when he did, his words struck like a scalpel, bypassing all her defenses with almost surgical precision.

"But that isn't why you have nightmares," Harry asked softly. "Your nightmares are about yourself. 'Did you cause your father to leave like that? Did I cause my mother's death?' Am I right?" Harry asked softly.

Akeno was struck dumb, unable to comprehend how Harry had seen through her so easily, but Harry knew he had was right about that before he even spoke. It was a difference between hating someone else and hating yourself: that had been what Harry had seen in Akeno this morning, not hate for someone else, but self-loathing. The story about her father? While relevant, it had only been the start of what Harry saw in Akeno.

"You… are… not… at fault… for anyone… else's actions." He said again emphasizing the word and tapped the desk Akeno sat at for emphasis. "Your father's actions had nothing to do with you. Your family's action had nothing to do with you. Only their own warped perception of what was right does. That reflects on them, not you."

"How do you know that!?" Akeno shouted, standing up abruptly, her self-control badly fraying by how easily Harry had seen through her.

"Because!" Harry shouted in turn, pushing off his desk where he had been leaning against it. "No baby can be held responsible for the actions of his or her parents! Existing is not a crime! And self-destruction serves no one!"

For a moment they stood, Akeno hugging herself, and looking anywhere but Harry, as Harry stood, staring at her, willing her to understand. _Perhaps_ it is time for another story, Harry thought to himself, with an internal chuckle. "Let me tell you a little story Himejima-san."

Akeno turned looking at Harry incredulously, but Harry merely chuckled humorlessly and continued with his tale. "There was once a little boy who grew up with a horribly huge image to live up to. You see, he was called The Boy Who Lived, capitals and all."

"You see there was before a Dark Lord terrorizing his homeland for over ten years before he was born. I could've called him something else I suppose but I didn't," Harry said in response to Akeno raised eyebrows, her expression somewhere between amusement and contempt for Harry's try to make light of things. But despite that look Harry went on calmly. "Because in many ways that was what he was. He was a Dark Lord. He used, abused, killed, and was warped in turn by his own actions. His followers raped and murdered in his name, and he was the worst of them all, taking a delight in torture and murder, causing terror anyway he could in order to take control of the country."

"I, I've never heard of such a terrorist acting in the United Kingdom," Akeno interrupted, though she was somewhat concerned because she could detect no lie or even hyperbole in Harry's voice as he spoke.

"What makes you think that the vast majority of British people even knew the war was going on?" Harry asked, his lips twisted into a scowl, the origins Akeno could but guess at.

He looked at her steadily, and she slowly nodded. "A war among magicians then." Such an event, a clash between guilds of magicians, was hardly unheard of, though this one sounded particularly bad.

"Wizards actually," Harry said not realizing the significance in that different form of address. Luckily neither did Akeno, and even if she had, she wouldn't have cared at present, too wrapped up in listening to Harry story.

"Anyway, he was a Dark Lord, whose name became synonymous with terror and fear. So bad was it that no one would actually use his name any longer as if using it would summon him, because in a way it would. Rather than that, they called him You Know Who."

Akeno rolled her eyes at that, and Harry smiled thinly. "Yes, it was rather stupid of them. But what can you do? People are stupid sometimes, and very much prefer to have someone else solve their problems for them.

Hence the Boy Who Lived thing. Though people didn't realize it at the time, there was a prophecy that a boy would be born that would be marked by this Dark Lord as his equal, the only one there for who could kill him, a so-called Destined One. Now I don't agree with the interpretation of that prophecy, I think it was rather self-fulfilling. However, the boy was marked. But not until after both of his parents died trying to defend him from the Dark Lord."

Akeno finished, sitting down abruptly as she realized where Harry was going with this story.

But Harry went on inexorably wanting to get this out in the open, so he knew Akeno understood why he was sharing this with her.

"The boy often thought about that when he was alone: 'My parents didn't just die for me, they were targeted **because** of me,' the boy often thought. 'They died because of me', 'I am the one who killed them'."

Harry shrugged eloquently. "Now that's a bunch of bunk of course. The boy didn't pull the trigger, and he certainly had no say in the actions of the Dark Lord who had been active long before he was even conceived. But the boy wasn't always the most rational of fellows and sometimes did go through what his friends called a funk about it, wondering whether or not the world might've been a better place, wondering if his parents would've lived, if he had never come along.

"But in reality, the Dark Lord he could have targeted other families. It was the Dark Lord's fault, not the boy's that his family died. And self-hate, a self-hate based on what ifs and self-loathing, never serves anyone.

Harry reached out tentatively and grasped Akeno by the shoulder. "So do not let hate for yourself consume you Himejima-san. Don't blame yourself for the action of others. Don't blame yourself for what happened to your mother or your father leaving you or the actions of your extended family. None of that is your fault, and it never was," Harry said so simply.

For a moment Akeno simply stared, then slowly nodded as tears came to her eyes, moved by the sympathy and weary understanding she saw in Harry's face. She brushed her tears away quickly and then as she looked around wildly, she noted the time, shaking her head. "I, I have to go, class I mean we both you have a class and I have another class and… thank you," she said, slowly calming down, as she wiped more tears away. "Thank you. The, the talk, it makes sense and I'll take your words to heart. I don't know if I can, can stop loathing myself as easily as that, but you're right, their actions were their own, so… thank you."

With that she moved forward, hugging Harry. There was nothing sensual or anything about it. It was just a young woman seeking comfort from someone who had just given her some very good advice, who had shown her that she wasn't alone in facing the problems she had been wrestling with for so long.

Harry returned it, his arms around her shoulders and not straying anywhere else. Then one of her hands which had been around his waist suddenly lowered. Grasping his rear that hand squeezed and Harry realized with something approaching relief as he looked down into Akeno's wickedly twinkling eyes that she was back to normal.

Perhaps that was why he reacted the way he did, seeing the wounded girl Akeno hid so well acting as her old self. Instead of quickly trying to disengage as he should have Harry let one of his own hands drop-down swiftly to Akeno's rear in turn, squeezing it hard enough to make her gasp. Only then did he quickly stand back. "Like I said, you're going to go a little too far one of these days."

"You make it sound as if either one of us would regret it," Akeno said in a near whisper, licking her hips provocatively for a moment before reaching to pick up her empty lunchbox and books. That this thrust out her rear at Harry was just a bonus. And she laughed as Harry issued a little groan before moving swiftly to put his desk between them as she made for the door.

Of course on top of his interactions with the rest of the ORC there was Harry's ongoing contact with Rias. They didn't meet every morning, that would've been a little too much for them both and much too obvious to everyone else. Instead, Rias and Harry both sought one another out sometimes, either for lunch, or after school, seemingly without really thinking about it at times, while others they danced around one another, asking seemingly innocuous questions in order to learn about one another. And while Harry admitted he enjoyed looking at Rias, it was her personality and her mind, that vibrant, dangerous, powerful mind, that he found himself truly enjoying.

Twice Rias actually came with Harry as he picked up Lily, talking about planning trips for the Occult Research Club, which caused a bit of a stir at her school, the Two Great Ladies of Kuoh being famous even at an elementary school. And sometimes they simply talked, about school, about the occult and other topics.

It got so bad that rumors began to abound because of the sheer amount of time they spent it in one another's company around school. But Rias had a plan for that. She let it be known subtly that she was interested in getting a teaching degree in the future, and had approached Harry to see if he could mentor her down that path.

To help that rumor long she actually allowed the two of them be seen while she helped him grade some of the papers the papers handed in by the sophomore and freshmen classes about their assigned reading, while other times she took over helping Lily perfect her kanji. This and the rumor that Rias had almost fallen in love with Lily and wanted to treat her like a little sister seemed to do away with a lot of the rumors about their possible relationship though Harry was still being glared at occasionally by the male student body for monopolizing Rias's time.

And even with Rias there were moments that stood out from the rest. Some of them were humorous, as occurred one time when Lily had brought along some clothing to change into after school, wanting to use the academy's gym for some exercise. Being far more energetic than most children her age, recess and the time spent playing around in the jungle gym after school just wasn't enough for the young werewolf/human hybrid.

The shirt was one Lily had gotten from Hermione and Padma which the two of them had actually made for Lily. On it were the words 'give me your books and no one gets hurt' and a picture of a glaring librarian who looked remarkably like Hermione at her glaring best with the addition of a pair of glasses.

Rias, who had offered the bathroom in the ORC's clubroom for Lily to change in, looked up as Lily exited the bathroom. She saw the t-shirt and giggled, shaking her head. "Oh, where did you get that t-shirt? I think Sona would love one like that."

"Hehe, it's one of my favorites too. But I don't think you could get a t-shirt like this, sorry. Some of my aunties made this for me." Lily said, proudly pulling at her shirt.

"Hmm, pity. Well come on, I promised your Father that I'd watch you exercise. And since Koneko is out getting food for her cats that just leaves me." Rias said happily leading her out of the room, though what she had said was a little white lie. Both Akeno and Koneko were out on some of their contracts which they couldn't avoid doing without their peerage losing some status with their contractors. "But aunties? I…well I was under the impression your father was an only child."

"Mmm," Lily said, hopping down the stairs next to Rias. "We just call them that really. Aunt Luna lives in this cool old house that looks like a rook. She and Uncle Rolf are fun even if they aren't around often. I've also got a few uncles on my mother's side, but daddy said most of them aren't going to be talking to us for a while for fear of granny Weasley's reaction to him and mother splitting up and me staying with daddy instead of mother. That's kind of sad; I loved Uncle Fred and George's joke shop."

Rias nodded, opening the door leading outside while hiding a wince at what Lily had just revealed. It sounded like the divorce between Harry and his wife, whose name Rias still hadn't learned, was pretty bad.

Not realizing what Rias was thinking of, Lily had gone on. "Aunt Hermione and Aunt Padma live together in Spain, but they and my daddy used to visit one another a lot." She paused thoughtfully. "But I never had a sleepover at their place like I did sometimes at Aunt Luna's, which is sad because they had this awesome pool in the backyard! But daddy said Padma and Hermione sometimes got too loud at night…" Lily cut herself off there, not finishing the thought with 'and sometimes forgot to cast muffling charms' as she would have if she was talking to a magical. "I still don't know what he meant by that darn it."

Flushing slightly as she realized what that probably meant, Rias chuckled awkwardly thankful beyond words that they had reached the football field at that point forestalling any question on that topic from the younger redhead. There a few of the football club members were practicing, while to one side several freshmen had started a small pickup game.

Rias walked Lily over and introduced her then asked if they could join. In awe of Rias and practically squealing at being able to play with the little cutie they knew was Potter-sensei's daughter, they agreed readily.

Later they returned to the clubroom, where they found Harry sitting there, bonking his head on the tea table. Before either could ask why he was doing that, Harry turned to look at them. "Ergh… I think I'm going to have to **talk** to Kiryuu and the perverts again. I know I said they could choose any English magazine to read and translate into Japanese but come on, do I really have to explain that it can't be an adult magazine!?"

"Ouch," Rias commiserated, though her lips were twitching as she did.

Harry of course caught that and mock-glared at her over her daughter's head. Lily had moved to hug him immediately, not understanding what he was talking about but understanding her daddy was having a rough day. "Hmmf, just pray you never have students like those four if you ever become a teacher."

While Rias frowned slightly at that for some reason unknown to Harry he turned his attention to Lily. "And you smell young lady. Hurry up and take a shower then we'll head home to dinner alright Red Moon?"

At that Rias's expression changed to one of confusion and concern. "Red Moon?"

"Yes? We named her Lily Luna after a friend of the family. But Luna's nickname from her father was little moon, so we needed something different for Lily, and given her red hair we figured it was a good nickname." Harry said, frowning. "You're not the first person to react like that to the nickname here in Japan. Is there something wrong with it?"

"Um… well yes," Rias said, a little embarrassed as both Potters turned to look at her. But she still answered readily enough. "Um you see, the red moon is a phrase used by parents for the month when a daughter of the house has her first period…"

"Gaahhh…." Harry said, staring straight ahead as Lily wrinkled her nose. While she had no idea what a period was, she had been told by both her mother and all her aunts that it was both a nasty thing that came around once a month and a sign of growing up. "Okay, so no more red moon for Lily, I'll have to come up with a different name."

"I like sweetheart, short and simple," Rias chimed in, eager to change the subject. Talking about periods and such like was bad enough with other teens, let alone a man and a young girl.

"I like puppy," Lily affirmed, moving over toward the bathroom. "Koneko calls me that all the time, and I think it's fun."

Of all the ORC, Koneko had become the closest to Lily stepping into the big sister role with an eagerness that was astonishing. She and Lily got along famously, and whenever Lily needed a minder Koneko was quick to volunteer regardless of whatever else she was doing at the time. The two would play a lot like a puppy and kitten would, while also watching TV or sharing snacks. It was actually one of the cutest things Rias had ever seen, certainly the cutest coming from her normally calm, pokerfaced rook.

"And it has a certain familial connection," Harry mused then nodded. "Alright puppy it is. Hurry up then puppy, and we can head home to get some food."

As the door to the bathroom closed Harry turned to Rias. "Thank you for actually explaining that. I've almost asked other people a time or two about it, but that was embarrassing enough here in private. I'd have hated to have it explained in public. Especially where other kids form her school could hear it given how cruel kids can be with nicknames."

"You're welcome." Rias replied then looked at the papers in front of Harry. She moved over to sit across from him, leaning forward just slightly enough to cause Harry to look up at her and make him realize that she too was wearing some exercise clothing. In her case it was a long t-shirt over short exercise pants. The pants clung to her thighs and waist like a second skin, while the shirt opened just enough to show she was wearing a black sports bra underneath. Feeling Harry's eyes on her she smiled, but did not address that, instead gesturing down to the papers scattered on the tea table. "Would you like some help?"

Soon Lily was back out and the two Potters mad their farewells. Lily surprised Rias by actually hugging her for a second, saying "Thanks for playing with me Rias!"

Chuckling Rias simply hugged her back. "You're quite welcome puppy."

Lily laughed at the use of her new 'official' nickname then stepped back, beaming up at Rias and then turning to her daddy. "She gives great hugs daddy."

While Rias giggled again at that, Harry decided it was time to flirt back a bit after Rias's little display earlier. "Really, let me see."

Before Rias could do more than blink and before Harry could remember why this was a very bad idea for a teacher, Harry's arms were around her, one arm around her shoulders, the other around her waist. Rias of course hugged back, both her arms around Harry's waist and the two of them stood there, squeezing one another lightly, yet even so it was as if electrical current was passing through both of them. "Well what do you know, she's right." Harry murmured. "You do give good hugs."

Then the moment passed and Harry quickly backed away as his self-control exerted itself before he could make any further observations of what he had just been feeling. Harry simply smiled, stepping back and said goodbye to Rias before quickly turning to the door, leaving behind a pleased and flushed Rias.

There were other moments like that, some more serious. Rias made Harry lunch to thank him for helping Akeno out of her funk, and the two of them talked for a time about how Harry had been able to tell what was bothering her, and about how he had helped Kiba before that. Harry asked about Koneko, and Rias hinted that she too had a hard childhood before they met.

But easily the most important moment between the two of them had to do with what else was going on, because of course there were other things occurring in Harry's life during that month than getting to know the girls and one pretty boy of the Occult Research Club. For one thing, and completely unrelated to anything else, was that Lily had finished settling into her school. That sleepover she had the weekend after she had put the bullies in their place seemed to have been the icebreaker, and she had made several friends not only in her own classes but in a few upper years too. Moreover, her writing and reading caught up quickly to where it should be, even if she still hated the amount of repetition she needed to do to be able to write in Japanese. The workload of even kids Lily's age here in Japan was astonishing, but Lily thrived in it.

She did so well, that Harry once called her his mini-Hermione. Then stooped and pulled her into a hug, bopping her on the nose with a finger. "Just no study planners please, and don't try to bully, erm, that is strongly convince, your friends to go along with your study schedule. Oh, and your hair better not go all frizzy. On Hermione it looks good. On you it'd look as if your head exploded."

Harry's job as a teacher also proceeded very well. Most of his classes made more progress than the principal and the other teachers had expected, meeting the school's standard requirements and then some. Even the class with the Three Perverts had started to pick up speed, the three being forced to focus to keep their grades up. All the students enjoyed learning English under Harry's freewheeling and fun style and responded to it by putting forth more effort, which in turn meant they got more out of it and also more privileges in his classes. Although Issei's request to be able to read English style adult literature was of course ignored.

Physical education was easier in many ways if not for Harry's self-control issues. There weren't very many out of shape or even overweight students among the population at the school, but Harry worked with those there were to bring them up to the level of physical fitness the school wanted its students to achieve. He was kind but firm and always in control of the classes. The various professional sports clubs, which Harry also had to check in on occasionally as part of his job, seemed to be doing very well under their various advisors and club captains.

Harry's self-defense courses on Saturday were also taking hold. Two months in everyone knew how to throw a punch, and had memorized portions of the body to target if they ever needed to defend themselves. The mental aspect, the need to switch gears as it were, was taking longer for many, but certainly not all of the students. So while Harry prayed they never needed to defend themselves with what he was teaching them, at least he knew they would have the tools necessary if they did.

While this was all going on Harry's own education was proceeding apace, which was the thing that truly affected his and Rias's relationship eventually. But of course there were other aspects to that which were just as important as that, if not more so.

Harry had quickly passed examinations for the laws sections of this point, and had begun to practice some of the local spells at home. They were **very** different in many ways from the spells of his old home, even if you set aside how they were organized. This difference started in how they were cast. With no need to use a focus like in the European school of magic, the locals instead used either talismans to evoke certain effects, or gestures. Large, intricate spells used long incantations to match the movements of the hands, normally movements from both hands rather than one. But most of their spells didn't have verbal components, and the ones who did had single words.

Strangely to Harry's mind, the local direct attack spells were really nothing much to write home about, something Harry put down to the more warlike subgroups having been wiped out during the war by the American magicals. They had stunners and a few other small-scale things like that nature and some of them were interesting. This included a light generating spell that was the equivalent of a heat-seeking beam of light that was intended to severely blind your opponents. You could overpower it to the point where you could actually blind someone permanently, which was nasty. But still, direct magical spells like Reducto, Bombarda, and so on were not part of the local repertoire.

Beyond that there were other puzzling holes in their knowledge as far as Harry was concerned. For example, there were no spells which could target and force a change in another person's body like the spell he'd seen his fourth year which had changed Malfoy into an actual ferret.

Indeed, there were no spells to change a living subject into a nonliving one or vice versa. That was very odd since in nearly every other way they were equal in terms of transfiguration spells to Harry's people. Or even better, since the locals could transfigure things on a permanent basis, which Europeans could only do on a small scale. The local rituals and rites were positively fascinating.

Eventually, Harry's confusion on this point forced him back to the downtown building where he had been tested on the local laws. There he found a lecturer who would answers questions about it. The locals were no longer nearly as standoffish, though they weren't friendly either.

When asked about this odd discrepancy, the other man looked appalled. "You realize the soul does not change?" he asked, his Japanese coming so quickly that even though yet used spell to learn the language Harry had trouble making up words. "If you changed the body so, you would condemn the soul to torment!"

"But does a desk or any inanimate object really have a soul?" Harry asked, incredulous.

The man smiled mysteriously at that calming down as it seemed the polite gaijin was simply asking for clarification rather than speaking out of ignorance. "Of course, everything has a soul. It just depends on how you define the term."

With that Harry put this down to a sort of societal blind spot. The locals revered the soul above everything, and anything that affected it in a negative manner was anathema to them.

Harry figured that was also why the locals didn't seem to have anything like the three Unforgivables. They didn't even seem to know about them at all, having Harry having dropped the name of Imperio out in a subsequent conversation with one of his examiners, and getting a blank face for his troubles.

However, there was one area where the locals made up their lack of direct magical attack spells in: element based attacks: Fire, earth, water, wood, metal and other spells of that nature. The water spells in particular were fascinating to Harry, and he learned as many of them as the books he had could tell him. The fire spells not so much, since they were the ones that seemed the most like the ones here are the learned. None of the local fire spells even looked close to Fiendfyre, though a few of them had some interesting hints to greater things that the books Harry had access to didn't cover.

But the real surprise was in the other elements and the main points Harry came away with there was control and simplicity, and it was so utterly fascinating Harry just had to try them out. One day Lily and Harry went right home after school rather than Lily joining Harry at the academy. Once there, Lily watched as her daddy stood in the center of their backyard. With several spells having been added to the wards Harry could use this space to practice magic without anyone noticing.

Once that was done, Harry breathed in deeply, his hand rising slightly in front of his face as a small bead of water appeared there. For a moment all was silent as Lily watched avidly and Harry concentrated on the spell.

Normally under the European method all you needed to do to cast a spell was know the words and gestures, though eventually a wizard learned that all they really needed was intent and an image of the spell in their brain. This was not the case with Japanese Onmyodo element attacks. With the locals obsession with all things having souls, their element attacks emphasized the need to understand the element in question, the only exceptions being lightning and fire, which were seen as too changing for humans to 'understand the soul' of.

But Harry was trying to use a water attack spell now, and that did have a kind of unified soul according to the locals, a soul shared by all water in the world. One had to understand the nature of water to conjure it up, to bend it to your command. It was all rather more mystic than Harry was used to but that made it somewhat fascinating as well as frustrating for Harry.

Eventually Harry felt he had a handle on what the 'soul' of water was like: immutable, changing yet not, able to change its form but not its substance, water could bring down through speed, time or pressure anything made by man or anything else made by nature. Yet for all the seeming contradictions of its existence, there was only one word for water. "Mizu (water)…" Harry said slowly, gesturing with his dominant hand in a series of finger movements.

Harry felt a tiny tug at his magical core and from his outstretched hand there formed a long battering ram of water, quickly twisting up and around under Harry's direction. He gestured and the water moved, changed shape into a shield, a series of swords, none of them connected, and then finally into a small version of Lily, which caused Lily, who had been watching silently, to cheer and race forward to play with her water double. His face splitting into a wide smile Harry directed the water elemental around, watching as Lily and it had fun chasing one another around. _Yes, definitely interesting._

In terms of talismans and runic arrays Harry's education was going a lot more slowly than he would've liked. Still he was able to add a few new tricks to the wards of their house, linking the wards to his own magical core in a way that he had never quite seen before. Yes, he had seen wards tied into alarms, or to physical changes in the house or Castle, but not to the individual who cast them. Now wherever he was, Harry would know if someone tripped these wards, or if they were in any way damaged.

However the most important aspect of his education in local magics came about three weeks after he had agreed to be the advisor to the ORC: the books he had special ordered about auras and souls arrived. Harry immediately set aside the rest of his education in order to concentrate on these to the exclusion of everything else. From these books he learned a way to learn which element an individual's nature was more closely attuned to. Each variety from that point came with a corresponding type of meditation designed to aid the individual in figuring out how to find or connect to his own soul.

Harry was rather dubious about that part, but decided to see if he could figure out which element he was closest to first. After casting the spell on himself, Harry looked up the corresponding color that had appeared in the pam of his hand. "Huh…"

Nearby Lily looked up from her homework, eager for any reprieve. Since Harry had gotten his new books they had been heading home right after school, Harry forgoing his training with Kiba or meeting with Rias, though Koneko had come with them a time or two. "What're you working on daddy?" Lily stared at the ball of odd silvery colored light in Harry's hands, leaning in to examine it.

"Well, I wanted to see which branch of the local magic I'm most connected to Lily. The color corresponds to the subject, understand?" When Lily nodded Harry went on. "It's just I would have thought I would be wood or fire, maybe even water. But instead I'm metal… I just thought that was strange. Maybe I did the spell wrong?"

"I don't think so daddy." Lily disagreed, looking thoughtful. "Erm… metal can be worked with but only when um… tempered? Doesn't that sound sort of like your life?" Harry had told her some of his adventures of course, though not all of them given Lily's age. Still he had to accede the point: it could certainly be said that Harry had been hammered on the anvil, tempered by adversity.

"And didn't you say in Onmyodo metal is connected to the mind? Well, you have Occlumency don't you?" Lily went on, announcing the word slowly. "And um… well while you're really flexible in some ways daddy, in others you're not…"

Harry laughed quietly at that pulling Lily into his arms and hugging her. "Yes, I suppose you've got a point there. Alright, then… in that case, let's see what else I can learn from these books. But first, I think it's dinner time for you puppy."

After Lily had been properly fed and watered Harry went back to work on going through his new books. From the knowledge of the element he was closest to, Harry kept reading, learning that it was possible to protect the mind and soul rather than simply the mind like in the European school, which left the soul vulnerable. The locals started from protecting the soul from corruption, or as they put it 'from being lead down improper paths'. According to the book going the opposite way, from protecting the mind to the soul, was painful to the point of excruciating. There didn't seem to be a consensus as to why that was.

Regardless, the book did go into detail on how corruption, foreign influences, could interact with the soul, twisting the individual to act in a way that he normally wouldn't. It went on to describe an effect that sounded a little too much like what Harry dealt with when he was around Kalawarner, Rias and Akeno for Harry's state of mind. In the example it was a cursed sword, a katana of some kind the name of which would no doubt have been of great significance to any native Onmyouji. The book went on to explain other ways the soul could be corrupted, and some of them included use of dark magics, which Harry knew did occur.

 _Okay, color me convinced._ Harry thought grimly. _The question then becomes, how can I then defend my soul from this corruption of the spirit, and… and do Rias and the others know it is happening? I_ _'_ _ve never seen any hint in their actions that they do, not like Veela do, so are they acting or do they really not know that whatever they are_ _they_ _give off this corrupting field?_

Regardless of the answers to the second question, the answers to the first were within Harry's grasp in the books he had ordered. To start off, Harry had to meditate on his soul using the imagery of an anvil and hammer. Then he would try to connect to his soul by trying to remember the moments that he felt defined him as an individual. Each of them would then be placed on the anvil in turn, creating the image of a metal bar, which would then morph as he worked on it into his soul.

Flipping through all the other meditations on offer for the other elements, Harry realized that part of why it might hurt to start from his mind and moving out could be based on the imagery used during the trance. So he decided to try on his own to reach out to his soul. _If we say that my mind is one… call it a created realm perhaps. Then it stands to reason I can use it to access my soul, since that too is inside me, right? So all I have to do is try to, to push inwards I suppose from the deepest portions of my Occlumentic realm…_

Sitting cross-legged in the living room as Lily watched TV nearby, Harry sent his thoughts inward, creating a mental avatar in the realm of his mind. From there Harry walked through his mind, which was created to be a castle similar to Hogwarts, with a moat around it and various other defenses against intrusion. Entering the castle he made his way into the basement, going deeper, far deeper than he ever had before.

This part of his mental realm was devoted to his subconscious thoughts, the ones no one not even a Master Occlumens, could control. Some of this area showed the wear and tear of the times Harry had to repair his mind after being around Kalawarner or Akeno or Rias, though the majority of the damage from those times he was affected by them happened around the large cell he kept his libido in.

Pushing past them, came to the floor or earth of his mental realm. Once there, he tried to push through the substance, imagining its solid surface becoming like treacle. Nothing happened. His mental realm ignored his attempts to push beyond it, as if nothing beyond existed. It was only when he tried his hardest, gathering all his will and energy, focusing down as much as possible to get through the ground to what might be beyond that something finally gave.

The ground of his mental plane crumbled, shattering like glass almost, with hundreds, thousands of shards flashing everywhere, and Harry groaned, grabbing at his head. The pain of that was almost enough to cause him to black out, almost dropping out of the trance. But Harry was no stranger to pain, having been placed under Crucio more often than he wanted to count. He bore through it, concentrating on the thought, have to grab those shards, have to organize them, or else my mind will never be the same!

With that thought uppermost, Harry lashed out with both hands, his mental avatar suddenly holding two wands, his original holly wand and the Elder Wand in his dominant hand. For a second Harry balked, having conjured the Elder Wand into his offhand and his phoenix wand in its new form on his dominant one. But the change was so small he decided to ignore it in favor of using both wands to lasso the pieces of his psyche back.

 _Although is that even the right term for them, I mean, they aren't memories, thou_ _g_ _hts, or feelings, at least… I don't think so? Where did the floor for an Occluemntic realm come from anyway? I can clearly remember building my mental realm, creating the wall, and everything. The rest of the realm is an imagined construction of my mind, but the floor? What is the floor then if I can't remember creating it?_

Putting that thought aside, Harry slowly pulled the shards back together, not putting them together as a floor, but rather the walls of what amounted to a well without a bottom leading downwards. Each shard's placement was accompanied by another spike of pain, but Harry persevered.

Yet even if you set aside the pain constantly wracking Harry's body and mind, the work was incredibly difficult. Imagine trying to catch a hummingbird with your bare hands while being buffeted by hurricane force winds and while trying to force said hummingbird to merge with hundreds of its fellows into a brick. This mental exercise was tougher than even that. And the pain of it was nearly beyond anything Harry had ever experienced. Right up there with being put under Riddle's Crucio while being impaled by silver spikes through his arms and legs.

Yes that had happened near the end of the war. Luckily for Harry, Voldemort had never learned not to gloat. And he had also not learned just yet that the Death Stick had a new master.

Despite the pain and the difficulty of the task Harry eventually was able to build his new well to what seemed at first to be a sea of silver. It wasn't silvery like a ring or the Patronus spell sometimes gave off. No, this was the silver of metal gleaming with a burnished sharpness that told of its strength. Eventually the sea seemed to coalesce into a plinth coming up out of the a floor that hadn't been there a moment ago, a floor which merged seamlessly with the new walls of the well, creating an entirely new area for Harry to house his soul.

 _So, this is my soul? Or at least how I perceive it? That's… pretty damn amazing. But does this mean I can now defend my soul from further corruption, or not?_

Deciding to put off rearranging his mental plane to take advantage of its, and thereby his, connection to his soul, Harry pulled his senses back out of his mind, Harry found himself back in the physical realm. Thankfully no time had passed out here during that ordeal. Lily was still watching TV, and the clock on the wall had only changed by five minutes. _Time flies when you're having revelations about the nature of life, magic, and everything in between, I suppose. Now, if I use that aura reading spell on myself, I should be able to see my soul radiating just beneath the surface._

The spell, or rather a series of wordless gestures from the Kotodama school, doubled both to allow auras to be visible and for the user to see his or her own soul. But of course, the soul wasn't the aura itself; the aura of a person was a byproduct of the soul rather than the physical reality. Seeing another person's actual soul was much tougher than seeing the aura, which was like the heat given off a fire, or the surface of water in the analogies the books contained, linking the soul back to two of the elements in Onmyodo.

The spell worked as advertised thankfully, and Harry saw the faint metallic sheen coming out just slightly from his skin. Lily barely even looked up from watching Mahou Shoujo Serafall-chan, oohing at the color before turning back to the TV, letting Harry concentrate on what he was feeling. He could sense his soul within himself now, thrumming almost, a very odd but not quite disconcerting feeling. Rather it was like he had just added a kind of strength to his body somehow.

But what he was really interested in at the moment was the fact he could also sense that his soul was somehow connected to other things beyond his own body. One offshoot led upwards, disappearing slightly away from his body. Another led out to one side of the house, disappearing as the first one ad about a foot away from his body. Harry understood that to mean the spell failed at that point rather than the connection ended there. At the same time, another line of burnished metal led to something on Harry's body, in his sleeve. Specifically in the sleeve which hid the wand holster containing the Elder Wand. _Huh, now why do I suddenly wonder if…_

Standing up Harry moved upstairs into his room into the trunk where he kept the Invisibility cloak his father had left with Dumbledore for him. Harry had often wondered about why he had done so, but decided not to look into it too closely in the past, there being more important things to concentrate on at the time. He had also stopped carrying it around him after the war ended.

However, the connection it had to his own soul told Harry that maybe that had been a mistake and that something else was happening here. A moment's triangulation later and a 'point me Great Britain', he smiled grimly, his theory now solidified. _I do believe that whole Master of Death title meant more than anyone imagined. I so wish I could blame Dumbledore for this, but even he knew only so much about the Deathly Hallows. Still, to get to the bottom of this I'll have to have Hermione send me the ring. Damn it, she'll no doubt have questions. On the other hand, I suppose I can invite her to visit, that might be nice. Maybe bring Teddy and Tonks along with Padma. For now though, I have other things to do._

Heading back home from the edge of town, Harry put Lily to bed, then went back to learning how to defend his soul from external corruption. A lot of this dovetailed with his previous training in Occlumency, so while it took a few hours he found that he was able to learn it far faster than the book suggested it would take. It also allowed him to redesign his mental landscape at the same time.

In the end the castle of Hogwarts was now gone, replaced instead by a series of towers surrounded by a heavy, immensely thick wall. That wall was made of stone, steel and rubber. Rubber would allow him to absorb attacks sent at his soul while the steel would react and actually attack any Legelimens assault, while the stone simply defended against that. The different materials had been a suggestion from the book, implying that using the same mental creation to defend both the mind and soul from attacks was something like splitting your forces in the face of an enemy assault.

The classrooms, cells and cages he had kept his thoughts memories and instincts in had each their own towers now, even his libido and his werewolf instincts were now somewhat separated, though their towers were also connected by a thoroughfare a few stories up. Each of them had far more room to roam as it were, but Harry could still lock them up to prevent them from cluttering his thoughts if he needed to. But Harry had long since realized keeping them chained up for so long wasn't healthy, hence his relationship, such as it was, with Kalawarner despite his misgivings about her and his weekly runs with Lily.

But the biggest change was what was lighting Harry's mental plane. Before Harry had used a sun made of pure imagination to light his mental realm. It had doubled as a defense, blinding or even shooting ultra-powerful light beams at intruders. But it was gone now. In its place was Harry's soul, gleaming silver from a lighthouse set in the direct center of his new realm. Its light shown everywhere casting odd shadows but the effect was everything Harry had hoped for. The odd egg shape of it was strange and hadn't responded to Harry's attempt to mold it into a new shape, but that was simply a curiosity rather than a concern.

The day after Harry had started to learn these new skills was the day that truly marked a change in not only Harry and Rias's interactions, but his relationship with Kalawarner.

 **OOOOOOO**

Despite his concerns about how her presence affected him, the same concerns he felt about Rias and Akeno, Harry had continued to go out with Kalawarner occasionally. He was unwilling to leave Lily alone of course even behind their home's wards, and the idea of hiring the Occult Research Club to babysit her so he could go out and play seemed both wrong in some indefinable manner and something that could all too easily blow up in his face.

So the times they could go out was very limited. Since that first meeting they had only see each other about seven times all told. This was more than enough for Harry to start to realize that theirs was not going to be a very deep relationship, though he still hoped for more.

Each date would start the same way. They would meet, eat something while making small talk about their jobs and other things, not really sharing anything important with one another and then they would go dancing or seeing the sights. After that they would end up in an alleyway somewhere making out furiously or even more, though Harry hadn't allowed their flirting to reach its climax just yet. Even while in her presence and being affected by both his lust and Kalawarner's aura Harry retained enough presence of mind to stop things going that far precisely because of his knowledge of said taint.

Despite that misgiving at times Harry thought there was something there between them, something that could go beyond the physical and into the realm of an actual relationship. Harry liked Kalawarner's wicked senses of humor, her irreverent attitude, and even her adventurous lustful side, which fed on Harry's own growing sense of adventurousness in terms of what could be euphemistically called courtship.

But whenever Harry tried to have a deeper conversation with her, Kalawarner would draw attention to her body somehow, and the thought would go out of his mind. But this manipulation in turn fed Harry's desire to not follow through their flirting to the level Kalawarner wanted, making her more frustrated. On top of that, Harry had realized that while the idea was a pleasant one, he was just not emotionally built for a purely physical relationship.

For her part, Kalawarner hadn't yet realized how much she had in turn begun to fall for Harry. Her own personality, and the sin she fell for, got in the way of her realizing the depth of her feelings. All she mostly felt was frustration at how slow it was going, and his refusal to leap into the sack with her. Yet despite that frustration, Kalawarner knew she had never been happier than when she was with Harry, just talking, let alone flirting.

Of course the other problem was her partners for this job. Raynare was not happy about being stuck here for so long in enemy territory where she had to walk on eggshells all the time, never using magic and always worried they would be discovered with nothing to show for their pains. Part of that was having to go to school every day to learn subjects she didn't care about or had already learned several times over. Raynare wanted to be finished and done with this project and go on to more important things, constantly reporting her own lack of progress in more and more frustrated tones as the month went by.

Dohnaseek fully shared in Raynare's desire to move on only he was stuck in a nearby town trying to rein in the urges of more than two dozen bloodthirsty excommunicated exorcists. These were men who had very few qualms about doing whatever they thought was a good idea and saying it was god's will, revealed to them rather than the church. Already he'd been forced to make a few examples to keep the others in line. The time for action couldn't come fast enough in his opinion.

On the other hand, Mittelt had come around to Kalawarner's idea of the need to go slowly. She had staked out Harry's house from a few streets away and felt the power of the wards he had thrown up around it. They weren't by any means the most powerful she'd ever felt, but they were powerful enough to make her leery of getting on Harry's bad side.

"It pricks her pride that she has to be afraid of so many young Devils." Mittelt said one evening, speaking of Raynare. "There's not a one of them who is yet older than 18, and all of them are more powerful than she is."

"And Raynare's pride will never allow her to realize that's the reason," Kalawarner said with a laugh.

"Oh shit here she comes," Mittelt said quickly staring over Kalawarner's shoulder before she nodded seriously. "So you are making progress…" she said in a loud voice.

Kalawarner went with it, smiling at the younger fallen Angel. While they sometimes didn't get along that well, both of them were leery of how much trouble they could get into when in a highborn Devil's territory so had begun to work together to help calm Raynare down.

"Making progress" Raynare shouted, stomping up to them and hurling her schoolbag so hard to the side that it actually went through one of the wooden pews shattering it utterly. "I thought you said you'd only need a few weeks to have Potter eating out of the palm of your hand! We can't do anything about our main target with that wild card still in play. We need to at least figure out how he'll jump if nothing else."

"While I haven't had him eat out of my hand let alone anything else, I'm getting there" Kalawarner said, one hand moving down from her neck and tracing between her breasts to her navel where it stopped, pointing even further down to make certain both other fallen knew precisely what she was talking about.

Mittelt rolled her eyes at that while Raynare growled. But before she could speak Kalawarner went on. "The problem is I didn't factor into my initial timeframe the fact that he wouldn't want to leave his daughter alone. I'm getting the distinct impression that there have been people who have tried to kidnap her in the past, or simply to kill her to get to him."

"And let me guess: that didn't go well for the individuals who tried?" Mittelt said sarcastically. Sarcasm was Mittelt's ground state of being.

"I have no idea. I have an impression that Harry isn't one to play around, especially in the defense of someone he loves, but it's just that, an impression." Kalawarner said with a shrug. She sat down next to Mittelt now, facing Raynare and crossing her long legs. "What about you? **My** target has been identified at least. But we still don't know what kind of Sacred Gear Hyoudou has right?"

"Yes damnit! Which means I still have to go to that fucking school!" Raynare snarled, starting to pace. "But," she said suddenly stopping in giving the mall a gimlet eye. "Once I got it is identified, were going to have to move very quickly. Orders have come in from on high, if the Sacred Dear that the pervert holds is dangerous, we are to claim it anyway we can. Kokabiel-sama's even shipping us the extraction tool."

The other two Fallen nodded seriously, knowing that would probably mean some kind of confrontation with the Devils who made Kuoh their home. Raynare turned to glare at Kalawarner. "And that means making certain that Potter stays neutral at best, or is neutralized at worst. If it comes to it, do you think you could stick a dagger in his back?"

"I don't know," Kalawarner said honestly, ignoring the frisson of unease that went through her at the idea. "I probably could so long as there weren't any witnesses around and I could use a spear of light to do it." Spears of light could be conjured up quickly and with little fanfare so it was a very rare individual who would be able to spot them coming. "If say, I conjure up a short spear and stabbed it into his back while we were making out, that might work."

"Keep at it then. If nothing else our secondary target's Sacred Gear is almost strong enough for me to tell whether or not it is worth going after on its own." Raynare said, smiling evilly. "I also contacted Carlamine about another little project going on, so whatever happens, we'll be getting at least two Sacred Gears out of this. All we have to do is be ready to strike…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Once more Saturday dawned. But for once Harry found himself looking forward to teaching the various PE classes rather than dreading seeing Rias and Akeno in their exercise uniforms.

As he knew would happen, Akeno once more took a chance to flirt with him. Since today was a day spent in the gym with various weights, that meant she called for him to spot her occasionally rather than rely on Rias or one of her other friends. The sight of her chest heaving under a shirt that barely restrained her massive bust would normally have forced Harry to more forcibly control his libido and werewolf instincts. This reaction would have been helped along by the fact she had decided to forgo not wearing a sports bra at the moment.

When Harry looked, he felt his libido start to respond, and then felt a wave of something try to get by his defensive walls. It was everywhere at once, trying to seep through the cracks of his defensive wall via the 'ground' of his mental plane and right above it. But it was stopped by the rubber veneer of his wall, and was unable to get through.

Harry watched Akeno's face as that happened, and saw no reaction, no flicker of unease, or surprise or anything else. She simply smiled up at him slyly commenting, "Ara Sensei, aren't you supposed to be watching the weights rather than my face~. Or does this mean you've become enamored with me?"

"Heh, no Himejima-san, I haven't. I was just struck by those pretty violet eyes of yours." Akeno blushed at that, unused to comments about her physical appearance that didn't mention her chest. But Harry simply moved on. "Now, I think you were about to start your second set of reps."

After Akeno was finished with the free wights Harry called the next girl over and began to spot her in turn. Rias walked over and took her turn, and even though the wave of her aura was somewhat stronger than Akeno it didn't penetrate just like the wave Akeno gave out. His own reaction to her was stronger, simply because Harry had a redhead fetish, but it was much, much easier to control his libido without the wave of corruption affecting his soul. Just as importantly, Rias also showed no reaction to his defenses stopping her corruption from getting through his mind. The smile he had on his face when he realized that set Rias to blushing and looking away, but thankfully she didn't say anything.

Halfway through the class, Harry turned his attention away slightly from the girl he was currently observing with the free weights. _Hmm, so I know now that neither girl reacts if I stop their auras I suppose from affecting my soul. But let's see what I can tell about those auras in the first place._ So saying Harry shifted his fingers through the two silent patterns needed to cast the aura reading spell, then looked around him.

As Harry had expected, the normal students around him had what the book had called a formative human soul, gray with splashes of color signifying emotions. Not thoughts so much, because in humans thoughts changed and redirected themselves so quickly it couldn't be spotted. The power of their souls varied wildly, with more than half showing seemingly stronger than average souls.

Rias, Akeno, Sona and Tsubaki on the other hand stood out from the crowd, their auras being far larger, so large they encompassed the entire area in pulses of black corruption, enough to almost drown out the other auras. Yet at the same time, those pulses seemed uncontrolled, as Harry had already tested. Furthermore, Rias's aura might have a core of black to it, but it was also laced with solid blue, green, and yellow colors, the colors of love, kindness and friendly feeling and another color, a deep umber color whose meaning Harry couldn't remember seeing. The others had some of the same colors. Sona and Tsubaki's auras seemed far more controlled, their emotions more regimented but also less powerful than Rias and Akeno. And Akeno had both a darker all around aura than Rias, and the colors of hate and lust mixed in, red and purple respectively.

 _Reading their auras like this is fascinating, but also somewhat invasive at the same time. I don_ _'_ _t like that, but it_ _'_ _s told me two things for certain: whatever species they are, it surely isn_ _'_ _t human and_ _they are_ _naturally a tainted species of some sort. But at the same time, Rias and the others are also good people. That_ _'_ _s good enough for me._

The smile on Harry's face at that point caused many a blush among the students. Even Rias and the other devils were not immune to the impact of it, and they all wondered in their own way what had happened to make Harry so happy. But for the most part they just ran with it.

Soon enough PE ended and the class began to break up. The majority of the students headed for the changing room while a few stayed to help clean up the gym, helping Harry put away the various machines and free weights. Akeno was one of these, always on the lookout to be around Harry, while Rias had decided to call it a day, wanting to get some of her homework done before heading home for the rest of the weekend. This had become more important to Akeno after she and Harry had their heart to heart. Like her king, Akeno found she was now genuinely interested in Harry above and beyond either the aid he could give Rias or the amusement value Akeno got out of trying to get a literal rise out of Harry.

Unfortunately for Akeno's desires, at the moment she was not the lady on Harry's mind. As the group of students finished cleaning up, Harry subtly approached Akeno, grabbing up a number of the free weights she had been transporting, easily lugging three times the amount she had been moving on her own. "Is Gremory-san going to remain at school for a time? I'd like to talk to her after I drop Lily off at home."

"Are, how mean of you sensei, speaking of one woman to another," Akeno said lightly, though there was a bit of real hurt in her eyes for just a second before it disappeared. "I believe she will be, and I will inform her that you wish to speak to her." Akeno then smiled slightly, a smirking uptick of her full, pouty lips. "Is this a private talk, or can anyone join?"

"I think I'd like to talk to her alone if that's possible," Harry said apologetically.

"Very well, I will inform her." Once more Akeno was miffed, but didn't show it. She knew Harry had not realized that she was honestly interested in him instead of simply playing a game, and was unwilling just yet to enlighten him on her actual feelings. _Besides, even a blind man can see the chemistry developing between Rias-chan and Potter-sensei. And I'm not so selfish - or should that be Devilish?-to get between them just yet. Besides, think of the teasing opportunities if this goes the way I think it will._

Harry nodded, though he had noticed Akeno was bothered that time, and decided to get to the bottom of that later. Right now, he had a daughter to pick up.

As usual Lily was waiting for him with the other students, wearing the little uniform the elementary school demanded and bouncing on the balls of her feet, eager to leave. Normally she would be running around with her new friends, but on Saturday all of them were picked up far faster than normal, leaving her alone quickly. When she saw her father, her face brightened up as it always did. "Hey daddy!"

Harry smiled, grabbing the charging little girl as she raced towards him, taking her small backpack and holding it in one hand while perching Lily on his shoulder, careful to not get her skirt messed up. "Hey puppy, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine daddy," Lily said, hugging her father's head for a moment before asking hesitantly. "Um, is it okay if I go to another sleepover? There's a marathon of a show called Sailor Moon on tonight, it's like one of the oldest and best known magical anime shows, so a lot of my friends and I are going to get together and watch it."

"If you promise that you'll do at least one subject's worth of homework while I'm gone, I'll drop you off after I return home. I have some paperwork I need to do at school. And none of the ORC are around to watch you like usual," Harry said, lying slightly but feeling it necessary. The conversation he was going to have with Rias had a serious side to it, and one that Lily didn't need to hear just yet. Nor did he let on how this plan dovetailed with something else he wanted to do soonest: see how Kalawarner reacted when Harry's mind was no longer influenced by her aura.

After dropping Lily off and supplying her with a nutritious snack, Harry called Kalawarner and made a time to meet up with her later that night. Then he set the wards on alert, and made his way back to school.

Harry found Rias sitting at her desk in the Orc clubroom. She was alone, with even Akeno nowhere in sight. Her hair glinted wetly under the rooms dim light, sticking to her head and neck despite having been combed out since her shower. She smiled as Harry entered, looking up with her blue eyes catching his behind her glasses as her cheeks dimpled slightly.

Once more Harry was struck by the beauty Rias possessed. Akeno was a gorgeous young vamp, Kalawarner a mature, seductive beauty, but Rias had them both beat with the perfect mix of girl-next-door innocence and a more adult, homebody sort of attractiveness. The dimples she showed and the light in her eyes was a case in point.

Shaking that thought off and happy that once more his mental defenses had stopped her aura from affecting him, Harry smiled back, moving forward towards the desk. "Schoolwork or paperwork?"

"Regular paperwork, my family requires Akeno and I to submit our monthly budgets at around this time." Rias said, prevaricating in a white lie sort of way. It was time for their monthly budgets but this was more to do with her peerage's various operations as devils than money matters. Every month she had to do an audit of her peerage's various clients and their responses to her family's work. "Nothing that I can't set aside for a few minutes. Akeno said you wanted to speak to me?"

Nodding Harry moved to stand in front of her desk, frowning as he leaned back against the sofa facing away from it as he thought about how to broach the subject. "I know we are both still trying to gather information about each other and I have no wish to bring that game to an end just yet. It's been fun, our little word games. But I think I've discovered something about you that you might not even know yourself, at least I don't think so. So I think it's time for another sort of exchange of information. I tell you what I've discovered, and you answer a few questions for me, agreed?"

Rias frowned at that, putting a bit of her hair in her mouth and nibbling at it in a manner that despite her aura no longer affecting him Harry found quite distracting. "I… hmm… so long as the information you have discovered is indeed something I don't already know I will agree to that. But if it isn't you'll need to face a penalty and answer a few of my questions in turn. Agreed?"

"Agreed. Should we shake on it?" Harry asked, his emerald eyes twinkling slightly.

Shaking her head, Rias pulled off the glasses she always wore whenever she was doing paperwork and leaned back, crossing her fingers in her lap as she looked at Harry, wondering what he had found out about her and possibly the others that he thought they wouldn't already know. "I don't think that's necessary Sensei. Now, what is this mysterious information?"

"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just spit it out. You and the others like you, both your own and Sona's group have auras around you, far more powerful and formed than a normal human's. But beyond that, you all put out this, call it a field of corruption which attempts to taint the people around it in various ways. Most of the time it's subtle, other times not. IN terms of the effect, I think it makes people more susceptible to suggestion and more disposed to feeling and acting upon various instincts." Harry said slowly, not having come up with any better way to describe what he was saying to another person but he felt that he had done a good job of it.

Rearing back in surprise so much she nearly tipped her chair over Rias stared at Harry in shock. "What!? I've never heard of something like that! How do you know, and what does this tainted aura thing do?"

"I don't know what it does to other people, though as I said it probably makes them more susceptible to suggestions. But to me… to me it made nearly lose control of my libido a few times when I would not have otherwise. Mind you in my case my werewolf side helped to make it more vulnerable to it, so I can't tell you what it would have done to a normal person though it might have had a greater impact given my self-control."

Standing up abruptly Rias began to pace, looking irritated and angry and actually hurt. _This makes too much sense for me to ignore. Devils have always been able to talk or convince people to sign contracts with us despite their knowing we're devils and all the stories about us. An aura that makes people more liable to fall to their baser desires and also to trust us at our word or something similar makes too much sense._

"How bad is it?" she asked, stopping to one side of the desk and looking somewhat vulnerable. "I mean, you can't tell me how it is affecting the rest of the school's population certainly. But… but how bad is it for you?"

 _How much of our friendship is based on this aura_ _a_ _ffecting you? How much of it isn't real?_ Rias thought as she looked at Harry anxiously. Nor was she feeling that emotion for only herself. If Harry didn't really feel friendship towards her or the others the rest of her peerage would also be deeply hurt, especially Akeno.

"I think you misunderstand the strength of it. As I said, in my case it caused a few issues occasionally, but I was able to fight the effect thanks to a mental discipline I know." Harry said, moving forward and taking her hands before Rias could move back. He squeezed them gently then returned to his previous position leaning against the back of the sofa. "I've reacted a more physically to your flirting than I would have for certain as you're a student. But my friendship with you and the others is real Rias, don't doubt that. The aura only influenced me in a very unsubtle manner occasionally when it got through my mental defenses."

Rias breathed a sigh of relief at that, and moved forward, leaning against the front of her desk. The sudden revelation had shaken her, and it shocked Rias anew how much Harry's opinions and friendship had come to mean to her. _I've only known him for two months but in many ways despite both of us not really knowing what the other is, he's become almost as close to me as Akeno is._

"Thank you for that, Harry. It, it means a lot to me that this aura you say I have isn't responsible for our, um, our friendship. But how did you discover this aura and how do you know I don't have any control over it?"

Smiling as Rias used his first name for the first time, Harry shrugged. "I recently learned a method to allow me to use magic in order to see auras as well as defend my soul from what the book called corruption. It wasn't easy," he said in typical British understatement. "But I managed to put a defense in place that can stave off the effect of your auras. As for how I know you weren't in control of it, I used that method today for the first time in your PE class, and none of the four of you, Shitori-san, Himejima-san, Shinri-san, or you showed any reaction to the fact your auras were no longer getting through to me."

"That makes me want to know even more about you, you know," Rias said with a giggle, shaking her head and setting her now dry hair to shaking. She had heard that some very high level devils could see auras, but this sounded very different to the effect she had heard about before.

"I know," Harry said, smiling beatifically. "But now it is time to pay the penalty for my sharing this information."

"Ooh if I was Akeno I would so jump on that line," Rias said still feeling relieved and now in a playful mood. "Still, since I'm not, ask away."

"And I am most glad you are not like Akeno, though that does bring me to my question." Harry paused for a second gathering his thoughts. "I have gotten close enough to Akeno and the others to know that their childhoods were not the most pleasant. Indeed, I think that in many ways they were horrible. But you, somehow you gave each of them a new lease on life. Now they serve you in some fashion, though I haven't quite figured out how you turned them into whatever you are. But my question is, why did you do it? Did you do it because you knew they would be useful to you, or just on a whim?"

"I saved Akeno and the others because they needed to be saved." Rias replied simply and instantly, not even having to think of the answer. Nor was there any great prevarication as she went on, though she didn't go into any detail either. "Each of them was in danger, and they needed help. Akeno needed to both run from her old family and gain a new one. Koneko needed to leave her past as a nekomata behind. And Kiba, Kiba would have died if not for me stumbling on him at that moment. I saved them because it was the right thing to do and I could never have done otherwise. Could you?"

Harry's face softened noticeably, and his eyes warmed so noticeably that Rias flushed as those emerald eyes regarded her. "No I couldn't. So is it safe to say you have a people saving thing?"

Rias blinked then laughed at the wording. "I suppose it is, yes. Though the way you say it makes me wonder where you came up with the phrase. It sounds a little practiced perhaps?"

"Hah. Well, you're not the only one who has a saving people thing. I suppose my role in the war, I know you know I was a kind of solider at one point, was based upon my inability to simply look after myself, and my desire to help others. That's at the basis of my desire to teach to," Harry replied, his voice still an alloy of warmth and admiration.

Admiration, Rias realized, for her actions. Actions which far too many people thought had been calculated and self-serving, but which Harry knew, and further believed were anything but. She smiled at that once again then sat down on her desk crossing her legs as she looked up at Harry. "And is that all you wanted to know?"

"For now. Though perhaps in the near future I might want to know more." Harry said, his eyes and expression now becoming more intense without losing any of its warmth.

For some reason that made Rias's heart thump in her chest, so loud she thought Harry must be able to hear it and she licked her lips. "Oh, and what would that be?"

"Everything," Harry said simply, leaning forward. Despite no longer being influenced by her aura, despite the fact that she was still his student, Harry found himself drawn to Rias Gremory. _It isn't just her body, and it isn't just her red hair, but that mind of hers that is just so amazing._ "That's up to you though, and I certainly wouldn't ask for that without replying in like kind."

With that Harry stopped moving. Rias hadn't backed away or moved an inch after Harry had started to move forward. Now she sat on her desk, with her legs spread slightly to either side of Harry's own, not touching but certainly close. His arms now braced his body on either side of her, and his forehead was touching Rias's.

In turn Rias reached up with both her own hands, resting them lightly on Harry's chest. She could feel the muscles under his suit, which he still wore from teaching, the hardened pecs and ribbed six pack of his stomach was not noticeable when he was teaching but was very noticeable to the touch. He was no musclebound oaf but neither was he as built for speed as Kiba was. His slightly heavier, stronger frame was a thrill to Rias.

They remained there, not speaking for a time, simply staring into one another's eyes; As Rias moved her hands up and down his chest, while his thumbs gently rubbed her sides where her uniform's skirt met her blouse. There was a tension in the air, partly lust, partly growing affection, partly something else that neither could name.

Rias realized with something like shock that Harry was waiting for her to make the first move. That whatever happened next was entirely in her hands. And this revelation made Rias feel more attracted to Harry even then she had been previously. This was no mean feat, since Harry was the first man that she had ever been attracted to before this.

It wasn't as if she thought romance was unimportant, it was simply that she had no need to search it out. Rias knew that she was attractive, indeed ever since puberty and even before she'd had to beat off boys with a stick. Their crude affections or their crude lusts rather had at first fed her ego until she learned that they didn't really see Rias the person, just Rias the object. Just like Riser saw her and just like Rias feared her father saw her: as something to be used or in her father's case bartered off to benefit pureblood devil-kind.

Harry had never seen her like that. He had always since that first day seen her as Rias, whatever he called her. He had also shown that he respected her mind, her personality, not just her body or strength or status, like he had just done a few minutes ago.

And now Harry had made it clear through word and gesture that she was entirely in control of whatever happened between them from this point on. Rias could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she was fully in control of something, and three of those times had to do with using her peerage pieces.

Part of her wanted to bring their game; both games really to an end right now, just blurt out what she was and get Harry to do the same before leaning up and claiming his lips with her own. Part of her wanted to lean back, pull him onto her and just surrender in a way that astonished Rias, who had always fought so she could hold her fate in her hands.

But the larger part of Rias knew it was too soon to take that step. T _wo months is enough to develop a real affection for someone, but not enough to fall in love. Though it is long enough to maybe start doing it. But no relationship can be built on half-truths and guesswork._ "I… I think that we need to talk about the, the 'everything' you mention before anything else happens. You might change your mind after we do."

Despite saying that Rias made no move to lean away though the tension between them did fade into the background. But something in Harry's eyes told Rias he agreed with her decision, and there was a rueful twinkle in his eyes as Harry moved away to his former position, leaving Ria suddenly colder than she had been.

"Agreed. I don't have time this weekend, but I am free next weekend. Would that be acceptable? We could have a dinner somewhere in Tokyo proper, and have a proper… talk."

Rias had to shake her head at that, knowing that this wouldn't just be a talk, but a date. _But going to a restaurant so far removed from Kuoh should keep rumors of it getting back to the school. Whatever happens my darn image and his should be safe_. "Unfortunately I have a prior engagement next weekend which I can't get out of. How about we make an arrangement for the Saturday after that?"

"Ah, that's the weekend I've scheduled Lily and I to head to Kyoto I'm afraid. How about the weekend after that?"

Though disappointed somewhat, Rias nodded at that and held out her hand. "In that case I'll see you then."

Laughing quietly Harry took her hand, turning it palm upwards to kiss her palm lightly, sending a shudder through Rias. "Agreed." Then he stood up, chuckling. "But for now, I have a little girl I need to get to the ball on time as it were. "I'll see you Monday Rias."

"See you… Harry." Rias replied, smiling at him until the door closed behind him then she fell backwards onto her desk, laughing in sheer exuberant delight.

 **OOOOOOO**

That very night Kalawarner met up with Harry. She was determined to bring their relationship to the next level, Harry was determined to see what he could see of her aura, and what would happen when she learned he could block her corrupting effect from impacting his mind.

Their date went as it normally did, Smalltalk, over dinner with a side order of heavy flirting. However, as Kalawarner was working one of her feet up and down Harry's leg, Harry was using his new technique to see auras on her.

What he saw there was like, yet different than what he saw in Rias or the other's auras. For one thing, while their auras had, with the exception of Akeno's, a solid core of black, indicating they had been born corrupted, Kalawarner had a small, tiny core of what might once have been white. But layered on top of that was a pitch black, shooting through her core from the outer layer in. It was far more diffuse too, the black web through her aura affecting the rest of the colors he saw and painting what he thought of as her core color gray. There were also other colors there, some affection, anger, hate, and a **lot** of lust. Indeed, the purple of lust was the second most prevalent color in Kalawarner's aura.

 _Holy hell, what is she? Some of it almost looks like what I sort of sense_ _d_ _in Akeno, but not quite, and look at all of the anger, corruption and lust. What the hell is up with that?_ Keeping his thoughts off his face with difficulty Harry began to respond in kind to Kalawarner's ministrations, his own leg slowly lifting her skirt as the waiter left them to prepare the check. But even as he did so, Harry watched Kalawarner's aura, seeing it pulse slightly as he did. _Let_ _'_ _s hear it for multi-tasking. Any second now I think…_

As Harry thought that, Kalawarner leaned over the table to take Harry's hands with one of her own, staring into his eyes as she used her tongue to almost fellate the straw to her fruity cocktail. "I think I've waited long enough Harry," she said her eyes glinting as her aura reached out to envelop Harry. "There's a motel nearby, and you don't have to be home until tomorrow morning. I'm not taking no for an answer this time…"

Harry frowned, slowly shaking his head as he readied his new not-quite mental defenses. _Going to have to come up with a name for them, I think. Soul defenses just sound_ _s_ _strange._

Twisting his fingers with Kalawarner's Harry replied seriously. "I've learned not to rush into relationships. My ex-wife and I rushed to the altar far too quickly and we later realized that as people we just weren't very compatible. If you're thinking of this just being a start of a long term physical relationship, I am going to keep putting the brakes on us going that far. Sorry Kalawarner, but I'm just not able to divest sex from emotions. You want to go that far we need to start being more than just acquaintances who hook up whenever we can."

"Are you sure?" Kalawarner asked. Her foot had made its way into Harry's crotch now, and her toes had begun to work at his rising manhood.

Gritting his teeth Harry shuddered, but was able to fight her touch off and concentrate on the conversation and preparing himself. "I'm, I'm sure. I like you Kala, but I don't want just a physical relationship, not anymore."

Kalawarner should have backed off. She should have realized what Harry was really proposing: that they become a couple rather than just would-be fuck buddies. But she couldn't. Her sin was in the driver's seat, and Kalawarner couldn't have stopped herself even if she had tried, not with Harry right in front of her, so fuckable, so enticing and powerful and denying her like that **again**. Instead Kalawarner did the very last thing she should have done short of physically attacking him.

A second later Harry felt the impact like a hammer blow against his defenses as Kalawarner's aura of corruption seemed to congeal then lash out, attacking his soul's defenses from all sides. It battered at him, but thanks to his new defenses and the fact he had extended his Occlumency to protecting his soul, the attack failed. Then Harry pushed out, using the 'rubber' of his mental wall to bounce Kalawarner's aura away from him.

Kalawarner felt that and blinked, quickly releasing his hand, her other hand dropping to the table with a thump as she stared at him. The shock of what had just occurred had blown out her lust and her anger at being denied like a candle, leaving her both lucid, and very, very afraid. "W, what, Harry, what did you…"

"I think we should probably call it in night before one of us does something we would both regret." Harry said coldly. _Damn it, I knew it. I knew she'd try that. Pity, I did like her. But at least this way I won't feel like a two-timer if Rias and I agreed to try going out despite the teacher student thing. Still not certain if I_ _'_ _m willing to ignore that, but it_ _'_ _s looking better and better, and besides, while we_ _'_ _d have to be_ _discreet, she's_ _of age and it_ _'_ _s not entirely unknown in this country…_

"Harry… I…" Kalawarner began, only to stop as Harry's emerald eyes caught hers and she fell silent, knowing she had just screwed up big time, and not really understanding how it had happened.

The two of them remained silent until the waiter returned with the check. They both stood up, the atmosphere between them almost frigid now; whereas when they entered it had been practically boiling. Some of the other couples in the restaurant noticed this, and murmurs began as they walked out, but both participants in this little drama ignored the background noise.

Outside, Harry turned to Kalawarner. "I don't know what you are, and I don't particularly care. I knew you weren't human the first time we met, you and that little blonde girl and I don't care.. But I will not be manipulated. If you had been doing that without even noticing that would've been one thing but you did know. And that changes things."

"So, so we're done then?" Kalawarner said, chagrin, guilt and something like regret rising in her as well as anger. No man could talk to her like this! "Just like that?"

Seeing more through her aura than Kalawarner would probably have been happy about, Harry sighed. "I don't know. I like you Kala, but like I said, I won't be manipulated. Not by you or anyone else. And you just tried to do that very thing. Maybe in a few weeks I'll have calmed down enough to listen to an apology. But until then, yes, we're done."

Harry leaned in, kissing Kalawarner on the check and pulling her into a brief hug before letting her go and stepping back just as quickly. "If not, then I hope you find the courage to let someone in Kala. I think you'd be happier for it."

With that Harry turned and walked away, leaving Kalawarner leaning against the wall and staring down at the street below her, cursing herself for a fool. At the same time she was dealing with feeling regret for her actions for the first time since she had been an angel, Kalawarner was also wondering what she was going to have to tell the others. _Raynare isn't going to like this…_

 **End Chapter**

The bit about Red Moon - that is somewhat made up, though I think I remember a Japanese friend mentioning that it is indeed a phrase that was at one point used - could have been a local thing or just a false memory, but I wanted to use it in order to get rid of the silly nickname I'd come up with for Lily ever since I stopped calling her Lily Luna - which yes, was annoying in hindsight.

I haven't gone full on lemon/lime yet, but the time will be coming soon.

Kalawarner: when I came up with the idea of the devils/angels/fallen having auras which effect those around them, I knew that an experienced individual of any of the sects would be able to manipulate theirs, otherwise it makes little sense. And after the life he's led, Harry's not going to be led or used by anyone without his consent. Hope that aspect, and the fact that his response in person made him even warier after every date, made sense to everyone. This doesn't mean she won't join the harem, she just won't be the first to do so if she does.

The soul: going to be going into more depth here later on, but I think that the impact of the whole Master of Death angel can be seen taking shape already.

Akeno will start to become closer to Harry in the future, once she, like Kalawarner, realizes she needs to let her defenses down to do it. Unlike Kalawarner however, Akeno will be able to right off the bat.

Anyway, hope everyone liked this update, even if it was late. Again apologies for that, and look for the polls to be uploaded tomorrow both here and on Pat R on.


	4. Chapter 4

Can't draw and I ain't named Rowling.

Alright, it's the end of the month, and it is time to update the winner of my small story poll, and my Pat R on only SW poll. Horse for the Force will be up late tonight - have it back from the beta reader, just need to go over it.

And needless to say, this story won big the small story poll. For those interested, _Semblance of Hope_ came in third at 822. Even if I added in my own votes of 200 since it hasn't been updated in a while it still wouldn't have won, though it would have taken second. But since I had to spend so much time getting _GDWHOM_ up, there isn't a second small story this month.

 _Anything Goes Game Changer_ brought in a total of 934.

Yet for once the patrons and casual readers spoke with one voice. _FILFy Teacher_ brought in a total 1,232 votes with 447 votes here on fanfic, dwarfing the other choices.

The next poll will be up soon, check my profile for it.

 **On an unrelated yet important note** : I will be trying to get ATP updated in May. Mordreek has contacted me a few times, and I think we can do it. If not, I will still post large snippets, and maybe the SW/HP omakes I have over on Pat R on here to make up for it.

In other news, one thing I've been amused by is that no one has mentioned my using the name football for soccer before this. Guess that's a good sign, if an amusing one.

I would like to thank Nad Destroyer for giving this a light read over for me. He helped get some of the more serious discussions that occur within right. Now on with the show!

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Emotional Chaos, CHAOS Having a Bad Day**

Despite reallynot wanting to and not really seeing where she was going so busy with her thoughts, Kalawarner was able to get back to the church where she and the others had made their hiding place. Fallen always chose places like this if given the choice: consecrated areas that had been abandoned for one reason or another. It was a way to rub their very existence in the face of their former fellows.

Entering she didn't even look around heading towards the back where there rooms were on wobbly legs. That was pretty much the way she had been walking ever since Harry had left, , her mind and, to Kalawarner's shock, her emotions all over the place.

On the one hand, she was utterly infuriated. How could a man any man talk to her, Kalawarner, the Fallen seductress with a one hundred percent success rate like that? She was also confused. How had Harry developed the ability to block out her influence in the first place? She would have understood if he'd had such an ability right off the bat. She would have spotted it, and known not to use her spiritual influence. But for someone to develop that resistance between one meeting and another, without any sign of being turned into a Devil, that was beyond strange.

On top of her anger and confusion on how it had occurred at all, Kalawarner was also feeling guilty and saddened how it had turned out. She was redoing the conversation before her attempt to influence Harry through her head, and was coming up with a simple, inescapable, conclusion. _I had him, I had him! He was asking, offering to be more than fuckbuddies, he wanted to actually date me! And what did I do? Screw it up!_

Coupled with this were memories of the dates they had been on. Astonishing to Kalawarner was that the memories of dancing, talking and simply walking around with Harry were just as prominent in her thoughts as the times they had made out. The heat of those moments warmed her against the cold of a further realization: That Harry had been attempting to do that all along, to be something more than fuckbuddies. She hadn't realized it at the time, or even envisioned there could be something more.

And the fact that, after all Kalawarner's effort, after all the interest he had paid to her, she had been shut down? That **hurt.** _I guess the old saw is right, you never know what you have until it's gone._

"Well, look what the cat dragged in. And you don't look as if you got laid, rather you get screwed. And not in the fun way," Raynare said from where she had been lounging on a pew as Kalawarner made her way through the vestibule toward the back of the church. "What, Potter turn out to be gay? Or are your seduction techniques not all they're cracked up to be?" The younger-seeming Fallen sneered.

Kalawarner turned in her direction, her confused emotions congealing into fury in an instant. She lashed out, hurling a light spear at her comrade that embedded itself right next to Raynare's head. "I am not in the mood for your shit right now Raynare."

"You want to go bitch?!" Raynare roared, snapping Kalawarner's light spear with one hand while surging to her feet, conjuring up her own light spear from her other hand. "Not all of us get by on our looks you know!"

"Now, now" said Dohnaseek, pushing up his fedora and sitting up from where he had been laying out on one of the pews. He had returned early that evening to discuss a few of the exorcists he been able to gather for their operation. Their skills were extremely high, but one of them in particular was a bit of a head case, and he wanted to ask the others if they thought the man, Freed, would be worth the aggravation of dealing with him. The three of them had voted, and decided to bring Freed in anyway. He was head and shoulders above the rest in terms of skill and that was all that mattered.

"You can't just lash out at a comrade like that Kalawarner," he went on holding up one hand towards her before looking over at Raynare. "And Raynare, you can't just throw barbs at someone else and expect them to take it all the time." Dohnaseek felt rather odd being the peacemaker, but as the only guy of the four of them, it had often fallen (no pun intended) upon him to rein in the ladies' natural bitchiness towards one another, whenever he was around anyway. The fact he wasn't around most of the time was a God send in his opinion.

Mittelt stood up as well coming out from the back of the church to lay a hand on Kalawarner's forearm. That this was as high as she could reach was irritating, but Mittelt wasn't going to bring that up here.

Raynare calmed down somewhat at Dohnaseek's words before waving him off and glaring at Kalawarner. "What happened?" she demanded.

Sighing Kalawarner told them. Mittelt looked astonished that someone would be able to throw off Kalawarner's aura, or as the Fallen called it, her Spirit, like that. She was after all known as one of the best when it came to seduction, and her ability to influence other people like that was one of the reasons why. Conscious control of their Spirit like tht was a skill few Fallen ever bothered to pursue, since it wasn't really a physical power.

Everyone had an aura, even weak humans. Angels, Devils, Youkai, gods, Fallen, they all had a spiritual presence. The Fallen's Spirits had started out pure like the angel's, but when they fell became corrupted, tainted by the sin of their fall, much like their minds and personalities. It took a strong intellect to know that was happening and fight the effect, though most Fallen didn't bother using their Spirit consciously.

Devils on the other hand had a more generic aura, though Mittelt didn't know anything more than that. Whether it was similar to a Fallen's or not was beyond her. What she did know was that there were only maybe five other Fallen better than Kalawarner at manipulating people through her Spirit and three of them were men.

"And he didn't have even a hint of that ability before?" She asked intently.

"He had a lot of willpower, and he was able to fight off my seduction sills, but I know I was affecting him before this, making him more susceptible over time," Kalawarner said despondently. "I had not actually purposefully pushed like this before." That Harry had been reacting to her body and her other more physical techniques the entire time rather than just losing control thanks to his aura was a bitter consolation to Kalawarner at this point.

"And you just let him go!?" Raynare asked, astonished. "You should have ended him right there! Wasn't it you who said you could do that, stab him when he was least expecting it!?"

"No, I said I might be able to hit him! We know he's a werewolf. Holy weapons might hurt him, but I'd have to get in a killing blow to actually put Harry down. And he was on his guard at that moment."

"We might have to invest in some silver weapons," Dohnaseek said shaking his head. "Unlike the rest of you, I've actually talked to people who fought werewolves rather than rely on hearsay. Yes, light weapons can hurt them, but they're not like devils, with a weakness to light weapons. It would hurt just like a spear, but unless you take out their brain or heart a werewolf can heal from practically anything."

"Fine, we'll invest in silver weapons. But we need to neutralize him. I watched Potter around the school, and I know that if we attack one of the two students with Sacred Gears, if he is in the area he'll come for us along with the Devils. If he can somehow see through our illusions techniques or god forbid the barrier dimensions,and mages are supposed to be able to, we'll have three different enemies to deal with.

"One of those would be a single enemy, but I take your point," Dohnaseek said with a nod. "I'll look into the silver weapons when I leave to continue to gather exorcists."

"Attacking on a Sunday is probably the best bet then," Kalawarner said, her voice still more of a drone than normal showing her continued shock at what had happened. "It's the day he always spends with his daughter so he'll be busy with her and unwilling to leave Lily to respond to a crisis someplace else."

With dull eyes she glared around at her fellows. "Now if you'll excuse me, I want to put my head down for a bit."

"What?" Raynare said unable to let it go at that, a sneer on her otherwise perfect face once more. It was quite at home there. "The great seducer has been seduced in turn?"

Kalawarner slowly turned from where she had been walking to glare at Raynare, her voice like a scalpel now. "At least I know I'm able to get my rocks off without bathing in blood. When was the last time you had sex except at spear point? Not everyone gets off on causing pain Raynare."

With that she turned, ignoring Raynare's ongoing glare or the other two chuckling as they felt that Kalawarner had scored a point. Moments later, she lay down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling as a little voice inside of her head continually told her she had fucked up. _You fucked up, you wouldn't open up. He was offering, offering to be more and you turned it down. You always turn it down!_

"What else is there?" Raynare responded. "Men only want one thing. They only want the body, they never want the mind, they never want to soul! Never, not once since I have Fallen has any man ever not just taken without giving anything in return."

 _Is that it,_ the voice asked softly _is that really what you think? Or do you just offer it up to quickly for them to see if there's anything else there?_

Groaning, Kalawarner turned on her side and reached for the dresser to one side of her bed, opening it up and pulling out a large bottle of gin. "Shut up shut up shut up I don't need to listen to you! It's Potters fault not mine! He shouldn't have turned me down like that. He should just be responding to my demands."

 _Like a toy instead of a man you mean?_ The now snide internal voice said, before Kalawarner ripped off the bottle's top and began to pour the gin down her throat. The fact the bottle had been a gift Potter had bought her on one of their outings made the burn of it worse.

Kalawarner never noticed Mittelt watching her from the doorway to her room or the frown on the youngest Fallen's face. She and Kalawarner fought like cats and dogs at times, but that didn't mean they weren't friendly, and they were at least a darn site friendlier towards one another than either were towards Raynare or Dohnaseek. The male Fallen was more of an unknown, either of them having worked with them before, but both didn't like Raynare in the slightest.

Of course, her thoughts weren't just for her friend's tenuous grasp on sanity, but her own situation. _Shit, if Kalawarner retreats into herself like this, it'll only be my voice against Raynare and Dohnaseek's when they come up with their mad schemes! Not good, not good at all!_

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time that Kalawarner had gone home, Harry had a decided he wanted to have at least a few incredibly strong drinks to remove the taste of this evening from his mouth. He was unhappy that Kalawarner had proven to be attempting to manipulate him, yet at the same time also unhappy that nothing had happened between them, a confusing feeling. While he hadn't forged as much of a purely emotional connection with Kalawarner as he had towards Rias or even Akeno, she had interested in him a lot, and there had been sparks there.

 _Or am I just deluding myself?_ he thought morbidly as he walked into a bar on the outskirts of Kuoh. _Was it simple physical attraction, was I just seeing too much there?_ Walking in, he knew noticed the bar was rather crowded, the low drone of music playing in the background. It certainly wasn't the quiet drinking establishment he had hoped for from the exterior. Still, he wasn't willing to put in the effort to find someplace else.

With that in mind he made his way towards the bar only to pause for a second as he noticed a gorgeous looking woman sitting at the far was a busty woman around Rias's size if Harry had to guess with long, wavy purple hair that fell down her back, equally purple eyes visible in the mirror set behind the bar despite some of her hair falling forward over her right eye and chest. She wore a blue top with gold accents and a plunging neckline, matching a long paler sort of blue skirt with open sides, letting her thigh-high stockings and garter-belts visible to those around her.

Harry had seen her in passing a few times before when he was out with Kalawarner. She was always with a young man around Harry's age possibly or a little older who looks like a stereotypical gangster more than anything else. Now however she was sitting alone, staring unseeing at a martini glass set on the bar in front of her.

There was something about the woman, something that niggled at Harry's senses like when he was around Rias, Kalawarner or the others like them. On a whim he called up his aura reading ability, and stared. The woman did have a strong aura, stronger than any of the others except for Sona and Rias. But it was also guttering, under control but guttering with different emotions. Most of those he had seen before, thought the swirl was really confusing. Mostly he saw the color of regret and some dark, sickly looking purple color he had no words for.

The most interesting thing however was that her aura wasn't affecting anyone around her. It wasn't even visibly spreading beyond her body like it did with the others.

 _Interesting,_ he thought. _So is that and Kala's earlier attempt a sign that they can learn how to control it or is it a personal skill, like having the ability to become an animagus?_ As a werewolf of course Harry couldn't be an animagus but Ron had spent about two hours ranting about how he had been hoping to become one, but the test McGonagall had given them in their Sixth year proved that he couldn't. It wasn't just a skill you could learn, you had to have an inherent trait in order to do it.

Setting that aside Harry moved over, ordered a drink from the bartender and then leaned over the woman slightly, clinking his glass against hers. "Here's to the brokenhearted," he said, sliding into the empty seat next to her.

The woman looked up, her full lips quirking into a sardonic smirk that held little actual humor as she folded one hand under her chin, a finger snaking up to tap her cheek in thought. "Mah, that's rather presumptuous of you. Can't a woman have a drink in peace without it having to do with her love life?"

Yubelluna of course recognized Harry as the source of the interesting energy she had investigated a little over a month ago. She had also seen him around the city since too when Riser came here to take advantage of various human women or just for some exhibitionist play. Sometimes he'd had her assume the character of Rias a few times, complete with dying her hair which had just about been the most humiliating thing he'd come up with in long while.

"Tell me I'm wrong then," Harry said in reply, pulling his drink away from hers and sipping at it while looking at her all the while.

"Are you brokenhearted or do you just hate the fact that you're back to the land of blue balls?" she asked coolly, not acknowledging the hit.

"That was rather crude for a lady," Harry said pulling his drink away from his lips to frown at her a little.

At the word 'lady' Harry saw a flash of loathing and self-hate cross the woman's face as well as anger before she turned back to her own martini. She gulped it down in one large sip, then set it down with a click audible even over the background noise to Harry thanks to his werewolf senses. "I'm no lady."

"All women can be ladies, it's just if they choose to be or not. And **I** think you're a lady whatever you say." Harry replied, bowing from the waist and ignoring the crowd around them. In turn most of those people were too busy with their own affairs to notice this little conversation.

Yubelluna stared at Harry for a moment, then slowly nodded, seeing the sincerity there in those striking emerald eyes. "Thank you for that." Turning away she gestured to the bartender to refill her glass before changing the subject to the man's own woes rather than hers. "So what happened with you and your woman?"

"She was never mine. Kala was always her own, and I'm afraid that was part of the problem. She didn't want to commit, and I wouldn't give her what she wanted without commitment." Harry said with a self-deprecating smile.

"Reeaally?" Yubelluna drawled, her lips shifting into an actual smile for a moment as she detected both truth and lies in that statement. "That might make you very well unique among all mankind."

"No. There are a lot of bloody wankers out there I'll admit, but there are a lot of good men too if you look. And good women…" Harry said, before taking a sip from his drink. It was a Dubonnet Cocktail, which Bill had introduced him to in London at one point.

Yubelluna barely hid a shudder, a thrill going through her from her ears down to her nether regions as Harry's British accent made itself known. Something about that had just pushed a button she didn't know she had. _Must be all those Roger Moore Bond flicks I've watched over the decades_. Then she shook her head, her smile turning sad. "You would think so wouldn't you?"

"If he hurts you, why don't you just leave him? Is he threatening you?" Harry asked, his saving people thing coming to the fore and making him far blunter about such topics than was really advisable most of the time. "Do you need help?"

"Ha, no, it's nothing like that. He never hurts me physically," Yubelluna said. That was actually true, S&M wasn't one of the kinks Riser had Kalawarner play out. He used his Rooks, Isabela and Xuelan, for that kind of play. They sometimes seemed to enjoy it, which was…good… Yubelluna supposed. "It's just that sometimes words and other kinds of actions, or demands, hurt just as much or more than fists."

"And you don't want to leave him anyway?"

"Let us just say there are familial obligations," Yubelluna said, shaking her head with a slightly larger smile at the concern she heard in this near stranger's voice, that and the British accent getting under her skin a little. He seemed a genuinely nice man, and she wondered if he understood how rare it was for people with power like he had or like Riser did or any of the devils, to be that nice without some ulterior motive.

"There was a time when he was different," she said aloud, taking a sip from her drink which the bartender had refilled. She stared into its depths as she held it in front of her face, the light passing through it and giving her face a sort of greenish tint. "There was a time when he was very different, a decent man. Not a great one, he always had an ego, but at least it was offset by other things."

"Ego can be the downfall of the best of us," Harry replied with a sigh.

"Oh yes, oh yes it can. He could've been great," Yubelluna muttered, in terms of self-loathing. "He could have been great if someone had stopped him before his ego had gotten too big. Now, now it's too damn late."

Her phone went off at that point, and she reached into her purse, pulling it out and looking at it for a moment before standing up. "I have to go." She slid some cash underneath her drink, and nodded at Harry. "I'd say thank you for the talk but…"

Harry shrugged. "I tried to help, and really listening's all I could do given the fact that you didn't tell me anything about your situation. But can at least have your name?"

"Yubelluna," she said then asked the next question before she could stop herself. "And yours?"

"Harry, Harry Potter," Harry said, taking her hand and shaking it, making no attempt to kiss or bow over it. This certainly wasn't the time for that kind of thing.

Nevertheless Yubelluna smiled at the courtesy, as well as Harry's earlier comment about her still being a lady. "Well Harry Potter, if I ever do decide to leave my… familial obligations… behind, I might try to look you up." She was nowhere near the point where she would run away from Riser. Even the way he treated her and the others was better than being on the run with no financial aid and with people hunting you. Riser certainly would never let her go. But the idea was there in her mind nevertheless.

Harry nodded, and said that would be fine by him before watching the older woman move towards the door to the bar, shaking his head. _There was a lot of undercurrent in that conversation that I didn't quite follow, but I hoped she at least found had found some solace in knowing there was someone out there who commiserated with her._

For his part, Harry head downed his drink without even noticing, and decided that that was it for the night. _Drinking won't solve my problems or even make me feel better, it'll just make me more maudlin. And if I'm going to do that, I'd rather do it without a bunch of strangers around._

He set the drink down and after paying walked out the door heading home, alone as always. As he walked, he continued to think about the auras he could no detect around these people. They certainly weren't totally human, he could tell that now, but what they were, he didn't know yet. _I know I've never run into anything like them, but that leaves a lot of territory to cover. But they certainly aren't Onmyouji either. Hmm… need to think about that further._

In particular, Harry thought about Rias and Akeno. Yes, Shitori and Shinra also had powerful auras, but Harry theorized there needed to be a chink in the armor of the individual in question for the aura to truly influence him or her. And it was a simple fact that Sona and her friend's bodies were not his type. Both of them looked like Ginny: smaller breasts and a more explosive looking, athletic frame. They were also short, which Harry decided he didn't like.

Not that Rias and Aquino weren't athletic, but they didn't look that part as much is so the Student Council twosome did. _That, and Sona's entire attitude reminds me too much of Hermione at her worst. Obsessive-compulsive rule regulating,_ he thought was at a flash of amusement. _I suppose as a teacher I should like that, but I think you can really take it too far._

Of his thoughts/feelings about the two so-called great ladies, Akeno was the easiest. He had not forged the same depth of connection with her that he had with Rias. Akeno was still primarily a student rather than a friend, admittedly one with a very unusual and physical sort of humor. He delighted in that humor at times and she had both a wicked tongue on her and an interestingly slanted way of looking at the world when she let her Yamato Nadeshiko mask fall. She was also mature in a way beyond her peers, just like Rias and seemed to be just as good with Lily at times. So, there was room there for that to change, but it hadn't yet.

And it wouldn't until they opened up to one another further. Harry surprisingly felt he was ready to do that, but Akeno's self-defense was much like Kalawarner's: flirt or tease until the other person lost interest in pressing for more.

Rias was principally a friend now, a delightful woman in his eyes. She was not just a student or mystery, but someone who he could see himself flirting with or even dating eventually. With the mystery of her aura and his self-control now solid, that actually became more obvious, not less.

 _But the question is, am I really happy with the idea of Rias and I becoming more than we are already? I know that given her age it's legal but given my position, it is still a major abuse of power isn't it? But then again, who really has the power here? If she was a normal girl, yes it would be reprehensible, but she isn't. Rias's aura is the strongest of the four, not by a significant margin next to Shitori's but it's there. And Like Akeno she is very mature for her age in a lot of ways, not just physically. Oh, she is also childish, but those parts of her are just as attractive as the rest. Her obsession with anime and how she has to hide it at school is just darn cute._

Shaking that thought aside, he decided to put that topic to the side for now. _After all, I might be seeing too much into it. Rias might not think of me like that, or she might be interested in me simply because of the mystery of figuring out what I am, or just physical attraction. Which admittedly after our last talk is more likely. Still best to remember young Harry, you made rushed into things with Ginny. And look how that ended up? I can't do that again, not when I have Lily to look out for._

With that thought, his resolve to take it slow with whatever was going on between him and Rias solidified. _Maybe if we still feel this attraction between us when she is going on to college I can act on it then both in good conscience and with the knowledge that I'll know her a lot better than I did Ginny before we married. That's a good idea. Let's go with that._

Another part of Harry's mind responded to that however with, _Oh really, you're going to go that long without some companionship? HAH. Even if you set that aside it might be a great plan, but you know but plans and when they meet the enemy. Rias might not be the enemy here, but she certainly has a vote on what happens…_

Harry forcefully ignored that voice, which sounded far too much like an unholy mix of Hermione and Sirius for his sense of sanity. Instead he concentrated on something else he was interested in as he entered his home.

As the flare of the wards welcomed him in, Harry thought _, I want to see if those auras are why so many of the students act out so oddly at times. It could be that the Three perverts are just incredibly weak willed and the auras convince them to act upon their base desires in a way they wouldn't otherwise. That could even be why the students have formed such cliques around 'the two Great Ladies, and around of Sona and her vice president come to think of it. There's even Kiba's large band of fangirls…_

Entering his kitchen, Harry flopped down on a chair with a mug of beer in his hands, continuing on this train of thought rather than letting his mind shift back to beguiling redheads, flirtatious Yamato Nadeshikos or frustrating blue haired women for at least a few minutes. _Yes, that makes far too much sense for me to ignore. I'll have to ask them about that on Monday if Rias hasn't thought of it already._

 **OOOOOOO**

Actually at that moment, Rias was indeed thinking about her aura and Harry Potter as well as her Queen, though not entirely in the same manner as Harry had been.

That night Rias wasn't sharing a bed with Akeno or Koneko having wanted to make a late night of it. At the time Harry arrived home Rias was sitting at her desk, typing up some notes on her keyboard with one hand as she pushed the glasses she wore while doing paperwork up her nose with the other.

Hours after the fact Rias was still rather shocked and dismayed by what Harry's revelation could mean. He had alleviated her concerns about his relationship with her and her peerage, but if he was being effected by it, didn't it stand to reason that others were as well? _We need to figure out if that's why the Perverted Trio acts out so much, even the fangirls and the other students. It would explain so much! But I wonder…_

 _No,_ she shook her head as a thought came to her. _No, I_ _ **know**_ _my parents knew about these things. And I bet they wanted us to discover it for ourselves. That's exactly the kind of thing they'd do. Even Onii-sama would do that._ She laughed then, speaking aloud. "But if we can learn to control it then at least Sona will be happier than she has been these past few weeks."

Just because the Perverted Trio hadn't been caught red-handed by the teachers or any of the students didn't mean they weren't still causing issues. They were just a lot more subtle about it, which actually made it a little worse. Rias had heard about some stains in the girl's locker room that shouldn't be there, as well as rumors of perverted giggling sometimes being audible in the art room or music room. And they were still bringing in porn magazines to read occasionally too.

Not that some of the girls were any better. Like Harry, Rias had overheard more than a few girls plotting to see if they could grab some of Kiba's underwear for themselves. Rias had also heard others wondering if she, Akeno or Sona would be willing to become their 'Onee-samas', with a connotation to it straight from some of the semi-Yuri anime comedies Rias had watched occasionally.

 _Still, if all of that is caused by our spiritual presence then controlling that will solve the issue. How to do it will be tough given we have no real starting point. For now I need to set that aside and concentrate on other things._

 _And not Harry Potter!_ As she thought about their recent meeting, Rias felt a flush of desire going through her, and had to stop her hands from moving away from the keyboard towards her own body. _Not just yet thank you very much_.

Rias was used to being around powerful men or even attractive ones. She had gone to numerous political functions, with her parents and while their actions were often reprehensible, nearly every noble devil could be called handsome or beautiful depending on their gender. Harry was handsome, no doubt, though he was like her cousin Sairaorg in that his handsomeness was more a byproduct of genetics and training than maintenance, which was too often the case among the 32 pillars.

So what she felt for Harry wasn't just a physical attraction. No, it was a simple fact that Harry had impacted her life quite a bit, far more than the mystery about him or even their budding friendship. No, it had been the advice Harry had given her a time or two, as well as the discussions they'd had. _Specifically discussions on tactics, which is what I need to be thinking about right now, not his eyes or that smile or… Gah, enough!_

Rias growled to herself, looking at the computer where several notes about how her peerage's cross training was going were listed in a word file. _Concentrate Rias Gremory!_ With that internal shout Rias did so, reading through her latest notes.

First on the list was a negative. While Rias, Akeno, and Kiba were making progress in becoming fist fighters, none of them had shown any aptitude towards the sword from Kiba's perspective. He was still teaching them sword techniques however. Even if you couldn't wield a sword, knowing what to expect could serve an individual in good stead. But Rias had begun to research other weapons to bring in to see if they could be useful even if only in terms of training.

On the other hand, Akeno and Rias's endurance training was going very well, making them about as durable as Koneko was when she called upon her full Rook powers. Their speed was going up too, if far slower.

Kiba's training in toughness wasn't going so well, but astonishingly he had made up for this in Akeno and Rias's magic classes. He and shown a distinct aptitude towards small attack and defense spells using his swords as mediums for casting, whereas before he had only been able to use a few spells, like the teleportation array, and those spells inherent in whatever sword he conjured. Most devils could use some magic, but it was another story using it in combat. The speed with which he could call upon Sword Birth had also gone up.

 _I wonder if that is because of the nature of the Knight piece. Could the piece be inhibiting him somehow from using the magic he has as a Devil in a manner similar to another piece? It would make sense, given how Koneko is having trouble using magic. I need to see if there's a way around that issue if so._ Koneko's speed had gone up too, but that Rias was willing to put down to her being a nekomata, a naturally fast species.

Some of the other notes in the word document were not as encouraging. First were a few that mentioned the need to bring in actual martial arts trainers. Kiba had quite a lot of training when it came to swords thanks to his unfortunate past and one of her Onii-sama's peerage having taught him for several years. And Koneko had been taught by a few of her father's peerages, though in their case they hadn't bothered to teach her true styles, just working on her base abilities.

"And given her small stature, their attempts to teach her in the manner of a normal Rook was wrong from the get-go," Rias acknowledged aloud. She didn't regret making Koneko her Rook of course. Beyond the fact it had given her another family member it had heightened the girl's durability, and Koneko was something of a blunt object in terms of personality, which was the reason then-chibi-Rias had done that. But Koneko needed to have a personal style that took advantage of her mobility and natural flexibility.

What that would be Rias didn't have a clue. What she knew about martial arts style came from her family's peerages and her own anime obsession both of which was not enough. _Perhaps Chinese Wing Chun mixed with Capoeira?_

Typing those names into the doc, Rias also put in a few money signs to make certain she remembered to ask about the price of such training. After reflection she also typed in "Check to see if the family has contracts with anyone who could step in as trainer," before going on to another topic.

For her part, Rias's own training in her Power of Destruction had yielded some interesting results. She could now condense the beam making it even more powerful than before and call up multiple beams at one time. Her latest achievement was actually controlling the beam, bending it slightly this way and that. More control of that nature would come in time she knew.

 _I still need to speed up the incantation time, the time it takes me to pull up and projects my power. But, it's a good start. Still, I need to think of other things 'outside the box' and most importantly think about how to aid the rest of my peerage even as they aid me. I know thanks to the peerage system they take from my power, but is there any to somehow store some of my Power of Destruction so they could use it? Is that even possible?_

Rias thought about her Onii-sama's power, which was lauded as beyond even the original Lucifer, as well as his peerage. He had never hinted at the possibility, but that didn't mean anything given the fact his peerage hardly needed the help. They were known as the Strongest Peerage in existence for a reason after all. _Hmm, I also need to think about how to use the connections between us. The peerage pieces bind them to my power, so it stands to reason if I can control my power I can endow them with more at need._

After making some quick notes on that topic about books to research and types of material that could be used to store such energy, Rias leaned back in her chair, kneading her nose right below her glasses before putting them back on and switching to another document, marked tactical notes.

Here Harry's touch was much more prevalent. Where before it had only been Harry's initial injunction against chess which had propelled her forward, here they had actually had numerous truly fascinating discussions pertaining to strategy and tactics. For strategy Harry used examples from World War 2 and World War 1 of course, the penultimate events in human history since the fall of Babylon. Despite that, Rias had never looked at it closely, but Harry had studied the battles of that war quite a lot. She felt he could've been a history teacher too, but he seemed happy teaching English.

But what were really interesting were the discussions about tactics, which again had tied into Harry's dislike of chess. Harry used anecdotes, small unit tactics from World War 2 as well as what Rias knew was his own history. In return, Rias had told him some about her brother's old fights during their people's civil war, so it had evened out somewhat in terms of information shared. But the discussions had been very informative, making Rias understand the importance of things she had neglected to think of.

First among them was the importance of terrain. Knowing the terrain when your enemy didn't was a game changer. The advantages of height, movement, chokepoints, natural barriers, and knowing where your objectives were and what your enemy was going to try to target. All of that could be a major force multiplier. This was why she and her peerage had been spending an hour each day on a rotation just moving around the city unseen. They had already fully mapped out the school, now they were doing it to the rest of the city. _Not that any of the terrain in a city is actually enough to stop a Devil's movement, but it can be used to hide us from our enemies._

Communication was another aspect that Harry had harped on about. A small unit with a decent communication grid could fight like a much larger one, but you also had to make certain that you are keeping your communications a secret. The fact that the Allies had been reading the Nazi's mail for so long was used as an example of that, though he also used a more personal one, selling it as something a friend had passed on to him.

While in a Rating Game communication devices were provided for both teams, that was both in a Rating Game, not real life. Further Rias was worried about the second aspect: someone able to listen to their communications. While this was supposed to not be allowed, there was no doubt that someone, like Riser-aho, could bribe the referees to let him have access to his opponent's communications. Thus she had begun to think of ways to communicate both through magical and technological means.

Rias made a few more notes under the heading of using the terrain she'd thought of that day walking around school, then another about air power. None of her peerage could fight as well as in the air as they could on foot and that was something she'd need to address. _Either train me or Akeno to do so, Akeno for preference. I'm more of our family's magical artillery, even if I don't want to be so immobile as one of those things._

On that topic Rias made another note, "Equivalent of bombs? One shot? Link possibly to crystals and containing Power of Destruction."

After that, she spent a few moments going through what they had discovered about risers peerage, making specific plans for most of them. Their experience and Rating Games was a concern, but Rias felt that they could be overcome by adaptability, constant movement, and never allowing themselves to be pinned down in one place. _Taking out his queen will be necessary_ , she thought, _A few well-placed bombs from Yubelluna could turn the tide, but is there any way to turn that to our advantage?_

Writing that thought down, as well as a few more notes about teamwork and defending from specific types of magical assault Rias finished for the night, staring at the three pages worth of notes she'd written out on just the idea of condensing her Power of Destruction abilities.

The rest were mere outlines in comparison that would need to be filled out further. But Rias had at least four or five days' worth of experiments to run just from her notes on her Power of Destruction now. _That's good enough for a Saturday evening_ she thought cheerfully powering her computer down and standing up from her desk. Peeling out of her clothing and heading towards her bed, she allowed her thoughts once more to drift to Harry Potter, feeling the flush of desire going through her at the last memory of him again, before once more setting it aside to think about her Queen, Akeno.

 _It's probably not obvious to anyone but me, but I think she truly has begun to have feelings towards Harry though I'm uncertain of the depth of it. And I'm equally uncertain what I think about that since my own feelings about Harry are chaotic at best,_ She thought as she slid under the covers feeling the satin sliding against her naked skin. _I really do care for Harry, maybe even admire him. His friendship has become an important cornerstone of my life over the past month. But there is a large gap between that and love. It could become love so Maou damned_ _ **easily**_ _though,_ she thought, remembering his smile as they talked about how she had saved her peerage member, his admiration for that and his admissions that he too had a 'people saving thing'. So being with him was definitely an attractive prospect, but sharing him? Beyond sharing him with Lily anyway? That, she had mixed feelings about.

Among Devils, harems were considered an everyday fact of life. It had been brought about by the sheer number of Devils which had died in the war against God and the Fallen, most of whom had been male since there were female Devils to begin with. After that, it had been seen as a way to bring their numbers back up to an acceptable level while also making certain that the Devils with the strongest inherent powers, like the Gremory's Power of Destruction, was passed on. Later it had become even more important as concerns about pure-blooded Devils being bred out of existence grew.

Many of the couples Rias knew were in fact harems. Her father's peerage was his harem, while he also had married her mother and loved her. Many of their friends had similar arrangements. Indeed, her Onii-sama was seen as rather unusual, perhaps even perverse, for only having a single wife and no harem. Then again, those who thought that way were very careful not to speak too loudly about it where would could get back to the woman in question. Grayfia was the second strongest woman in Hell after all.

Rias had known all that her entire life. While she personally thought that her Onii-sama and Grayfia seemed a far more stable relationship she had never really seen a problem with her father and mother's arrangements. So long as Rias herself was allowed to marry for love, which was part of the reason why she loathed the arrangement her parents had come up with for her, she could see being part of a harem. So long, that was, as everyone in it loved one another and she was treated as an individual rather than an object.

Rias knew she had loved Akeno for a long time now, and despite her constant teasing and over the top sadism if Rias had to share with anyone, she'd rather share with her best friend than anyone else she could name. And it wasn't as if Harry would ever treat either of them like Riser treated his peerage, nor would he ever take advantage of Koneko. It was very obvious he saw her as, if not a second daughter, then at least someone like his own daughter: very much off-limits. So there was that. The question then became, would Rias herself become jealous of Harry's affections if it came down to it?

 _So easily,_ she thought to herself shivering a little as again her thoughts went back to the discussion they'd had that day. _It could become love so easily, but not yet. Especially with my upcoming so-called marriage to Riser. Gah, I hate him so much!_

Rias didn't just hate Riser because of his attitude or the fact it had taken her chance of love away from her. She had also researched how Riser treated his peerage and it flew in the face of everything she had ever been taught, not just as a Gremory but as a proud woman. Riser liked to dominate his lovers and ordered his peerage around like they were things rather than people. There were even rumors of how he had degraded some of them for the benefit of some of his friends, trading their 'affections' for other things he wanted, or just to show his friends what his friendship was worth.

Shuddering at thought off her she forced her thoughts to move backwards, back to Harry and what might be there if she dealt with Riser as she hoped to. Which was to put him six feet under somehow, but that was probably asking too much.

 _I wonder what kind of lover would Harry be? …He would be solicitous yet also somewhat demanding that his partner be fully into it,_ she thought, letting her mind go there now, her hands slowly going down her body. _He would explore…_ she shuddered, her fingers finding her nipple _and would like to probably be explored at the same time. Most definitely a slow burn sort of person I think… though he could probably also go for quickies if he was of a mind. But the first time, no the first time it will be slow and sensual and…_

 **OOOOOOO**

Harry woke up the next day after sleeping in for once before he had a proper English breakfast along with a sip of anti-hangover medicine and coffee blacker than Riddle's heart as he thought about the previous evening. Needless to say that not only had his drinking continued when he'd gotten home the evening before, Harry hadn't been able to move past last night's events for very long.

 _Dammit Kalawarner, why'd you have to go and do that? Was your pride so important? Or did you really just lead me on all this time?_

Shaking his head Harry downed half the coffee in one go, Harry blanched at the taste, but the impact of the caffeine did its work, knocking his mind out of the rut it had been when he fell asleep. _Still, I can't do anything about it. I'm not about to go back to her and say all is forgiven, that's up to Kala. I will not be manipulated! But that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it in fact, I'm bloody well crushed._

 _And that other woman, Yubelluna,_ Harry thought, pausing as he looked out the windows of his kitchen. _I hope she finds some way of getting out of her relationship. It's obvious she isn't happy with it._

Little did Harry know, but on the other side of town Kalawarner was also despondent about last night's events. But instead of trying to push on with her life as Harry was this morning, she had decided that the best way to silence the little voices in her head was to get as drunk as possible. That was hard for Fallen to do given their beyond human metabolism unless they had access to certain plans that the Grigori planted which they could stir into their drinks. Since she didn't, the only solution was to drink enough to float one of the human's supercarriers and hope that was enough.

Harry left after breakfast to pick up Lily since Sundays were always the day he spent with his daughter. He found her and her friends awake and chattering excitedly to one another as they were picked up one after another from the host family's house. He spent a few minutes talking to the parents, before lifting his daughter up in his arms. "And did you have fun?"

"Yep," Lily said with a chirp in her voice. Then she looked down at herself and her tummy. "But it was more of a sit-down kind of fun than a rush around kind of fun. Can we go on a run? I have a lot of sugar type energy to burn off."

"That sounds like an excellent idea love." Harry replied. He in no way wanted to deal with Lily while she was on a sugar-high for the rest of the day. With that in mind, the two of them spent a few hours just running through the city. After that they had a small lunch out before returning home.

Once there the two of them entered the backyard where, screened from the rest of the world through the numerous wards around the place, Harry stood across from where Lily sat, bowing grandly as if to an audience. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages please put your hands together for the amazing, the all-powerful the extraordinary Harry Potter's magic show!"

Lily laughed and clapped, pulling out her dad's cell phone and powering up the sound of a crowd cheering.

"Thank you thank you," he said grandly. "This show will astonish, this show will amaze, but it will also make certain that you understand one thing above all else: Magic can be dangerous, but it can also be very fun, and it is **always** amazing."

This was something Harry had begun a year before. Ginny and those born into the magical world, indeed many muggle-born, seemed to treat magic as an everyday thing, to lose their wonder of it. Harry didn't want that for his daughter: he wanted her to always retain the joy and wonder in magic that Harry had when he first interacted with the magical world. Some of that had worn off in his case admittedly, but he still retained a lot of the love of magic that had driven him since he had taken control of his life. So every other week Harry would put on a show like this for Lily so that she never took magic for granted.

Harry gestured to either side, not even needing to speak the word at this point as he conjured up two water elementals. Then he began to conjure other things in the air, which swooped and flew around Lily. "Now, can I have someone volunteer from the audience?"

 **OOOOOOO**

While this was going on, Rias had woken up as usual on Sundays and headed down to breakfast with Akeno, Koneko and Kiba. Since it was the weekend, Akeno would be preparing the meal. Despite that, Rias was not looking forward to this conversation one bit.

When told about how their auras had influenced Harry, Akeno was just as shocked and appalled as Rias had feared she would be. It was both a blow to her pride and her sense of morals. But Rias quickly hastened to tell her that it hadn't caused that large of an issue thanks to Harry's self-control. Akeno wasn't certain she believed that, but seemed to calm down from her initial horror. Rias figured she could work with that until Akeno had gathered enough courage to talk to Harry on her own.

Kiba too was rather appalled by the implications in terms of what this meant in terms of the way the girls reacted to him.

"Are we going to pass this on to Sitri-sama?" Koneko asked. Of all of them she was the least surprised about the spiritual presence thing, and the one who cared least. She knew her own presence hadn't been influencing Harry in that manner and she didn't think it was doing anything to Lily either.

"Yes we will. In fact, I sent her an e-mail to meet us at the clubhouse this afternoon. I'd like Sona's help with some experiments." Rias smirked. "And I seriously want to see her face when she realizes that some of the trouble we have with the student body as a whole might be down to our spiritual presence rather than their perversions."

"…I would not put much stock in that at least not when it comes to the Perverted Trio," Kiba said hesitantly. "I have talked to a few students who went to the same middle school as those three. They were all certain that the three of them always acted the way they are doing. Now, they could be feeding off one another's perversions, but that's not the same thing as those perversions being given power by our auras."

"We'll see tomorrow. Whatever the case is with those three, I think we all need to figure out a way to control this." Rias replied.

"I'm certain that's part of why your parents were fine with you moving up here full-time, Rias-sama," Akeno said, her voice somewhat dull as she stared off into the distance. Despite Rias's assurances to the contrary, Akeno was now very worried that the few glimpses of attraction she had seen in Harry came from her spiritual presence impacting his self-control rather than any actual attraction, physical or otherwise. That hurt, that hurt a lot. And Akeno resolved to talk to him about that tomorrow.

"What sort of experiments do you want their help with?" Kiba went on.

"Nothing dangerous don't worry," Rias said, smiling somewhat lopsidedly at 'the Prince'. Akeno came back to herself at that too, sending her wicked little smirk at Kiba. Kiba's attraction towards Tsubaki Shinra was well-known among the rest of his peerage, as was her interest in him. It remained to be seen if either would be willing to make anything from that.

"So what do you to have planned for today?" Rias asked Kiba and Koneko. "Training?"

Both of them nodded. As the more physical fighters, they spent longer training themselves per day than their King or her queen though that wasn't to say that Rias or Akeno took it easy. "Yes, we'll be using the training room for the afternoon. Then we'll start working on our magic for the evening."

Koneko pouted at that. She had shown no aptitude whatsoever for magic, even having issues with a few familiar related spells. Rias wasn't certain if that was because of her nekomata nature, or because the nature of a Rook fought against using magic for anything but heightening the Rook's chosen durability even more than a Knight's nature fought against anything not speed related.

"Don't worry Koneko-chan," Rias said, rubbing her Rook's head and smiling as she always did as the younger girl leaned up into it purring happily. "You'll get there eventually."

"I Know, still irritates," Koneko murmured.

"Well if you do well, I'll take you to that cupcake place that opened up downtown recently. Amazing cupcakes or something like that?" Rias asked, looking around at the others.

"Fantastic cupcakes," Akeno said with a smile while Koneko perked up noticeably. "You don't have to perform a perfect spell, but I'd like to see some effort tonight okay?"

Koneko nodded rapidly at that, and the quartet broke up. Akeno and Rias headed up to shower and change before leaving, while Kiba and Koneko entered the training area.

They were met at the front gate of the school by Sona and Tsubaki. "Your email you had some information to pass on and a proposal?" Sona said without preamble. While she was fine with being at the academy on Sunday she would not be happy I she had been called out like this because Rias was being overdramatic.

"Yes I do, and my prize will be your help with the few magical experiments today if you're free." Rias asked as the quartet fell into step with one another heading towards the occult research clubs building. "I think I might have discovered out a way to power up our peerages even more than with the peerage system in the first place."

Sona pushed her glasses up her nose cocking one eyebrow behind them that her friend. "It sounds interesting. And you want my help to analyze what's going on I presume?" Sona was even better at analyzing and figuring magic than Akeno was. "But while I might learn something of benefit there, you will have to pony up this information before we get to your proposal."

"Potter sensei passed on some upsetting information to me yesterday." Rias began, opening the door to the ORC's clubroom. Akeno immediately made for the teakettle, making all of them some soothing tea.

"Really, he shared something?" Sona asked, nodding thanks to Akeno.

"He shared something about us that he found out," Rias said grimly, before going on to explain what Harry had told her. "If it's true, then if we can figure out a way to control it ourselves to pull those auras back inside us as it were, maybe some of the issues the students will go away."

Sona's eyes gleamed eagerly at that. The Perverted Trio was not the only headaches she had to deal with just the most prominent ones. Anything that could alleviate that was a good idea. "Yes, that information is more than worth the crystals you requested. Tsubaki?"

At a nod from her president Tsubaki quickly peeled off, heading towards the school building and the student Council room. There she came back with several trays worth of different elements after having teleported down to hell and the Sitri estate.

The four of them worked on the project throughout the rest of the day, and did make some headway. It turned out that some magically treated crystals with hint of iron to their construction could contain spells. Once defensive and absorbing spells were placed on them anyway, which was very different from their normal modus operandi. Unlike Wizards, devils could only really branch out so much from their specialties. As a Sitri, Sona's was water magic and warding, while Rias, as a Gremory, specialized in the Power of Destruction and teleportation arrays. Tsubaki was a magnificent magical and emotional sensor, and could use attack magic if needed, while both Tsubaki and Sona had come up with ways to duplicate or fill in paperwork via magic. Akeno was a lightning specialist with a bit of warding and teleportation magic, enough to set up arrays just like Rias.

So whether or not Rias was right in that the Power of Destruction could be contained would take a long time to figure out, the work of weeks at the least. But they had a strong start, and both Sona and Rias knew that they could continue this. Indeed, Sona's power of water might be easier to contain than the Gremory's traditional power.

"Riser won't know what hit him," Sona said thoughtfully, while staring around at the damage they had done to the ward arrays of Rias's magical laboratory.

"I know isn't it a lovely thought?" Rias said, not showing any sign of the rest of her thinking. _Especially if I demand that we make in an actual fight instead of a Rating Game!_

"You're going to make your peerage a far tougher proposition. And your cross-training?" Sona didn't even bother prevaricating with that question, after all if she was cross training some of her peerage It was obvious that Rias, with her smaller yet more specialized group would do the same after Potter sensei's little diatribe against chess.

"Oh yes. Yes indeed I have been doing that too. We won't ever be swords-people like Kiba but we can at least act like martial artists if need be. And Kiba and Koneko's cross-training has had some surprising results."

"But these," Rias gestured towards the vast array of crystals all around them these represent an attempt "Take a distinct strength further. Play to your strengths, but if you can make your weaknesses traps for the unwary," she said aloud.

"That sounded like a quote," Sona asked interestedly.

"Potter sensei said that to me once when we were talking about tactics."

"I might have to join those discussions of yours. And here I thought the two of you simply flirted with one another constantly." Sona said, her smile becoming rather thin.

"Not even one twentieth of the time," Rias said happily.

Sona nodded looking at her friend thoughtfully. "I wonder if Rias realizes that her face lights up when she talks about him. She didn't say anything about that, it wasn't her place to. While the two of them were close friends, they had never really gone into the whole sharing romantic aspirations thing that girls often did.

Moments later Sona and Tsubaki left, leaving the Rias and Akeno to clean up a bit before heading out themselves in silence.

Akeno broached the subject first. The one that had been hovering in the air over them the entire day. "Ano, Rias-sama"

"Rias," Rias interjected, turning to her friend, her face serious. "For this discussion I think it best we leave aside any formalities."

Her lips twitching at that Akeno pressed herself up against Rias's side in a way that would no doubt have made the three perverts die of blood loss. Rias on the other hand simply rolled her eyes, waiting for the real blow to fall as she put an arm round Akeno in turn.

It wasn't long in coming. "Rias I want to talk about Harry Potter. I want him. What do you think about him?" Akeno asked her tone serious and her eyes attempting to bore into Rias's.

Despite a flush at the blunt way Akeno had spoken Rias responded. "I think that I could seriously fall for him, but that I'm not going to rush to it. I also think pushing beyond a certain point will not work either. I, I don't think your method's working Akeno. Rather, it feels the more you try to get his attention physically, the more he sees your attempts at flirtation as either a personality quirk or a game. If you really want a chance at him, I think you're going to have to really open up to him."

Akeno paused, pulling away and still staring at Rias intently. "And, and if I can?" Akeno wasn't certain she could, but she felt it might be worth the price. "If I can, what about you?"

"Then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Rias said. She then laughed. "Besides, as I've already told myself, I'd have to share him already with Lily, so sharing with my best friend isn't going to be that much of a hardship. So long as we don't let jealousy come between us."

"That makes sense I suppose. After all, I'm not certain of my own feelings beyond my wanting to be with Harry-san in a relationship. So putting off on a deiccsion on this makes sense for now." She paused, then went on more slowly. "But your friendship means more to me than my hopes in that direction Rias. I want you to know that."

"I know. And I feel the same. Whatever happens, I want us to remain friends," Rias replied, nodding her head sharply.

"Agreed." With that Akeno continued to pull away, walking side by side with her friend and king now, the serious discussion over with. For now.

 **OOOOOOO**

To the chagrin of student and teacher alike Monday rolled around once more, though there were of course people who were looking forward to it for various reasons. Harry wanted to see what Rias and the others had come up with in terms of their spiritual presence. He was also interested in following up a few of the local tests for the local equivalent of wizards. The next few would allow him to legally install a fully warded area where he could practice a lot of the more destructive spells. He still didn't think that the local's actual attack spells were all that much, but some of the effects of their rituals could be, and their longer incantations were things he really wanted to try out. They wouldn't be worth much in a one on one battle, but if Harry could stand back and bring the pain from a distance, they could be devastating.

There was one irritating bit of work coming from that direction. The date for when the notes about how he had dealt with his werewolf curse he had promised to share was coming up that Wednesday. He'd been working on it off and on whenever he had the time, but that had been very rarely. It had taken second fiddle to his ongoing education and his actual job. That meant Harry would have to rush through it in the next few days.

He didn't see any of the Devils that morning, the student council was in a meeting and he didn't want to interrupt them and Rias and her group hadn't arrived before homeroom rang. So the first time he saw them all was in class, and he had to bite back a smile as he noticed Rias staring down at her hands rather than paying attention, obviously concentrating on something else entirely.

Akeno was much the same, though her face wasn't simply intense like Rias's. She looked almost angry, showing the kind of self-loathing that Harry had seen during that one bad day she'd had a few weeks ago.

 _Ah, no need to question how Akeno took the news then,_ Harry mused, activating his aura sight for a moment as he was at the back of the room in one of the other students was reading. Just as he thought the two of them were attempting to pull in their auras, but neither of them were succeeding very well.

He could see Rias trying to pull it in, see her spiritual influence fluctuate a little shrink slightly becoming less diffuse around the area, but it was pretty obvious that any real control was going to take a while. Akeno was even worse, her aura almost seeming to actively fight itself as she tried to bring it under control.

 _I suppose it's just like any other kind of muscle_ he thought, cancelling the spell. He then moved through the classroom, lightly tapping Rias on the shoulder and flashing her a surreptitious thumbs-up then a wait sign as he moved to the front of the classroom before calling on the next student.

After class thankfully the seniors had lunch as always on Mondays so Rias was able to stay in the classroom for a few moments while the rest of the class exited, moving through the classroom to stand by Harry's desk. With a glance to the open door Rias said surreptitiously, "That piece of information you passed on to me on Saturday has been disseminated to the interested parties, Sensei."

Harry nodded at that, standing up and pulling out his lunch box. "And how did everyone take it."

"Hard," Akeno said quickly, breaking in the four Rias could apply. "We're not happy about it. On many levels," she said looking at him. She seemed to fidget, her legs moving this way and that, crossing her arms under her chest and pressing said chest outwards in a uncomfortable parody of her normal flirtations. " **I** am not happy about this information or its implications."

"Don't blame yourselves," Harry said with a sigh. "You had no control over it, heck you didn't even know you had aura like that at all. That is an oversight from your parents I think. I've seen an adult who had full control of that power."

"While I'm tempted to ask you where you saw said adult, I'm afraid you're only half right there. It was not an oversight but a deliberate lack of education in my parents mind, or at least we think so. We think they wanted us to figure it out on her own," Rias supplied.

"Some kind of rite of passage thing I suppose?" Harry mused. "Can't say I approve, but maybe it makes sense in your culture."

"It does," Rias replied with a sigh. "However, that's not the main reason I wanted to talk to you, or rather it is, but not on that subject, rather I wish to offer a trade. Sona and I would like you to use whatever ability you have that allows you to actually see these auras of hours, and see if they affect the rest of the student populace."

"I've had thoughts along that line as well, but what's in it for me?" Harry asked semi-jokingly. He would have volunteered to do this of course, seeing it as part of his job as a teacher to watch over his students. However, Rias had made the mistake of offering another trade. And while Harry still didn't really understand women despite having been married for a number of years, one thing he did know about women was that they rather liked the whole give-and-take.

Akeno cut in before Rias reply. "Why what ever would you like in trade sensei?" she asked, smirking as she ran one hand through her hair flirtatiously.

Grateful that the desk was between the two of them Harry shook his head. "Nothing like that I'm afraid."

"Sona and I are willing to take the grading for that last mandatory test you ran for the sophomore and freshman classes," Rias replied simply. She shrugged her shoulders as Harry looked at her in surprise. "I know that's a lot of work, but what we're asking for is important to us." Rias didn't say anything about Sona's special anti-paperwork spell, since she knew that would impact the worth of what she was offering. _I might be nice and he might be a friend, but I am still a Devil after all._

"And in all honesty," she confided looking at the doorway again. "I am not going to be taking my day-to-day classes seriously any longer. It's time for me to be serious about… college."

The pause there was significant, and Harry read into it the words 'and other things'. What those other things were he didn't know, but he surprised himself by feeling a certain amount of thrill at the idea that maybe their acquaintance was one of those things, whatever he wanted to call this relationship between them. _It isn't like we're going out, but we're certainly edging just slightly friends at this point. Is there a word to describe that kind of transitive state between the two?_

"Understood," he said aloud, no sign of those thoughts appearing on his face. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Perhaps after our scheduled sit down yes," Rias said with a smile as the three of them moved towards the doorway.

Akeno exited first, making certain to look over her shoulder as she did at Harry and swish her hips just a little more than was natural.

At the sight Harry groaned and looked away, shaking his head at her antics.

"I'll talk to her," Rias said, frowning after her friend. "This incident hit her worst in her pride I think. And she might go out of her way to make you react for a few days because of that." _Darn it Akeno, this is not what I meant when I said you should talk to him._

"She's a beautiful woman, though she certainly isn't the only one here that could be said about," Harry said obliquely now that they were out in the hallway. There were no other students around at the moment, but it never hurt to cover his bases. "She shouldn't let it bother her so much as I said. It was entirely out of your control."

Rias flushed at the gentle compliment, Harry's words meaning more to her for some reason than most such she'd heard before. The two of them then walked down the hallway in silence following Akeno before the trio broke up moving in different directions at an intersection in the hallway.

The rest of the day passed simply after that. There were no issues with Harry's classes now. By this point all of the students knew what to expect from Harry and also knew that on Mondays he was particularly stern when it came to issues which might interrupt class time. Even the Perverted Trio had learned that after a single comment praising a girl's breasts had earned them a week-long detention helping Harry clean the gym and pools.

On the other side of the spectrum, Harry's continued use of his aura reading powers began to hurt his eyes, but didn't show anything conclusive about the impact Rias and the others were having on the local population. There did seem to be some tendency towards noticing those with larger auras, but it did not seem to impact anyone's personalities beyond making them a little obsessive. The more diffuse the aura in the area, the less it impacted people, and that impact never lasted longer than it took for Rias and the others to leave. There didn't seem to be any long term impact. Essentially, what this meant was that the Devils might have themselves to blame for how many fangirl they had, but not the actual actions of any one individual.

One thing Harry did note was about the Three Perverts during lunch. He sought them out during that period since their activities were the ones he was most concerned about being influenced.

When he saw the Trio, they were pouring over a porn mag behind a math book. Since several of the Student Council were around the area along with Rias, Koneko and Akeno, Harry knew they were within the area impacted by their conjoined influence. Yet he didn't see any sign of that influence within them.

From this, Harry concluded that somehow their perversions, diffuse and without specific direction, somehow protected them. Matsuda had the weakest aura of the trio, with Motohama the strongest. All three perverts had stronger than average auras for some odd reason. _Or I could say that their aura only influences people in proportion to the amount of interest the people already have? Ugh, this is so confusing. Not to mention Issei's aura…_

On the surface there was nothing unusual about Issei's aura. It fell somewhere between his two friends, which while stronger than most of the other students weren't all that strong in comparison to Sona and Rias's groups. Yet there was something… off about it. That was the only way harry could describe it. at one point as Harry looked at them he saw his aura pulse, or perhaps the better word was ripple? It was as if Issei's aura was a pond, and something had just disturbed the water.

It wasn't there for longer than a millisecond and it didn't repeat, but it made Harry uneasy slightly for some reason he couldn't define. _Probably best to keep that to myself for now until I know what's going on there. Definitely going to read more of the book on souls and such tonight, hopefully I'll find something there that can explain that._

Besides the bit about Issei Harry shared everything else he had seen with Rias and Sona in the Student Council room after school. Both of them were pleased with the fact that what both called a lack of control wasn't the reason behind how so many people acted, though the fact some of their popularity stemmed from their auras wasn't as welcome.

Harry decided to alleviate some of that concern with humor as he finished. "So while you have only yourselves to blame for the number of fangirls you have, what those fangirls and boys do is entirely up to them. Congratulations, we have no successfully proven that hundreds of teenage girls and dozens of teenage boys are capable of perverted thoughts and actions. I will hereby go and alert the media."

"That is actually scant comfort." Sona replied, though she did allow her lips to form a small smile at the same time. "I had known that bringing in boys this year would lead to more issues, but I hadn't anticipated so many. Nor that we would see such actions from the women. Did you know there was a bit of a catfight yesterday in the art club? One of the girls actually tried to talk the boyfriend of another girl into posing for nudes."

"They are young teens, with all the issues that entails," Harry said, his own lips twitching in humor. "I'd wager there was more going on in the years before Kuoh became coed than you realized, simply because without men around women can be a lot more subtle than otherwise."

"Perhaps," Sona replied, looking over at Rias. "That doesn't mean that we are going to stop trying to control our spiritual presence however. Thank you for your help on this Sensei." She paused then, looking at Rias for a brief instant before going on. "On another topic, I understand that Gremory-san and you often discuss other strategy and tactics games beyond chess? I am interested in such things as well, and was wondering if you would mind my joining such discussions."

 _Hmm, now that's another clue to their race I suppose: that they are interested in combat, fighting and such things. Do they fight among one another then, or someone else? It must be more in the form of set piece battles if two women as intelligent as Sitri and Rias hadn't thought beyond studying chess before this. Or perhaps combat competitions?_

Shaking those thoughts off Harry replied easily. "Certainly, though those conversations tend to occur randomly rather than at a set time. For now however, I believe it is time for you two to see to the payment for my aid."

With that Harry dropped the stack of weekend essays and national style tests from the sophomores and freshmen. Then he pulled out the answer key for the tests, and a list of words and rules to follow for grading the essays. "And with that ladies I'll bid you adieu. I have my own ongoing education I need to see to tonight."

Rias and Sona said nothing as Harry lef, then Sona leaned over to her friend. "I take it he has no idea about the paperwork spell?"

"Not a one," Rias replied cheerfully, pulling the essays toward her, splitting the bundle in half. "Mind you, your spell won't help with these essays, so we are still paying something for his aid."

"True." Sona waved a hand over the remaining stack, her other hand hovering over the answer key, a green pen set on top of the paper. A tiny sphere of magic traveled through her body from that hand to her other hand where it hovered over the paperwork. An instant later the spell was done, and the tests had been graded. "But I think Potter-sensei would still be irritated we had to put forth so little effort to repay his own."

"He's mentioned a time or two that he liked pranks when he was younger, sad something about a 'serious influence in his life', whatever that means." Rias said, reading through an essay from a sophomore who had taken on the Tolkien series for their weekend reading and was halfway through the Hobbit. It made for a fascinating if rather disjointed essay. "We could just say this was our pranking him. He'll let it go with that."

"I bow to your superior knowledge of the man in question." Sona replied.

There was a tone to her voice that made Rias look at her friend sharply, but Sona wasn't looking at her, instead she had pulled out the first essay on her portion of the pile. Frowning, Rias decided to let that rest for now, turning back to her own work, eagerly wondering what would happen next.

Outside the main school building, Harry met with Kiba as he exited the school heading towards the gym. "I think it's time sensei," Kiba said seriously, though his lips were twitching briefly. "I think we need to enact Operation Anti-Stalk."

Harry chuckled, and nodded at the other young man before following him back towards the gym. _My own work can wait for a little while longer I suppose._

 **OOOOOOO**

The week passed uneventfully after that, with only a few interesting occurrences here and there. The first of which was indeed Kiba and Harry's plot to switch his underwear with that of one of the perverts:

Harry and Kiba stood alone in the men's changing area, though this time it wasn't because they had one of their spars after everyone else had gone home. Instead it was because they were in here during the morning, a time when very few were at the school at all, let alone in the changing rooms.

Walking down the aisle, Kiba frowned as he looked on the names on the lockers. While the girls had far too many people to be assigned a specific locker, there were so few boys in the school that they had room to spare. As such they all had assigned lockers here just like every student did in the entryway for shoes and other things. "Are you certain we'll find what we're looking for?"

"Yep. Call it a study of the individual my young friend. Motohama and Hyoudou at the very least will have left either their shirts or some other garment behind, it matches the type of people they are." Harry said on the other side of the benches, looking down the row of lockers as he did.

"This is rather disturbing on many levels you know." Kiba said, halting. "Ah, here's Matsuda's. What about Motohama?"

"He strikes me as more of the brains behind the perversion, and rather meticulous at that. Couple that with the fact he's not as athletic as the other two and while I have no doubt we could find something in his shoe locker, we won't find anything out here." Moving over to Kiba Harry pulled the locker open. The fact said locker didn't have a lock on it, much like all the others in the room, was somewhat strange to him, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Inside behind three porn mags of the voyeuristic variety was a shirt and even a pair of underwear. "Oh my, we've found a treasure here," Harry said snarkily. "Now, where's your locker?"

"Remind me to fumigate my locker later," Kiba muttered, as he moved over to open his locker, whereupon the two of them Motohama's clothing inside, removing the clothing within, which Kiba stuffed into another, unmarked locker far away from the one he'd been assigned "Now let's get out of here."

Later during Sophomore PE, Matsuda got in trouble for not having a change of clothes. Calling it an honest mistake, Harry let him off for the period, letting him watch instead of participate in the day's calisthenics and upper body exercises. He also pretended not to notice two girls leaving the class ten minutes before it was time to actually dismiss them back to class.

Inside the men's changing room the two girls were looking around in something approaching horror. "Guh, how do the boys live like this?!" The room actually wasn't that bad, but there was a lot of clothing and towels strewn everywhere, so maybe that was a reason for their horror. There was also the smell, which even Kiba would have labelled as fragrant.

"Here it is, let's just get some of Yuuto-sama's clothes and get out of here!" One of the girls quickly opened the locker, pulling out the shirt and "Oh look, he's left a pair of underwear!"

"Hot damn, you have any idea what some of the others would pay for that?" said the second one, taking the shirt her compatriot passed to her. Sniffing the shirt she expected to smell… well she wasn't certain what to expect, aftershave, cologne, some manly deodorant no doubt, like Old Spice.

What she smelled instead was an overwhelming musk of some kind. It wasn't unpleasant, but it certainly wasn't clean-smelling either. Odd, but the girl put that to the side for now.

Her friend had also paused, looking down at the underwear thoughtfully. "You know, I never expected Yuuto-sama to be a tightey-whitey's man. Or to have such a small waist." That was saying nothing about the fact the underwear was kind of… crusty.

Just then the two of them began to hear noises outside and with one startled glance toward one another they raced away, slamming the door to Kiba's locker closed. They barely got out of the boy's room and into the girl's before the gym doors opened and the rest of their grade walked in.

At first despite their misgivings everything went well. Then later that day, the two girls overheard a conversation that they really wished they hadn't. "I still don't know what happened to my shirt or my underwear darn it. I had at least three more days wear on those before they were due to be washed." Matsuda mused.

"Maybe some hot chick took them to fuel their jilling fantasies," Issei mused, then shared a look with Motohama. "NAAAH!" they said as one, causing Motohama, who had been the first speaker to roar at them angrily.

None of them noticed the two girls nearby who looked as if they were going to be sick and had also swallowed a lemon each. They looked at one another a brief instant than scream as one before rushing into the gym heading into the girls locker room. "Unclean!"

"How long until they think to blame me for this, do you think?" Kiba asked as he and Harry exchanged salutes from where they were eating lunch under a tree near the gym. Two other boys were nearby in what had quickly become the non-perverted boys eating spot. That it was within hearing range of this little play was a mere bonus.

"Honestly, I doubt they'll ever do so. I'd bet they'll blame one of the perverts, maybe even think their scheme was overheard and turned on its head by one of them," Harry replied. "No way would they ever think their precious Prince would be so cruel."

"Perhaps I should disabuse them of that particular notion," Kiba mused. "While I believe in treating women in a chivalrous manner there is a difference between that and being some kind of fantasy prince for them all.

"You'd have to act a complete cock I think to do that," Harry replied bluntly, causing Kiba to cough on his next bit of food. "Not that it isn't tempting to see the chaos that would result…"

"Let's not then," Kiba said as he cleared his throat. "And you did that on purpose!"

Harry also began to get to know some of the student Council during this week as individuals rather than simple extensions of the council president. This began by seeing two students arguing in the hallway at the end of the same day Harry and Kiba's little trap had taken its first victims.

Both of the arguers were girls, sophomores Harry recognized from his classes quickly. They seemed to be arguing about a science project, gesticulating angrily to one another as they tried to place blame or something, Harry was too far away to hear them over the tumult of hundreds of teens eagerly leaving school. As he watched from over everyone's heads, one of them pushed the other suddenly, and Harry began to make his way through the crowd of students in the hallways towards them.

However before he could get to them, another student had intervened grabbing the girl who had pushed the other by the shoulder and pulling her back in while waving a finger at the other one. "All right that's enough! Just because it's the end of the day doesn't mean you can act out like this on school property. Now come on Narukami-chan, what started this?"

"Well, Yura-san here said that…"

The girl who had intervened was named Tomoe Meguri, a name that Harry knew he had seen once before, much like Himejima, Akeno's family name. She was a cheerful girl with reddish-brown hair that was normally rather unkempt in comparison to most and normal looking brown eyes. She was a sophomore from 2-D, the worst class from that grade, though her grasp of English placed her pretty much in the middle of the grade. She wore a band of black on her upper arm, marked with the kanji for Disciplinary Committee, which was a rotating job the student council saw to, each of them taking a week before moving on to other jobs.

Now that the crowd had begun to disperse, Harry became aware of perverted giggling from one side of the entryway. Turning slightly he saw Matsuda and Issei staring out from an abandoned classroom right behind where Tomoe was standing dealing with the two arguers.

Issei looked around at that point and spotted Harry staring back at them narrow-eyed. While what they were doing wasn't exactly perverted or against the school rules, Issei was still liable to flee before trying to argue that point with the man who had become the Perverted Trio's personal nemesis. The fact Matsuda had just pulled out a phone and was about to take a picture of Tomoe's skirt clad rear as she walked in front of the two troublemakers had him pulling his friend back inside the classroom. "Abort!" he said in a harsh whisper. "Potter alert!"

By the time Harry had gotten through the still dispersing crowd around the previous, the two boys had hightailed it opening a window and hopping out of the first floor window out to the ground beyond. Huffing in irritation, Harry turned to back to the trio of girls still talking.

By this point Tomoe had listened to both the arguers points of view and as Harry started to watch again she nodded slowly. "Okay, this sounds more like a real lack of communication than anyone trying to really skive off work. You've still got time to get this right before the due date for that project, I know since my own teammate and I haven't finished with our own yet. So get together and actually talk, without shouting or anything else."

The two arguing girls nodded reluctantly, though both looked as if they'd rather not continue working with one another after this. The Tomoe didn't let them say anything however, going on quickly. "But you both have to be disciplined for having it out in public like this. Narukami, you pushed Yura first, so that'll be a full detention for you. Yura, you'll come by the Student council room at lunch to right lines for shouting and using curse words in public. This is a school ladies, not a street corner."

Harry watched as Tomoe dealt with the twosome, then walked up to her nodding respectfully. "That was evenhanded and very well done," he complemented.

Tomoe looked over at him and blushed a little, poking her fingers together. "T, thank you sensei." she said, looking away towards where the two students said just exited the school after their fellows. "Um, it was my first time actually having to do anything as a Disciplinary committee member."

"Then you did very well. I do have a small a suggestion though," Harry said, praising the girl before offering some advice. "Have a word with the science teacher and tell him about this, so that he knows not to pair those two up in the future. And next time, instead of lines find something a little humiliating. Not detention, but something in public perhaps? Helping the janitor sweep the entryway, or replacing the students on duty to clean her homeroom?"

"Hmm, that could work, and we could even use it instead of detentions." Tomoe then grinned at Harry, her cheerfulness almost infectious. "Is there a reason you're so quick to come up with unusual punishments Potter-sensei? Personal experience perhaps?"

"I'm afraid I cannot answer on fear of perjuring myself," Harry relied drolly, making the girl laugh. "Now, do you want me to speak to the science teacher, or will you? And can you tell me why the Disciplinary Committee is called a committee when there's only ever two people on it?"

The other time he got to know them was in the freshman gym class on Wednesday. This was easily the most pleasant for Harry in many ways. He didn't have the disciplinary issues he had with the sophomores, often made him wonder why all of his trouble children were in the same grade. Nor did he have the distraction of Rias, or Akeno and her ongoing attempts to get a rise out of him. The freshmen were also extremely competitive one and all. And it had to be said the freshman boys had done a much better job in integrating into their grade than the majority of the male students who had tested in rather than simply be transferred on from the local middle schools.

Harry realized with a start as the class broke up into two different teams for a football game that he once more had four students who were of the same group as Rias and the others. Two of them were sophomores who had missed out on PE the day before due to having worked with the Student council on cleaning up a major mess in the library. Three students had fallen ill with stomach issues. One had thrown up, and then the others had done the same in sympathetic reaction.

It had amused and impressed Harry that such a massive mess hadn't been left to the janitors but the Student Council. They had been helped by Narukami, Motohama and a few other students who had detention that day. Their names were Tsubasa Yura and Reya Kasaka.

One of the captains, Tsubasa was a polite, outdoorsy type of girl who, while a little taller than Sona, was built along the same liens, though perhaps with even less up top than her president. She often volunteered for DC member duties, and seemed the most physically active of Sona's group. She had taken the position of striker, the player in the middle of the field.

With her as goalie was Reya. She was a shorter girl, but also a bustier one, something that was obvious in their gym uniforms despite Harry's unwillingness to acknowledge it.. Indeed, Reya was a little bustier than Tsubaki, who in turn was larger than Sona. Reya was a cheerful, soft-spoken girl, with her brown hair done in long braids who had immediately taken the position as goalie.

Koneko too had chosen to play as goalie, and she stood stolidly in the goalie box, her hands clenched at her side as she crouched down, a look of eagerness on her face. Reya in contrast was pacing anxiously, but there was a distinct gleam in her eyes as she glared down the field towards her opponents.

The captain of Koneko's team was the only freshman member of the Student Council, a baby-faced emotive girl name Ruruko Nimura. She had brown hair like Reya's but hers was done in longer ponytails and while she was the same size height wise as Reya, she had little to no curves to speak of. Something that seemed to anger both her and Koneko if the glares they were sending Reya's way past the rest of her team was anything to go by.

On a whim, Harry activated his aura reading once more and watched for a moment. It looked as if there was a distinct difference in power level between these four students and the older ones. Which made sense since he knew that Rias and Sona were the stronger us by a wide margin. _So is it age or something else?_

Beyond that, the only surprise among the quartet of young girls was Koneko's aura. The others were simpler, their emotions easy to discern, understand and read. But Koneko was a lot more complex than he would have expected from the nekomata. Koneko had corrected his thoughts on that point one morning, though Harry was still uncertain what physical difference there was between a nekomata and a were-cat beyond the two-tails thing.

That was unimportant right now of course. What was important was Koneko's aura. Her aura showed the color of old grief - purple to his senses- though it was fading, and perhaps something else, something he had also seen in Akeno's aura, a mix of red and barely perceptible yellow.

Setting that aside, Harry refereed the football game, though began to notice that perhaps the quartet were taking their competitiveness a little too far. This was first shown by Tsubasa sliding in the grass to nearly take out Ruruko's legs out from under her as she swiped the ball. The fact Ruruko performed a perfect, near Olympic level spin in the air to land on her feet just compounded matters seeing as Tsubasa had run from one side of the field to the other faster than any of the other freshmen could keep up with.

The next instant Tsubasa had launched a strike towards the opponent's goal that most professional football players would have envied. That Koneko somehow got in front of it anyway and blocked it showed that the little nekomata also had some skill.

The next instant however, Koneko nearly flattened the ball with a spike that sent it zooming over the heads of everyone, nearly into Team Tsubasa's goal from her own. Ruruko was there, and she swiftly kicked it in, nearly getting a goal right there.

However an instant later, the ball suddenly stopped in midair following a brief flash of magic. _Huh so it isn't just Rias and Sona who can use magic hmmm?_ That revelation however paled next to the fact that Reya had just used magic in front of a lot of people. Luckily not all her common sense seemed to have left her as the ball continued moving after that brief second, making the rest of the freshman class wonder if it was a trick of their collective imagination. Even better, Reya had hit the ball in a much more normal way, deflecting it out of bounds.

As Ruruko lined up her shot to kick the ball back inbounds and the rest of the teams got ready, Harry gestured Tsubasa over to him in a loud voice. "Before that, Yura-san come over here. I've warned you before about being too competitive in these games. Don't you have something to say to Nimura-san?"

As the two girls stood in front of one another Harry spoke quietly. "All right, I'm not going to say that you can't compete like… that… in your own time, but I don't think your seniors would appreciate you standing out so much like that in public that, would they?"

Both captains looked sheepish, understanding the seriousness of what he was saying. He ruffled their hair one after another then looked around at the rest of the class, whispering the first sentence before shouting the last. "Pass that on two your goalies first thing and remember keep your powers in check. If you can I'll bring in some ice cream to share tomorrow with your grade all right?"

Both captains cheered up immensely at that while the rest of the freshmen. If there was one thing that most young girls -regardless of species- could agree on, it was that sweets were life.

Later after the class ended, Koneko paused a moment looking at Harry as the others moved off toward the changing rooms. "Cheater."

Harry shrugged understanding what she meant easily. "I prefer to see it as using my superior knowledge of how to motivate my students to good advantage. Besides, are you complaining?"

At that Koneko raced off without reply, and Harry laughed, moving to the center of the football field to grab up the ball.

Later that same day, Sona stopped by the teacher's lounge and joined a discussion Harry, Rias and the History teacher were having about World War 2. The fact the history professor was losing an argument against Harry was not lost on her and she smoothly joined the discussion.

Eventually the other teacher left in a huff, and Harry shook his head, turning to Sona and Rias with a smile. "Some people don't like their nation's mistakes rubbed in their faces." His smile turned wry as a twinkle entered his eyes. "I can't fatho why. After all my countrymen have our mistakes rubbed in our faces every time we see a map of the world or study history at all. Now, what were we talking about before that argument began Gremory-san? Oh yes, you were wondering about…"

The conversation went on from there. During that talk Sona realized the same thing that Rias had: that whatever he was or wherever he came from, Harry had been a soldier, and one who had led people before too. That meant he was a treasure trove of real life experiences and Sona became even more interested in continuing talking to him. She couldn't let her friend/rival get too far ahead of her after all.

On Friday however, there was a break in the routine that wasn't nearly as pleasant as those instances. Harry was preparing to leave for the day, having no plans to meet up with Kiba that day and wanting to have a nice night in with his daughter without any homework looming over their heads. He was stopped however by a gentle cough from one side of him as he exited the building. "Potter sensei, can I walk with you for a bit?"

Harry paused, looking at Akeno thoughtfully. She had not come to talk to him before this, seemingly shying away from being alone with him, despite his attempt to make her understand that she was not at fault for her what her spiritual presence did, instead just continuing her flirtations. Though thankfully she had never taken it too far as she had that one day she had been depressed. Despite that, Harry had hoped that his words to her on Monday would've also had some impact but it hadn't. Instead Akeno had used her flirtations to keep him at arm's length once more, protecting her real self even as she tried to soothe her wounded feminine pride.

"Certainly Himejima-san," he said, gesturing her to join him. He walked out of the building and the school slowly, with Akeno beside him asking a few questions about the homework assignment he had given them that weekend. Like the other grades, the senior grade's homework and in-class work was designed to make learning fun and create an immersive experience as Harry could contrive. It was a marked contrast to how they had been taught before, and it wasn't unusual for one of the seniors to talk to him about it after school or during the lunch period. The other grades didn't have as long to get used to a single way of learning and had adapted more quickly, with the freshmen once more adapting the fastest.

But Harry knew that was not what Akeno wanted to talk to about. _Still, I have to applaud her use of subterfuge._

The moment they exited the school, Akeno began. "Why not me?" She asked brought bluntly.

Harry looked at her, frowning and not understanding the question. Realizing that, Akeno elaborated. "I understand our spiritual presence now and how it was effecting you. I understand your initial unwillingness to get involved us on many levels. But you have to and you reacted to Rias, use allowed Rias close. You haven't discouraged her getting close to as you have me. Why?" she asked.

Her voice would've sounded plaintive, but it sounded more hurt than demanding, and Harry sighed. "You are far more open with your body than your emotions," Harry began slowly. "You flirt constantly with me whenever we're close but you've never actually tried to simply strike up a conversation with me on topics other than school related things. You've volunteered to watch Lily, but never without flirting with me first. You aren't letting me get close Hime… Akeno-san, nor have you shown in any way that you were interested in me more than physically."

"But that's not all. You come on a little too strongly. A part of me likes it, a part of me likes a lot," Harry said, winking at the girl and causing her to chuckle a little despite the serious nature of the discussion. "But that part doesn't control the rest of me."

He sighed, shaking his head and holding up a hand to halt Akeno from speaking. "I am not the sort of man who would be willing to enter into a purely physical relationship Akeno. I've had this discussion recently, though I'll admit that the fact I wasn't has caused me some issues of late too. I'm willing to start a relationship on the basis of physical attraction, but I'm not going to continue it. And I'm certainly not going to even do that with students."

"So you're saying you won't touch Rias?" Akeno asked, going off on a tangent for a second, her face disbelieving. "You've flirted with her occasionally and I know it."

"Are you asking out of jealousy?" Harry asked. He couldn't deny Akeno's words after all, but he wanted to know where this new line of questioning was coming from.

"No, it's not jealousy." Akeno said quickly and easily. "I love Rias-sama. She's my best friend, she, she saved me years ago, gave me a home, gave me a family! I could not in good conscience try to get between you and her. I'm just wondering how far you would take that statement."

"I am still unhappy with the idea of being attracted to a student at all. If, and it is still a big if, If Rias and I get together, we will take it very slowly. I know what trouble rushing into things can cause far too well for anything else." Harry said, shaking his head. The fact he could even acknowledge the possibility of being in a relationship with Rias sent a thrill down Harry's spine and created a lump in his stomach at the idea of being involved with a student.

"I see…" Akeno said, biting her lip to keep from laughing aloud. _As if Rias would allow that!_

Whatever else might be going on, Akeno had watched Rias's heretofore nonexistent libido begin to come alive after Harry's arrival. The very idea that Rias, a young woman and a Devil who was eager to explore these new feelings, would be willing to wait was absurd. _Still, let the poor man keep his delusions for now._

Instead Akeno focused on something else, going back to the real meat of their discussion. "So what you are saying is that I have to be willing to open up to you emotionally just as much physically. I can understand that." She stopped then, pulling Harry into a small alleyway between two buildings. Before Harry could even protect, she was pressed up against him, her breasts pressing into his chest so much they flattened as she stared up at him. Akeno was a few inches shorter than Rias, who in turn was a few inches shorter than Harry.

While the feeling was incredible, even without any accompanying impact on his emotional control, what Harry saw in Akeno's face made Harry stop any attempt to move away he might have tried. He saw lingering hurt there, as well as longing and something else, something beyond appreciation or interest. It was the same thing he'd seen in Rias, not love, but something that could easily become that if given the chance to grow. "But does that mean that there could be room for me within your heart if I do open up?"

Licking suddenly dry lips, Harry was forced to nod. "Yes, Akeno. Rias and I aren't written in stone after all. We might not get together at all. And while I have to say again I'm not happy with the idea of being attracted to my students, I am honest enough to admit that the attraction is there in both your cases."

"Good," Akeno murmured, fighting an urge to lean up and kiss Harry that very moment. But she knew that would go too far right now. Nor did she wish to talk about the idea of her and Rias possibly sharing him. That was still a very raw idea after all, and something that was far in the future anyway. Even though they did love one another like sisters, sharing a man was a step beyond what they were truly comfortable with, though it beat the alternative of possibly losing their friendship over him in any number of ways.

Instead she pushed away, still looking at Harry through her eyelashes. "In that case Sensei, I will be seeing more of you around from now on." With that she walked out of the alleyway, smiling happily.

 **OOOOOOO**

Raynare was getting angry, but she kept a lid on her anger for now. Prideful as she was in her own abilities, Raynare knew that there were some who stood above her in the Grigori in terms of power, skill and authority, and the individual on the other side of the phone was one of them. "I realize that you keep saying that Hyoudou's Sacred Gear is the more important one, but it's taking so long for to activate I'm uncertain if it's worth the effort of sticking around for another few months waiting for it to become powerful enough for me to confirm that!"

She bit down hard on her lip, going on in a most controlled tone quickly. "If you could tell me how you knew that in the first place, I'd be much more willing to stick my neck and those of my team out on a limb here. The Devils in this area might be young but as much as I hate to admit it they are still a threat, and they're very active. That doesn't even mention the other issue that's been added to the deck."

"Werewolves die if you chop off her head just like anyone else," the voice on the other line said. It sounded almost bored, but it was also an intense sort of voice, it's tone carrying a darker undercurrent that caused a shiver down Raynare's body composed of part pleasure, part fear. "As for how I know, the boy had a blood sample taken a few years ago. One of our agents in the hospitals of Kuoh passed it on as interesting."

Some of the more powerful Sacred Gears left a mark on the bodies of their users even before they gathered enough power from the world around them to activate fully. It often showed up in bloodwork and took the form of being physically stronger, tougher, etc. Raynare supposed it could explain the way Hyoudou seemed so durable at times. The kendo club girls had, despite injunctions to the contrary, taken it on themselves to punish the Perverted Trio for their activities.

At any rate, Raynare knew the Fallen, the Devils and even the Church kept an eye on such things like blood samples and unusual occurrences in the news or other things of that nature that might lead them to sacred your users. They weren't very good at it, since the discovery that Sacred Gears could leave clues in an individual's blood was a recent discovery by Azazel himself. Raynare was also surprised that they even had an agent in a hospital that was in a Devil's territory.

She said so loud, and the voice on the other line chuckled evilly. "How naïve you are my dear," he said, as if he was speaking to a small child. "It is **because** that is Devil territory that we have agents there in the first place."

Raynare's eyes widened at the implications of that, and she leaned forward unconsciously her voice an eager hiss. "Does that mean that were ready to act openly?"

"We are slowly moving in that direction," the voice on the other side confirmed. "While the Devils and the Angels have benefited somewhat more from this peace than we Grigori, we needed it too though I hate to admit it. But we are organized once more, and we are prepared. The Devils, thanks to their peace-loving Maou and the civil war that occurred among them, are not. We might not be able to attack the gates of Heaven, but the Devils on earth are much more susceptible then the Vatican or other seats of power that Heaven has."

"Do not jumped the gun the voice warned," it's tone even more commanding than before. "But be prepared. That Devils Sacred Gear is important Raynare, whatever you might think."

With that the man on the other end of the call hung up, but Raynare was too happy about the news to care about that bit of rudeness. The war restarting was just what she wanted, a chance to prove that she was better than most people thought she was, then her two wings implied.

Hearing the sounds of footsteps Raynare looked over to see Kalawarner walking out the door, shaking her head with a sneer for the other Fallen. _And maybe, the war will make something of that bitch too._ Then she sobered, glaring angrily at the wall. "But dammit, that means I have to keep up this act for another few months! FUCK, I am getting sick and tired of this schoolgirl shit!"

 _But he did say that I couldn't go after the other one first,_ Raynare mused. _If we can figure out a way to convince him to join us… or maybe make it seem as if he just moved away with his family… something to think about. I'll talk to Mittelt about that this weekend._

Kalawarner didn't even acknowledge Raynare's presence, simply continuing her walk out the door. She'd tried all week to drown her issues, but without the special spices that would allow the beer and other drinks she'd drunk to actually have an impact, she'd had no luck whatsoever doing so. She walked through the town almost blindly, thinking about what had happened and trying to understand why the hell it was affecting her so much.

Even now a week later Kalawarner's mind was still in turmoil about what had happened. Gone was her shock that Harry had been able to block her influence: that at least she could deal with. What she couldn't deal with was the ongoing battle between her sin-filled ego and the sudden grief-stricken realization that Harry, despite never allowing the two of them to consummate their relationship, had become someone important to her. The fact she couldn't describe what she felt for him better than that also bothered her. So on the one hand she was dealing with the rage of having been talked to as Harry had, of being rejected. And on the other, these unusual emotions and thoughts which refused to let her sleep.

 _Doesn't it remind you of what you felt when you found Antonious with another woman?_ Said the same snide voice that had been bothering her all week. _When you realized you had Fallen for a false promise? When you realized you had made a life-altering mistake?_

Antonious had been a Greek man who among others had provided the Angels with information on the terrain they had been fighting in at the time. He had been injured by a Devilic incursion, after which Kalawarner had been assigned to help look after him for a time while he healed. The Greek man had been very handsome, with swarthy skin, dark curly hair, and had seemed utterly enamored with Kalawarner. His attentions had been so raw, his courtship so blunt and overpowering in its fervor that Kalawarner had no defense.

But Angels could not engage in sexual intercourse with one another, let alone with a human, without being married first in the eyes of God. So Kalawarner fell, and had to escape from the Angel's camp with her lover. For a few years they hid away from the conflict, Kalawarner being unwilling to join the other Fallen in their uprising. They had built a small olive farm together, and worked the land like Adam and Eve for years, although Antonious and Kalawarner were much more active at night than those prudes.

Then one day she made Antonious lunch and brought it out to the field. There she found him rutting in the dirt with a slave girl from a nearby plantation. Seeing that, hearing Antonious' words to the girl, so like the ones he had said to her, had shown Kalawarner that what she thought of as love hadn't been, it had been mere lust.

Since killing both of them Kalawarner had embraced the power of lust, delving into causing and being the object of lust for others. There was no going back for her after falling of course, so like all the Fallen before and since Kalawarner had decided to revel in her Sin. She sneered at emotions beyond that of friendship, neither interested in or looking for more for a time. And never, not once since Kalawarner had fallen had she met any man, Fallen or human, who was interested in in her beyond her body. She used that against them, strung them along with her body, took and gave her pleasure before manipulating or ending them as needed. She'd come to revel in completely breaking a man, of seeing him so consumed with lust for her that he forsook everything else.

And with every new conquest, her disdain for humanity grew, just as the hole in her life did. From this came her hobby of reading romance novels and making corrections. She knew something was missing from her life, but had lost the ability to understand what that might be.

Coming out of her reluctant introspection Kalawarner shook her head as she finally understood what was wrong with her: she could now understand what her life had been missing. _And now the one time I meet a man who might be willing to accept me for more than my body, what do I do? I push him away._

Coming out of her thoughts, Kalawarner found herself standing on top of the tallest building in the town. Laying back on the hard concrete of the rooftop she stared up into the darkened sky. _Father help me, what do I do?_

That was the first time she'd ever done that since Fallen. While saying the word God didn't hurt Fallen Angels as it did Devils, they were still rather 'religious' about not using the term, or the more familiar Father which all Angels had used often when He was leading them. For many it tied into how they felt towards their former allies, contempt and disdain for their narrow minded view of the world, as well as a sort of sense of guilt for having Fallen in the first place.

It certainly was that way for Kalawarner. But the impact of having been turned aside by someone she had invested so much time in, and though she had not consciously realized it at the time, so much of her motions, had broken something inside her. Now with no one to talk to, no one she could trust, Kalawarner turned to the one thing that she had never tried before. _Father, what should I do? How do I, should I apologize? Where do I go from here?_

Alas the stars didn't hold any answers for her, and Kalawarner sighed, standing up and heading back to the church. It looked as if this was one issue she'd have to figure out on her own.

 **OOOOOOO**

That weekend marked the end of the first month into their new training regime and Rias had set that date as the time for a real-life test. To that end she and her peerage took a short daytrip out of Kuoh on Sunday. Since it was a daytrip and it was her peerage doing it rather than her club (a scholastic definition of nothing else), Rias had no obligation to tell Harry about it, though she actually had to stop herself from asking if he and Lily would like to come along so important had the two of them become to both Rias's life and that of her peerage. She didn't though because of the nature of the trip: Rias had decided to be proactive about getting her peerage some more real life experience.

Oddly, the decision had come strangely hard to her. Rias had to actually force herself to think about leaving Kuoh like this, something which bothered her for a few moments after she overcame the feeling, but then the worries disappeared from her mind and she planned out the trip without any further hesitation. There had been reports of a serial killer on the loose somewhere in a town a little ways away from Kuoh and both Sona and Rias had looked over the reports on the individual and decided it might be a rogue from one of the Three Factions. The nature of the killing, the fact no bodies had been found, and the fact there was no pattern of the individuals killed, all pointed to that.

Rias personally thought it was a Rogue Devil. There weren't many Fallen who weren't part of the Grigori, and those there were she had heard about were peaceful, war weary individuals who had no truck with any of the factions and just wanted to be left alone. Angels of course didn't have rogues, though the church did. But their rogue exorcists tended to be very splashy in how they killed people, wanting to make certain other 'sinners' learned to repent of their sins. And there were very few Christians for them to either prey upon or hide among in Japan anyway.

Rogue Devils on the other hand? They had a single pattern regardless of strength, type or mental stability: all of them ate their victims, growing stronger through ingesting human bodies like old time Devils from before the Great War did. Hence why there would be no bodies. And while Japan was open to all three of the factions and even had its own Yokai Association, there were vast segments of it which were not explicitly claimed as territory by the association of one of the three factions. Indeed, that could be said for all of Asia.

Using their familiars to spy out the area Rias and Akeno took over a local library's community room to use as the control room for their search for the rogue. Koneko and Kiba used their own feet to do the same, searching throughout the day for clues or a trail. There was no way a Rogue Devil would operate in the open, so there was little chance they would be spotted.

It came as no surprise to Rias that it was Koneko who found something. "Found an odd scent." She reported, speaking into the little runic array around her wrist that allowed them all to communicate. "Leads into an old overgrown park. Looks wrong too."

The others quickly converged on Koneko's position, and soon all of them stood on a nearby roof examining the area. "There is indeed a repulsion field over the place, not that it needs it. This place looks like the kind of run down park where homeless people and drug dealers make their home," Akeno reported, her pretty nose wrinkled in distaste.

"True enough." Rias murmured, staring at the small park. It wasn't a large area, just a basketball court, tennis court and a central large building that was no doubt the park's public restrooms, the area separated by overgrown bushes and walls from the rest of the town. All of it looked overgrown in fact, and every surface she could see was covered with graffiti, with seemingly no attempt to clean them having ever been made.

"Right… Akeno set up an repulsion field around the entire area. After I make certain there's no one in the buildings around the park, we'll move in. Koneko first, then myself. Kiba, you'll bring up the rear, and then cut to either side as we enter the park to try and flank the Rogue Devil. There's only one place he or she can be hiding, in those restroom. So we'll make for that. Akeno, you'll be our over-watch."

Everyone nodded, though Kiba looked somewhat constipated at the idea of letting Rias go into danger first. Still her tactics made sense. "And when we actually engage Buchou?"

"You and Koneko will take it out, then myself if need be. Beyond that, Akeno and I will try to box it in if need be for the two of you to take out." Rias replied.

A moment later both Akeno and Rias had finished their work. There were no witnesses, and now with the field up there wouldn't be in the future. Furthermore, any damage done to the area would instead be done on the simulacrum rather than in the real world. _Not that I think anyone would notice or care if we wrecked this place, indeed we might be doing the town council a favor if we did._ Shaking that thought off, Rias nodded to her peerage. "Now!"

Wordlessly Koneko leaped from the roof, landing on the wall separating the basketball and tennis courts, racing along it towards the central building. Already there was movement inside, visible through the shattered windows.

"Showoff!" Rias shouted, racing after her nekomata rook with some difficulty along the wall. Kiba hadn't bothered, leaping down onto the tennis court and moving along a diagonal to one side of the bathroom while Akeno had leaped into the air, her wings pushing out of her back and allowing her to hover there.

There was a crash from the building they were racing toward as the Rogue Devil within burst out the side of it. It was grotesque, as Rias had known it would be, since eating human flesh distorted the bodies of the devil who sunk to that level. That had been true even in ancient times.

This example of the breed was male, or rather had the upper body of a man at least. His legs were gone, replaced by a long, massive body that looked like that of a centipede perhaps. Each leg clattered won with the ringing of something like metal on concrete. It had six arms, only two sets of which looked human, though very long with multiple elbows in them. And the devil's head had twisted into something that looked like a horrible cross between an ape's and a bug.

His tone when he spoke made it clear his mouth was no longer of a shape to allow proper words. "You young fools, you've come to your deaths!" With that shout it charged toward Koneko with its upper body while it's lower body flashed to the side like it was a tail aimed at Kiba.

Instead of allowing that to happen, Rias gestured, with one hand and shot out a bolt of Power of Destruction. The lurid red beam, powered down dramatically from what she could have thrown slammed into the Rogue Devil's body, right behind where it had twisted toward Kiba. Instead of deleting the Rogue Devil's entire body from existence the beam cut through it, disintegrating only a small portion of his body. The portion aimed at Kiba fell to the concrete twitching.

At the same time, Koneko had sped up ducking below and through the thing's arm, grabbing at its lower arms and holding the Rogue Devil still by grabbing it right behind the shoulders. As the Rogue Devil screamed in pain from Rias's attack Koneko twisted, throwing the thing's still massive body to the side like it was a tree trunk. "Going down."

Waiting for the thing below was Kiba, who had dashed around the still flailing tail. Before the rogue could recover from the fall, his blade caught the Rogue Devil straight through the forehead, cutting his head in half like a hot knife through butter. Kiba was even able to step back from the blow so as to avoid getting any blood on himself, using a minor protective spell to make certain.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Akeno said, a pout on her lips as she landed beside Rias. But then both of them noticed that the devil's lower body was still twitching, and seemed to be growing, almost regenerating, shifting to look like a smaller copy of the Rogue Devil. The upper half was also continuing to twitch as if it was trying to do the same. "Oh goodie, it looks like I'll have some fun after all~."

So saying Akeno began to rain lightning down on the lower body with a smile that was made of pure sadism. Her face flushed as she watched the still transforming thing writhe and twitch in agony, her eyes becoming half lidded as she stared at her handiwork.

Koneko shook her head and looked away while Kiba chuckled nervously, taking a sharp step away from the sight of the group's queen having her fun. Rias didn't even bother looking, instead lashing out at the upper body with her Power of Destruction, erasing it from existence with a single blast of perfectly controlled power.

A few minutes later Akeno had finally decided to put the thing out of its misery and reiterated her earlier statement. "This was a good idea in some ways Rias-sama, but in terms of getting us real experience it was a bust. We need to find an opponent to push ourselves." She said sadly.

"Agreed. While our tactics seem to work very well, we need to continue planning as a team," Kiba said. "We did well here, but it was against a single, and quite weak, opponent."

"Koneko?" Rias asked, wanting to make certain all her peerage had a chance to speak.

"Agree we need someone stronger," Koneko said, speaking in her normal tone just as she had done during the short battle. "But liked fighting in someplace new. Need to work on using terrain more."

"I agree with all your points. We're going to have to look into modifying the area simulacrum spell in the training room so we can work with your suggestion Koneko. As for stronger opponents, I suppose we could set up some cross training with Sona's peerage," Rias mused as she made certain there was no evidence of the devil's. "Akeno, when we get back I'll want you to take over researching Riser's peerage. We'll want to know as much as possible about them for the future. At the same time, I'll talk to Sona about the cross training idea."

"Bring in Potter-san too?" Koneko asked, omitting the -sensei as she habitually did outside of class, though she didn't call him Harry like Rias or the others had occasionally. "Could be interesting."

"The moment he and I sit down and decide to share our mutual secrets I intend to ask him for help in that manner at the very least," Rias replied, shaking her head with rueful chuckle. "I'll admit that I had stopped thinking about getting him to join our peerage a few weeks back. That man would be no one's follower, and I honestly doubt my remaining evil pieces would be enough to turn him into a devil anyway."

 _But there are other ways he could help me…_ Rias thought. And the idea of one such, while still somewhat repugnant in some ways, was **very** alluring in others.

"We could use Lily against him," Kiba said. His tone and body language both made it clear he thought the idea repugnant, but knowing what his king was facing in the future, he felt it had to be said, even though he knew there was no chance of Rias going for that idea. "If it was a difference between us holding her hostage or worse, then he would join."

Koneko's eyes flashed while Akeno scowled, lightning crackling from her hand, but both stilled as Rias held up her hand. She glared at Kiba regally, her blue eyes hard as stone, infuriated by the question to an extent that went beyond even her other friend's response. But of them all, Kiba had the hardest life, and while he acted the knight in many ways, he also was more willing to do anything he could to defend his friends.

When she spoke however her tone made it clear that this topic would not be brought up ever again. "I realize it had to be said my knight and I know you did not mean it. But I will not condone any attempt to coerce Harry, or use Lily against him." She did not ask if Kiba understood, he was already nodding and her glare would have made the words redundant in any event.

With that Rias gestured them all around her and she created a teleportation array around them. The array connected to the permanent one hidden in the ORC's room, and they appeared there a bare second after they disappeared from the sight of their small, unsatisfying battle. All of them were still quiet, anger radiating off the three women while Kiba simply looked saddened, but almost grateful to have gotten that nasty concept out and rebuffed so quickly.

In an effort to break the awkward silence, Rias asked. "In any event, does anyone else have an idea of how to make our peerage more powerful? I've already thought about bringing in martial arts trainers and various weapons to see if any of us take to them. Has anyone noticed anything among the student population or from anyone else?"

After a few moment's thinking Koneko raised her hand. "Last time dealt with perverts, smelled something around Issei. Something strong. Could be a Sacred Gear, maybe?" Koneko had taken on the job of guarding the other freshman girls at times, and once or twice had come close to actually nailing the Perverted Trio, almost catching them in the act enough to count as a strike against them.

Rias scowled at that. While she had little body modesty to speak of, that didn't mean she liked being leered at and the Three Perverts seemed to have no other way of looking at an attractive woman. _There is a difference between having a man look at me in such a way that I know he finds me attractive and being looked at like I am simply a slab of beef to sate their lusts!_ Before meeting Harry she might not have been able to make that distinction, but now she did and while she liked the first, at least coming from one particular man, she didn't like the second at all. _Still, if the pervert has a Sacred Gear that could be a game changer…_

"Would bringing in Issei be worth wrecking our team dynamic?" Kiba asked eager to move with the change of subject after the earlier unpleasantness.

"And is it better to approach him now, figure out his Sacred Gear and start training him, or wait to see if his Sacred Gear makes having to put up with his antics worth it?" Akeno asked. While she found the perverts and their out of control hormones a source of amusement she knew Koneko didn't and Rias too didn't seem to like them either. Having the peerage all get along was just as important in her mind as adding to their overall strength.

"That's a good point. If it's just gotten to the point where we can tell he has a Sacred Gear at all, it's obvious that Issei doesn't have much in the way of magical potential, which would of course be helping the awakening process along. I'll need to think about that for the future." Rias thought for a moment then nodded slowly. "We have four more months at the least to work with. We'll observe Issei for a month, then make the decision to approach him or not based on what we're able to tell of what he might be holding. I'll also talk to Sona about him, and anyone else among the students who might have a Sacred Gear. We'll see how that goes."

The next day Rias once more came into school early. She had no reason to do so since Sona was always busy in the morning, she just did it out of habit and the fact that Akeno had woken up early enough to help make their boxed lunches for the day. The two of them walked through the school, saying hello to the other early arrivals and discussing in low tones any further ideas the two of them could come up with for training themselves and the others. Until they were able to find some enemies that could really push them however, they were at a standstill.

When they passed the teacher's lounge they were surprised to see Harry there through the open doorway. "Potter-sensei? What are you doing here so early?" Rias asked.

Harry looked up, smiling that little quirky smile of his that made both Akeno and Rias smile in turn. It was a sign, just as the way his eyes softened as he looked at them, that he, like Rias had thought about the day before, realized and appreciated the fact they were beautiful, but that he saw more than that too.

He was the only one in the lounge at the moment, the other teachers already on campus busy in their various classrooms. "I could say the same to you two. Lily wanted to head to school to help set up for a school event, one of the older grades are putting on a play and one of her friends is involved in it. That left me with time to kill, and I decided to come here rather than go back home. I suppose I'm just used to getting up by this point given all our early morning meetings."

While Rias flushed at that, feeling inordinately pleased by his words Akeno laughed happily. "In that case, sensei, I'll make us all up a pot of tea."

"And I think I might have just the thing to kill some time with sensei," Rias said, smiling and pulling out a copy of the strategy game Go. "I believe I mentioned to you once that this game was a much better example of what real warfare could be like? I had wanted to see what you thought about it, so what better time than now?"

Harry smiled too, waving Rias into a chair. "We'll just have to see, won't we?"

 **OOOOOOO**

The next week was incredibly busy for Harry, giving him little time to concern himself with much of anything beyond his own education in the local magical school and his work as a teacher. He had three different tests that week as part of said ongoing education, making him wonder why the locals liked giving out so many damned tests. Beyond that, he had gotten back a report on how the notes he had written on his lycanthropy had gone over, made corrections on Sunday, and send it out again on Monday.

He didn't even have time to spend with Lily let alone his students. Thankfully, when he asked for help Koneko was almost eager to pick up the slack with Lily. She earned herself more than one head rub during that week, and this also resulted in the first real heart to heart between the two of them after Koneko became the first Devil to actually be in the Potter's house a few days into the week.

Before that, she would pick up Lily and bring her to school where they would meet with Rias. Rias would spend an hour or so supervising the two younger girls' homework. This in turn let Harry use that extra time to get rid of any teacher related work he had to do that day. Today however instead of letting the club members watch her for him at the club, Harry offered to pay Koneko to come over to watch Lily at their home since he had no teacher-type work to do.

Entering the Potter's house Koneko was rather jumpy, looking around her, her hairs on end by the feel of the wards around her. While they lacked the raw power of the wards she had seen in her time as Rias's Rook down in Hell, they were somehow more reactive too. She couldn't explain how, her new studies in magic were not going well, but the wards somehow knew she wasn't part of the family that lived here. They therefore saw her as a threat.

Beyond that Koneko was somewhat bemused by how normal the house was. There was no sign of magic being used anywhere in sight, though Koneko could still feel the wards watching all around her. When Lily pulled her through to the backyard before dinner she saw that it was well-stocked with toys and as if it was used pretty constantly, but there was no sign on the trees or anything else of there being a werewolf living here. There also didn't seem to be any sign of a room for Harry to spend his full moon time in, which Koneko had thought was a must for any werewolf.

But then again, she had also thought that werewolves and nekomata were natural enemies. _Maybe Rias-sama was right, it really does depend on the individual. Though why she kept on mentioning the names Felicia and Jon Talbain, or what an OTP is, I have no idea._

Going back inside Koneko found herself in the living room. There was an ultramodern TV and assorted gadgets there along with some very nice, fluffy and durable looking furniture. This was a house made to be lived in, Koneko reflected, not looked at.

The kitchen doubled as the dining area and the amount of good cheer this place had seen practically radiated to her, with dozens of little pictures, art projects and other things there. The only oddity that stuck out in the kitchen was a single large tin up on top of the fridge. Marked 'cookies' the tin had immediately grabbed her attention during dinner. But when Koneko attempted to get at it after Harry went up to his office, her hands just seemed to slide off.

"Hehe, that's the magic tin. I get a cookie from that if I score higher than 90 on a test." Lily confided. She gestured to a chair from the small table set into the center of the kitchen. "I've tried to get into it too, but daddy did something to it so only he can touch it. You want to try again? Maybe you can get past whatever it is from on high?"

Koneko looked at the younger girl her eyes narrowed. "No. TV or play around?"

"MM!" Lily said, hoping up and grabbing Koneko's hand, pulling the unresisting nekomata behind her. "C'mon, we can do both."

Later that night Koneko discovered that even Lily's room was normal, sort of. There wasn't a lot of pink as Koneko had thought there would be given Lily's age, but then again her room hadn't had much pink in it when she was that age either. There was a large princess-style bed, but the sheets on it were from Princess Mononoke, an anime Koneko recognized from having watched it with Rias numerous times. Her alarm clock was an old beat up thing made entirely of wood, but seemed to work. There were also numerous pictures around, mostly of Harry and Lily, but with several other people too.

Looking at them Koneko recognized most of the people from Lily's description of her friends and family. She paused though as she noticed that while there were a lot of pictures with Harry in them, there were only a few of the ginger-haired woman Koneko knew to be Lily's mother. None of the Devils had heard anything about the woman other than her name and the fact that Harry was divorced, and those few pictures interested Koneko, given how rarely even Lily talked about the woman.

As if sensing her looking around Lily smiled and pointed at the pictures. "That's my Mother there with Daddy and I on a trip to the beach." The woman's bathing suit wasn't precisely conservative, but she didn't look comfortable in it. "Heheheh, we found out that Mother and I burn easily. Not fun afterward, though Daddy and I got into a competition with Teddy and Auntie Nym as to who could build the largest sandcastle."

From there Lily went around the room, pointing at different pictures and explaining what they were about. She only mentioned her mother about five more times, while she mentioned her father with almost every picture. There was no sadness or melancholy in her tone as she spoke about her mother, it was just a simple fact that she hadn't been as close to the woman as she was to her father.

Koneko asked at one point why that was. Lily's answer was a little more blunt and far more insightful about the matter than most children her age would have managed. "Mother wanted to have a child with Daddy, but she really didn't want to be a mommy. She didn't want to become her own mum I think. She wanted to live her life, and was close-minded to a lot of the things Daddy and I thought was fun. That was her choice." Lily shrugged. "I have some happy memories with her, but not many with just her. I hope she's happy, but I'm not going to let it bother me as long as I have Daddy."

Letting her face form an actual smile for once, Koneko hugged the little girl tightly. "Smart. Very smart."

"Heheheh," Lily said, self-consciously while hugging the taller girl back. "Mmm, you know you're a really good friend Koneko. Almost like a big sister."

Koneko stiffened at that, then a tender look came over her face for a second before disappearing behind her normal unresponsive face again. Without warning she lifted the tiny girl up, getting a squawk of indignation before she hurled Lily onto the bed. "Bedtime for little puppies now."

"Grrr." Lily growled, getting her legs under her on the mattress and then hurling herself forward. Koneko however caught her easily, plopping her back in bed.

After several more minutes of rough and tumble Lily began to grow tired, and Koneko finally got her under the covers. When she tried to pull away however, Lily's hands locked on her sleeve. "Story?"

Koneko cocked her head making an inquisitive sound and Lily let go with one hand to point to a book on the nightstand. It was a local children's book about Momotaro. Nodding her head Koneko picked up the book, and began to read. At first it was in the same monotone she spoke in, but Lily continually poked her side until Koneko gave in and began to read like she would in Harry's classes when he offered sweets.

This was the scene Harry saw when he poked his head in several minutes later. Lily had fallen asleep, and Koneko kept on reading for a time until she finished the page she was on. She then extricated herself from the bed and moved over to the doorway, where Harry smiled at her before gesturing her past him as he turned off the lights. "You really care for her, don't you Koneko?"

"Hmm," Koneko said, looking a little lost in thought now that the puppy had been put to bed. She followed Harry down the stairs and then into the kitchen rather than to the front door where she watched in surprise as he reached up to the untouchable tin and pulled out a large cookie the size of Koneko's face.

Harry winked at her as he handed it over, before pulling out his wallet and handing over some money too for the evening. "Don't tell Lily, yeah? But I figure you earned this."

Koneko took the cookie and money, putting the money away in one of her pockets before looking at the cookie thoughtfully. "Sensei, Lily called me a big sister."

Looking at the young girl thoughtfully Harry nodded slowly. _It looks as if Rias was right when she said that Koneko too had a tough life. What was the phrase she used, leave her past behind?_ "And that bothers you?"

Koneko waved her hand this way and that, indicating she was uncertain. "Always been the small girl, the little sister. It's…nice to be the bigger person." She bit into the cookie as Harry chuckled at that. Licking the crumbs on her face away she went on. "But my own big sister… she left me. Like…"

"Like Ginny decided to leave Lily and I?" When Koneko seemed to be struggling with how to reply Harry went on, sighing faintly. "I don't know what she's said about that, but it wasn't nearly as simple as that.". Then he reached out and began to rub Koneko's head. "But I've no doubt that Lily sometimes asks the same questions you do if she thinks about it: was it something I did that made her go away? It wasn't anything Lily did that made Ginny and I divorce, nor was it anything you did that made your sister leave."

Koneko had heard for years about her sister Kuroka's crime. Kuroka had gone mad through use of Senjutsu, taking in chakra from the world around them, which was tainted by the violence and hate the world had seen since its creation. She had killed her king and several of his peerage before running away, and hadn't been caught since. But while that had made Koneko leery of trying to use her abilities as a nekosha, a sub-variant of nekomata which could use senjutsu, it hadn't really made Kuroka leaving Koneko behind hurt any less. She didn't have very memories of Kuroka's king, who had taken them in, so his death at Kuroka's hands barely mattered to her, though it was the reason why every other nekomata in Hell at the time had been executed.

That incident, though Koneko barely cared about it, was also why the Youkai Association had nearly cut off all ties to the Devils. It was only because Serafall Leviathan, as Foreign Minister had quickly moved to have Hell pay reparations and had even pushed to hand over the Devils who had instigated that pogrom that they hadn't finished the process. But relations between the Devils and the Youkai were still very strained.

"Mm… Know what she did was wrong. Know she ran rather than pay for it. Still hurt she left me." Koneko said in her normal stilted mode of speech.

That didn't really tell Harry much at all about what had occurred, but looking at how tense Koneko was even under his petting her head Harry knew not to push. Instead he simply replied to what she said as best he could. "A person is only ever really in charge of his or her own actions Koneko." That wasn't quite true of course, but Harry felt the bit of oversimplification was necessary at this point. "Whatever your sister's actions, they do not reflect on you. Whatever she did, it wasn't caused by you. Her leaving does not reflect on you, just like what happened to Akeno's mother doesn't reflect on her being of mixed heritage."

Koneko blinked at that, unaware that Harry knew even that much of Akeno's background. Indeed, that was a bit more than Koneko had heard. All she and Kiba knew was that Akeno had been banished by the Himejima clan. Still, now that Potter-sensei said it, she could see there were some parallels in her thoughts to what Akeno might have been feeling.

Seeing Koneko thinking about what he said, Harry went on to give a bit more advice. "I can also say that I have some experience with horrible relatives. But because of them, I learned a secret or two to life. Would you like to hear one?"

When Koneko nodded minutely under his hand Harry went on. "Relatives are chosen for us by chance. Family members, we choose ourselves. They are anything from friends to loved ones and everything in between. All that matters is that they are always there for you and vice versa, that your life is better for them being a part of it. That is what makes a family."

Koneko nodded slowly again then abruptly hugged Harry around the middle, pressing her head into his stomach. "Do you see me like that, like the puppy does?"

Harry laughed gently, hugging the girl back. "I would love to have another daughter, and I would be proud to have one like you Koneko-chan. But I think you already have a family of your own, don't you?"

At that Koneko only could nod once more, although a part of her wondered if someday soon the Potter's family would merge with her own. They remained silent from then on while Koneko finished her cookie and Harry walked her to the door, offering to walk her home. She shook her head at that, hugged him one last time then left, with Harry watching her go.

Once she reached home, Koneko found Rias and Akeno pouring over some notes about their ongoing magical experiments. Both girls looked up with smiles on their faces as Koneko entered. "Welcome home Koneko-chan. Did you and Lily have fun?"

"Mm…" Koneko said walking into the room before she lunged forward, pulling both older girls into a hug that would have cracked a normal human's ribs. For once she didn't feel jealous as their chests pressed into the top of her head, she just reveled in their closeness.

Rias immediately returned the hug, followed a bare instant later by Akeno. "And what brought this on Koneko-chan?" Rias asked gently.

"Nothing bad. Just… just remembering. I'm very glad to be part of your family, Rias-sama." Koneko said, her voice carrying a lot of emotion despite coming out in her habitual monotone.

Akeno and Rias exchanged a startled glance. Then Rias smiled tenderly down at her youngest friend, continuing to hug her back just as tightly. "And I'm happy to have you be a part of my family Koneko-chan, never doubt it."

 **OOOOOOO**

Yet despite the other demands on his time, Harry did have some time in the morning and during the lunch period to spend with his other students. Kiba and he spent time together during lunchtime, their growing friendship a source of interest for many among the student body, while he sometimes met Rias and Akeno at school for some tea before classes began. One day during such a meeting Akeno dropped a small bombshell. "Did you know you've earned yourself a title among the students Potter-sensei?"

"What?" Harry and Rias asked as one which caused Akeno to giggle. After exchanging a bemused look with Rias, Harry went on. "What do you mean a title?"

"Ara, I thought it was self-explanatory," Akeno replied, her eyes twinkling merrily. Luckily both the nature of her face was such that even though her eyes twinkled Harry had no Dumbledore flashbacks for the moment. That would have ruined his appetitive and her day in that order. "Like Rias-sama and I are known as the Two Great Ladies, or Shitori-san is known as the Ultimate Kaichou. Or Kiba the Prince, or Reya and Koneko the …"

"Yes, thank you, you've made your point," Harry cut in, while Rias began to giggle smiling at her friend.

She had been rather territorial at first when Akeno started to accompany her in the mornings to these semi-impromptu meetings. Indeed, Akeno had worried that their attempt to share an interest in Harry would falter at this first hurdle. But seeing her friend once more acting normal, and of course the amusement Rias could get from watching Akeno try to get up early, was enough to compensate for Akeno butting in on the time she liked to spend with Harry. Though she was still uncertain about the idea of sharing him, she was also just as certain she didn't want her friendship with Akeno to weaken because of her slowly shifting relationship with Harry.

"So what's my title then come on, spit it out," Harry said as apathetically as he could.

"You are known as the Emerald-eyed Emperor among the girls while among the boys, the Dark Beast. Tales of your dealing with the Perverted Trio have spread after all." Akeno said, pinching her thigh to keep from giggling, though the pain of course just made her teasing more pleasurable.

"Oh, joy. Do you see the joy I feel about this in my face. Do you?" Harry asked, his eyes and faces as dull as he could make them.

"Ara, but I would have thought many a man would love~ to be in your position. Even other teachers would like to have the… following that you have, s~en~sei" Akeno said teasingly.

"Following? You don't mean…" Harry's eyes widened and he stared at Akeno in horror while Rias cracked up to one side.

"Yes Sensei, you, you Emerald-eyed Beast, now have fangirls. And even a few fanboys." Harry's groan upon hearing her words was everything Akeno could ask for.

 **OOOOOOO**

Thankfully for Harry, the week from hell came to an end, and he had even been able to schedule an appropriate reward: he and Lily were heading on a weekend trip to Kyoto. They were ostensibly doing so to look for accommodations for a similar Occult Research Club trip in a few weeks, but they were really going because Lily was fascinated by the history of the place on the magical side. It was the head of the Youkai Association, a community of intelligent nonhuman locals, like centaurs and mermaids. Only here they had Tengu, horse demons, Kitsune, intelligent monkeys, kappa, and of course, werewolves and nekomata like Koneko. This, coupled with the number of other things there made Kyoto doubly fascinating to Lily.

 _Though I doubt Koneko is associated with her own people any longer,_ Harry thought as he and his daughter bordered the train which would take them to Kyoto. The plan was to spend the night in a hotel in Kyoko, and begin their tours the early the next day.

 _I wonder though which came first, her association with Rias, or her being away from the rest of her race. Not, come to think of it, that there are that many nekomata in the first place._ One of the textbooks Harry had read had mentioned the Youkai Association races, and the nekomata, while highly thought of were also one of the races which had severe population issues.

For his part, Harry was just as interest to see the non-magical side of things as Lily. There were numerous temples and religious sites that he was interested in, as well as something called the Philosopher's Walk, which the book on mediation and auras mentioned as a perfect place to perfect one's inner peace. On the other side of things there was also the Inari shrine, which was supposed to be a sight to see.

Thus early on Saturday Harry roused his daughter, and their exploration began. They went to several of the local temples, including the famous Inari shrine, and the Silver and Gold temples. They walked the Philosophers' Walk, went to the Nara Deer Park, which Lily enjoyed, thought the deer did not. They then took a class in how to make local sweets, and spent several hours in the Manga museum, which Harry knew would be a major reason why Rias was interested in Kyoto. The Monkey Park on the other hand showed that monkeys didn't care what either Potter smelled like, and Lily had a lot of fun with the mischievous critters.

"Well, were done on this side of things I think," Harry said, while standing still, allowing a park guide peel away the last monkey from his back. "Shall we go on to the other side of the tracks tomorrow?"

"I want to meet some others like Koneko. They're soft and fluffy," Lily said authoritatively.

Harry laughed, and the two of them walked back to their hotel for the evening. The next day Harry followed directions he had been given from one of his examiners. They slipped through a few alleyways and eventually found themselves near the edge of the oldest portions of Kyoto, outside a historical inn.

Entering the two of them were greeted by two of the locals instead of being greeted by a bartender as Harry had been told they. More than that, once the door closed behind them both Potters could from the smell that the two people facing them were not altogether human.

One of them in fact smelled like another werewolf. He was a tall, broad shouldered young man, possibly a little younger than Harry or maybe the same age. He had with oddly gray hair, heavy shoulders, and a sort of punk rocker outfit along with a bandanna around his head with yellow eyes completing the image.

His eyes also said that he recognized what Harry and Lily were two. He locked eyes with Harry, who stepped forward slightly, pushing Lily a little bit behind him as he stared at the other young man. The two of them remained that way with tension crackling between them, and then the other a werewolf bowed his head in submission. "Alpha."

Harry simply nodded in acknowledgment. With that both of them turned away as if nothing had happened, and Harry examined the second person there to greet them.

This one wasn't getting off as much of a sent as the younger man, but Harry could still smell something like a cow. _A demon cow?_ Demon cows were a mythological demon from Japan, which were basically the Japanese equivalent of minotaurs. Except in Japan their birthrates leaned heavily towards girls rather than men as had been the case in Greece.

That was certainly the case here. The woman was short. If you discounted her horns, the top of her head only came up to Harry's chest, making her quite a bit shorter than Rias or even Akeno, but she was also almost as busty as Akeno was,. But whereas Akeno's breasts were almost superhumanly perky given their size, this woman's chest was much fuller, almost drooping under its own weight. This woman's chest was exactly the kind most men thought of it if they heard the terms milkmaid or wet-nurse.

To go with her amazing chest the woman had long well cared for black hair, and doe-like brown eyes. She had stood beside the other man making no move to talk until the confrontation between the two men were finished and when she stepped forward to speak, a smile appeared on her face. Even her voice was gentle, matching the look in her eyes. "Harry Potter? Lily Potter? My name is Alexa and myself and Loup here were sent to welcome you to the Youkai Association."

Harry nodded at her, his eyes flicking back over to the man who again nodded his head. "Loup Garou," he said, his voice a deep rumble.

Harry smiled, reaching forward and clasping forearms with the other man, squeezing briefly. "Harry, or Mr. Potter if you are feeling formal. After all, while I might be an alpha you're not part of my pack, and I've never really gone into the whole werewolf society bollocks."

Nodding his head at that, Loup's eyes flicked to Lily. Instead of dealing with meeting a werewolf as calmly as Harry had who glared back at him, baring her teeth in an automatic reaction until he nodded at her. At that she calmed down immediately.

 _Hmm, I think it's time soon to sit with Lily down and talk about how she needs to start controlling her instincts. Maybe teacher some mental exercises too, then move on to defending her soul. That way, when it comes time she can build from her foundation up rather than building from the top down._ Harry wasn't looking forward to that, but it was better that Lily have some modicum of control over her budding instincts.

"Thank you for your welcome," Harry said aloud, smiling as he turned back to the woman correctly interpreting that the other werewolf wasn't a very talkative person and that she was actually the head of the duo. "But what have we done to deserve a formal welcome like this?"

"Your notes about who to deal with your lycanthropic curse have already made the rounds among some of our subspecies," Alexa said delicately, her eyes flicking over to Loup for a moment, then down her own chest. Doing so Alexa wiggled in a manner that if she had at all been Harry's type might've caused him to have issues in the trouser department. But she wasn't, and Harry kept his eyes firmly above the neckline.

"Both of my brothers and all of my sisters have had issues with their more animalistic instincts. Your books helped immensely. Instead of trying to seal their instincts off, they work with them, accept them now, and are more controlled, more human for it. So if you'll follow us we'll give you a brief tour of the area."

Nodding Harry followed the other two as they began to talk about the Youkai Association. Or rather Alexa talked, Loup simply walked beside them. "The Youkai Association came into being legally, that is we were legally accepted as a separate organization, by the Onmyodo Government directly following World War 2. Not many know this, but we actually started organizing before the Great War. It was only the heroics of individual heroes during the magical side of WW2 that we gained recognition as true people."

By this point they had passed through the inn out into the streets beyond which were hidden, Alexa explained, under a series of illusions that worked much the same as wards would in hiding the area. Walking around they saw numerous people with non-human features. One man walked by with a horse's head. Another was an elephant that was walking on two feet. He wore clothing that Harry thought looked like something Padma or Parvati would wear, so Harry decided the being was a woman, though he wasn't certain about that.

"For a long while the various youkai fought against one another just as they did humans for territory or resources. But about the time of the Great War, a clan of kitsune, Fox Youkai, discovered a method to connect directly to the ley lines below Kyoto as ancient Inari herself had. With that magic they started to gather other groups of Youkai who wished for peace, protecting them. Even today the leader of the Association is a kitsune: the great Yasaka-sama."

A sound from one side caused Harry's eyes to flick to Loup, who seemed to be flushing a little, looking straight ahead. When he saw Harry's eyes on him, he looked away quickly, causing Harry to smirk.

"The area around Kyoto quickly became the center of a growing peace movement, which welcomed numerous examples of many non-human species from Japan, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, even as far away as India. By the time World War 2 rolled around, the association was a powerful force. We helped patrol the areas around Kyoto, and worked to come to an agreement with the more pacifistic groups among the Japanese Onmyouji to help defend Japan against invasion."

By this point Alexa's voice had fallen into the kind of drone that told Harry she worked as a tour guide. Luckily for Harry, Lily seemed fascinated by the dozens of different nonhuman species they could see all around them. _There's no equivalent of this place anywhere in Europe, that's for certain._

"Of course we never worked with the mundanes," Alexa went on blithely, ignoring the fact she had lost one of her two listeners. "After all given what the army was doing in its wars of conquest that would have put a severe strain on our community. And when MACUSA attempted to invade as part of its mission to wipe out all Asiatic magic, we helped defend against them most effectively. No magical or physical assault launched by MACUSA was able to gain any headway once they attempted to move inland. Since they had already wiped out most of the more belligerent groups, MACUSA was willing to go along with the mundanes when peace was declared.

"That is why the Onmyouji agreed to give us our independence, and to protect our rights against the ICW. Many countries who have gone along with that body have laws which prohibit seeing our species as intelligent after all." Alexa finished her cheerful drone turning a little pointed.

"Don't look at me when you say that," Harry said rolling his eyes. "I tried to get those laws changed numerous times back in England, believe me. Money might talk, but not if someone else is willing to stuff just as much money into people's ears to stop them hearing your message."

Alexa smiled politely at that then changed the subject. "One thing that we had to agree to with the Onmyodo was to relocate the majority of our people here to the forests around Kyoto. There are small packets of Youkai elsewhere, primarily around religious sights, but our numbers are concentrated here to a far greater degree. We still have agreements with the Onmyouji, we hide their presence from other nonhuman groups and they hide ours from the ICW."

"Other nonhuman groups?" Harry asked his voice casual even as his eyes sharpened.

"You know, those Johnny-come-lately Catholic groups, the Devils, Fallen and Angels and so forth," Alexa said, waving her hand airily. "I'm no historian but there was some kind of conflict between you Onmyouji and them right after their own war ended. No idea what happened but those Factions prefer not to admit you all exist, and the Onmyouji return the feeling as much as possible. It's a way to keep the peace I suppose, though it's not like we're get along with any of those Factions."

"Ah, those," Harry replied, his voice still calm even as his mind worked. It was apparent that while Alexa knew Harry was a foreigner she didn't understand the significance of that in terms of his basic understanding. That and she was a bit of an airhead in Harry's estimation.

However that bit of info she'd just let drop was interesting to say the least. _What did Hermione say? Something about local histories near Rome and Israel looking like someone was trying to cover something up? That gives me a starting point to learn more about what Rias and the others are rather than just what they can do and what kind of people they are._

Not being religious at all Harry couldn't care less if the girls were Fallen or Devils (he discounted their being angels given Akeno's Akeno-ness and Rias's intermittent moments of flirtation). He knew what kind of people they were beyond those labels. That was enough for Harry despite the issues their auras had caused him.

At this point in the tour, they had passed through most of the city and began to see more and more actual forest. Forest which, Harry realized with a start, came a lot closer to the city of Kyoto here than he would have expected.

Alexa's next words explained why that was. "This forest is ostensibly a part of a national park. But the entire expanded park is watched over by Youkai and the vast majority of it is hidden under a number of illusions, some subtle, some not. Loup here," Alexa said, gesturing to the younger man. "Is going to college as a botanist and Park manager, and he's not the only one. Only Youkai or those we allow in can enter. Given your status as an Onmyouji, and the help your notes on your method to combat our turned instincts gave some of our more volatile members, you are allowed to enter if you wish."

"Would you like to explore?" Harry looks down at Lily, who was hopping around excitedly.

"MMM Can't wait!" Lily replied staring out into the forest beyond where the city merged with it. Yesterday had been fun, but there was only so much touristy stuff a girl her age and energy could take.

"Lily?" At her daddy's look Lily shook her head, still staring out avidly into the forest.

Harry looked over at Loup, cocking an eyebrow at him as he gestured to the forest. But Loup thought for a moment then shook her head his head, gesturing back the way they came. "I've got a job to do," he grunted.

"Our leaders would like to talk to you later on," Alexa said, looking up from an old type of pager.

Why she wasn't using a cellphone was something Harry questioned, but didn't think that big a deal. Electronics hadn't worked at Hogwarts after all, so it wasn't that large a stretch that the warded areas of Kyoto would have the same issue. _Although, I doubt the epicenter is anywhere near the actual city, or it would be noticeable beyond the illusions._

He came back to the here and now when Alexa went on. "Would a dinner meeting be all right for you?"

"Certainly," Harry said, looking around at the ancient seeming city. "But first tell me, how did you protect this area or the other allied territories from bombardment during the war?" He knew that Diagon Alley had taken numerous hits during the Blitz. Kyoto, while a religious site, had been bombarded late in the war once the Sea of Japan was under allied control.

Alexa smiled wanly. "With great difficulty. We used mammoth illusions and active redirection rituals. From what we're taught, we had to have mixed groups of Onmyouji and Youkai on hand 24/7 to direct and power the ritual. And even then bombs still got through, though enough didn't hit the city to make a lot of the mundanes believe in divine intervention."

Clapped her hands as she finished answering Harry's question, Alex winked at Lily. "Now, if you'll follow me I can lead you to one of the entrances to the forest. I also need to tell you what kind of markers to look out for while moving through the forest. While most Youkai have learned to get along with others, many are territorial, and werewolves, such as you Potter-san, would not be welcome in their territories."

Nodding at that Harry asked, "How many werewolves beyond Garou-kun are there around here?"

"None, hence your lack of welcome from various groups. Were-creatures tend to stay to their own enclaves save for herd-based creatures such as my own race, and werewolves are not common in Japan at all." Alexa replied while Loup twitched at the -kun designation but didn't argue with it. Alexa didn't notice this little byplay, simply going on to describe the red and white marks to look for to make certain they didn't enter any area they shouldn't.

By the time that was done Loup had broken off to head back the way they came and the three remaining stood underneath the awning of the forest. Even the nearest association buildings were blocked out by the surrounding trees, only a few of their roofs visible through the canopy of branches above them.

Both Lily and Harry were staring around them now, and Harry's nose was actually twitching slightly. They hadn't been able to head out into the wilds like this since their arrival here in Japan. Parks like the ones they could get to from their house for a few hours or so just were not the same as a nature preserve like this, they were too ordered, too touched by human hands. Nothing at all like the forests they could get to in England or the rest of Europe which were hidden under the Notice-Me-Not wards of the wizarding world. Here, while it was evident the forest saw a lot of activity it was also a wild forest, showing few signs of that save for the trails here and there.

"From here if you climb one of the trees you would be able to see Yasaka-sama's mansion. I will call ahead, and tell them to expect you around 7:30-ish?" Alexa asked.

Harry nodded. "How far away is it?"

"About six or seven kilometers away I think," Alexa said. "I'm a city girl, so I just use the local teleportation array."

"We can do that easy," Lily said, now literally hopping up and down eagerly like a spring as she looked around.

"That we can," Harry chuckled, laying a calming hand on her head, but he too was interested in exploring. As werewolves, they really did have to feed their wild side occasionally.

Even so, he noted the idea of a teleportation array. That was one of the local examples of the Onmyodo version of runic arrays which he hadn't read about just yet. He wondered if they were like the Floo network, or if they felt more like portkeys. _Regardless, you've got an antsy seven year old girl to wear out Harry old boy, best you get to that now._

Using his phoenix bracelet, he hung a Tempus spell on his arm set to go off at around 5 _._ Since it was barely pushing mid-morning at this point, they had quite a bit of time before they would have to head towards this Yasaka's mansion. "Okay lovey we're good. Race you!" With that Lily and Harry bolted off, running easily through the woods.

How long they raced through the words, chasing one another through and around trees, streams and hidden gullies, Harry didn't know. Eventually however his Tempus spell went off and he started to steer them back onto one of the paths through the area, heading towards the distant mansion.

They walked hand-in-hand now, Lily chattering excitedly about the number of animals they had seen, or a particularly pretty butterfly which had incidentally been the size of her head that she had followed around the woods for a time. The fat the butterfly seemed to be enjoying the chase just as much as she was had made it even more interesting. Harry smiled throughout it all, having had quite a bit of fun and making a mental note to continue to try to associate further with the Youkai Association. This forest was just too much fun not to come back to.

Their idyllic time in the woods ended around the time Harry began to see signs for the mansion. Abruptly the noise of the forest gave way to a loud noise in the distance, audible only to the two of them thanks to their enhanced senses. It sounded like a series of loud crashes and banging sounds followed by a distant rumble like thunder. As they moved forward cautiously Harry quickly used a local spell from the Onmyodo school of Earth, or body, school to further enhance his hearing.

With that he was able to make out the sound of actual gunfire, along with other sounds of combat somewhere in the distance. _That sounds as if it's coming from the mansion we were supposed to be heading towards. What's going on, and does it have anything to do with our being here?_ With the life Harry had led this wasn't actually an egotistical statement, rather it was a question showing a remarkable understanding of how fate seemed to work.

Harry pulled Lily to a stop, holding one finger up to his mouth as the Elder Wand slid from its hidden holster on his forearm. He felt the now familiar rush of power, of connection the wand always gave him, but ignored it for now. "I think something's going on Lily, so we're going to disappear for a bit."

Lily nodded, and stood still while Harry cast a few spells over her and himself with the Elder wand. Nor did he return the want to his hidden holster up his sleeve. He kept it in his hand, and even worked out his other hand, whose wrist held the Phoenix bracelet that was his local focus. While he had mastered a lot of the combat spells he had learned before coming to Japan to the point where he didn't need a focus for them, he couldn't use any of the local spells yet without them, and they were worth using two foci for.

The sounds became clearer as they continued now, stalking through the woods rather than hiking. New smells came to them through the forest, of burning wood and other things. Harry began to think he should just send Lily directly home despite the upset stomach using a portkey for that far a port would give her. He was just about to do so, reaching forward to touch Lily on the shoulder, when a new sent reached his nose. A new sound reached both their ears as well. The noise was the pattering of small feet, and the smell that of a fox, a very afraid fox whose scent was coming towards them.

Harry pulled Lily to a halt, staring out into the woods as he tried to orient on the sound and smell. A second later he did so, and saw a little blonde-haired girl around Lily's age dressed in a priestess outfit racing through the woods. She had foxlike ears sticking up from her head, and a tail poking out behind her that matched the ears and her scent. Her face from what he could see in the shadows of the trees looked frightened. **Very** frightened.

Harry's heart went out to her immediately, and he took a few steps to the side to put himself almost in front of her only to pause. Through the woods behind the little girl came two men, their scents almost drowned out by the scent of the fearful girl. One wore a long red cloak and held a staff which must have been slowing his progress through the woods. He used it to fire the local equivalent of stunning spells at the girl, who dodged this way and that.

The second man was an older man who looked human except for the black wings popping out of their backs and a long, bulbous nose. Behind him came two more, younger men of the same race but with smaller wings. None of them were using those wings though, just running after the girl, laughing and shouting, having a grand old time.

The sight of that reminded Harry of young, inexperienced Death Eaters on their first raids and he scowled. _Those must be Tengu. Is this some kind of coup maybe? With outside help if that mage is a local. He doesn't look it though, and the locals certainly don't use staffs except for… what were they called? Some kind of monks from Shikoku._

Setting that mystery aside for now, Harry cast cutting spells with both the Elder Wand and his other hand. The spells flew over the girl's head, bisecting both of the first two men at the waist, hurling them backwards in crimson torrents. Two Reductos followed, splattering the astonished faces of the young Tengu into paste while hurling their bodies backward.

At the same time the little girl had run into Lily, who had moved with her father putting herself directly in the girl's path while Harry dealt with her pursuers. Both girls had tumbled to the forest floor but Harry quickly knelt, pulling them both to their feet and smiling gently at the girl, the spells that had been concealing the two of them fading as he did. "Hello little one, can you tell me what's going on?"

"Who… who…" the little girl stuttered, before sniffing the air. "You smell like a wolf," she said slowly calming down.

"Yes and you smell like Fox," Lily said, smiling at the girl encouragingly and taking her hands in hers. Then she leaned into the other girl's neck, sniffing deeply while she hugged the other girl.

"Remember what I said to you the other day Lily," Harry said admonishingly, hoping that his amused tone would help calm the girl down. "It's not polite to smell other people like that in public."

It worked too as the girl giggled wetly at the little interplay, calming down immediately as her arms went around Lily. Seeing this Harry went on, still speaking gently even as his enhanced hearing heard the noise of other people charging through the woods towards them. "What's your name little one?"

"K, Kunou." The girl answered, looking up at the tall man who had just saved her. The two of them smelled so alike that they had to be daddy and daughter in her mind, which coupled, with how they were acting toward her, helped calm Kunou down further.

"Kunou-chan hmm? That's a nice name. Well Kunou-chan my name is Harry, and this little red-headed bag of mischief is called Lily. So, can you tell me what's going on?"" Harry asked, ruffling Kunou's hair.

Lily just kept on hugging the other girl, glaring around them into the woods. This wasn't the first time Lily had come close to violence, and she knew both to keep calm, and that her daddy would handle it. He always did.

"I, I don't know. All I know is one of my guards suddenly collapsed, the door banged open, and those people were there trying to grab me. I leaped out the window, saw two others there get knocked down by Loup-san and I heard fighting everywhere!" Kunou whimpered. "One of them shouted 'that's her, we need her alive', I guess it was a kidnapping attempt? Momma always warned me about strangers because of that kind of thing, but I never thought it would happen in our very home!"

"I see. And your mother is?" Harry asked though he felt he could guess.

"Momma's name is Yasaka! She's the head of the Youkai Association, and the only living Kyuubi no kitsune!" the blonde girl said proudly, before wilting a little, turning in Lily's arms to look back the way she came. "I hope she's okay…."

"I'm sure if you're mom is the leader of the Association she can look after herself. But also think I should go and check on that." Harry said, making that decision right there. "Lily, I think it's time for you to take our new friend here back home."

Kunou blinked as that, and then started to back away but Lily kept a firm hold of her.

"Don't worry," Harry said softly, "I'll tell your mother where you've gone, you'll be safe there while I make sure your mother is safe too."

The certainty in Harry's Place and the caring tone worked its magic, and the girl calmed down.

Just then other people, around thirty of them burst through the tree around them shouting, "There she is, get her!"

Most of them were of the same appearance as the earlier Tengu, but four of them were different beyond the fact they looked human. Two of them were wielding bows and arrows made of blue light for one, and green for the other. They looked enough alike to be twins. They were sallow faced, dark eyes deep-set with lank black hair falling in greasy-looking curls to their shoulders. Another man with them wore the same red robes as the magic users but didn't have a staff. Instead he seemed to have some kind of continual fire spell working all around his arms and legs.

But it was the last one who was the most striking in appearance. He was huge for one thing, taller than Harry by at least four inches, making him at least seven feet tall, and he was so broad in the shoulders he could have made two of Harry. He had on a modern reconstruction of the armor old Roman Legionnaires wore, with a dark blue cloth undershirt and pants to go with long silver-blue hair and a lightly tanned skin.

Quickly conjuring a Protego shield between them and the oncoming fire, Harry spoke to his daughter, not looking away from the oncoming would-be kidnappers. "Lily, your daddy has to go to work now. I'll see you home okay? You know what to do."

Lily nodded and still hugging the kitsune girl while whispering the words, "Potter Home!" At that phrase the emergency portkey Lily wore as a necklace whenever she was out of their house activated, tugging both of them through time and space to Harry and Lily's home.

At the same instant the children disappeared Harry turned back to the Elder Wand waving to one side languidly as he conjured up several wood and water golems using the lock spell. They hurled forward to one side, while he used his free hand to conjure several illusion spells. One of them was of the two girls racing off past him through the woods at the same time the originals disappeared.

Almost instantly all his illusion dissipated, impacting a spell already on the area, but the two of the girls shimmered then came back, looking even more real than they had a moment before. Harry didn't have time to ponder what that was about as his Protego came down under the impact of the kidnapper's spells and the man in armor raced forwards. "Get after those two I'll handle this would-be hero! I'm going to show you why getting in the way of real heroes is a bad idea!"

"Hai Heracles-sama!" shouted one of the two energy bow wielders, moving with the others in an attempt to get around Harry.

"I don't see a hero, I see a simple kidnapper," Harry said coldly, his green eyes glimmering. Then he was suddenly moving, dashing not toward the other man who had called him out, but to the side. He lashed out at the ground with a Bombarda, which shattered the ground for several yards. A quick conjuration spell caught the shrapnel, changing it into spears. Several of the men died then, impaled by the spears. More than a dozen were now occupied with Harry's wood and water golems, trading swords or spear blows with them.

Harry then apparated back to where he had been standing when the attackers first showed up as the man called Heracles leaped forward faster than Harry would have thought anyone could move, his fist smashing into a tree right behind where Harry had been standing. The tree exploded, the entire tree going up like it had been stuffed full of TNT. "You're not the only one who can make things explode you bastard!"

Smiling grimly, Harry lashed out with a cutting spell at the armored behemoth as he turned and charged, only to watch the spell not penetrate the man's skin. A local spell targeted at the tree behind him made it come alive for a moment, grabbing at the man and letting Harry duck away from several magic bolts shaped like arrows. He then had to conjure up a Protego to block a blast of fire as wide as his body which went through the area where he had been standing, shot towards him by the magic user who had been wielding the continual fire spell.

That opened up the fire wielder however to a Reducto which caught him in the center of his chest. The fire wielder tried to use his flame powers to defend himself, but the Reducto, an air based spell, went right through his attempted shield like it wasn't even there, smashing into and through his chest.

But then Harry's Protego shield vanished as Heracles punched it. Again the entire shield exploded, blowing Harry back into a tree with enough force to give any normal man a concussion. With Harry it just made him shake his head. The bigger problem was the sheer hail of blue and green magic arrows coming toward him. He was still able to dodge most of them, but two impacted his side.

Harry hissed, but kept moving, his wounds already healing. At the same time most of the remaining

 _Time to up the ante._ With his free hand he conjured more Mizu (water) attacks, which he began to direct, setting them to attacking all of his opponents like massive dragon heads. At the same time, Harry reached into himself and began to pull on that portion of his soul that was his inner werewolf.

Between one moment and the next two things happened. Heracles charged through the explosion caused from the destruction of Harry's Protego, lashing out with a punch that connected with Harry's chest. And Harry changed even as he was blasted away by Heracles's blow. "Hah, feel the power of the great Heracles's Variant Detonation!"

"Ow." Harry deadpanned, pushing himself up from the rubble of a tree he'd smashed through. While he was still obscured by the dust and debris he used another Onmyodo spell on the ground around them. From both the ground and the trees around him sprang numerous spikes, slaying several of the Tengu. Then he lashed out with the Elder Wand, sending a rain of cutting spells towards Heracles, including one Sectumsempra, the cutting spell Severus Snape had created which had been labelled dark, and even the Entrails Expelling curse.

Blinking, Heracles just took all the spells, only noticing the Sectumsempra as it cut through his clothing to make a few small cuts on his body. "What the hells? So you're not even human, you're one of those werewolf freaks?"

Then he blinked again as Harry cast a spell he had learned from trying to copy some of the Weasley twins product. In this case, it was the Peruvian Darkness Powder. In spell form the spell was "Perilamvánei skotádi (Encompassing Dark)!" It wasn't quite as impenetrable as the powder, but it still blinded everyone in the area as if deep night had fallen.

Under cover of that darkness, Harry closed with the Tengu. Where before they had been facing a somewhat tall foreign magic user with a decent but not altogether unusual build they were now facing a werewolf in a darkness like it was midnight on a cloudy night. And even if some of them might have faced were-creatures before, Harry's form was very different.

While his become larger, both in height and the width was understandable, what wasn't was the fact he still looked relatively human in many ways. He stood upright on his legs, he hadn't become hunchbacked or gone down on all fours. Harry's fur was short and curly rather than lanky and uncontrolled. His muzzle wasn't nearly as pronounced, more a mix of a human and a wolf's than a pure wolfs. But he still had claws, speed and immense strength.

One crow-demon found this out to his cost as a punch from Harry ripped his head off his shoulders. Another died with his throat torn out, and a third was sent reeling by a kick. In one moment the remaining Tengu had lost more than half their number. Panic set in among the survivors, blind and now hunted by a werewolf, as he had wanted. _A scared enemy is an enemy which has already partly lost._

With that in mind Harry made their day-turned night worse by doing something which, coupled with his willingness to kill, had caused a lot of people back in England to worry about him going dark. He used one of the Unforgivables, in this case Imperio.

Hermione and Harry had a 'discussion' at one point about the methods Harry was willing to use when combating the Death Eaters and anyone else who threatened his friends. Hermione felt that it was the fact they wouldn't stoop to the methods of the Death Eaters that allowed them to retain the moral high ground. That to stay to the Light they needed to fight their enemies without killing them. That in fact taking the power of life and death on their own hands would make them no better than their enemies.

Harry argued that it was the cause they fought for that allowed them to say they were on the side of the angels. "To believe that a soldier who killed in defense of the innocent was the same as a terrorist who would kill for his cause is the height of stupidity!"

While he would never use the AK, after all destroying a soul like that was one of the most evil things someone could do and he still had nightmares of what had happened to his mother when she was killed by Riddle, Harry felt there was a time and a place for the other Unforgivables. Using Imperio just made good tactical sense at times, since it could turn an enemy into a momentary ally and there was a lot of things you could do in a battle with that.

Even the Crucio could cause panic among a group of enemies, though Harry had only rarely used it. While Harry could kill about as dispassionately as any man, he lacked the urge to cause pain that one had to have to use Crucio. Most of the time anyway, there had been a few Death Eaters he had despised enough to use it on.

Hermione had looked at him and sighed, shaking her head. "I suppose I can understand your point Harry. I don't like it, but I can understand it. But you have to realize how disconcerting it is. You say that kind of thing, but soldiers Harry have to go through training to allow them to kill so dispassionately. You've never been trained. You just are willing to consider it so easily. That bothers me a lot."

"I understand, and it should Hermione, you're a much better person than I am in many ways." Hermione made to protest, but Harry went on before she could speak. "But society needs people like me Hermione, barbarians to defend it from those who would tear it down."

Looking at him, Hermione had sighed again, then began to giggle. "Or better, to keep using your earlier analogy. 'Though I might be on the side of angels, never assume that I am one of them.'"

Harry had looked at her askance his eyes narrow slits. "That sounded like a quote. Was I supposed to recognize it or something?"

"Ugh, well at least I know what we're going to binge watch when this is all over. I will introduce you to the wonderful world of Sherlock Holmes, Harry…"

The Imperio was nearly invisible and flew from Harry's offhand to impact the would-be kidnapper using the bow made of blue energy as he came around a tree, the light allowing him to see around him, but blinding him to anything beyond its glow. Astonishing Harry somewhat the man didn't seem to have any defense, it was like he had just used the spell on someone without any magical protection or willpower.

The next moment after a whispered order two more Tengu died to arrows from one of their comrades, bright flashes of green in the darkness. This proved too much for them, and they broke, scattering through the darkness.

"Where the fuck are you!?" Heracles bellowed lashing out and exploding anything he hit, shattering trees and stones and even the ground in an effort to see what was going on.

"Damn it Euclian, what the fuck's going on with you?" shouted the blue energy bow user, ducking away from a bright green arrow which smacked into a tree right next to him. the arrow shattered some of the tree, but that was all.

Harry would have finished them right then, he still had a few seconds before his darkness spell faded, but just then there was a bass roar of fury and rage in the distance. Through the darkness and the forest foliage Harry caught a glimpse of something massive bursting out of the distant mansion. Hopping up through the forest he paused as his head broke out of the canopy.

The thing which had burst out of the mansion was a massive fox, a kitsune he supposed. It stood at least twenty stories tall, and had nine fox tails flowing from its rear like a massive cresting wave of white, red and gold. As Harry watched the fox shot out attacks all around it. Lightning came from two tails, fire from several more.

But what Harry was seeing with his eyes paled into insignificance in comparison to what he was feeling with his magical senses. The ley line under Kyoto was alive now, pouring its power into someone in that mansion, most likely the fox. Or so Harry thought at first. As he watched however, ignoring the fact the darkness spell was dissipating, he realized whoever the ley line was powering was also moving now, coming towards them. _Oh that can't be good. Thank goodness Sirius and Tonks helped me to get used to speaking in this form!_

Deciding to nip a possible problem in the bud, Harry cast Sonorous on himself and shouted at the top of his lungs. Getting the words out of his maw, which was half wolf, half man, was a little difficult, but nowhere near a difficult as it had been when he'd been bitten. "Attention Lady Yasaka, this is Harry Potter! Your daughter and mine are safe, I transported them away from here and will go and get them the moment this battle is over. Please don't attack me, I'm have busy enough day as it is."

"Fuck you mean that little bitch is gone!?" Heracles bellowed from just below Harry's perch. He had just a second leap away before the tree he'd been on exploded.

"Damn it Hera-kun, without that brat we've got no leverage!" Shouted another voice, its owner invisible through the trees and given the fact Harry was in no position to look around at the moment. All he could tell about it was that it sounded young, vindictive yet also cutesy, and female.

Thanks to his werewolf durability the explosion barely registered, but the impact hurled him through the air to land awkwardly on a small rocky outcropping on the lip of a little river. He stood up swiftly shaking his head but met Heracles's charge by using a Glacius on the ground between them. _If he has some kind of magical resistance, then I just have to attack him indirectly._ He idly threw a a tickling charm at them an to see if that relatively benign spell would get through, but nothing happened. "Glacius, Glacius, Mizu, Glacius." He intoned, trapping Heracles on a hundred feet of ice for just a moment, which gave him time to think about trying to find a non-direct method to kill Heracles.

 _He's got immense magical resistance, and since he doesn't even look singed from those explosions he causes, he's got immense durability too. Maybe another mental assault then?_ Just to make sure, a series of Confringos lashed out from both of Harry's hands one impacting the ground underneath Heracles, the other smashing into his chest. While the first made Heracles lose his footing, the other didn't do anything simply rocking him slightly.

"Kinzoku (Metal)," Harry said next, using the Elder Wand once more to cast a local spell ignoring as he had throughout the battle its siren song of power. The wand enjoyed battles like this, which made it very different from his Phoenix Wand, which always seemed more resigned if Harry had to describe the feeling.

A long, wide spear of Metal appeared and Harry sent it forward as fast as his imagination could carry it. Even so while it penetrated Heracles's armor as the man pushed himself to his feet, it didn't penetrate his skin. _Why the heck was a Sectumsempra able to cause some scratches, but that wasn't able to pierce his skin?_

Heracles growled, grabbing at the metal but Harry was still in control of it, and he quickly gestured, wrapping the metal around the man's wrists.

"Hah!" Heracles bellowed, and from his wrists came still more explosions, ripping apart Harry's conjured metal.

This hadn't actually broken Harry's control of said metal however, and the bits flew into Heracles's face, blinding him for a moment from another spell, this time an Incendio. The flamethrower like attack hit, but again simply dissipated. _Damn it, it won't even light his clothing on fire? And given whatever happened to my illusions before, I can't say I could even use them to try and lead him off. Maybe some spells aimed to rattle his brain box?_

Just then Harry turned as a sound behind him took his attention away from his current problem. Before he could finish his turn a blade stabbed into his side, going deep into his kidney and out his front.

The wielder of that blade was a very good young looking woman around Harry's own age if Harry had to guess with blonde hair, blue eyes and a trim, athletic figure. Her face was marred however by the sneer on her face, and she seemed to be limping somewhat from wounds to her legs from some earlier battle. She wore red enameled plate armor of some kind over her chest, with the same kind of shirt underneath it in the same dark blue as Heracles.

She had snuck up on him through the woods, her scent covered by the blood and viscera already in the air. "You might've ruined our plans but don't think you're going to get away monster! My Sacred Blacksmith holy sword will end you, you freak!"

Ignoring the pain as his wound instantly began to heal Harry reached out with the hand not wielding the Elder Wand and grabbed the woman by the head. She tried to dodge but Harry's reflexes were way too fast for her to move away. "I don't think your sword's doing nearly as much as you seem to think it should," he said dryly. The woman barely had a chance to gasp before a point blank Confringo blew her head into paste.

Grimacing Harry pulled out the sword, watching as it disintegrated while his body continued to heal. _So they can break through my durability, but unless they get an immediately fatal blow in, holy weapons don't do much. And the magical endurance issue was only a problem with Herakles._

 _"_ Jeanne! You mother fucker! I will kill you, I will kill you and rape your corpse!" Heracles bellowed, surging to his feet. A dark orange glow began to emanate from his body and he gestured forward. The glow went as he directed it, acting like an attack spell and soaring toward Harry, who dodged at the last second.

At the same time Heracles was bellowing his rage, the last two enemies Harry could see, the two energy bow wielders who were dueling each other through the woods, were dealt with in no uncertain terms. One was suddenly impaled by the horn of a unicorn which had just transformed from a rock of all things.

The second lasted an instant longer just long enough to stare at the body of his former comrade before a bird alighted on a branch right above him. Between one moment and the next, it had transformed into a medium-sized blonde woman of indeterminate age with an impressive bust line pushing out her priestess outfit and wide hips to match. She had the same foxlike ears as Kunou, though a little larger, and no tail in sight possibly because she had more control of her human form than Kunou. This was all secondary however to the large claws that were her hands currently. Before the man below her could even realize she was there, those claws had ripped his head off his shoulders.

She landed, her gorgeous features twisted into a snarl, her eyes a glowing golden yellow as she stared at Heracles and Harry. Heracles had just a moment to gape at her before a massive plume of fire slammed into him, hurling him away.

She then turned stalking up to Harry, who was forced to admit that those eyes glaring at him was somewhat unnerving. But he didn't quail, simply holding his hands up in front of him, returning the Elder Wand to its holster for now. "Milady Yasaka? As I said earlier, my daughter and yours are both safe. I…"

Both Harry and Yasaka turned as Heracles roared again, pushing himself out of the debris caused by his impromptu flight. "You bitch! I know we were going to do this the easy way, but now I'm going to…"

"Do nothing." Another voice interrupted as a hand grabbed Heracles's shoulder from behind. From around a tree behind where Heracles had landed another man appeared, helping along a second, wounded, man in the red cloaks of a magician.

The speaker was a tallish man coming about an inch or so from matching Harry's height in his human body with wider shoulders and a stern, unyielding expression. He had light blue hair, which matched the school uniform he wore for some reason underneath a folded cloak falling from his waist, its colors white, cold and black. The design of it was something Harry had never seen before, though it looked something like what he had seen in anime set in ancient China. His clothing was singed in places, and he was bleeding from a cut on the arm propping up the mage but that was all in terms of visible damage.

In his free hand he held a spear. It seemed a simple enough design, though it's spear tip was crooked and there was some kind of barbed wire around the shaft directly below the tip, but by the way Yasaka's eyes immediately latched onto it Harry could tell that it was much more than what it appeared. It also sang to his magical senses somehow, but on a 'frequency' as it were he hadn't felt before. _It feels sort of like that holy sword that girl stabbed me with, but I'd wager its strong enough to make that thing look like a pebble to its mountain._

The two sides stared at one another, with Harry following Yasaka's lead on being wary to start anything with that spear pointing towards them. Heracles meanwhile tried to break out of the other man's grip still raging. But a sharp rap with the spear butt to the back of his knee brought the massive man down.

"The plan has failed Herakles, and we have lost too many people already. We were supposed to have the girl in our possession from the first rush, that failed and everything has gone to hell since. A good strategist knows when to cut his losses, and we should have cut ours the instant the girl was able to escape into the woods. As you would know if you had actually been listening to my orders via the magic link. Now we are leaving. We can avenge Jeanne and the others another day."

"What makes you think we'll let you go?" Harry asked, genuinely curious. While the spear was worrying him a hell of a lot, he felt he could apparate away before the man could use it, whatever shape that use came in.

"Because of this," The man replied, a small, condescending smile crossing his face as he hefted his spear. "You really don't know what this is, do you? Well, treasure that ignorance for now. Further while your illusions might have taken out most of our Tengu allies kitsune, there are still more out there who did not join us in this attack on you but still aided our passage beneath your wards. If you hurry, you might find some of those pathetic crows still alive enough to question about who else aided us. And third… we're already gone."

With that last word the mage gestured and the three men vanished in a flare of light purple light. When the flare died out, all three men were gone leaving behind Yasaka, Harry and a shattered forest filled with the smell of the dead and the crackling of fires.

Scowling at that, Harry shook his head, turning to the still-furious looking blonde woman as he slowly canceled his transformation. "So, does this happen around here often or is it just my normal Potter Luck acting up that it happened right now?"

 **End Chapter**

* * *

Hope everyone liked the battle at the end. I mean to have Harry's personal style showcased slowly, but the gist of it is: transfiguration, conjuration illusion for distraction and dealing with the small fry, direct assault spells against the major threats. Constant movement both magically if he knows the area well enough and physically. When needed he transforms into his werewolf form, which makes him faster, stronger and **far** more durable. Holy and Devilic magic/items can get past that durability, but the wounds they cause will heal just as quickly as any other, which is to say incredibly fast depending on the wound. he is also stronger than most rooks in that form, though not up to say a high level Rook like those in Sirzechs's peerage.

The illusions not working - While these are part of Harry's normal combat style, he was trying to wield them in the area of a Kyuubi no kitsune. No illusions going to last longer than an instant there without her say-so.

Heracles cursing, and overall character: Heracles believes himself to be the heir to Hercules as is obvious. But Hercules wasn't the nice guy portrayed by… something Sorbo I think? Can't remember. Anyway, the original was an asshole a lot of the time, and part of that is a willingness to curse at the drop of a hat. He also did a lot of things we would term dishonorable, which again matches Heracles. There's a reason neither of the Pendragons were part of this mission after all.

I may or may not show Yasaka's side of that fight, depending on interest shown via reviews.

From now on the plot is going to pick up quickly. Harry now has all the clues he needs to know what Rias and co are, the characters have all gotten to know one another and it is coming on time for Ddraig to start actually showing enough for people to realize it's there and what it might be.

Anyways, as always please leave a review, and I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.


	5. Chapter 5

**can't draw, aint British.**

Hey everybody, this fic, FILFY teacher, once more won the poll,this time coming in second place overall. It took first here on fanfic with 655, and a total of 1,315 when the pat r on votes were added in. First overall was Semblance of Hope. While taking 212 votes on fanfic it scored huge over on pat r on and had my own votes since it has been so long since I last updated it, gaining a total of 1,330.

The next closest was from a pat r on only poll, with 1069, GDWHOM. Apparently a lot of people wanted to see where I was going with that ending last that nipping at it's heels was Anything Goes Game Changer, with 925. It took in 341 votes here on fanfic.

The others came in order: Stallion with 686, another pat r on only poll. Fate Touched only brought in 599.

This has been beta-read by Nad Destroyer, and then by me using Grammarly - but I think that program wasn't built for works as large as mine in mind LOL.

Now on with the show!

* * *

 **Chapter 5: No Plan Survives Contact With…**

While Harry was busy dealing with a sudden outbreak of violence in his vicinity, Rias and Sona had met up for their monthly strategy game. This was something the two had developed very early on in their friendship since it was so rare for either to find anyone else that could challenge one or the other in a game of chess.

This time they weren't playing chess however but the board game Risk and both of them had brought several of their other peerage members along. This made it a very chaotic game, with alliances made and broken as the evening continued, several of which crossed peerage lines. It was a lot of fun and both kings had decided to continue the practice from now on. It gave their peerage members an opportunity to think both strategically and tactically, while also forcing them to get used to a more chaotic style of combat, which Sona needed even more than Rias. Though in turn, Rias had not been prepared for Kiba betraying her and attacking her country from behind after so many turns of peace between their nations.

Rias was about to reply to her knight's seeming betrayal when she stood up abruptly, followed a millisecond later by Sona and then the two queens, all of their magical senses tingling at a sudden spike of magic going through the area that surrounded Kuoh. It was like someone had just slammed a nail through the soft bubble of magic she and Sona kept around the town to tell them where magic was being used.

That was a trick their parents had taught them both, tied into the fact this was their claimed territory. It was a simple sensory spell, and while it could be blocked by wards within the territory and even tricked if the magic done was small enough, this was the exact opposite. It was as if someone had just teleported in through use of brute power, and through a means that was entirely new to them too. They could tell the shape of the spell, not the how of it but that was enough for now.

"Let us see if we can localize it," Sona said quickly, and Rias nodded, calling up her familiars as Sona did the same with her own, a group of five birds who could shift their plumage like they were chameleons. The two groups of familiars zoomed off and an instant later all of them stood around her scrying ball, staring through it as the bats flew towards where the concentration of magical energies had occurred. Eventually, they reached it.

"Harry-san's house? So, he can use transportation spells too," Rias murmured. "Yet why would he need to come back that quickly from Kyoto?"

"Maybe he had a dispute with the Youkai Association?" Akeno suggested, worriedly nibbling at one of her fingers as she stared at the image of the Potter's house. Physically the house looked fine, there was no sign of whatever had occurred within, but all four of them knew something had.

"There's only one way to get to the bottom of this mystery," Rias said, turning away moving to the door. "And that's to just stop by and ask."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Sona asked quickly. "You do that then you're blatantly admitting that you know about magic, and further that we monitor such in our territory."

"I think Harry already knows I know about magic, and if he or Lily are in trouble they might need help. Besides which, if this is some kind of trouble that's going to follow him home we need to know," Rias said firmly. "This is **our** territory Sona!"

Sona nodded while thinking that her friend made for a poor devil at times. But then again, she would make for a poorer friend if she was a better devil. "Do you want me to come along?"

"No, no, I'll handle it. If all of us barge in Harry might take it poorly." With that, Rias turned and looked at Akeno. "I'd like you and the others to be nearby just in case, I don't know what this is, but I'll call and tell you shortly whatever happens."

"Do you want me to come along?" Akeno volunteered quickly.

Rias shook her head. "No, this is going to be invasive enough with just one of us, there's no need for both of us to come along. But call Koneko, I know she had a client tonight but we'd never hear the end of it if Lily is the one in danger and we didn't tell her. That girl takes her 'big sister' role very seriously."

With that said, Rias activated a teleportation circle teleporting to where her familiars had gathered on a roof near Potter's house. Devils like her could teleport to their familiars anywhere in their territory, just like they could teleport to their clients, using them as anchors on the other side of the spell.

Leaping down from the roof she landed on the street then walked briskly towards Harry's house. She hesitated a moment at the door, then rang the doorbell.

Inside she could barely make out sounds of someone moving around, and then Lily's voice rang out, sounding a little odd to Rias. "Go away!" Lily shouted.

There was a note there that she had never heard of the younger girl before this. _Is that fear, or concern?_ Rias's eyes narrowed and red lights began to flicker in her hand before she quelled it. Then Lily said something in a low tone, and Rias gasped as the wards of the house shifted somehow.

They were still nowhere near as powerful as the wards around her house back in with her family, but they were powerful enough to hurt her normally and Lily had just brought them up to what amounted to a wartime footing, which meant they could hurt her quite a bit if she tried anything. _I need to tread very lightly here._ So she spoke, it was in a low tone, with none of her rather caustic humor showing in her voice. "Lily-chan, its Rias. Is everything all right, sweetheart?"

Lily didn't answer, and Rias went on still speaking softly. "Is your father home?"

A second later she heard shuffling, and the lock unlatching on the door. It opened slightly, and Lily peered out at Rias from behind the door. "Daddy's not home, he had to go to work." The way she said the word 'work' gave it a very different kind of emphasis than it normally would have.

Rias nodded slowly then knelt down so that she was eye level with the little girl, staring through the crack. "So you're home alone? Does that mean you can't let me in? I don't like the idea of you being home alone Lily. I know you're a big girl and everything, but it's pushing dinner time, isn't it? Or did Harry leave you something?"

Lily looked at her for a moment, then looked to the side and spoke to someone else. "Are you hungry?"

Another young girl's voice answered, sounding rather stressed out, far more than Lily. "Ugh, I don't want to think about that! You could have warned me what would have happened! That was nasty Lily!"

"Sorry about that, portkeys suck the first time you use one, there was nothing I could do about that," Lily said commiseratingly. "At least you didn't actually barf like I did. You just stumbled. But food?"

"Ergh… Yes, I suppose I should eat, I was getting ready for dinner when the attack happened." The second voice replied, somewhat mollified but still stressed, if possibly for an entirely separate reason.

Lily winced at that, but Rias smiled and feeling pretty daring reached forward, her hand passing through the wards to pet Lily's head. Luckily, nothing happened besides a tingle along her hand from the tips of her fingers to her wrist where her arm entered the area protected by the wards. "I already knew something was wrong dear. That's why I was here in the first place."

At that Lily stared up at her cocking her head in question. "So are you another Youkai? Or are you a wizard?"

"I am neither of those things but what I am I will talk with her father about first. I don't want to irritate Harry by telling you before I tell him. That would seem strange." Rias replied, even as she filed the term 'wizard' away. Since Lily and Harry were from England there was no way they would call themselves youkai, even if that was what werewolves were labeled here. But 'wizard' seemed odd to her even if they were magic-users the term should have simply been 'magician'. _Another brand of magic user then?_

Now it was Lily's turn to nod which she did, then she asked shrewdly, "Do you have any anime on you?"

Rias laughed at the abrupt change of topic but shook her head. "No, but I can go home and get some quickly enough. What are you in the mood for, both food and anime-wise?"

"Monster Ranchers maybe? Or Magical Girl Leviatan?" asked the voice of the other little girl. She sounded a little stronger than before but still somewhat stressed. "But, but watching TV and eating while momma is…"

Lily turned away from Rias, hugging the other little girl that Rias still couldn't quite see. "Don't worry, my daddy will handle it. My daddy can handle **anything**."

 _This is going to be a tale,_ Rias thought, _I can already tell._ "Well, in that case, I'll head home and grab my limited edition copy of Monster Rancher season 1. Do you know what you have on hand food-wise Lily?"

"Everything," Lily said, turning back and looking a little blank. "Um, I mean, we've got everything, some chicken, lots of fish, and a few things of beef… erm… that's about it. Ooh, what about pizza!?"

"I think not," Rias replied primly, knowing now that at least Lily was safe because of that one. "I doubt your father would like you to have junk food like that, especially after a few days of eating out like you have. I'll make something, if you've got all those ingredients it should be easy. Unless your new friend has any allergies?"

"No," the other girl said, now poking her head over Lily's shoulder into the small gap. She was a young blonde girl, with two fox ears poking out of her skull, and a barely visible fox tail curling up into the air behind her and she looked a little surprised at Rias for a moment before her face set in a very familiar look to the Gremory heir. "Erm, miss, I've never had pizza, but I've heard it's very good. Could we get some please?"

Laughing Rias reached forward and very gently ruffled the strange girl's ears. "Dear, I'm a woman myself. I know the puppy-dog eyes attack far too well to fall for it, even if it comes from a fox kit."

 _And that bit of information makes me_ _ **very**_ _worried indeed as to what kind of trouble Harry has gotten himself involved in. An attack on a girl who looks quite a bit like Sona's description of Yasaka can only mean bad things._ As the sister of Leviathan the Maou that handled foreign relations, Sona had actually met the head of the Youkai Association years ago.

"Don't worry, I'll make you something you'll like, trust me." Rias paused, standing back up and ignoring the mutter of 'Tall!' from the young girl and looking at the house then at Lily. "Do you think the wards would be okay with the idea of Koneko joining us? I know she'll be worried about you the moment that she finds out you had to… hurry home as quickly as you did."

"Ooh, um, yeah I think so…" Lily frowned standing back and disappearing behind the door for a moment, actually closing it as she did before opening it a crack one more. "Yeah, it should be fine, so long as I hold your hands when you cross the doorframe."

"The correct term I think is the threshold. But that's good to hear. I'll bring her with me then. Be back soon sweetheart," Rias said, stepping back.

Moments later Rias had set up a few spells on a nearby rooftop where Akeno and Kiba could hide just in case. With that done, she teleported back to the Occult Research Club's clubroom only to be nearly bowled over as Koneko barreled into her. "OoF!" the redhead gasped.

"Is the puppy okay? And Mr. Harry?" Koneko asked intently, her face serious and worried, showing her emotions clearly. She was normally so stoic it would have been startling to anyone at school, but Rias had known her a long time and had been very happy to see Koneko coming out of the shell she had placed around herself after Kuroka abandoned her.

So Rias simply smiled, putting an arm around Koneko's shoulders as she looked around at the others. She told the others what she had discovered, and then looked at Koneko. "Since I knew you'd be worried, I asked Lily about having you come with me when I return. She said it might be okay, but are you willing to take that chance?"

Koneko nodded so rapidly it was a wonder her hair didn't catch on fire due to air friction. She then rushed over to the teleport array, heading back home to grab the anime for Rias as she turned to the others.

"I'm not happy about this," Akeno said bluntly. "There might not be any immediate danger Buchou, but that doesn't mean that there won't be someone coming to look for this little girl, especially if she is Yasaka-sama's daughter as you believe."

"I doubt anyone else could get through those wards like Lily did. They'd probably bounce if they could teleport that far in the first place. But you're right, if trouble does show up I'd like our entire peerage there just in case, that's why I've already set up a hiding spot for you and Kiba-kun." Rias replied. Weren't you listening to me a second ago?"

Akeno begrudgingly agreed to that, knowing at least a portion of her irritation at what was going on was because of a bit of jealousy that Rias would be there to greet Harry when he returned home from whatever he was currently doing. _Remember Akeno, you promised Rias that whatever else Jealousy couldn't get between your friendship. This is a small instance really._

With Koneko in tow, Rias quickly returned to the Potter's home. Lily quickly opened the door to let them in, grabbing their hands with her own, far smaller ones. "Come on, I'm starving! And so's my new friend. Rias, Koneko, meet Kunou!"

Shuddering slightly at the feel of the wards all around them Rias smiled warmly at Kunou. "It's a pleasure to meet you Kunou-chan. If Lily-chan hasn't already told you our last names, my name is Rias Gremory and this is Koneko Toujou. We're students of Mr. Potter at Kuoh, and I like to think friends of the family."

For some reason, Rias didn't understand that caused both girls to break into giggles as they looked at her, but Kunou regained control of herself quickly. She then curtseyed, her hands bunched up in the skirt of her Miko outfit. "It's a pleasure to meet you Gremory-san. Lily's told me about you and Koneko-chan both."

She then looked closely at Koneko with Lily joining in, a smirk on her face. Koneko looked back at them blankly for a moment but sighed in understanding and let the small glamour around her head fade, letting her ears pop into view. Lily smiled at that, putting her arms around one of Koneko's who sighed again but ruffled her hair all the same.

Rias smiled at this byplay but also cocked an inquiring eyebrow at Lily. "Hmm… I wonder what you've been telling Kunou-chan about me to get that reaction?"

"Nothing~!" Lily sang, causing Rias to frown slightly at how much she sounded like Akeno at her teasing worst for a moment.

Shaking that off, Rias moved deeper into the house, somewhat used to the feeling of the wards now. It wasn't pleasant, like being stared at almost while something pressed down on your every inch of your body. The wards seemed to realize she and Koneko should not be there and accepted their presence only reluctantly. But it wasn't actively attacking her, which Rias would take as progress for now.

Turning she looked at the younger trio of girls. "Why don't you three go and watch TV while I prepare some food? Unless either of you two has homework to do?"

While Lily groaned at that Kunou blinked, tilting her head to one side in a show of cute confusion. "Ano, what's homework?"

 **OOOOOOO**

If asked, Yasaka, the Kyuubi no Kitsune would have said she had been having a good day until around two hours ago. Nothing about her day had indicated the disaster that would be her evening, something which added to her fury now. Yasaka had gone through a full day of dull, **boring** meetings with various Youkai Association members, and had been looking forward to a nice dinner with her daughter as she met with Harry Potter.

She had wanted to meet him thanks to the fact that his notes on how to handle the violent impulses their were-creature side gave them had helped those afflicted with such among her people. Many did not know this, but large groups of were-creatures had come to Kyoto from around the world specifically from India and Europe because they were free to live their lives here as they wished so long as they didn't prey on others. The sheer size of the warded area around Kyoto allowed for every group to have their own special zones where they could live their lives in relative obscurity if they wished, or to live among humans if they could be trusted to do so.

Of course, she also knew Harry Potter as 'Harry Potter, the Man Who Conquered'. Though it wasn't very well known, the Youkai Association kept tabs on the so-called Wizarding World, mostly through a few chosen werewolf and vampire agents. The way the war had turned out there against Voldemort had been interesting and she had wanted to meet the young man who had played such an integral part in that small but exceedingly nasty and brutal war. Terrorist insurgencies often were, of course.

One moment those thoughts had been going through Yasaka's head coupled with what kind of meal the cooks would be preparing. Then the next, Yasaka heard her daughter scream at the same instant the feel of **something** shifted in the wards covering her lands.

She had stood up from her official chair only to feel a clasp like cold iron slamming down on her wrists, placed there by one of her own advisors no less. He was a Tengu named Co'raal and though he was always disdainful of humans and those of 'weaker' minds as he put it, he had severed her reasonably well before this. They had been going over some paperwork for a land grant the Onmyouji had passed on before that feeling had hit Yasaka, alone in her throne room since it was her last job of the day.

Growling Yasaka wrenched angrily at the bonds, glaring at the man, her eyes starting to turn yellow as her normal semi-human guise started to fail. "What are you doing?!" she shouted

"You and those like you have forgotten what we truly are!" Co'raal sneered at Yasaka. "We are supposed to be the demons in the darkness, the reason humans developed fire! And you and those like you would have us simply live among them instead of prey! It is time for the humans to relearn why they feared the darkness!"

The old man continued from there going into a full diatribe. But Yasaka was no longer listening to his ranting. She was instead concentrating on the feeling of her daughter moving away over her palace's lands. She felt the werewolf Loup intercept someone else, felt two deaths quickly at the same time and realized that Loup must have killed whoever had been poised to stop her daughter from getting out of their mansion via her window.

Now that Kunou was away from any immediate danger Yasaka stood up abruptly, reaching to the cold wrought-iron bracelet that her former advisor had slapped on her with her free hand. "And you expect this to stop me?"

"That is a magic inhibitor!" The ancient Tengu said, smiling evilly at her, his face redder than normal. "You won't be able to use any of your tricks with it around your wrist, let alone your magic!"

At that moment her throne room's doors were banged open and in strode several others, all Tengu or other types of youkai known to be violent, including a few Kappa andtsuchigumo, spider monsters. The most dangerous among them was a were-tiger, but he was a known quantity to Yasaka, a suitor for her hand who had not taken her rejection well, but someone without any leadership ability.

They were accompanied by several humans. Most of them wore the red robes of magicians, the variety of magic users who looked to agreements with supernatural beings for their power. They were not wizards, their powers not nearly as flexible, but they were technically able to bring more power to bear in any one spell, and their rituals, specifically their imprisonment pentagrams, were dangerous to someone like Yasaka.

"Ara, that's kind of strange Co'raal-aho," Yasaka said, her voice actually pleasant now as she felt her daughter escaping out into the woods beyond. "I mean, here you were going on and on about wanting to lord your Youkai status over humans. Yet here I see you have allied with magicians? Oh, and one other person who at least has somewhat better dress sense."

"It is an alliance of convenience only." Co'raal hissed, a very odd sound coming from his beak. "When they have you they'll leave, they need you for..."

At that point, he was interrupted by the one human among the group who wasn't dressed in a red robe. "Enough Tengu." That man said, striding forward, pulling a spear out from a holster on his back. As he moved, the rest of the gathered rebels moved aside in something that at first looked like deference, but Yasaka instantly knew it was something far simpler: fear. "This is not the time to gloat. That will only happen after we both have what we want."

The young man was a somewhat tall man with short black hair and blue eyes wearing what Yasaka realized was a Japanese schoolboy fall uniform for some reason done in dark blue. Over that he wore what looked like an ancient Chinese garb done up at his waist by a belt with an intricate geometric design on it in white, yellow, black and light blue.

Co'raal hissed again but subsided, moving to the side as the man reached them.

"Kitsune Yasaka," the man said as he turned to her, his voice formal but also somewhat condescending, just as it had been when talking to Co'raal. "Please don't make this more difficult than it must already. We have no desire to harm your child, but we will if you do not accede to our requests."

"You speak in a soft tone, but you speak with a spear pointed at me all the same," Yasaka said, eyeing that weapon warily. It screamed **power** at her, and she realized that it must be some kind of Sacred Gear.

"Still, I'll humor you," she said, stepping away from her throne and moving behind it, crossing her arms on the back of in a way to emphasize her chest pressing her breasts forward. She saw the move work too, many of the magicians now openly gawking, while several of the other Youkai were blushing hotly, their breaths suddenly coming in gasps.

It didn't work on her target however and she sighed. _So much for subtle seduction spells then._ "What exactly do you want from me human and what is your name?" she asked lightly.

"I am Cao-Cao, and I lead the Hero Faction. We have need of your services as the Kyuubi of the area."

Yasaka, living descendent of the fox god Inari, pursed her lips, bringing one finger up to her lips. "Hmm, and what exactly does that mean?"

She didn't honestly care what he said at this point, Yasaka was just buying time because she had just felt something else occurring elsewhere in her land. As Cao-Cao replied she shifted her attention entirely to the web of spells, illusions, and wards which spread throughout the forest of Kyoto. Someone had just cast several illusions, most of which her wards had automatically shattered. After all, this was **her** territory and what kitsune with any pride would let someone else cast illusions on his or her land?

Yet one of them… the land was telling her what it was, and she could feel it now as she concentrated. It was an illusion of her daughter and some other equally young girl, their image running away. But it was the other feeling she got at the same time which had grabbed her attention: that of the feeling of her daughter disappeared from her land.

Pure rage and fear filled her at that, and she glared at Cao-Cao, who didn't seem aware of what had occurred, though he backed away slightly, obviously able to read her expression. "I think not," she said then with a wave of her hand Yasaka hurled the chair she had been leaning against towards him ducking aside and reaching down to the bracelet on her arm.

Co'raal laughed. "Don't bother you'll never…"

He was cut off by the sound of metal shattering, as Yasaka's eyes shifted for a brief moment, becoming pure irises with all the colors of the rainbow in them. With a blast of pure force, she hurled Co'raal and Cao-Cao away, moving to stand in the center of her throne room as she glared at them and their followers. "Did you really think you had seen all I could do?" she said, her voice too shifting timbre becoming deeper and acquiring an odd echo to it. "Where the blood of my ancestors resides, where I am a sage? Fool!"

With that last word, Yasaka reached forward and unseen energies reached out, seemingly snapping Co'raal's neck before she hurled the Tengu aside to concentrate on Cao-Cao. He was seemingly able to ignore her aura of power and majesty, something few of his fellows could do, struck dumb into immobility nearly to a man.

"Don't you care about your daughter, Kitsune?" Cao-Cao said, though his eyes told Yasaka he had realized at this point that his plans had gone awry somewhere.

Just then they were interrupted by a bellowing voice of someone neither had heard before telling them that Kunou was safe and away. At that, Yasaka smiled. "I think that my daughter is currently out of your reach," she said, her voice still containing that odd note to it, all her earlier teasing humor gone now. "You should worry about yourself now."

Shaking his head with a snarl, Cao-Cao lunged forward shouting over his shoulder. "Jeanne go and help Herakles hunt down the little demon! If we can't get her under control this mission is a failure!"

His spear, most definitely some kind of Sacred Gear, impacted her thigh cleanly. Yasaka's leg exploded as well as the wall behind her and the wall behind that. It had obviously been an attack meant to impair her movement by taking her leg off. If it had hit in the first place, anyway.

Instead, the image of Yasaka faded under the spear's thrust. Her body and even the blood from the massive wound disappeared as it fell through the air.

Cao-Cao turned quickly, bringing his spear around again, but Yasaka was gone. She reappeared in among several of the others, who flew in every direction from a single spell, their bodies broken from a blow of air.

Hopping backward out of the hole that the young man had so considerably made, Yasaka landed easily several stories below and then began her body began to change. Yasaka's ears became longer; her hair becoming wilder as numerous tails appeared from below her priestess outfit. This garment started to shred as her form changed from that of a near-human to that of a giant yet still growing fox.

From her mouth roared a spell made of lightning, which impacted several of the human wizards, frying them where they stood. Another spell lashed out from one of her tales, setting most of the lizard man who had been charging her on fire

A second later one of her paws was stabbed by the spear, or so its owner had hoped. But to Cao-Cao's chagrin, that giant image was yet another illusion. Indeed even the spells it had thrown out were illusions, but they had seemed so real the minds of those affected filled in the information, killing their owners through overloaded pain receptors.

"Why would I need to take my true form to deal with opponents so much smaller than me?" Yasaka said from somewhere else, the words reverberating around the area as she used a few spells to throw her voice around.

She was astonished however when a second later the young man turned, flashing the spear in a sideways cut that nearly caught Yasaka before she could transform into a stone falling beneath the angle of the cut. She stayed in that form for a while, using the wards and her other abilities as a sage of the land to follow the man's activities despite no longer technically having eyes or ears to do so.

The man seemed to stare around him, calmly flinging his spear this way and that which allowed Yasaka a moment to stare at that spear in greater detail. The power it was giving off from this close was frankly a little scary. _Even at full power, I couldn't survive a blow from that thing! What is it!? Could it be one of the Longinus?_

She swiftly transformed, closing with the man even as she threw a few spells from her limited repertoire. She wasn't a magician, so her direct assault spells were limited, but since they included numerous element type attacks spells, that didn't matter.

But the man blocked them all with his spear, twirling it around his body expertly, before turning once more in her direction, spear stabbing out. A blast of pure magical energy came from its top launching forward like a wide angle beam of sunlight.

Yasaka barely dodged in time, rolling along the ground and then once more transforming, first into a small stone which rattled into a corner, then a squirrel which climbed up the walls swiftly and out the door before Cao-Cao could respond. Transforming back into her normal body Yasaka lashed out once again with spells, mostly transfiguration this time, using a fire from nearby. Numerous transfigured animals leaped from the rubble she had used as fuel, while she also reached out to a nearby torch which had started a small fire. Under her will, it changed form into that of a dragon to attack Cao-Cao.

He seemed rather startled by that, but hacked through the fire operation quickly, the wind of it his spear's passing actually dousing the fire. With that done Cao-Cao turned, thrusting his spear out once more at Yasaka's new position despite the fact she should have seemed like a tree branch just then to his eyes.

 _He's somehow able to almost see through my illusions! It's not the magical ability, it's as if he's able to simply read the situation well enough to realize where I am. Such a scary young man, this Cao-Cao_ she thought, scowling even as she retreated, hurling more element-based spells at the man, even a full earth golem.

Nor was Cao-Cao the only enemy she had. There were numerous other Tengu around, as well as a few surviving magicians and her old were-tiger suitor. Most of them simply charged and tried to get in close combat with her for some reason, as she dealt with them easily. But the rest were quickly turning on her servants and anyone else within the mansion. She could hear the sounds of dozens of little fights all over the area now.

Staring at seven of them raced down the corridor or nearby, she scowled angrily. _Come to think of it, how in the world did so many humans get onto my land without me knowing!_ Wishing to solve that mystery, Yasaka grabbed one of the men after a quick teleportation and transfiguration jump. Snapping his neck with ease she began searching the quickly found a necklace that shouldn't have been on a man, centered on a single stone which was inlaid with runes from several different runic languages.

 _This must be what they're using_ she thought, hopping over to another body while in the distance she could hear the sound of combat around where she had left Cao-Cao fading, along with several screams as her few guards attempted to close with the man.

Sighing, Yasaka reached behind her and plucked several small tufts of fur from her tails, hurling them out around her as Cao-Cao once again crashed through the wall nearby rushing towards her. Each of those hairs shifted form into doppelgänger. These near-clones were simple constructs she could create thanks to her status as a Kyuubi. Each of them could use a single spell, but otherwise would be able to move and act on their own. "Perhaps these will be to your liking? They're not the full deal, but perhaps they will at least keep your attention."

With that she disappeared once more, her body transforming into several hundred birds, all of them flying off in a separate direction.

Of course, that too had been an illusion. Even a sage such as Yasaka could not transform to so many different animals at once, the impact to her mind and attention would have been too great. But she could create an illusion of that, and transform into a single animal, using the illusion to get away. In this case, it was another squirrel which raced along the ground and away.

This time, the mix of transformation illusion and new enemies checked the Cao-Cao. With him no longer able to follow her with that dreadful spear of his, Yasaka started to hunt through the woods towards where her daughter had been. There she found numerous teams of Tengu, other Youkai, and magicians doing the same thing, more than a hundred each.

The sheer number of rebels that seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere depressed Yasaka. _Where did all this hate come from? Is my family's policy of cooperation and concealment so despised?_ That thought and the fact they had been able to hide their intent from her wards, and then bring in so many outsiders, infuriated her further.

After that, Yasaka had hunted through the forest, unseen by any, using all the skills Kitsune were known for to leave a trail of bodies behind her rather than the broken minds or hearts they were known for in the old tails, always moving toward where the feel of her daughter had disappeared.

Now after Cao-Cao had performed his own disappearing act she stared at Harry Potter, it could be no one else with those eyes, thoughtfully. Only a small uptick of her lips showed that she found his last quip at all funny, though the calmness of his expression in the face of her own anger was doing more in calming her down in turn. _Even in human form, he is quite handsome,_ she thought her eyes taking in Harry from head to toe. _And it's about time I restarted dating anyway…_

Kunou's father had died in a car accident a few years ago. He had been a normal human, as was her preference. Humans were such fun creatures and had developed such amazingly interesting ways of lovemaking that her own people had not. Despite what the were-tigers of India liked to grow about, humans had been the ones to develop the Kama Sutra. It was only one of her own who had done the illustrations. Were-tigers aside, for far too many devils, sex was a 'wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am' event.

Further, there was no way there could be any political issues if she took the human lover. Given her position, Yasaka couldn't take a single husband from among the various Youkai races less she open herself up to accusations of favoritism. To make everyone happy she would have had to take a husband from the major, or at least most numerous, races that made up the Youkai Association. Which Yasaka had thought about a time or two she was honest. Her own mother had had such a harem after all, and her grandfather before that. While she had fallen in love with Kunou's father, bigamy wasn't an unusual practice among her people.

For the moment however she set that thought aside to concentrate on something far more important than her physical desires: her daughter, Kunou. Reaching out she grabbed Harry by his shirt hefting him into the air with one hand. "It is only the fact that I know of you Harry Potter that I am letting you live at the moment," she said, her voice calm, but her golden eyes exceptionally serious. "Now, where did you send my daughter and why?!"

Harry gently rested a hand on the hand Yasaka was using to hold him in midair refusing to show fear though he was somewhat bemused by the amount of magical power that this woman radiated. _She really_ _ **is**_ _connected to the local ley lines like that woman Alexa said! Wow, just wow. The amount of power she has … well, I suppose there's a reason why kitsune were occasionally worshiped as gods._

Aloud he said calmly, "I sent her to my home with my own daughter once I realized something was going on and she was the target."

"How could any teleportation array get through the wards?! Not only mine, but those magicians that were with the spear-wielding brat also threw up some halfway through the fight." Yasaka protested.

Harry smiled thinly. "Anti-teleportation wards like that have to be aware of the basic principles of the spells they are supposed to block to work. A portkey, that's the name of the spell I used, have you ever heard of it?"

Yasaka stared at him thoughtfully. "No I have not, is it a European spell?"

"Indeed," Harry said bowing as much as his current position could let him. "You're the first woman I've met here who has any knowledge of such Madame. The Onmyouji know the larger wizarding world is out there, but they seem to be almost militantly against interacting with it." Harry knew this was a holdover from Japan's devastation during World War II and their earlier isolationist policies, but he still found it asinine.

"Given how many refugees I deal with from your Wizarding World I could hardly afford to be ignorant it. The fact that you and the magicians are so ignorant of one another is a source of much confusion to me at times let alone wizardkind's willingness to just outright ignore anyone else so long as they don't interact with you. Your people Harry Potter are insanely introverted."

"Which I think is perhaps a saving grace considering the type of people we often turn out Madame," Harry said with a sigh.

When Yasaka simply looked at him, indicating without words that he should explain he went on. "A portkey works by opening what normal scientifically minded humans would call a wormhole between two different positions in space. It essentially pulls the individual who is holding the portkey toward the prepared destination. There are spells to stop it from work, but you'd have to have added those to your wards, anti-apparition wards won't work against portkeys."

"That doesn't sound like an Onmyouji spell either," Yasaka said with a nod. "In that case, my own ignorance is somewhat more understandable. I believe however there is far too much ignorance of different magical abilities around for my liking. One thing you all magic users have in common is the desire to act as if only your type of magic exists!" She shook her head, her attitude now almost entirely back to normal. "It's silly and stupid."

"I'd been the first to tell you I agree with that, but try to tell that to the various establishments and see how far it gets you." Harry retorted.

Yasaka nodded then looked at him, finally setting him down on the ground. Before she could speak however Harry quickly began to ask her questions in turn. "My earlier flippancy aside, what exactly happened here and why? Those humans, Herakles and the other one, they said they wanted to kidnap your daughter but not why. I'm presuming it was to somehow pressure you into doing something, but this whole episode was a very strange mix of extremely competent, and utterly amateurish."

Yasaka frowned at that, and even as her body began to transform back into her normal guise, she cocked a hand at him indicating he should continue.

"Getting in under your wards was no doubt an extremely difficult thing to contrive. But then you couple that with how amateurish most of the enemies I faced were in terms of actual combat. The only one that threw off me off was Herakles. Although, he did do that extremely well," Harry finished ruefully with a self-deprecating chuckle.

To say Harry had been utterly astonished by how Herakles just seemed to ignore any spell cast at him was an understatement. Harry had never seen someone with that high a magical endurance before. It was of almost as if the man emitted had some kind of field that shut down the spells before could impact his body. His physical durability had also been incredible.

With his illusions not working for some reason, that had left Harry with indirect spells, and most of those, like the element and transfiguration spells he had used hadn't been effective. Worse, looking back on it Harry had been too enamored of some of his new, Onmyouji type spells and had neglected to use some of the spells he was more used to. Still, most of those were direct assault type, and since Herakles had shrugged off powerful curses, like the blood boiling curse, bone shattering and numerous others cast by the Elder Wand he doubted they would have worked anyway. _I guess I should have used sound-based spells, but given his physical durability, they might not have worked either. Illusions certainly would have, but given they popped out of existence as soon as I cast them that was a no go either._

"I see. Well to that, I think this group was not nearly as organized as they thought they were." Yasaka gestured around her to the woods surrounding them. "I believe my own rebels constituted the large majority of their men on the ground as it were, and they had ferocity and anger on their side but no real skill. They simply took the opportunity Cao-Cao and his group gave them."

She sighed, looking around herself as she told Harry what Co'raal had told her earlier before going on. "I don't know what service they felt they needed me for, but this was an alliance of convenience, not of a shared goal. I will get to the bottom of this cesspit, how deep this desire to go back to the old ways has gone, but the human side of things will no doubt elude me."

Turning back she addressed Harry again, the mother in her taking over now over that of the leader. "You said you sent Kunou-chan to your home along with your own daughter. Will she be safe there? And where is home exactly?"

"Yes, I believe so. Unless those magicians can somehow follow the portkey's trail. That's tough but possible. Such wouldn't be quick though, given how far Lily's portkey will have carried them." Harry allowed a smirk to appear on his face. "My home is in Kuoh, which is a district of Tokyo, so..."

His attempt at reassurance fell flat however as Yasaka's eyes narrowed. Is there any reason why you decided to put my daughter under the protection of a Devil clan?!" She asked, once more sounding angry.

"Other than the fact that I didn't know the area was under the protection of a Devil clan no," Harry said soothingly, holding up his hands again and making calm down gestures at the furious mother. "I think I know who you're talking about, but while I've known she knows about the supernatural and is involved in it, what they are has eluded me up to this point. Despite that, I'm friendly with both Gremory-san and Shitori-san. Both of them are among my students at Kuoh."

"Oh yes," Yasaka muttered, calming down once more. "You are a teacher aren't you? That makes some sense."

Their conversation was interrupted by this point by a howl of mad, animalistic fury reverberating out of the forest toward the mansion. They turned and saw the form of a werewolf bounding towards them. His eyes were completely red and he was charging toward Harry on all fours, no sign of the intelligence of the man visible there.

"Loup-Kun, calm down! The fight's over, we've won!" Yasaka shouted, only for the werewolf to ignore her while to one side Harry quickly shifted back to his own werewolf form.

Once in that form, Harry nodded, able to smell Loup's scent underneath the musk of the werewolf, who smelled equal parts mad, fury and frightened. _He must have called on the werewolf during the fight and lost control of it, maybe due to too much stimuli. Fires like the ones I can still see from that mansion would make nearly any werewolf have control issues. Still, I know how to deal with this._

While Yasaka was wondering if she should do something the two werewolves crashed together, and then Loup was hurled aside by Harry's superior speed. He charged again, only to meet a flat jab to the nose which caused him to stumble back, whining and pawing at his nose. "Control it!" Harry roared at the top of his lungs into Loup's face. "Remember, it is a part of you, accept it, take of its strength but remain yourself. Don't reject it, don't turn away from it, absorb it into you! Don't just try to cage it or beat it, be like water and absorb it!"

That last line was one Harry had come up with after reading the Japanese meditation books. He figured it was a useful way to describe what he had personally done to his own werewolf curse.

It seemed to work now too. Loup snarled at him just once, then backed away, shaking his head, then his whole body began to shudder, a physical sign of what was going on inside his head. After a moment Harry was surprised to see that Loup's body began to change, the uncontrolled, mutated werewolf shifting to look somewhat more like Harry's own form.

Loup scowled, standing on his back legs a minor irritation at the back of his mind as his human and wolf-self merged into a single entity in his mind, the baser instincts of both somewhat pushed to the side now. He had not expected that. He had thought he had control of himself, but the smells and the fires in particular had called to his most animalistic fears. After that, it was all over.

Now he looked over at Harry Potter and decided this time to willingly go with the werewolf's suggestion on how to make amends. Still locking eyes with the alpha, he fell first to his knees then his side, twisting until he was belly-up, baring both belly and neck to Harry. "Sorry," he said gruffly.

Laughing, Harry reached down and grabbed Loup's hand, pulling him to his feet. "Oh get up you goof. It could have happened to anyone, no need for that."

"And I have to thank you for buying time for my daughter to escape, Loup-kun," Yasaka said, moving forward. She reached up, having to stretch slightly to do it, but pulled at Loup's ears as if he was a small child, smiling as he let loose a deep, satisfied rumble, nodding at her. Then she stood back, looking at both men as they transformed fully back to their human forms. "Hmmm…"

"What?" Harry asked, though given the gleam in Yasaka's eyes he wasn't certain that he wanted to know.

"Oh nothing, just thinking about some rumors of werewolf stamina I'd love to see were accurate…" Yasaka said, a vulpine smirk on her face as she looked from one werewolf for another.

"Wh, what? Um, you mean, the two of us… with you?" Harry asked, for once actually shocked. Though he was still better than Loup who looked poleaxed flushing to his ears as he stared at Yasaka with shocked horror.

"Why is that so startling? Don't tell me you actually believe in that puritanical human nonsense of one lover at a time," Yasaka said, then giggled, shaking her head at the expression on Harry's face. "Oh my, really? Only humans think in that manner. Most youkai races, Devils, and Fallen practice bigamy, even full harems at times. My own family has practiced that more often than not. Though I'll admit I've only had two lovers a few times. It was most fun."

She let loose a chittering laugh that showed her kitsune side clearly as the two manly werewolves took one look at her, then at one another before they shuddered and looked away. "Um, no, thank you," Harry said, speaking for them both as Loup's blush faded, leaving him looking like a kicked puppy. "It um, it's an interesting offer, but I don't think it's quite for us thanks."

Desperately searching for something to take his mind away from the thoughts that will never be thought again Harry went back to the topic he and Yasaka were speaking about before Loup burst onto the scene. "Um, so what will you do now Lady Yasaka? I mean, it's pretty obvious that there will have been other groups helping these rebels? Unless you think that one of them could have figured out a way to get the others through your wards?"

"Oh, yes, I suppose we do need to finish speaking about serious matters before having fun," Yasaka said with a pout, before becoming serious in turn. "I know that. I will need to question the rest of my councilors, as well as the other kitsune for certain and one or two others. I will also need to question the surviving Tengu and Kappa leaders to see how far the rot has spread."

"And just questioning will get you that?" Harry asked skeptically.

To one side Loup took a step backward and to the side, turning his attention to the battlefield all around them. While the two leaders spoke, he moved around, examining the bodies one after another and dragging them into a pile in a nearby clearing, the same area where Harry had attempted to use multiple Bombarda spells, shattering several trees. This also gave him fuel for the eventual pyre.

"No, it won't. While Kitsune like myself are very good at spotting truth through illusion, that doesn't equate to seeing through people's lies verbally. Many of my advisors, people who know about the wards around the area, have held their position for hundreds of years." She didn't notice Harry twitching at the way she casually let that drop, going on unhurriedly. "They know how to prevaricate and lie better than any human politician to ever exist. And that doesn't even mention the different racial leaders. I will have to question all of them closely, all of their second in commands closely then send in my own agents to make sure their stories match up and…"

Yasaka interrupted herself with a deep, resigned sigh. "All in all this will mean a lot of work, and I probably won't find out anything new. Oh, I'll find a few conspirators, but not many."

"What about those runic arrays which allowed the humans in under your wards?"

"There I'll have better luck. Those arrays were examples of a magnificent hodgepodge, but they showed a distinct knowledge of my family's wards and there are only about a dozen people who could have done that." She sighed sadly. "I'll have to question my own family and many prominent members of the association. It will cause a lot of turmoil regardless of who actually was involved, and the more people I have to question, the more it will spread. Still, it is the only way to cut out this insurrection, and I need to. If I don't at quickly, I'm afraid it will boil over into the human portion of Kyoto, and then the Onmyouji will be forced to get involved. That will not be good on multiple levels."

"…" Harry was silent for a few seconds thinking, and then he shrugged. "I can help you get to the bottom of this I think, and quickly if you have prisoners from the actual attack to question. There is a spell I can use called Imperio, and it will allow me to force someone else to tell the truth. It is technically illegal, one of three under my magic system that is called the Unforgiveables. But it can help here if you'll ask me to help."

 _I wish I'd brought some Veritaserum, but potions have never been my forte, too many memories of the greasy bat wrapped up in them for me to ever be comfortable with. And this way, I can find out if it was just that idiot not having any kind of mental defense, or if Imperio somehow bypasses the local's version of mental defenses for some reason._

"That is… strange. I've never heard of such a spell. Then again, if it is a European wizard type spell, I suppose that makes sense. Very well Harry-san I will thankfully take you up on your offer." Yasaka said with a wan smile. "And to be honest, I think that will make me feel much safer in bringing my daughter back home all the swifter."

Without another word the two parents turned, gathering up Loup and heading for the mansion. There they found some of Yasaka's loyal men and women already gathering up prisoners and bodies in equal measure. They were working under the command of an ancient Monkey-Demon with one eye and a missing arm, though the arm looked to have been a recent addition. He blinked and then bowed deeply to Yasaka. "Yasaka-sama, it is good to see you survived all this. Do we have any idea what caused all this madness?"

"We will in a few minutes I think, Sebastian," Yasaka said calmly, moving toward what appeared to be the body of her former advisor, Cro'call. Yet when she touched him, the illusion disappeared, his broken neck appearing to once more be whole, though he was still unconscious. "I'll be back in a bit. Continue the work you're doing, and send someone to the den for my family. I will probably need to have words with one of them after this."

She hefted him up and entered the mansion, leading Harry into the library, where she threw the unconscious Tengu down onto a sofa.

At a gesture from Harry, the sofa came alive, latching the old Tengu down. "I'll need to get him awake first," he said clinically, shutting down what little revulsion he felt for what he was about to do.

"Oh no, let me handle that." Yasaka demurred, her hand flashing out in a slap, which was both immensely satisfying and did indeed wake the ancient Tengu up. "Hello old friend," Yasaka said in an almost singsong sound as Sebastian and several others moved to stand around her with Harry and Loup at her back. The grin on her face was something straight from a fox, and it wasn't a nice expression. "You're going to tell me everything you know about this insurrection of yours."

"Hah! Bring it on you bitch! You know you're too weak to use torture! I can take anything you…"

"Imperio!" Harry said, bringing up the Elder Wand and pointing it at the man for a brief instant as he cast the spell. This time he felt some resistance as the spell hit, but still not nearly as much as he should have. _Odd. I wonder if it is like using a rapier against chainmail? The local's defense of the soul is to keep out corruption, not specific powerful assaults._

Setting aside the why of how the spell had worked Harry turned to look at Yasaka. "Sorry, but when you've heard one angry diatribe, you've heard them all. I… Yasaka-san, what's wrong?"

Yasaka stared first at Cro'call, then at Harry, her eyes wide and unseeing. "That, that spell is an abomination!"

"Yes, it is. I warned you about that." Harry said, frowning. "I've had it cast on me more than once; I know exactly what it feels like, having a voice inside your head, a voice, not your own trying to order you around. But it can help at times, and it is the least worst of the three Unforgivables."

"That… you…" Yasaka shuddered. "I think I begin to realize why your kind of magic users has been allowed to go their own way with no interference from the Three Factions or the magicians. That spell, Harry Potter, it attacked his very soul. Not his mind, which would have been bad, but understandable, but his **soul**!"

And just like that, the reason behind Yasaka's reaction became clear. The Onmyouji held the soul to be the most sacred thing imaginable. That was why there were no spells to change another's form against their will. That was why their defenses started from the soul rather than the mind. And that was why the Onmyouji had never developed an equivalent of the three Unforgivables, the Dementors or anything else that will.

 _And apparently the Youkai and these three Factions I've heard about today, for the first time darn it, believe in the same thing. I don't know what's more appalling the fact the Wizarding World is so willfully ignorant of these other groups, or the fact we develop spells to target what seemingly every other magic group feels is sacred_.

"I understand Lady Yasaka. I did not realize this before now. Do you want me to cancel the spell, or would you like to leave the room while I question him?" Harry asked softly, his lips twitching into a wintry smile. "It won't be the first time I've gotten my hands dirty after all."

"No, no," Yasaka said, shaking herself and putting her reaction to that spell to one side. "No, and actually I much prefer to know about these spells than not at all. Ignorance like that is dangerous, and there has been far too much willful blindness going around as it is. Besides, you wouldn't know what questions to ask."

"I agree. So, should we get on with it?"

Once Harry had ordered Cro'call to answer Yasaka's questions as completely and honestly as possible, the actual questioning went by quickly. Yasaka's discomfort and visible loathing aside she had to admit using the Imperio like this was very effective. What would have taken her months, if it was possible at all, took a bare few hours with Harry's help.

Finally, she was satisfied they were done. The Tengu population as a whole would face sanctions since this insurrection had really caught on among them to the largest degree. Others would face fines and lose some of their privileges, but there wouldn't be nearly as much if she had been forced to treat all parties with equal suspicion. There would be no overflow of this incident into the normal human population.

A distant cousin of hers had been implicated, and swiftly brought in for questioning on his part in creating the medallions which had allowed the humans access to their land. It turned out to have been simple greed on his part. He had wanted to take her place as Kyuubi no Kitsune and had thought she would have been able to take over once she was gone. That was foolish in the extreme of course. He was far too old to survive having his mind and soul magically welded to the ley line below Kyoto.

For him, Yasaka let the punishment fit the crime. He would live out the next two hundred years trapped in the Den, the kitsune clan's personal territory, unable to leave.

Finally the night's work wound to a close and it was time to go and get her daughter. Yasaka however bade Harry wait. "I need a shower, especially after all this... questioning."

"I wouldn't mind one of those myself. And no, I'll wait until I'm home thank you," Harry said, seeing Yasaka open her mouth to ask if he wanted to join her.

Pouting at having her fun ruined for now, she turned moving off hiding a shudder as she thought about the spell Harry had used earlier, as well as the feel she had gotten from his wand. That was definitely more than a normal Onmyouji focus that was for sure. What it was she still didn't know though."

Harry moved back outside, watching the ongoing work on the battered mansion for a time silently, thinking about all that had happened today and more importantly what he had learned before he sniffed the air, smelling Loup coming towards him through the other workers. Turning he nodded his head at the other werewolf. "Loup."

"Alpha," Loup replied. "Wanted to thank you for your help here. It would have been much worse without you here. And not just my own issue. Without Yasaka-sama, the association might have splintered entirely. That would have been very bad."

Harry simply nodded, looking toward the doors leading into the mansion. "So… you still interested in her?"

In reply Loup simply whimpered, giving a single shake of the head.

"Yeah, I thought not. Definitely off-putting that whole ahem, concept she talked about earlier." Harry replied. _Although the idea most other races have no issues with harems and other such situations makes Rias and Akeno both being interested in me make some sense. Though how exactly do I feel about that?_

To that question Harry had no answer and it was with some relief he turned his thoughts outward once more, as Loup spoke again. "I will be transferring to Kuoh College soon."

"Ahh…" Harry said, nodding and understanding without further explanation. Werewolves tended to congregate around one another for preference. Harry held out his hand which the other man took.

A few minutes after that Yasaka returned to the two men, dressed in another Miko outfit, her hair and form once more immaculate. She stopped in the doorway, watching the two men shake hands smiling at them both. "Yes, definitely some ideas~," she mused, laughing internally as both men winced and took a step away from one another. It was so fun doing that. They were such big, strong manly men, yet the moment you started suggesting something that they thought impinged on their narrow concept of sexuality they went all to pieces.

However Harry was about to get his revenge. He smiled blandly at her, nodding once to Loup, exchanging another handshake with the young man, before reaching out in turn towards Yasaka. "Are you ready to go?"

She nodded, glancing quizzically at what he was holding in his hand, a small oval stone. "You're really able to place a spell on that which can transport us that far away?"

"The correct pronunciation is Portus, but yes," Harry said, then glanced at her solicitously, a twinkle in his eyes.

Yasaka decided that was both attractive and worrying at this point in time. _Oh dear, it looks as if he's got a bit of kitsune in him already._

"I have to warn you, that this might be unpleasant." Harry cautioned. "Most transportation spells generally are for people who are experiencing them for the first time."

"There've been a lot of unpleasant things today Harry-san," Yasaka said waving that off. "Besides, it's not as if I haven't teleported myself before. Though going this far away will be a new one."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Harry said, before taking her hand and placing it on top of the stone in his other palm. The two of them clasped hands around it, and he said "Activate."

For a brief eye-blink, there was a feeling of unease as the scenery all around them changed dramatically, then the next moment all Yasaka felt was nausea. She groaned, falling to her knees her hands going to her stomach as she moaned out in very real agony as she threw up.

It was all she could do to not keel over into her own filth as she fell onto her side her tails appearing and flowing over her in abject misery. "That wasn't unpleasant, that was horrible!" she groaned out. _Thank Onari I didn't have anything to eat yet this evening or this would have been even worse._

Beyond that, she felt another kind of pain, far more spiritual in nature. There was a pulling tugging motion at her mind and magic both telling her she was not where she should be. Still, that was manageable, if painful.

Harry quickly knelt down beside her, rubbing her back into what on the one hand and casting a calming spell with the other. "I'm sorry; I didn't think it would be that bad for you Yasaka-san."

"I'm connected to the ley line under Kyoto," she muttered. "I think that interfered here."

"Well yes it would have, but I thought you would've disconnected…" Harry began, somewhat irritated that Yasaka hadn't taken that precaution.

"That's impossible," Yasaka groaned out. "Once the connection is forged it's always there. And ley lines aren't supposed to move! By Onari I think I'm going to be sick…"

The two of them were interrupted at this point by the back door opening and Rias stepping out onto the small patio there, staring at them in confusion. Her hands had been glowing red with magical energies, but that disappeared quickly as she saw Harry. "I'd say welcome home, but you seem to have possibly sorely wounded the leader of the Youkai Association, which means that any such greeting might well be premature." She said dryly.

"Meh she'll get over it," Harry said, smiling at her quizzically. "Not that I'm unhappy with seeing you Rias, but why exactly am I seeing you right now?"

"Your daughter and her new friend came barreling through the local ward schemes Sona and I set up like a knife through a small bubble, of course I'd be concerned!" she said tartly before she began to wag a finger at him admonishingly. "Especially since you didn't leave them any dinner, Harry Potter. Someone had to look after them after all."

"I suppose someone did," Harry said, his tone going soft as his smile became far warmer as he moved towards her, taking one of her hands in his and bringing it gently to his lips kissing the knuckle. "Thank you for that."

Rias blushed slightly but didn't look away, staring into Harry's emerald eyes with her own blue.

After a brief second, Harry turned away, gesturing to Yasaka, whose groans had begun to die out. "Rias, may I introduce you to…"

"I know who she is," Yasaka said, pushing herself to her feet and trying to regain some of her dignity, frowning internally as she saw how close the two of them were standing to one another, the look in the young woman's eyes as she looked at Harry. They weren't a couple yet she judged, but there was certainly a lot of attraction there. Yasaka sighed sadly deciding to give up on Harry Potter, unwilling to poach. _Certainly not from a Gremory, especially the Gremory who took in little Koneko. She was, for all her father's misdeeds, still one of my people after all, just like her sister._

"Have we met, Yasaka-sama?" Rias asked in confusion.

"No, but I've seen pictures of you from Sirzechs," Yasaka said with a laugh. "He is quite fond of you."

"He's a freaking sis-con!" Rias said growling the words before the tone turned pleading. "Please don't tell me he showed you anything embarrassing?"

"Now if he did, what kind of kitsune would I be if I told you that?" Yasaka asked with a laugh. "Much more fun to watch you worry about such and more importantly when I might decide to share said pictures with anyone else. Such as tall, dark and emerald-eyed here, hmmm~~?"

While Rias flushed and tried to think of some way to get Yasaka to agree to never do just that, Yasaka turned serious. "Is my daughter all right?"

"She's fine," Rias said grateful for the change of subject. "She, Lily, and Koneko are all sleeping at the moment. I made her and Lily some dinner and then the two of them and Koneko played and watched some TV. I had to sit on Lily at one point to get her to do her homework, which I understand the two of you were going to go over this evening on the train back?" she asked looking over at Harry.

"What she hadn't finished on the train ride out to Kyoto yes," Harry said with a nod. "Thank you for that. Regardless of anything else I don't want her to fall behind in her schoolwork. Especially," he went on with a smile, "Since none of her teachers would take 'I got caught up in an attempted kidnapping' as an excuse."

"It was no trouble at all," Rias said with a smile. "Although I demand payment in the form of you telling me what happened today."

Harry nodded. "The two of us will have to have that talk we promised to have with one another up sooner than we had planned for. But for now, he placed a hand on Rias's head, noticing with a strange thrill that she was quite a bit taller than Yasaka. The top of her up head only came up to his eyes, but that made her quite tall in terms of a normal woman. _Huh, that's interesting, Kalawarner is tall too. And so was that other woman, Yubelluna. Could that be a sign that I actually have developed a 'type' as it's called?_

Almost immediately after Harry removed his head from the top of her head Rias sighed. The feeling of the wards had disappeared, removing a weight from her shoulders and the feeling of being watched that she had reluctantly put up with over the past few hours. "Thank you," she whispered, shaking her head. "That had been getting… irritating."

"I can hardly imagine how it must've felt and the fact that you put up with it tells me even more about your character Rias," Harry said, smiling even more warmly at her. She flushed under that gaze but met it all the same, a small, pleased smile on her face.

 _They are so cuuute~~!_ Yasaka thought to herself with an internal laugh. _I wonder if either of them knows how completely they've been caught by the other._

"Um, I'm not the only one here. I already mentioned Koneko but Kiba and Akeno are up there, just in case there was trouble." Rias said, gesturing to a nearby rooftop.

Both Yasaka and Harry looked that way, with Harry activating a local anti-illusion spell to see through the spells Akeno had put up over her and the knight. Yasaka, as a kitsune, didn't need any, the illusion disappearing to her senses the minute she looked in that direction.

There on the roof stood Akeno and Kiba. Both of them were looking back, and seeing Harry's eyes on them both stood up, the remains of a meal on the rooftop between them. While Kiba simply saluted with his sword, Akeno looked as if she was a second from leaping off the rooftop to land in the backyard for a moment, her eyes racking up and down Harry's body looking for injuries. But Harry quickly waved her off, since he couldn't key her into the ward without touching her as he had Rias a moment ago. Yasaka barely registered to either of them at first, but when they did, both devils nodded in her direction too, before sitting back down.

Turning back to Rias, Yasaka bowed from the waist, her voice becoming much more proper than was her wont from what Harry had seen. "I think you formally for the aid you have given my daughter in this time of crisis. Your protection of her will not be forgotten."

All manner of ways the leader of the demon Youkai Association's aid could be used occurred to Rias in that split second and she smiled at Yasaka bowing her head in turn equally deeply. "You're welcome, but I have to say that it was not because of your daughter that we arrived, but fear for Lily. She is a dear friend to us."

"Nevertheless," Yasaka side said with a laugh. "You did place yourself in a position to protect my daughter at the same time. I won't forget that."

The three of them entered the house then, with Harry leading the way to the TV room where he stopped, smiling fondly and leaning against the doorframe as he took in the sight in front of them.

The phrase that sprang to Harry's mind was cuddle pile. All three of the young girls were piled on top of one another on the sofa. Koneko was laying on the sofa her trim, athletic frame slightly curled up with Lily in her arms, with Kunou in Lily's, Koneko's other arm around her in turn. A blanket had originally been placed over them, but it had fallen off at some point.

Koneko looked up as they entered, her catlike eyes gleaming in the dark of the room nut the other two remained asleep, which made sense Harry supposed.

"We wore them out. I didn't want Kunou worrying herself sick," Rias explained before shaking her head with a light giggle. "Though that was a near run thing. Those little monsters have a lot of energy I have to say. It made me very thankful for the fact that I had recently stepped up my own physical training."

"Yep," Harry said with a smile as Yasaka chuckled rueful agreement beside them. That laugh started to wake the two girls up, and he turned away from Rias even as he finished speaking. That's my little energy monster."

"Hey daddy," Lily said, waving her arm from around where she had just unlatched them around Kunou as she struggled to her feet rushing towards her mother. "All done?"

"My part of it is sweetheart," Harry said with another laugh, amused by the tone of certainty Lily had in her voice coupled with the blasé manner to what had happened. He moved over to lift his daughter up off Koneko, ruffling the older girl's silver hair affectionately even as he lifted Lily up into his arms with his other arm.

"And did you have a good time with your new friend Kunou-chan?" Yasaka said, looking down at where her daughter had just burrowed her head into her middle.

That seemed to make Kunou stiffen for some reason but she still nodded. "I'm sorry, mama. I know I shouldn't have had fun with what was going on back home."

Yasaka frowned at that, wondering how she should respond. But Harry didn't have to think about it and spoke up before she could. He knelt down next to Kunou and reached forward, ruffling her long fox ears very gently. "Kunou-chan, you can't think like that. You're still young and there would have been little you could have done to help her. Instead, any good parent and your mother is a good one I think, would have wanted you somewhere safe. Just as I would have and did for my own daughter."

Kunou looked at him and then up at her mother who nodded, smiling at her while she thought _I think my ovaries just exploded. I might have to rethink this whole not sharing with other women thing._ Aloud she said, "That's right Kunou-chan. Once you were out of danger I was able to fight back. I wouldn't have been able to do that if you were still in danger.

Wondering why he felt a shiver go down his back just then, Harry stood up still carrying a tired Lily in one arm as he looked over at Rias. "Were they good for you?"

"Somewhat," Rias said winking at the younger girls. "They kept on trying to get into your magical cookie jar, and Kunou refused to eat her greens at first but that was all. I was able to get her to eat eventually. I was surprised though that she hadn't had any schooling before this."

Yasaka grimaced, one hand ruffling her daughter's ears. "I suppose I could have sent Kunou-chan to a human school I suppose, but that would place her out in the open. While I did not expect anything like this evening's attacks, I would still feel leery leaving Kunou-chan exposed like that."

"I **really** want to hear more about that story now," Rias said, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Yes well, Harry-kun here can tell you about it, I need to get back to Kyoto." And that was precisely it. Yasaka needed to get back to Kyoto, to the ley line she was spiritually connected to. The tension within her body was becoming stronger with every passing moment, and she was beginning to feel like if she didn't get back soon the tension would tear her apart.

With that, she mock-scowled over at Harry. "And we'll be taking my own mode of teleportation this time. Transferring to my home is easy enough. I am never traveling by that teleportation spell you call a portkey again!"

"I did warn it would be bad," Harry said mildly. "I didn't realize it would be that bad for you Yasaka-san, but I did warn you."

Yasaka turned away with a huff, even as her daughter made a face at Harry. Her own experience with the portkey had not been at all fun either, though it was a pale imitation of what her mother had gone through. "We will be seeing each other Harry Potter," Yasaka said as she made for the front door.

"I'd be sad if we didn't since it seems as if Lily and Kunou-chan have made friends after all," Harry replied, smiling slightly.

Yasaka smirked back at him while Rias watched her from one side through narrow eyes. _I do not like that look at all. Don't tell me Yasaka-sama has become interested in Harry too! Ugh._

The two of them walked the Kitsune to the door, where Harry asked, "Are you going to be able to get home from here?"

"Not right away, but I can teleport us there slowly by jumps," Yasaka said, sighing faintly. "And before you ask, no, I will not allow you to teleport us again. It's better to go home this way." _So long as we start now. I hope this feeling of tension goes away the closer I get to home._

Without another word, she turned unerringly on a straight line for Kyoto and then disappeared into several tiny motes of light, which slowly disappeared one after another. They left behind Rias, Harry and Akeno and Kiba, who had leaped down to the street as Harry opened the front door. The two of them joined their king and Harry in looking in confusion to where the two kitsune had just teleported off.

"That was abrupt. I wonder why?" Harry mused.

"Perhaps she was feeling disturbed by being so far away from home. I know that whenever anyone needs to meet with her they have to go to Kyoto, though I don't know why" Rias replied thoughtfully before turning to Harry. "And now for that story please Harry. What did you walk into?"

"Let me put this one to bed, and I'll explain it to you all at once," Harry replied, smirking as he gestured Akeno and Kiba over. He tapped them both on their heads, letting them into the wards temporarily, just as he had done to Koneko earlier. "So long as you tell me more about how you knew Lily had teleported in."

"Sounds fair for now, though I also think we need to move up our… date?" Rias said, the last word coming out as a question as she looked at Harry.

Harry looked at her thoughtfully then smiled slowly. "Far be it from me to encourage anything that would keep you up on a school night, but yes, I think we should have our date as soon as possible. Tomorrow night? I think I can put something together for the two of us."

Rias nodded in reply, not trusting her voice not to crack since it wouldn't do to appear too eager. Then she looked at Lily and said thoughtfully, "Actually Harry, I think you should make it three of us." At his interrogative look, she reached out and poked Lily in the nose. The little girl crossed her eyes comically to stare at the finger and Rias smiled at her. "After all, if someone's going to be a part of your life Harry they have to understand that Lily is an important part of it. You can't have one without the other."

That caused Harry's smile to widen slightly and he nodded, turning around and heading upstairs. There he found Koneko waiting, already changed. She was also looking rather tired, and she got into bed right alongside Lily, where the girls both snuggled up once more. "Don't you want to hear about what happened?" Harry asked in amusement. _I'm uncertain sometimes if Koneko sees Lily as a little girl or a giant teddy bear._

"No. You came back. Don't care more than that. Will hear from Buchou if I need to," Koneko said then promptly closed her eyes.

Chuckling quietly Harry laid a kiss on Lily's forehead then Koneko's, whose eyes blinked open for a second, watering slightly as Harry turned back to the door, exiting the room quickly. Down below, Harry found Kiba, Akeno and Rias all sitting in the TV room, sharing a pot of tea that one of the ladies must have made in record time.

Sitting down in the open space between Akeno and Rias, Harry took the cup Akeno offered him, sipping appreciatively. Rias took this opportunity to explain briefly about the magic bubble she and Sona kept over their territory. "It's not a very versatile spell, and it can be fooled occasionally by wards, but it lets us detect most magic being used in our area. It's not harmful, but it has allowed us to know about any magic cast in our territory. We felt you put your wards up, and we've felt a few spells you have used occasionally outside your wards, but we didn't interfere with any since they were all defensive in nature."

Nodding at this interesting tidbit, Harry asked a few questions about how it worked, being rather interested in the fact it sounded far more… intuitive than his own brand of magic was supposed to be. _But then again, I've always had just as much luck going with my instincts. But I think that we could have come up with a similar means. Dumbledore certainly had something like that set on his door._

Soon though Harry set that aside and began to explain what had happened, or as much as he and Yasaka had been able to put together. He didn't go into detail on the fighting simply covering the highlights there, the names he had heard from the attackers and what they called themselves.

The three Devils exchanged glances, but none of them had ever heard of any of these humans. It was obvious they were Sacred Gear users, a concept Harry had learned about from Yasaka during their questions of the conspirators. Yasaka had not explained the significance of the spear thinking it self-evident, so Harry only had his memory of what it looked like and the feel of it. "That thing was powerful, very powerful. Beyond that, I can't say just yet."

"I'll help you search for more information on it tomorrow at school Harry-san." Akeno put in, biting one of her nails thoughtfully until Harry unconsciously reached out and pulled her hand away from her mouth.

He squeezed it once before letting go, never noticing that she had begun to blush at that gesture. "Thank you for your help then. I have to admit to having been very worried about the power that thing was giving off."

Rias smirked around the back of Harry's head at her friend, but she quickly turned her attention back to the discussion at hand. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all. What did they want with Yasaka-sama? How did these Sacred Gear users gather together? For what cause? I'm going to have to send a report about it to my brother."

"Whose place in your society I suppose I'll learn about tomorrow?" Harry asked archly.

"Among many other things, but then again it's not like you're not keeping secrets on your end Harry," Rias shot back, and the two of them shared a laugh. This whole keeping secrets thing had simply collapsed by this point, but there was just too much information to share at one sitting in the middle of the night on a Sunday and they both knew it.

Besides, Rias had to pass this on as soon as possible. While relations between the Youkai Association and the Devils weren't very good, the Maou still needed to know about this. The YA represented the largest neutral group, unaligned to any of the factions, and the very idea of targeting their leader would come as a major shock. _Worse is those magicians' involvement. Harry and Yasaka-sama might not realize the significance there, but I do. A magician like those, they take their powers by making an agreement with a Devil. That means there was a devil involved in this kidnapping attempt somehow._

For his part, Kiba didn't really care much about the secrets Rias and Harry were going to have to share now or any problems developing in the future. He was interested in the fighting and he shook his head at Harry. "Next time you pick a fight with someone Potter-san, would you mind bringing me along? Your Sunday sounded far more interesting than mine."

"I didn't intend to fight at all, but certainly Yuuto-kun, if I decide to try and stop another kidnapping attempt I'll be sure to call you first," Harry replied dryly.

Rias and Akeno laughed while Kiba ruefully agreed that perhaps fights like this did sometimes surprise an individual. After a moment Rias stood up, placing her teacup gently down on the table in front of the sofa. "Well, I think we have talked enough for tonight. We'll see you at school tomorrow Sensei."

Nodding, Harry walked them to the door, opening it and letting them out. Once the trio of devils had gone however Harry didn't go to bed. Instead, he popped onto the internet to do some planning and some research.

 **OOOOOOO**

Raynare had decided it was time to get Kalawarner out of her funk. To that end, she and a semi-reluctant Mittelt smashed open Kalawarner's door and marched inside. The pieces flew in words, clattering against the far wall as Kalawarner glared up at him from where she had been in the process of cleaning up several hundred bottles of different spirits. "The fuck bitch! You can't even knock like a normal person now?"

She actually seemed to be scanning better than she was yesterday, Raynare thought with some relief. Smirking she moved over to sit by the bed sitting there and looking at the seduced seductress coolly. "We need your expertise. I need your advice on boys, specifically."

"Wait, what?" Kalawarner said, dropping the last of her empty bottles into a trash bag. Underneath she found one of her romance novels, one of the ones she had taken to correct or change. She stared at it for a moment then set it down on the small nightstand. She sat on the bed, leaning back against the wall behind it. "What are you planning now Raynare?"

"GenshirouSaji, the second Sacred Gear user I've identified at Kuoh. I want to see if we can bring him to our side," Raynare said bluntly. "In fact, I want to see if we can seduce them both, at least as far as that goes. But the pretty boy, Saji, he's growing too quickly in power. He'll be noticed by the Devils within a week at best at the rate his power's growing. So I want him firmly in our hands before that."

"Because if we move against him we won't be able to stick around and strike at Hyoudou, makes sense," Kalawarner muttered, her thoughts hidden as she kneaded her forehead. "Has our timetable for that been finalized?"

"Yes, but there's been a delay in getting the Sacred Gear siphon to us." Raynare sighed, but then brightened. "On the other hand, they're going to send us the Twilight Healing girl. We'll be able to test the siphon on her first."

Raynare didn't see Kalawarner's expression changed at that bit of news, though Kalawarner quickly regained control of herself. _Bloodthirsty bitch… still… this could be the sign I've been waiting for._

"So I need advice on how to handle this. Seduction is your game Kalawarner, regardless of this latest setback. How do I do this without drawing any suspicion?" Raynare asked.

Kalawarner grimaced, feeling both a twinge of interest and sadness caused by the dig at her recent fuckup. And while a large part of her was beginning to wonder if she should change her ways, the rest of her was all too eager to fall back into her old ways. _Still, right now this can but help me in the long run…_

"All right, your cover story is solid at school right?" Kalawarner asked aloud, keeping her thoughts to herself as usual. When Raynare nodded, she went on. "Is this boy at all experienced? Is he a playboy, well thought of, introverted, or extroverted?"

Blinking at the number of questions, Raynare answered as best she could. "Not a playboy for certain, generally well-thought of, seems to be somewhat standoffish and studious but that's about all I know."

"Here's what you need to do then," Kalawarner said professionally. "You need to create a seemingly random encounter, but before that, find out something he's interested in. With that after the encounter, you can initiate a conversation on that topic. Lead him on a little then get him to make the first move. If he's standoffish because he's shy it might take some influence but if you can contrive the encounter to be after school, I'll be nearby and can help you there. After that…"

Kalawarner continued, seemingly back on track and helping their plans while inside, she began to plan her own moves. _It might take time, but maybe this old crow can learn new tricks. And if not, at least this might be fun._

 **OOOOOOO**

The instant she crossed the border of her territory Yasaka felt the ley line shivering in both her psyche and beneath her feet, the connection which had become tenuous as she had been away reasserting itself like rubber-band snapping into place now that she was back. It caused her to sigh in relief as the pain of her withdrawal from the area receded. Ley lines were not supposed to move, it was that simple. And as a sage connected to that ley line and the forest around Kyoto being away was simply painful. It was just the price one had to pay. Indeed, today had been the first time she had been away since she had ascended to her status.

But now that she was back, Yasaka went to work. Breathing out, she reached out and touched the webs of power that only she could see, gesturing with her other hand. A pillar of magical energy, red, molten copper and green appeared there coming out of the very ground for those who had eyes to see. She gestured at it, merging its power into the wards that covered all of the forests that were a part of the Youkai Association's territory. In this manner, she brought the wards of the area onto a more aggressive footing.

As she began bounding from tree to tree towards her mansion, she also laid out numerous traps, her thoughts moving like Quicksilver as she sent little bits and pieces of imagery along the webs to take up formation here and there. Illusion traps like that could be anything, ranging from covering a hole in the ground to show a false trail leading into one of the more dangerous areas. There had been others before of course, but the ones Yasaka created now were a bit more lethal rather than the type to simply lead wayward hikers or helicopters away.

Soon enough the two kitsune were back at their mansion, where Yasaka found numerous other demons, including a few of the other kitsune who lived here working on repairing the damages and of course getting rid of the bodies. With Harry's earlier help Yasaka was certain that she no longer had to worry about any interior threat, no matter how abhorrent she had thought his actions at the time. So she thought they would be safe enough despite the damages to the mansion. _So long as our rooms are intact anyway._

It turned out that Yasaka's room was intact at least, while her daughter's wasn't. One of the Cao-Cao's attacks had vaporized more than half of that wing, the sight of which caused Yasaka to shiver once more. _What have I heard the thirteen Longinus called before? Broken cheat codes of life? The name certainly fits. If that young man's followers had been able to think on their feet as well as he had, we might well have lost that battle regardless of Harry's intervention_.

Sighing, she sat Kunou down on the bed and began to pull off the girl's clothing. Kunou had fallen asleep once more on the trip back to Kyoto, and Yasaka had simply carried for the rest of the trip. She barely woke up even now, and Yasaka made a note of sending a thank you basket to Koneko for wearing her out so that she didn't have any energy to worry.

However as Yasaka was tucking the two of them into bed, Kunou nuzzled into her side, and whispered, "Mommy?"

"Yes, Kunou-chan?"

"I think I want to go to a human school. With Lily." Kunou said, yawning as she spoke, her eyes already sliding shut once more.

Despite still being in her nominally human form Yasaka's smile widened into a truly vulpine grin at that comment. "I'll see what I can do about that, Kunou-chan." _For more than one reason…_

 **OOOOOOO**

Monday passed in a blur to Harry and the others as all of them slid back into the normal scholastic groove. It would've surprised many to realize that Harry was able to do so easily despite anticipation of that evening this date and the events of Sunday still in his mind. But Harry wasn't bothered by most of what had happened Sunday. The combat, besides his own mistakes and Herakles's magical resistance, was pretty much old home week to Harry.

He didn't like to use Imperio, it always made him feel dirty and with the revelation that it worked on the soul rather than the mind that feeling redoubled. But it was not enough to make him regret using it. However he did vow not to use Crucio ever again. He had rarely been able to make that spell work at all and had never been able to use the AK without thinking about his one memory of his mother, her voice screaming at Voldemort to take her instead of Harry. Still, the idea of torturing the soul was far worse even to Harry than torturing the body.

Further, he felt he could trust Yasaka to continue to handle what remained on her end, and it wasn't as if they had a location for this Hero Faction's headquarters after all. If they were going to be a problem in the future, all Harry could do was to prepare for any eventuality and do a bit of research to see what that might entail, which he did at lunchtime.

With Akeno's help, Harry found both the sword that Jeanne had been using which had disappeared with her and an image of a spear. They'd found a picture of which they found in the Bible of all things. Akeno, unwilling to touch the bible read over Harry's shoulder pressing her chest into his back not incidentally, frowning as she looked at it.

The two of them were working in a small study room off the main library, the door closed and a few spells from Akeno allowing them some security. She had thrown them up with a coquettish grin on her face that would have set any red-blooded male's pulse to racing, and it had worked at the time though Harry hadn't replied with more than his own smirk, which in turn ad caused Akeno to shudder at the possibilities.

But right now flirting was the last thing on Akeno's mind. "That… is a very bad sign. I had not heard anything of the True Longinus being seen in modern times, and that kind of knowledge would get around very quickly. It is the first and most powerful of the thirteen Longinus, deadly against both demons, fallen and even angels thanks to having split the blood of Christ."

"And it's in the hands of someone who is part of this Hero Faction, which is a subset of a group called KHAOS according to some of their local conspirators. Yeah," Harry mused. "Not good. We still have no idea what their real goal was in trying to coerce Kunou after all."

"Regardless, Rias-sama will have to pass all of this information on to her brother at the very least," Akeno said, straightening her back as she frowned. "I am uncertain how he will take it frankly. I know he, the leader of the Fallen, and even the representative of Heaven, have been pushing to make the peace permanent. An unknown human faction deciding to cause trouble could mess that up for everyone."

Harry shrugged, not knowing enough to comment on that topic. Indeed, if Akeno hadn't known that Harry had already learned about the three factions and their devil-status she wouldn't have said that much.

"I'm personally wondering about other heroes," Harry said instead. "We have this one from Chinese history in Cao-Coo, what about others from Asian history or European? British? I don't want to have to deal with a reborn Arthur wielding Excalibur!"

"Worse yet, I don't know what to expect from most of those beyond the legends and even with the local legends nothing concrete." Harry's lips quirked bitterly. "My people have a lot of stories about Merlin, but then nothing about King Arthur. After all, he wasn't a magical."

"And a Catholic who made Catholicism the official religion of Britain," Akeno said, though for some reason she seemed to remember hearing something about Excalibur, about it not being as big an issue any longer. "Still, knowing this and what happened will be a major boon to Lucifer-sama. As for the other heroes, well, if this Herakles was like his ancestor as you said, perhaps the legends can help us regardless of what you think?"

"True, he was the kind of bombastic asshole the original was supposed to be. Not at all like that Kevin Sorbo chap. Still, I'd bet your resources will be much more accurate than anything I can find. Me," Harry said with a smirk as he tucked her arm in his and moved towards the door back to the rest the library. "I'm just going to hope that the rest aren't utter cocks like those three."

"Such language from a teacher," Akeno teased, leaning into his side briefly. She felt Harry tense at that, but he didn't move away until they reached the door then moving away quickly. There she let him exit first before she followed a few moments later.

As she did, Akeno frowned in thought. She had wanted desperately to ask to join Rias on this date, but when she had heard the details the two of them had worked out, she had decided against it. Further after reflection, she decided that for her first date with a man she wanted it to be both romantic and just two of them.

Oh, in the long run, she agreed with Rias: that to date Harry, someone would need to realize Lily came included, free of charge. Akeno felt she could accept that just like Rias. Though she didn't have any great love for children she did like her well enough, and Lily was intelligent enough she could actually be fun on her own.

 _But the first date should be special,_ she thought. _And despite the fact that Harry knows about harems of this point he still doesn't know that Rias and I might be willing to share. If only emotions were so easy to understand, we'd_ _ **know**_ _we were willing to do so rather than just the idea we might and could be more open about it, but we're not._

 _Still, I hope my turn comes up soon. And I hope that Harry goes along with that when it happens. I've come a long way in the past few weeks in terms of sharing more of myself, but it remains to be seen if he will accept me. Especially once I open up to him about my… interests…_ Shaking that thought off, Akeno headed back to her classroom. After all, there was nothing to be gained by worrying about now. _It's best to take things as they come._

 **OOOOOOO**

 _How exactly did this happen?_ Cao-Cao thought as he leaned back in his chair. His wounds had long since healed of course. Being a hero and the descendant of heroes Cao-Cao's healing ability was quite high and he hadn't been that injured in the first place. Indeed, of the three survivors who had gotten away from there disastrous attempt to kidnap the young kitsune and therefore force her mother into servitude, only the one surviving magician who had teleported them away was still down with his wounds.

Herakles was up and about his wounds gone too and his rage knowing no bounds. After all, they hadn't been just beaten, they had been routed. Not only had they lost several valuable pawns, their magicians had been almost wiped out. Further, Jeanne's death weakened Cao-Cao's faction. Now they would be forced to work with the other factions of the Khaos Brigade, and that was beyond demeaning.

But while Herakles dealt with his anger by letting it loose, Cao-Cao became colder, more analytical. It was part of what made him such an excellent strategist.

 _I anticipated our local 'allies' taking heavy casualties. Indeed, I had even anticipated that we might not be able to grab the little kitsune bitch right away, but for her to get away entirely was no part of my plans. A powerful, independent Youkai Association under any leader could have been a threat to the next stage in our plan after all._

 _But now Yasaka is aware of us and she will no doubt have moved against those who aided us in secret among her folk. Any attempt to use Yasaka to open up the dimensional portal for our cursed patron as she so desires is simply not going to happen now. I had thought to steal a march on the other factions among the Khaos Brigade but it looks as if the exact opposite will occur. And all because of a single, unforeseen chaotic factor._

Cao-Cao allowed himself a small smile at the bit of internal wordplay there, but his thoughts remained serious. _Harry Potter…From Herakles report, his magic was insidious, varied, and powerful, and his strength and speed as a werewolf were both very respectable. When it comes to magic users, there is no one more dangerous than someone who has a large bag of tricks._

While no magician himself, Cao-Cao had studied all manner of warfare, including that of magician versus magician. He knew that in terms of combat it was often the mage who knew the most who won, rather than the one who had the most power. Of course, power had a quality all its own. For example, even a magician who knew every spell in existence would probably not be able to fight someone like the current Lucifer, who was ranked as a true monster in the truest sense of the word rumored to be even stronger than the original Lucifer, the fallen Archangel who had begun the war against Heaven.

Not that Cao-Cao carried overmuch about the history of that war. Oh, from a military standpoint it was interesting enough. But really, even if the Angels had won he would have disdained that victory and plotted their downfall. To Cao-Cao's mind, anything and anyone that was not human had no right to exist on earth. This was humanity's planet, and anyone else was the enemy, be it devil, fallen, demon or God and he would fight them all to claim his place as its true king.

 _But more importantly, this leaves me with no choice but to back team Vali's for now. I had hoped not to have to, other than the Pendragon siblings the rest are all combat-crazed fools, and not human besides. But needs must. Now, how to convince them to follow me rather than the wielder of the White Dragon Emperor?_

Cao-Cao's thoughts were interrupted by the door to his room opening without even the noise of the lock turning. Instead, the door simply came out of its hinges pulling the lock with it as it was sent to bang against the wall. Growling he turned only to force his face under control as he saw the being who stood there. While the individual standing there looked like a short girl in a black Gothic Lolita dress Cao-Cao knew the truth, and would never treat her like a human. "Ophis-sama," he said calmly.

She gazed back at him steadily for a moment, before she spoke in her normal impenetrable monotone. "Your plan failed. Why?"

From anyone else, Cao-Cao would not have taken that tone or that question. But he could take it from the patron of the brigade. After all, it was she who had been able to find so many Sacred Gear users and brought them together, so many other humans and bring them to where he could influence them and lead them as their King as was his destiny along with the other creatures he would use and discard.

For now, he had to play the servant himself, which grated somewhat on him, after all the girl in front of him was not human by any means. But her power was such that he had to go along with things for now. In the end, Ophis, the great Void dragon, would serve just like everyone else to further his ambitions.

"I am still trying to figure that out milady," he said gesturing her to sit down if she wished. She didn't which did not surprise him of course. Despite having taken such a small human shape, Ophis did not even try to act in a human manner.

"The original steps of the plan worked out very well, but one of the guards on the young kitsune did a better job defending her than we had expected. Yet that could have been overcome easily, if not for someone else being there. A magic-using werewolf with spells that that from Herakles's report do not match any I've heard of before. One of which was a spell that allowed him to send the young kitsune away through the anti-teleportation wards we set up."

He watched as the girl's eyes narrowed at that. It was evident that she understood the importance of that little fact. She looked to the side and thrust out her hand, and suddenly there was a black hole into someplace else appearing there. She reached in and dragged through the one remaining magic user from the attack. "Describe your anti-teleportation ward," she ordered.

Stuttering his words out the man did so. Ophis asked him a few questions about how their ward had worked, its strength and if anyone had felt a response when Potter had teleported the young kitsune out. Once satisfied, she then tossed the man back to the hole to land on the infirmary bed on the other side.

"A possibility," she said with a nod. "It was not incompetence on your magicians' part, but lack of knowledge. For that, I will let that one live." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Cao-Cao for a moment. "What are your plans now?"

"This new individual on the scene represents a source of conflict which I do not have enough information about," Cao-Cao said carefully. "I wish to learn more about him, and about his odd spell work. Beyond that, I will join my faction," _such as it is,_ he thought angrily "With that of the young Lucifer. While the research teams look for other ways of opening a dimensional gate, he and I will sow chaos and gather stronger members in order to help you expel Great Red from your home."

"Good," Ophis said. "There are a few more Sacred Gear users out there I will be able to steer you to. Their powers had just awakened in other parts of the world. Be ready to go and meet them when I call you."

With that Ophis abruptly turned around and moved out of the room, not looking back or saying anything further. Cao-Cao thought irritably that she had even left his door where it had been knocked off of its hinges. Sighing he stood up picked up the door and put it back, shaking his head at the way Ophis acted. _You spend so much time looking down on us, never realizing that we look down on you just as much. But the time will come off Ophis when the balance of things is restored..._

 **OOOOOOO**

Monday came to an end for this those in school, after which Harry picked up Lily from her school. They went over her homework together after which the two of them prepared for a night out on the town. Harry dressed in a decent suit, black shirt with jeans, while Lily dressed in a very good if long and poufy skirt. "Ready to pick up Rias, Lily?"

Lily nodded, grinning so widely it might hurt her face. "I'm looking forward to this daddy! And I think Rias will love the place you chose."

"I hope so," Harry said with a chuckle. "It took me a bit after putting you to bed to set up."

The two of them brought out Harry's motorcycle from the garage. It was something he had gotten from Sirius after the man's death in the war and had a lot of spells on it to cover their identities, and also to fly at need, though right now Harry wasn't interested in that particular ability. The two Potters rode the bike to Rias's house where they pulled the bike in and parked it on the front lawn before moving to knock on the door.

Rias opened it wearing what looked like what looked like a modified 1940's swing dress. It was done in black, with a few red highlights on the sleeves and the bottom of the skirt, and it hugged her figure without impeding her movement at all. It put her long, perfect legs on display a little more than the normal Kuoh uniform while taking slightly away from her rear and chest. Her hair cascaded loosely down her back as normal with her ahoge looking freshly curled, and she wore what looked like dancing shoes.

All in all, she looked gorgeous if in a slightly different manner than normal, her girl-next-door charm having been slightly upgraded to woman-next-door in Harry's opinion. "You look lovely my dear," He said aloud, taking her hand and bowing over it, placing a chaste kiss on her knuckles.

Rias smiled at the compliment, though her expression was rather wry. "Thank you, but why am I wearing this? You said to dress up in something that would fit in the 1940's, but not why."

"Don't worry, I think you'll enjoy the place we're going to, and there you'll fit right in," Harry said with a smile, holding out her his hand to her. He nodded to Koneko, Akeno and Kiba who had all come to the doorway to see Rias off.

Koneko looked irritated in her normal blank way, which Harry figured was because she was missing a good meal out on the town. Akeno simply looked thoughtful, staring at Harry, her lips twitching between a frown and a smirk, and Harry wondered what she was thinking for a moment. Then she locked eyes with him, and let her tongue out to lick her lips for a moment, while winking at him, and he had to look away, shaking his head.

 _Ok, so perhaps not jealous, or at least not just jealous, but something else too. Is she really as interested in me as Rias is? Strange, and something I'll have to talk to her about if Rias and I do start dating,_ Harry thought. _I can't say she hasn't been doing better lately, and the idea of dating her is… interesting, but I won't two-time Rias if she and I get together._

Kiba too looked conflicted, though he hid it somewhat worse than Akeno. Of course, he had no wish to go on a date with Harry unlike Akeno and didn't particularly care about missing free food like Koneko. But he did look a little wistful Harry thought, and Harry had to wonder what that was about.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked aloud, looking back at Rias.

Rias nodded. "How are we going to get to the restaurant?"

"By portkey, I set it up last night," Harry said, holding out a similar stone to the one he had used to hold the spell that had brought him and Yasaka back to the Potter's home. "Hopefully you won't have as negative a reaction as Yasaka did," he said dryly.

"Let's hope so," Rias said tartly, having seen Yasaka when she arrived. "It would not be a good start to the evening if I threw up all over your nice shiny dance shoes," she went on, looking down at them thoughtfully.

Harry smiled blandly at that, nodded to the others and took Rias's hand in his. Lily quickly took hold of his other hand, and he winked at Kiba and Akeno. "Don't worry; I'll have her back before 11 or so depending on how long we talk."

"Have fun," Akeno said with a laugh, while Kiba simply gave a two-fingered salute, and Koneko actually pouted in the background at missing out on good food.

Rias, however, turned hugging Akeno and whispering that she'd give her a play by play of the date later. Then she turned and smirked at Koneko. "Don't worry Koneko-chan, wherever we're going I promise I'll bring you back a doggie bag."

This caused Koneko to huff irritably. But before she could reply, Rias, Harry, and Lily were gone popping out instantly as Rias touched the stone and Harry activated the spell. Akeno blinked, nodding her head thoughtfully as she stared at the space they had previously inhabited. "Interesting little spell there, we might wish to look into that, it's more versatile than our own teleportation array."

By the time Akeno finished speaking back in Kuoh, Harry and the two ladies had already reappeared in a small abandoned alleyway elsewhere in Tokyo.

"Where are we?" Rias asked, swaying a little but otherwise showing no negative reaction to the port.

Lilia and Harry, on the other hand, stumbled quite a bit more, with Lily almost going down on her knees before Harry gripped her hand and held her upright. "It must be a Potter thing," Harry said sadly. "Transportation magics just don't like us. I can apparate well for short distances but using even that spell for longer distances throws me off something fierce."

Turning to Rias, he tucked her hand in his, while Lily skipped around them both heading towards the entrance to the alleyway. "As for where we are, welcome to the otaku center of Japan, Akihabara."

Akihabara was known as the center of the otaku culture. It was a shopping district devoted to anime and everything that accompanied it, with dozens of stores, cafes, resell shops, events, movie theaters showing only anime, theme restaurants and even a few actual anime companies in the buildings around it.

Rias stared around, grinning widely. "Okay, if you wanted to get on my good side Akihabara was an inspired choice. But where exactly are we going to eat?"

"Follow me," Harry said with a laugh, leaving the way down the street with Rias beside him and Lily holding his hand. The streets were crowded as they always were in Tokyo, particularly in this section. Here and there they saw maids outside of maid cafés calling out to the passerby. Everywhere there were signs for anime stores, manga and all manner of things to call to the soul of the Japanese otaku.

Her eyes sparkling Rias stared avidly around, whispering excitedly about this poster or that one to Lily. The younger redhead lapped it up quickly, having come to love Japanese anime almost as much as Rias had since they had moved here.

Eventually, they reached a restaurant called the 'Retro Steampunk', where Harry ushered the two ladies inside.

Inside Rias once more looked around avidly having heard about this restaurant, but never having really thought she'd go there. This was one of the area's famous theme restaurants, but it was a little different from most. It catered specifically to every anime that could be said to be steampunk. Sakura Wars, Big Robot, Steam Detectives, Nadia Secret of Blue Water, Steam Boy, Castle in the Sky and though not as famous, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was represented here too. Rias thought that it to be the better story given its graphic novel, and was happy to see some of it around the place too.

Even the music played in the background sort of matched the theme being old-school jazz and 1940's dance tunes, both the American version and the Japanese versions made later. All the waiters and waitresses were wearing cosplay of the famous characters from the anime shows, and it all looked incredible. Lily was staring around with sparkly eyes, and Rias was having trouble keeping her own face from breaking due to the size of her grin.

"This is amazing," she gushed, clasping Harry's arm with both of her own, pressing into his side as they were led deeper into the restaurant by a waiter dressed like the officer from Sakura Wars. "Whatever else happens tonight, this has made it all worthwhile."

Harry laughed at that, shaking his head. "I can't say the same until I see the food," he said with a drawl in his tone, grabbing at Lily as she made to race off deeper into the bowels of the restaurant. "Eat first, explore later," he said firmly.

Lily sighed but nodded and the three of them moved after the waiter until he gestured them into a booth in the far back to one side of the dance floor which dominated the center of the restaurant. Rias noted that it was situated in such a way that Harry could see the majority of the rest of the restaurant from where he sat. That was a good thing security-wise and the music was so loud it wouldn't take much in the way of spell to make any conversation they had completely unintelligible to anyone else.

Sitting down, they quickly ordered their drinks and then went over the menu. This proved to be difficult for the two Potters since while they could read the kanji well enough by this point the dishes were also themed, matching the description of meals from the various anime. With Rias helping them along, however, the three of them were still able to find something they'd like. The waiter quickly came back with their drinks and a plate of appetizers, before retreating just as quickly with their orders.

While Lily quickly became busy using some crayons to color in a few pictures from a picture book that had been waiting in the booth for them, Harry looked across at Rias. "So, I suppose we could both just tell one another everything or play 20 questions?"

"I think it would be more interesting to see what we discovered on our own before exchanging new information. But not twenty questions, I've never liked that game." Rias reposted.

"Agreed," Harry said with a nod. "Although if I said ladies first, would that buy me a little more time to put my mental notes in order?"

Rias scoffed. "If you don't have your notes in order already, then a few more seconds won't help you very much. Besides which, the man going first would be a little more respectful in this case anyway."

Harry shrugged. "It was worth a try."

Then he became serious, patting Lily on the head with one hand while tapping the table with the other. Rias felt the briefs of susurration of magic and smiled in approval at how subtle it had been. But then she concentrated fully on what Harry was saying.

"All right, I knew you were a kind of magic user almost from the first time. There is a feeling you and the others give off which reminded me at first of the feelings the most powerful magic users from among my own kind gave off. And you don't smell quite right for humans either. What kind of magic user or what you actually are alluded me though. My initial thinking was some kind of local Youkai like Koneko, but ones who had less obvious scents. But that didn't stand up given the fact that there were so many of you, and groups like that are all supposed to be only around Kyoto with the actual Association. Then there were your auras, and how they impacted my self-control. With that, I was thinking some kind of Veela at first."

"Veela?" Rias asked, confused.

"A near-human species that are kind of like a succubus only with an R-rating instead of an MA?" Harry said, with a smirk. "They don't live off sex, but they do give off what they call an allure that influences the minds of men all around them. It can be very debilitating at times, but I have mental defenses that block any such easily. My werewolf side also helps somewhat there. But it did the exact opposite with your auras. So I was thinking something with a more sinful history, like a succubus."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Rias said, laughing lightly, though she looked at him intently. "Yet you still… that is you…"

"I felt attraction to you even after your auras no longer could affect my mind, yes," Harry replied evenly, amused by Rias's floundering for a moment even as his own pulse raced. "Then yesterday I discovered that Devils Fallen and Angels were a thing," Harry went on with a chuckle, looking away from Rias's blushing, happy face for a second. "I spent some of last night looking up your name, and found something that said Gremory was the name of a Duke of Hell?"

"Something like that," Rias replied with a faint smile though she could not hide her apprehension at the fact Harry knew about her heritage. "I'll explain more when it becomes my turn. Is that all you found out?"

"Not at all," Harry said with a laugh, reaching over and grabbing her hands which had clenched together on the tabletop. "I've discovered far more about your personality and that of your group than I did about your race. More than enough to tell me that most of what the Bible says about demons is bunk."

As Rias slumped slightly in relief, Harry went on. "I know you're a good person, and I believe most of the others are too. So what being a devil means and what it specifically means to you I have no idea. And it was your reaction to the news of your auras, what I've learned about your history and your daily actions which told me you were a good person." He smiled at her, shaking his head. "And that made me realize that I'd rather like to see if something could happen between us."

To his side, Lily scoffed. "I could have told you that," she said with a huff, looking up from her drawing. She had of course been listening in, being a very intelligent girl for her age and wanting to know more about her new friends, especially Rias, who had quickly become something of a role model for her like Hermione and Luna back in England.

Now she leaned over the table, whispering conspiratorially. "All that, and daddy has a thing for redheads. That's what Aunty Luna says anyway."

Even as she squeezed Harry's hands back Rias laughed at Harry's betrayed expression, further noting that he hadn't said anything in response to his daughter's point. After regaining control of her voice she asked, "So, should I explain now and then go or…"

"No, no, we'll exchange what we've found out first. Like you, I want to know what you discovered on your own."

"All right," Rias said and then launched right into it. "I knew you were a magic user too, as well as a werewolf almost from the first thanks to Koneko-chan. You're also a former soldier. I have no idea what war you fought in, but it is obvious sometimes talking to you that you went through a nasty irregular war, like a counterinsurgency or anti-terrorist war. You're werewolf 'curse' is odd though, since you somehow passed on your curse in some fashion to Lily despite having married a non-were."

Being a werewolf was a curse to those afflicted with it. A werewolf could have a child, but the curse wouldn't pass on to the child unless both parents were werewolves. This happened a lot since werewolves tended to congregate in packs, so it wasn't a rare event to have second generation werewolves, just never if a werewolf had a child with a non-werewolf.

But Harry had to admit that Lily did share some of his werewolf characteristics. She was far more energetic, stronger, and more animalistic at times than any girl her age could be. She seemed to have an instinctive pack mentality, as shown by her interaction with Koneko, Loup even Kunou. And Lily had begun in the past few months to react to the full moon by becoming angry and irritable.

"Well, that's one of many things that is odd about me, which we'll no doubt have to talk about. Though that one, I don't know where it came from," Harry said with a sigh. "It caused some… nevermind," Harry cut himself off looking at the top of his daughter's head for a moment before looking back at Rias. "Anything else?"

Nodding, Rias continued. "I'll leave out most of your personal information. Suffice to say that I too believe you to be a good man, a loving father" she said, winking at Lily, "and someone who trusts slowly, but when he does trusts wholeheartedly. I also believe you have a hatred towards being used in any shape or form, though where that came from I don't know."

"As for the specific type of magic user you were, I know you come from Europe, but other than that I haven't been able to discover much other than the fact you, in turn, didn't know anything about us. I also know my bigger brother however specifically sought you out."

"I figured as much to, though the why about it has avoided me. Unless you are facing some kind of trouble he thinks I might help with?" Harry asked his tone light-hearted but his eyes serious.

"I believe that is the case yes, though you already have in a lot of ways just by your discussions with me."

"The ones about tactics," Harry said, leaning back and staring over her head thoughtfully. "Yes, I can understand that. I'll take that to mean that you devils have to fight one another or the other factions?"

"Something like that. I'll get to that in a moment I suppose when I start explaining," Rias said drolly before shifting back to talking about Harry and what she had learned about. "Whatever else can be said about you, your teaching abilities came from legitimate. I was able to find your transcripts from where you studied, although your life before you showed up at the college is a blank slate. That leads me to believe that you were learning magic from around eleven to eighteen, perhaps twenty. I also think that you were fighting your war during that time too. How young you were, or the enemy you fought is, as said earlier, still a mystery. Even the name you call yourselves, wizards, was scant help."

For a moment they were both silent, taking in what the other had said, before Harry asked, "So who should go first this time? I vote you since I was the one who spoke first."

"Fair enough," Rias said with a nod. With that, she began to explain about Devils. First, she spoke about how they had come into existence, and how they were now. She spoke about how devils searched out those humans with strong desires and made deals with them to help them achieve their dreams large or small. "We don't take their souls of course, not anymore. We used to before the Great War, but since then, Devil-kind has mellowed considerably and we learned we could get just as much energy from someone via a long-term deal that lets us take a bit of their life-energy over a long period of time than suck their soul dry immediately."

"And this is all consensual?" Harry asked intently.

"Yes. All of it. Oh, I think our auras let those who contact us believe our origins and get them to agree to keep our agreements a secret, but it is still their ambitions that call us, and still their dreams." Rias replied, showing she had thought about that very thing since Harry had told her about the auras she and the other devils gave out.

From there she went on to explain about the Four Maou and her brother being one of them. She scowled at Harry when he laughed at her when she mentioned that Sirzechs was a sis-con, but went on to explain the peerage system.

"Ahh, and now the fetish you have for chess comes through, as does why Koneko lives with you rather than her people," Harry said shrewdly, thinking. "Kiba is a knight, Akeno your queen, that's obvious. What piece is Koneko?"

Lily looked up at that too, paying attention now that they were talking about her older friend.

"She is a Rook, though I've been moving away from chess as you well know. I've been cross-training all of us, and it's been going well especially for Koneko-chan. She's a nekomata of course, which gives her a lot of agility and speed."

She fell silent as she noticed the serious look Harry was giving her. "You saving them, it wasn't just you taking them into your home or a new lease on life was it?"

"In Koneko and Akeno's case it was, but Kiba… he was dying when I found him. If I hadn't turned him into a Devil, into my Knight, he would have died." She confessed. "I couldn't let that happen, not let someone die right in front of me."

"Of course not," Harry replied, nodding in agreement. "I wouldn't have been able to either."

"Yes, well, of my peerage Kiba was the only one who had a real problem with being turned into a devil once he woke up that is. He had been raised by the church you see, so it took him months to get over his previous indoctrination."

"Understood, though all this about devils, the Church and the big guy in the sky being real is still very odd to me. Wizards tend toward ancestor worship if anything." Harry replied. He asked a few questions on that vein, and about what being a devil meant. He also asked about whether her peerage was complete, and if so where the others were. But there Rias shook her head.

"I haven't finished gathering my personal family yet. I have another bishop, but his power is almost uncontrollable, and worse, he's what the Japanese call Hikkimori, a full shut-in. He doesn't like being around other people at all, they frighten him." Rias said with a wince. "But like the others, I just couldn't let him alone after meeting him."

Rias went on to explain in turn about the 42 pillars, the clans of noble pureblood devils remaining, and how each of them had a specific power. She was surprised to see Harry's eyes narrow at the term purebloods but went on hesitantly. "So my family is one of the most important in Hell on many levels, like royalty really. That's how, how a lot of people have seen me my entire life, or worse."

She paused, looking at Harry and he smiled, shaking his head. "Your being a devil didn't bother me Rias, why would your being a noble bother me? I've gotten to know Rias, not the Gremory heir. The girl who likes to nibble at her hair when she's thinking hard and wears glasses because she thinks it makes her smarter when doing paperwork. The anime otaku who knows so much she could probably write a book about the subject, who likes the color blue and hates the taste of apple juice for some reason. That's the girl I know, not Rias Gremory-sama."

Rias had begun to blush as Harry started this little recitation, and by the time he finished her face was almost the color of her hair. It took her a moment to recover and when she did, she was smiling so widely it hurt her cheeks as she stared into Harry's eyes. "Um, thank you for that Harry. That means a lot to me."

Taking a deep breath, Rias steeled herself before plunging on. "You, you see, it's not just other people that have looked at me like that. My own family has treated me… well, you know how in human history princesses and such were always married off to noble families?" Seeing Harry's eyes harden and Lily looking up in shock, she went on. "Well, um, you see, thanks to the peerage system we Devils have made up our numbers. But the number of pure-blooded demons has declined. So to keep our family line pure my parents decided I would marry another pureblood before was even born. That's part of why what you said earlier means so much to me."

"And let me guess, your parents won't let you get out of it," Harry said grimly, not acknowledging her last words for the moment.

"Correct," Rias replied grimly. I've begged, I've pleaded, but they are adamant. It will merge two of the most powerful family magics of all the Pillar clans, that of my mother's Power of Destruction which I have inherited, and the Phenex power of regeneration. That's too important an idea for them to care about little things like their own daughter's feelings or the fact they're being hypocrites, or what will happen to me, Koneko or Akeno if…" Rias clamped her teeth shut realizing she was becoming too heated. "Sorry, I get kind of passionate about this."

Harry reached across the table, taking one of Rias's hands in both of his as he smiled at her. "That's understandable of course. So who is this paragon of pureblooded virtue they've chosen for you?"

"His name's Riser Phenex, and he's the scum of the earth," Rias replied bluntly. "His peerage is really a harem in all but name, and they include girls and women of all types. And he's always been very blunt about making me just one of the many."

"I see… and this is the problem you think your brother sought me out to help with?" Harry asked, trying manfully to keep from twitching his fingers or grinding his teeth.

"I believe so, though I think at this point all I need is time and more training and I'll be able to deal with Riser on my own. You've already helped me a lot Harry, just by talking to me like I said earlier. Riser's greatest weakness is his arrogance and his complete dependence on his family's regeneration. There are ways to get around or through the latter, and ways to use the former." An unholy light appeared in her blue eyes as she said that. "I'm looking forward to it frankly."

She then looked at Harry seriously. "Now it's your turn."

Nodding Harry sighed and began his tale by building on the tale he had told Akeno a few weeks ago. "Once upon a time, in the faraway land of England there was a small baby born to James and Lily Potter. At the same time, there was a very, very bad man named Tom Riddle…"

From there Harry gave an overview of his own life and the Wizarding World in general. He explained how he had been seen as a savior then had been looked at with suspicion because of the means he had used to fight Voldemort and his followers. Beyond that, he found himself telling Rias things he hadn't intended to: he had always been seen as someone to be either set on a pedestal or torn down by the public, how he had grown up under the Boy Who Lived Appellation.

But Rias simply smiled, shaking her head. "I don't care about the Boy Who Lived Harry, just like you said you didn't care about my family name. I've come to know first Potter-sensei, the enthusiastic and rather charming English teacher, then Harry Potter. The caring father who likes to read Terry Pratchett and other comedy books, who has a soft spot for watching cutesy cartoons with his daughter, whose favorite color is red and who likes apple tarts and tea in the morning but hates coffee almost as much as he dislikes bullies and perverts."

Now it was Harry's turn to lose control of his expression for a moment. He blushed slightly while feeling a suspicious buildup of moisture under his eyes as Lily smiled happily taking his hand and squeezing it.

"But tell me more about the actual magic you practice," Rias said, changing the subject letting Harry regain control of himself.

Nodding, Harry cleared his throat and began to describe the basics of European magic, the way it was organized and taught, before going on to describe the differences he had discovered between the European school and the Japanese Onmyouji. To say this was fascinating to Rias was an understatement. To hear there was an entire type of magic users that she had never heard about before! She had heard something about the Onmyouji, but had thought them a simple subset of magicians, and had never heard about Wizards before. In particular to her, specifically formed attack spells sounded interesting; along with the transfiguration skills, an area of magic she had never seen any devil make use of.

For a moment the two of them got completely sidetracked as they talked about magic and the differences in how they saw it. When the food arrived it caused a break as all three of them shared their meals with one another. This let Rias shift her mind back to something else she had been wondering. "Why?" she asked simply, then as Harry looked up from sharing some of his meal with Lily she elaborated. "I have to wonder why you wizards have stayed separate for so long. Is it because of these wards that hide you from nonmagicals. I can't believe that, that your people developed wards to hide yourselves from the senses of those like my Onii-sama or his counterparts. Yet I can't deny that a lot of the magic you've described is nothing like what I know."

"I don't know what started it, but I believe that it comes down to numbers, the normal wizards desire, almost need for isolation, and our disdain for something that you all find sacred: the soul." Harry said sighing. "I talked about this with Yasaka yesterday. My people came up with three spells we call the Unforgiveables. And even before that, we created an artificial species called Dementors."

Rias's interest in Harry's brand of magic turned to horror at this point and she fully understood why his people would have been left alone for so long. She had never heard of anything like the Unforgivables, able to bypass or break through the natural defenses a devil or one of the other factions naturally had to guard their spiritual selves. In particular, she had never heard of anything like the Imperio and she had no idea how something like that could even work. She didn't think it would work universally across the board, if Harry's normal spells couldn't get through Herakles's magical resistance then Rias felt the Unforgivables wouldn't work on anyone like the Maou or her parents. Still, the idea of killing the soul, of torturing it or utterly dominating another being's soul, horrified her.

"Yes, I think that, and the arrogance you describe in your people definitely explains why you've been allowed to go your own way for so long," Rias said.

"Enough serious stuff!" Lily said, hopping up. She moved around the table towards the dance floor. Come on you two, let's dance!" A jazz song had just begun to blare out of the speakers. It was one that Rias recognized from Najica Blitz Tactics, which wasn't what she would call steampunk, but the music at least fit.

The two still at the table watched the little girl start dancing, or rather just moving her body around wildly, for a few minutes. "She's right you know. We can talk about serious stuff anytime. Right now, I suppose the only thing left to talk about is where we go from here." Harry said.

"I think I would like to have an agreement between us, an alliance perhaps?" Rias asked then flushed a little. "And, and us?"

Harry sighed but nodded slowly. "That… that is up in the air. I am… **very** attracted to you Rias. I wouldn't be here with you like this if it was otherwise, but I've been burned once by pushing things along too quickly. I'm not willing to jump into anything right away. But, but I would like to see where this goes."

"Even knowing about Riser?" Rias asked with her heart in her eyes.

"Even then. It's not like you had anything not do with that after all." Harry said simply. "I told you before Rias, I became interested, no, attracted to Rias the mysterious anime otaku, not Rias Gremory the highborn devil.

Feeling once more that her cheeks were hurting due to how wide she was smiling Rias hopped up too, moving around the table she grabbed Harry's hand, pulling him to his feet. "In that case, it's time to take Lily's advice and dance!"

Despite saying that however, Rias stopped as the jazz song wound down, hugging Harry tightly, murmuring the next few words into his collarbone. "You know Harry Potter; I've been an object of lust for boys since I hit puberty. But all those boys, all they want is to touch my body or conquer it like Riser. One or two, they probably think they could touch my heart doing that. But you Harry Potter, you wanted to touch my mind and did. Is it any wonder why I'm falling for you?"

Harry hugged her silently, trying to formulate a reply, but before he could, the next song began and Rias quickly pulled him into the dance. It was the opening song to Death Parade anime named Flyers, and Harry had to smile as the lyrics penetrated. "…It's time to stir the pot baby dish, come on and face the music time to shine just make a wish!"

The two of them danced through the song, twirling around one another in a fine display of dancing that won them many an admiring glance from those all around them. To one side Lily watched them hopping around gleefully then joining in for a few twirls. "You got a lot of problems but the night is young, just take one down pass it 'round let's have some fun!"

When the song came to an end, it seemed the most natural thing in the word to Harry to kiss Rias. So that was what he did. Uncaring of the watchers, uncaring of his desire to take things slow, unmindful even of his daughter nearby Harry leaned down the slight distance needed his arms slowly shifting from holding her, to hugging her around the middle. But then he stopped just as his lips were about to touch hers, letting her decide to kiss him or pull back.

For her part, though initially surprised at Harry's actions Rias showed no hesitation. She too was caught up in the emotions of the moment, the discussions they'd had this evening, how close they had become since meeting at the start of school and the general feelings growing between them. _My first kiss…_ She thought, then angled her head up and to the side just enough to close the remaining distance, pressing her lips against his as her eyes slid closed.

Rias's first kiss was everything she had hoped it would be. It was sweet, heady, and felt amazing. Harry's lips were a little thinner than her own, and rougher somehow. He pressed back their lips moving against one another as Rias hugged him back, pressing her chest against his, her breasts just below his pecs. Then she opened her mouth, her tongue flicking out against his.

For Harry, the word to describe kissing Rias was **soft**. Her lips were so full, so soft and the feel of her body against his was practically intoxicating, blowing the effect her aura had on him before Harry learned to protect himself out of the water. It was nothing like kissing Ginny. Her lips hadn't been as soft as Rias and she had always seemed to be more energetic than eager. Kalawarner, while a better kisser, moving her lips and body in exactly the right way to make a man lose his mind, couldn't quite compare to how genuine and eager Rias was. When she opened her mouth and her tongue flicked against his lips, Harry could no more have stopped himself than he could have the sun coming up tomorrow.

The kiss got even better at that point, their tongues dueling, first in Harry's mouth, then Rias's as she moaned. The sensations throbbing through her were more powerful than anything else she had ever felt. She clung to Harry, pushing against him harder, willing him to deepen the kiss, and he responded just as ardently.

It was only when the whispers and claps, as well as the irritating sound of numerous cameras going off that, brought the two back to reality. They pulled back, looking around them and down at Lily, who was laughing and clapping beside them. "Hehehe! I knew it!"

"Darn it, come on," Rias said, grabbing Harry's hand and Lily's shoulder, steering them both back to their booth. Even though on the outside Rias appeared embarrassed and flustered but inside she was simply ecstatic, biting back the urge to push further just yet. _Oh my_ _ **yes**_ _! I_ _ **sooo**_ _want more of that!_

That was pretty much Harry's thoughts too; though he was slightly more cautionary. _Darn it, down boy! Remember you want to take it slow._ He saw their waiter nearby and gestured for the check before turning back to Rias and Lily, who had piled into Rias's side of the booth this time, the better to smirk knowingly at her father apparently. "Well, um, that was… amazing, even if I'm not certain it was the best idea."

"If you're talking about the watchers don't worry. I'll use some magic as we leave to erase their phones, and there's no one here from Kuoh, I would have noticed." Rias said then smiled, her wet lips twisting into the sexiest smirk Harry had ever seen. "But if you think I'll let us take the physical side of things slowly think again."

Harry licked his lips at that grateful Lily was on the other side of the table so she couldn't accidentally see his body's reaction to that look. "I, I understand that you're interested in more than that Rias, it's only natural. But I don't want to make the same mistake twice."

"So we date, we date until I finish at Kuoh. That's fine. But that doesn't mean we need to be satisfied with a chaste kiss here and there. I'm a woman Harry Potter, I have needs." Rias retorted, her lips still in that positively sinful smirk, even as she covered Lily's ears so she couldn't hear that response.

"…Fine. Just no more tonight and nothing during school hours," Harry replied, but he knew this was one argument he didn't really want to win. So long as they both knew they weren't in a hurry to get married, that was enough for him.

Later, Harry popped them back to Rias's home, where they ended the night with a far more chaste kiss. He pulled back, letting his hands rest on her hips, squeezing lightly. "I'll see you tomorrow Rias."

"Mmm, bet on it, Harry." Rias murmured her eyes still half-lidded from the kiss. She then pulled back and leaned down, hugging Lily tightly and wishing the girl a goodnight before straitening, staring at Harry, who stared back for a few seconds. Then she sighed and turned away, opening her front door. "Sweat dreams you two."

"You too, Rias, you too…" Harry said, watching as she winked at him before closing her door. Then he shook his head violently, turning to Lily, taking her hand once more and moving over to Sirius's old bike. "Come on sweetheart, bedtime."

Inside her house, Rias was unsurprised to find all of her peerage waiting for her. She wordlessly handed over the leftover bag to Koneko accompanied by a bag of sweets she'd bought after they had left the restaurant. Koneko nodded, took them both and scurried off to the kitchen. She had no interest whatever in the date aspect of this.

Nor did Kiba who simply asked, "I take it you and Potter-san have reconciled your secrets?"

"Indeed we have. More than that, we have agreed to enter into an actual alliance. He and I will hammer out the details to that in the next few days." Rias said with a nod to her knight. That nod sent him off to bed with a sigh of relief. While he was interested in the date aspect somewhat more than Koneko, he wanted to hear about it from Harry's side of things for his own reasons.

Akeno on the other hand, leaned forward, her face showing both eagerness and wariness as if she wanted to hear about the date and at the same time was worried what she might learn. "Well?"

"Weellll…." Rias drawled, before taking pity on her friend. "Harry and I have agreed to give dating a try. And, and he kissed me. It was… It was amazing!" she gushed, pulling Akeno into a hug. "Come on, I'll tell you all about it."

"Ara, dating Harry but inviting me into your bed Rias? How bold~~!" Akeno teased, but then as the two of them ascended the stairs to Rias's room, she asked seriously. "He didn't have a problem with your upcoming engagement to Riser?"

"No, no he didn't," Rias replied, then began to cackle. "Trust me Akeno-chan, Riser-aho is not going to be a problem. I've come up with several ways to deal with him now. Trust me, that fried turkey won't know what hit him. And I'll finally be free to be with whoever I wish to." _And right now that is a list of only one!_

 **OOOOOOO**

"I have our tickets, though why you insist we travel in the non-magical fashion is beyond me. But at least I was able to get us, first class, as you asked whatever that's worth. I still don't get why we can't wait for this trip, you know we're going to be rushed for time." The speaker was a statuesque Indian woman, dressed in a traditional sari the colors of her which, red and tan, set off her dusky-toned skin to perfection. She had black hair that shimmered down her back in cascading waves. Yet all of this did not take away from the look of sharp intelligence in her face, or the fact said face was at present twisted in confusion as she looked at her companion.

"You'll enjoy it trust me, love," Hermione said, turning to her lover Padma from where she had been staring down at a tiny jewelry case she was holding in one hand.

Looking at the way Hermione held that box, Padma was uncertain if she was worried about the box getting away from her, or attacking her. Either way, the sight of those clenched did nothing to alleviate her confusion.

Yet Hermione's tone was natural, without any of the tension shown in her hands. "For one thing, we wouldn't have been able to get all the way to Japan with a single portkey. We would've had to pass either through MACUSA, or across Europe and then over China. And since the Chinese magicals, what little remains of them, still don't get along very well with Japan, magical or mundane, we might not a been able to take that last jump in any event. And the less said about the MACUSA the better."

Actually, Hermione didn't really have much of an issue with the MACUSA as she let on; despite the fact that she felt its magical government was the exact opposite of its non-magical one. _An oligarchy by any other name is still an oligarchy,_ she thought irritably. But despite that, she and Padma could've passed through the MACUSA with relative ease. But Hermione was leery of the security wards they would have had to pass through. The security protocols were known to exist, but the extent of them was not public knowledge and if even one of them could feel the power of the thing she held in that small box, they would never be allowed to leave the country.

"True I suppose. But why do you think I'll like traveling by plane?" Padma asked. "Are they like the nonmagical trains? Those are fun I'll admit, but they're nowhere near as fast as magical transportation."

"But as you said they are far more pleasant," Hermione countered. "And as for first class on a plane, imagine a seat that will massage you as you lean back to whatever angle you wish. A waitress who will bring you drinks and actually somewhat decent food as you either choose to watch a movie on your personal television, or do whatever else you wish for the length of the flight?"

"Well when you put it like that," Padma said with a chuckle. "I do have several books I'd like to read before Lavender's wedding. But that brings us back to my other question: why are we in such a rush, why can't this trip wait until after the wedding? I know those notes that Harry sent you about Onmyodo were fascinating, but not fascinating enough to take us halfway around the world for a few days. And where did you get that small jewelry box anyway?"

Astonishing everyone who knew them Lavender and Parvati had left England a few years back for India, where they had settled down with some of the Patils extended family. There Lavender had met a distant cousin of theirs and while it hadn't been love at first sight they had eventually gotten together, and it had quickly become serious.

Besides that, Padma knew Lavender and Parvati would not be returning to England. She had not had an easy time of it trying to break into the local clothiers business, and there was only so often someone could be called a wog before it sank in they weren't welcome. That meant ironically that both daughters of India's ambassador to England, sent to help the two countries get over their differences, had left due to discrimination.

Hermione winced at Padma's question. "I can't tell you. I just, this is something I need to deliver to Harry in person and right away judging from his message. There's no way I could trust any magical or mundane means to send it."

 _Though why he wants it I don't know!_ Hermione thought irritably. _That little message he sent didn't tell me nearly enough. I thought we had both agreed that keeping all three of the so-called Deathly Hallows together was foolish. Frankly, I should've insisted that he hide the Elder Wand somewhere, although I doubt he would've listened to me on that point. Certainly, he wouldn't have about the cloak._

Cocking her head thoughtfully to one side, Padma nodded slowly. "All right, although you realize you're just making me more curious."

"I know," Hermione said, reaching out to take her lover's hand. "But I can't tell you more."

"Are you under a magical oath?" Padma asked.

"Oaths yes, but not magical ones, simply friendship but binding all the same" Hermione said with a chuckle. B _esides, some secrets are too dark to want to share._

Padma nodded then smirked salaciously as she sat down on the floor between Hermione's legs. "You're looking tense love. How about I… do something about that?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Sona spotted her friend Rias and Akeno walking into the school Tuesday morning, smiling and chattering to one another. From what she could hear over the sound of the crowd it looked as if they were talking about some kind of anime-themed restaurant or something, which caused her to smiled faintly at her friend's obsession.

She moved through the crowd towards them where she was spotted quickly by Akeno. As the rest of the crowd began to make way for them, she nodded then without preamble asked Rias, "So, have you got a response from your brother about the information you sent on to him?"

Rias threw up a minor cantrip to cover their conversation, blocking any attempt to overhear them. None of the three devils noticed another student with raven-black hair and a very pretty face paused to stare at them before moving on with the rest of the crowd.

"No, not yet," Rias said after she finished the spell. "He said he'd look into it, but I think that this Cao-Cao character and his ownership of that particular Longinus has caught him by surprise too. He's going to talk to the other Maou just in case, including your sister."

Sona quickly suppressed a shudder at the mention of her sister, praying fervently that she wouldn't take it in her head to show up here if she was told about this new Longinus user out there causing trouble. Sona loved her sister; in fact, Sona rather admired her sister in many ways though she took pains not to show it considering all the other ways her sister drove crazy. "Thank you for the warning Rias," Sona replied dryly.

"Mah, but Buchou has some information on another front~~," Akeno sang nudging her friend in the side.

Rias mock=glared at her best friend before turning to her other friend. "Harry Potter and I have agreed to a formal alliance of sorts. He and I have also talked, and I know a lot more about him and his past now than I did. He has also given me permission to share some of that with you, although no personal information. He might share that with you in the future, but I don't think it's my place to do so."

"That is fine," Sona said with a nod. "I might become interested in that information after you tell me the rest, but right now, I haven't been enjoying the 'mystery' as you put it nearly as much as you have." Sona paused pushing her glasses up her nose as she looked around at the students entering the schoolyard. "You can tell me more about that later. Right now, I would like to share with you a rumor I heard at school yesterday afternoon."

Seeing she had their attention Sona went on. "There is a growing belief among the student body that you and Mister Potter are involved. Involved emotionally that is, yet keeping one another at discrete arm's length." She paused to let that sink in then went on hesitantly as she noticed her words didn't have as much of an impact as she had thought they would. "…Do you want me to try to squash it?"

"I thought the rumor we started about me looking into a teaching career and him helping me get some experience would have covered us. Still, I suppose it doesn't really matter." Rias replied with a shrug of unconcern.

Looking at her friend quickly, Sona shook her head. "Beyond the fact that the rumor might reach the other teacher's ears soon, consider your reputation Rias. And what if the rumor gets back to your family. You know the principal will report to them if he feels the need." The Kuoh principal was, while human, a client of both the Sitri and Gremory families through the girl's parents.

She then paused, frowning as she looked at her friend. "And I note you're not actually denying it."

"Oh no, not after last night," Rias said with a very faint blush on her cheeks. "As for my reputation as a Great Lady, I've discovered recently that I just don't give a darn about it anymore. There are lots of more important things out there."

Sona stared at her, fighting the desire to throw her hands up in the air. Instead, she simply shook her head. "I don't want to know. Just don't get caught, please. That would make a lot of work land on my desk and I don't want that."

"We've already agreed not to do anything on school grounds at least during the daytime. My club's meeting room and at night is another story," Rias said, her lips quirking into a smirk.

Next to her Akeno smiled somewhat more naturally. Though there was a glimmer of something like jealousy in her eyes before she quickly suppressed it. Rias caught it however and looked at her friend worriedly for a second.

The three of them broke off after entering the school heading towards third different classrooms, and their classes for the day.

Later that day Rias and Akeno stopped by the classroom where Harry was teaching a freshman class before lunch. They smiled politely at the youngsters' gasps of pleasure at seeing the two Great Ladies there, entering the room as most of the class was leaving. "Sensei, here is that new recipe of salmon you said you wanted to try," Rias said, loud enough for the freshman to hear as they left. "Did you have a chance to make some of that English tea you said you would?"

With the reasons for them being there now firmly in the youngster's minds, Rias wove a subtle spell around the doorway before moving towards Harry's desk, as Akeno did the same. The two of them pulled up desks, with Rias sitting down in one while Akeno sat on the front of it crossing her legs coquettishly.

Harry smiled at them both, pulling out his own lox box lunch and sitting on his desk in turn so as to be closer to the two of them since the desk was rather large. The three of them fell silent for a moment as they exchanged some bits and pieces of each other's lunches. After that Harry asked, "So, is this meeting for business or pleasure?"

"I'd much rather it was for pleasure, but considering what we said about how we should act on campus I'm afraid it has to be business," Rias said with a put-upon sigh. She had also stuck out a hand over Akeno's mouth before she could get a word out. A second later she pulled her hand back glaring at her friend. "Did you just lick my hand?"

Akeno giggled, shaking your head. "Ara, I have no idea what you're talking about Buchou." She then leaned over toward Harry holding out some of the fish she had made this morning for their lunch. For some reason, she hadn't slept all that well last night despite the fact that she hadn't been plagued by the nightmares that would normally have meant. "Now say 'Ahh' Harry-san."

Harry however simply grabbed the lump of food off her chopsticks with his own looking over at Rias quickly rather than down at Akeno's chest as she had hoped. To his astonishment Rias however simply chuckled waving it off. _What's going on here?_ Instead of voicing that thought Harry set it aside and asked, "While I would like nothing better than to watch the two of you trade barbs, what kind of business are we talking about here?"

"Our discussion on magic was last night was fascinating but far too short," Rias said bluntly. "I think we would all benefit from further discussion on that subject, and I would like your help on a few little projects. But the main reason I wanted to talk to you is to see if you would be willing to help my peerage and I. You see, I'm afraid that while we can continue training, we're to the point where we would get far more out of actual combat against an equal opponent."

Akeno nodded seriously, setting aside her wish to flirt with Harry for the moment. "There's only so much we can learn from continually sparring with one another after all, even if we try to make it as realistic as we can. Even adding in random factors like two on one or having us fight with one arm, no magic or that sort of thing can only help us so much."

"You mentioned that last night," Harry said with a nod. "Something about you needing an opponent more your weight class, right?"

"Correct. I tried to find one, I told you about Stray devils? Harry nodded, and Rias went on. "Well, there were reports of one well outside of my territory. We were able to track it down and eliminate it, but the flight was simply too easy for us to get anything worthwhile out of it."

"I see," Harry said with a nod. "Do you have an area where you can train?"

"We have a small training and exercise room underneath the ORC clubhouse and we can also create spells which create small short-term copy illusion zones," Akeno said. At Harry's quizzical look she explained. "An Illusion zone is a small area of the world which copied, and then that illusion is used like the real thing."

"It's one of the main spells all three Factions use to keep our activities hidden from the normal populace. We target an individual or an area, capture it like that in the illusion zone, and afterward take it down. Whatever evidence of a fight or activity disappears with the illusion."

"I see," Harry said with a nod. "That sounds fascinating and very useful. Far better than most of the illusion spells I'm familiar with." Hmm… if their illusions are that effective and powerful, does that mean their ability to look through illusions is at a similar level? All right, if you can set that up I will be free Wednesday and Thursday night for training if you need me to."

"Not Saturday?" Rias asked, in surprise. "I'm afraid Kiba won't be with us on Wednesday. He's helping the kendo club with the match, and I had also decided to use that time to try to get Gasper out of his shell."

"You said he's a shut-in, right? Let me do some research on that and I might be able to help you," Harry replied, then locked eyes with Rias, his own eyes glinting with something that caused her pulse to race. "As for busy Saturday…I thought we were dating?"

Rias laughed aloud, a faint blush on her cheeks now. "Even if we're dating Harry you still have to ask me if I'm free to go on a date," she drawled.

"Fine. Hey Rias, are you free Saturday night?" Harry asked amicably.

"I'll have to check my schedule, hmmm… yes I think I am," Rias said, teasingly, then laughed and nodded. "What you have planned?"

"We've done the eating out thing once. I thought maybe we could have a night in? I'd like to introduce you to some English comedies, and that way you can also bring along some anime and continue your attempts to corrupt me."

"I'll also bring along some popcorn. Although technically speaking isn't it the man who's usually seen as doing the corrupting in a relationship, especially when he's the older one in the relationship?" Rias said with a laugh. "Will Lily be joining us again?"

"Ahh, but our relationship is hardly normal, miss 'think again'," Harry replied, eliciting a gurgle of laughter from Rias and a confused look from Akeno, who hadn't heard about that conversation from the night before. "As for Lily, maybe. She said something about some kind of group project being assigned, and their group may be spending a sleepover to work on it. But whether or not that'll be this weekend or next she was babbling too quickly for me to understand."

The two women laughed at that, but then Rias shifted the discussion back to magic, her primary reason for this meeting done with. "You said something earlier about there being a difference between transfiguration and conjuration in your school Harry. Could you explain that further?"

"And," Akeno broke in before Harry could reply. "Could you explain to me more about what Rias said the locals called Element type magic?"

"I can, but I would've thought that you would know some," Harry said looking at her quizzically, before deciding to ask as delicately as possible. "However, I know your family is mentioned as being one of the Jugondo using clans, Akeno. Surely you know some of that already, or, or did they kick you out before you could?" Since that should have occurred when Akeno was around Lily's age, Harry became rather angry as he said the last words.

For a moment Akeno dithered inside her head, her face settling into her normal Yamato Nadeshiko mask as she thought. On the one side, Akeno's instincts urged her to answer flippantly, to back away and not let Harry understand how close to home his gentle question had come to another one of the raw wounds her past consisted of.

Yet set against that was the feel of Rias gripping her hand to one side, and the caring she saw in Harry's eyes, the fury for her directed at her family, and the fact she had been trying to open up more. That new part eventually won out and she sighed faintly. "I'm afraid I was never taught my family's school. I was going to start training, but then they discovered my mixed heritage and you know what happened after that."

"I see. I'm sorry for that, and for my asking Akeno." Harry said softly.

"Mah, it was rather hurtful of you to bring up my family like that. I understand why you did, but you're still going to have to make it up to me," Akeno said, trying to turn this moment around.

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but how would you like me to make it up to you?" Harry asked, his eyes once more sliding over to Rias, who was watching this with some amusement now, and something like joy.

Indeed, that was what Rias was feeling right now. She had never been able to get Akeno to open up very much about her past. Yes, Rias had known about it, but trying to get Akeno to talk about it was a losing proposition, she lacked the shared experience necessary to do so. Now she was seeing Akeno slowly opening up to Harry, which was having a carryover effect to the rest of Rias's peerage. _She hasn't shared her biggest secret yet with Harry, but I think it's only a matter of time, and I think she is actually much more at home with herself than I've ever seen her._

"Ara, it's nothing major Harry-san," Akeno replied. She stood up then moving forward and, putting her arms around the back Harry's neck where he sat on the edge of the teacher's desk. "You just need to hold still…" she said, before slowly leaning in, tilting her head just slightly.

At this Harry froze, his eyes flicking once more over to Rias, who was still watching this with a faint smile on her face. When she saw Harry look in her direction to his astonishment she simply nodded, despite what looked like a conflicted expression on her face. _What the…!_

That was all Harry had time to think before Akeno kissed him. It was not a very deep kiss, neither of them opened their mouths or attempted to deepen it beyond that but it was a very meaningful one. Unconsciously his arms went around her, pulling Akeno to him, which Akeno responded to by pressing her body against him all the more.

Akeno smiled a very sultry smile as she stepped back. "Mm… you were right Rias-chan that **is** a most enjoyable pastime. With that, she gently pushed on Harry's chest as she stood back, before turning back to her own meal. "You were saying something? About element style magic?"

Harry gulped, his thoughts derailed in the way he would not have believed possible, his eyes flicking over to Rias who was watching all this, her real thoughts hidden. But since she wasn't protesting, and they were running out of time, Harry simply decided to go with the flow. "Ahem, right. Well, my type of magic didn't really go into elemental control very much beyond fire spells. On the other hand, our fire spells are far more powerful than the locals at least in one case."

He told the two of them about Fiendfyre then went on to go into the local's versions of element style magics. The idea of rock or water golems was a fascinating one. They also talked about spells in general, and how they were taught in the Onmyouji and European styles, which were very different. The idea of needing wand movements and words to power most of your spells was very odd to both the Devils. Devils very rarely needed focuses at all save for very delicate work, and incantations were only needed for the most intensive rituals.

Harry took these critiques in stride then asked, "Okay, so how many actual attack spells do you know? How many healing spells or transfiguration and conjuration?" That silenced both women and he smiled benignly. "In that case, I think we all have things to learn then. And if you're worried about the idea of needing a wand or the verbal component of the spell, don't. As you get more and more accustomed to a particular spell you move past the need for wand movements or the words."

But you believe that we would need to learn those first if we try to learn some of the spells you've mentioned?" Rias asked intently.

While she was a dab hand at what could be called the basic Devil bag of tricks as well as using her Bael-line given Power of Destruction and had begun to research more ways to use her magic, the number of spells and different types of attack spells Harry had described interested her immensely. The same was true in reverse too of course.

"I think for the higher-end spells you will have to,'" Harry said after a moment's thought. "The lower end spells; I think you would only need visualization for. But please note that I'm still teaching myself the local brand of magic, and there is my work as a teacher and Lily. I probably won't be able to help you experiment overmuch. I can, however, provide books."

Books are more than enough," Rias said with a faint smile. "Trust me, between you helping us in terms of a real-life combat experience or your helping us with our magic that is a no-brainer to me. Although I would like to set up a sort of roundtable discussion on magic in the future with Sona and Tsubaki if that's possible."

"I have another, guh, test on the local magics on Thursday. Really, the Japanese like tests far too darn much." Harry replied with a faint scowl. "But I suppose we could use Sunday evening for that. However, Sunday is a day I usually spend with Lily."

"That's fine, more than fine in fact. We might have to put it off for a few weeks depending on our schedules. My own peerage isn't the only group training after all, and Sona doesn't have that much free time thanks to her job as the Student Body president."

"Understood," Harry said with a nod.

As the bell began to toll signaling the end of lunch, the three of them unhurriedly put their meals their boxes away, and the two women made for the door. However, Rias paused as she felt Harry's hand around her bicep. It simply held her, not squeezing but stopping her movement.

She turned and saw Harry looking at her in confusion and a bit of anger, which he had been sitting on during the discussion about magic. "Rias, what was that all about? You, you let Akeno kiss me like that, hell you looked as if you approved? Was this some kind of test or something? Was I supposed to refuse…?"

"No!" Rias interrupted, her voice coming out a bit louder than she had wished. She twisted slightly, not to get away but to gesture to the door, throwing up another spell so they couldn't be overheard. "Harry, it wasn't anything like that. I wouldn't do that to you, believe me. If anything, it was a test of me, not you."

She held Harry's eyes with her own until he nodded, his anger dissipating. Then she went on. "I, I told you that harems are seen as normal among Devils. And Akeno has feelings for you too, Harry though how much that is emotionally and how much that is simply physical attraction we'll have to find out."

She held up a hand as Harry made to interrupt. "No Harry, I'm not saying we'll all get together permanently, but I have to say I couldn't find it in myself to deny Akeno a chance to be with you. Trust me, I thought long and hard about this. And I, I think it's better that we both try to see where this is going rather than let our feelings for you come between us. Are you uncomfortable with it?" Rias asked, cocking her head to one side.

"I can't say it doesn't appeal to a certain part of me," Harry said with a chuckle. "I am a guy after all. But I don't know if I could be as emotionally invested in both, and that wouldn't be fair to either of you."

"I think you're selling yourself short Harry," she said smiling and fighting the urge to give him her own kiss. Watching the two of them had been tougher then she thought, and she could feel the coils of jealousy in her stomach, but she had controlled it so well even Harry and Akeno hadn't been able to tell. _Akeno and I will need to talk about this in the future I think. Maybe not being affectionate with Harry in front of one another?_

Instead of letting any of her thoughts show, Rias reached forward, giving Harry a firm hug before stepping back. "I think you've got a far larger heart than you think you do."

With that, she turned and exited the room. Harry stood there for a few minutes, then shook his head and followed Rias out into the hall, where he began to make his way to his next class.

 **OOOOOOO**

The week from then on was rather anti-climactic for Harry and the rest in Kuoh, both Fallen and Devil. Harry continued to teach, earning quite a bit of praise from the principal for the fact his students were well ahead of where they would have been if someone else had been teaching them using traditional teaching methods. He also continued to befriend the rest of the ORC and started to get closer to Student Council. Koneko continued to hang out with Lily, even hanging out with a few of her little friends, who took to the older, white-haired girl easily.

He, Rias and Akeno continued to have their lunchtime discussions, sometimes joined by Sona and Tsubaki, sometimes not, taking over what had been a time Harry usually spent with Kiba. Instead, after Harry picked up Lily and returned with her to Kuoh, he and Kiba would train together after school with the kendo club except for Wednesday. On Thursday this led to a moment where this parody of normality was broken.

After they finished Harry had changed and was prepared to leave to head out to take his latest test in the Onmyodo school of magic, happy that Lily was in good hands over at the clubhouse with Rias and Akeno. Koneko was not there. She was apparently following up on last night's attempts by Rias to get their friend Gasper out of his hole in the ground.

Harry was actually looking forward to this particular test. The number of things, both short term and long term, the locals could do with their version of runes which they called Seimei Kikyo, was fascinating. He particularly wanted to look into talismans and their paper wards, some of which he would be able to research once he passed this test.

 _Although I've found it rather droll that Lily's taken such amusement this past week when she's seen me practicing my calligraphy._ That was what this test was about: Harry had to show that he could write out some of the local runic characters. Just like in Ancient Runes, if you couldn't write out the runes correctly, you became a danger to yourself and everyone around you.

Technically after this test Harry would be declared proficient in the local magics and he would no longer need to take further lessons because he would be thought to know enough to ward his personal home, control himself and would have also shown an understanding of the local laws and history. Or, conversely, he could continue to learn on his own. _Of course, the locals have no idea I've already warded my home or broke the trace on my phoenix core bracelet. While the lack of testing will be nice, I still want to put in the time to keep learning. Certainly I want to teach myself some of the arrays needed to exorcise things or protect the mind as well as create talisman based traps._

A Harry was exiting the changing room both his movement and thoughts were interrupted by Kiba's voice. "Potter-san, can I ask you some advice."

"Is this about how to get your fangirls to back off again?" Harry asked, turning back and looking at the other young man. Kiba had also dressed, but he was still sitting on one of the benches in the men's changing room.

"No, it's not about that sensei. This is about well…" Kiba flushed a little. "How do you think I should ask a girl out? Without the entire school blowing up in shock that is."

The question wasn't rhetorical. While Kiba's general attitude had slowly changed as Harry wore away his normal aloof, polite facade the Prince of Kuoh was still as popular as ever. If he was taken off of the market that would probably cause a riot.

Harry put this into words as bluntly as possible moving over and sitting down on another bench. "That's just not going to happen Kiba. He frowned, touching the scar on his forehead for a moment in thought. Then he smirked, deciding to let a bit of his Sirius training out to play. "There is no way you would be able to ask any girl here out on a date and not have it be a big deal. You're just too popular with the girls Kiba. "A problem" he finished dryly, "that nearly every other boy in school bar three or four would cheerfully kill you for so don't bother complaining."

"It is a little irritated," Kiba said despite that.

This perforce made Harry reach over and give him a hard noogie for a moment before standing back up as he thought. "No, instead, I think you need to go all out."

"What do you mean?" Kiba asked hesitantly, not liking the gleam in Harry's eyes at all.

"I mean you have this whole princely reputation. I think it's time you made use of it..."

The next day Rias and Akeno, who had Harry's class last before lunch that day, were confused when instead of staying in the room with the two of them, he made a beeline out the door waving at them surreptitiously to follow him. The two of them caught up quickly and he headed outside to where Koneko was sitting by a tree. Rias was quick to note this tree let them watch the entire open schoolyard from the gym to the main building.

"Saved some space for you," Koneko said, giving Harry a thumbs-up. "Show will start soon."

"You got Kiba the rose?" Harry asked intently, sitting down and quickly pulling out a Japanese manju for the nekomata.

She quickly grabbed it out of his head, and bit down, nodding her head quickly. "Yep. He's in the changing room now." She replied through her mouthful.

"Harry…" Rias said slowly. "What have you done with Kiba?"

"I haven't done anything with him; I've simply helped him along a little that's all," Harry said virtuously.

The quartet's attention was diverted to the side by a wave of exclamations, spreading out from the open area closest to the gym spreading quickly throughout the area. From this fast susurration of noise, a few specific shouts rose above the "Oh my god, look at that!" "Yuuto-sama!?" "That's so hot!"

And then there was a collective shout form a large number of the boys, with Issei's being the loudest among them followed by his two fellow perverts. Though, this time at least they were joined by the less perverted among the male population. "Oh, now he's rubbing it in" " **All pretty boys should just die!** "

The shouts quickly got so loud that even the students who had stayed inside in their classrooms to eat started to crowd the windows facing the courtyard.

For their part, Rias and Akeno simply gaped in shock at what they were seeing. For Kiba was there striding through the crowd leaving a wave of dumbstruck, blushing girls behind him. He was dressed not in his normal student outfit, but in a perfect example of a princely outfit taken straight from a Disney movie. Harry had molded it for the other young man from some of the movies he had watched with his daughter. In one hand to go with his outfit, he held a perfect if quite large rose.

Akeno got it before Rias did, and began to squeal quietly, clapping her hands in delight. "Oh, is this what I think it is?"

"I imagine so," Harry said with a smile. "Just keep watching."

Akeno did so, gleefully leaning into his side while Rias finally got it, smacking one fist into her open palm and beginning to smile almost as widely as her friend. "Oh, Harry, this is going to be so good."

As the watching students stared in blushing confusion Kiba ignored them all, his face yet somehow softened than it normally was with a faint uptick of his lips as he marched through the crowd towards where Sona and her peerage were all sitting together talking quietly. All of them had become aware of the noise and what was causing it just as quickly as the other students. But it took them all a moment to realize where Kiba was marching to.

Now as Kiba came closer, Sona finally understood and turned to Tsubaki, who was staring at Kiba, a faint blush on her face. "Tsubaki-san, I believe someone who wishes to speak to you."

Tsubaki's blush increased as Kiba went down to one knee in front of her holding the rose out towards her. "My lady, I find that your beauty hath smitten mine heart sorely. Might this knight beg the boon of your company on a social outing of some type this very eve?"

The formal speech and the rose joined with the rest of the image to almost cause Tsubaki's mind to shut down. But something in her body took over for her brain and Tsubaki nodded wordlessly, reaching out to take the rose and hold it up to hide her now bright red face.

At that point the rest of the student body began to realize what was actually happening here and reacted in various ways. The three perverts sounded relieved since this would only take one girl off the table in return for freeing up the rest of Kiba's Fanclub. Once more, they were joined in this thinking by many of the other male students. On the other hand, the girls had a much more negative response to this event.

While Rias and Akeno were busy squealing at how amazing that had been Koneko stopped eating for a moment to reach over and exchange a high five with Harry. "You do good work, if somewhat over the top."

"Thank you, thank you." Harry drawled giving a seated bow as Rias and Akeno added their words of thanks to Koneko.

 **OOOOOOO**

After going through what both of them felt was rather invasive and disappointingly obtuse security from the local magical government, Hermione and Padma had used the rather amazing Japanese public transportation system to head into where Harry Potter was apparently living and working. From there, they followed the directions they had been given by the locals along with the pointed "your visas will last for three days," spiel.

"I wonder if Harry really has found a place where he is away from discrimination?"

"They seemed to mellow considerably when we mentioned who we were here to visit," Padma said with a smile. "That means, wonder of wonders that Harry has managed to keep a low profile here."

"Perhaps," Hermione said with a sigh. "Of course knowing Harry, it more likely means that they haven't really been monitoring him as closely as they seem to think."

"That makes too much sense for me to even argue with," Padma said with a laugh.

As they moved through Kuoh the two foreign women garnered some looks, in particular Padma. She wasn't wearing her normal sari having opted for comfortable jeans and a good T-shirt but even so, her exotic beauty came through. Hermione too drew some looks since even with Harry and Lily living here foreigners was not exactly common in Kuoh.

For the most part, these looks were subtle things, even appreciative rather than lecherous, which was fine with both girls. Indeed after having been a late bloomer, Hermione actually appreciated a certain level of appreciation from those around her, though she had not felt attraction to any man since she had first kissed Padma.

They had to stop however as they saw something very odd while passing through a small park area. Hermione had just commented on the fact that Harry and Lily must like this area when Padma held up a hand, silencing her. She then pointed ahead of them towards a series of bushes set around a tree facing towards the street around the park. "What are those three doing?"

Hermione looked in the direction Padma was pointing and frowned. In the bushes, three teenage boys were hiding. From her experiences with Harry and Ron, Hermione estimated their ages at something like 16 at most. They were looking at something coming up the street towards them. As the two women walked towards them, they heard course giggling. "Damn, I can't wait! The track team might not be as chesty as the kendo club, but their rears are still amazing."

"Bah," a second voice huffed. "Their oppai are nice, but nothing like the kendo teams let alone the most magnificent pair on campus, Gremory and Himejima-sama! God, what I wouldn't give to throw myself head first onto those pillows!"

"Hmmf, well I have to agree with Matsuda on this one. The track club's rears seem to be better than the rest of the sports teams." The third voice broke off into louder perverted giggling. "I think however we need to have enough material on hand to compare each club side by side. For science of course." This drew chuckles of agreement from his fellows.

Feeling rather affronted at this assault on all womanhood, Hermione and Padma wordlessly moved up behind them. With their magical wands being specially tracked for any breaks to the Statue they would have to interrupt whatever this was through other means. But both women could easily figure out a few ways to do that.

By the time they were directly behind the group of perverted boys the track club had reached the park and were now running on the sidewalk alongside it right past their hiding place. Before the boys could do more than snap a few pictures Hermione reached into the bushes and grabbed the tallest boy's camera, which looked to be the most expensive. She pulled it out of his hands before he realized she was there and hurled it aside.

At the same time, Padma did the same to the shaggy brown-haired boy, tossing his camera to the side as well while shouting. "Perverts what the hell do you think you're doing!" It only occurred afterward to her that she had shouted in English rather than Japanese, having neglected to use a translation spell.

This shout and the sudden interruption to their activities made the three boys turn to gape at the two foreign women. Seeing them now, they all blushed and began to drool, staring at them while the boy in glasses started to mumble some numbers under his breath.

However before they could say anything, the track team had also responded to the shout, shifting from their route and racing into the park straight towards the bushes. "It's the Perverted Trio, get them girls!" shouted the girl in the lead, a leggy girl with traditional Japanese black hair and a strident voice.

"Shit, scatter!" shouted one of the boys bulling past Padma, deliberately rubbing against her as he grabbed up his camera, racing on.

His two friends followed swiftly, the taller one being fast enough to grab up his camera before hurrying on, even shouting challengingly over his shoulder. "Hah! You'll never catch me! I'm a sports star for a reason!"

One of the girls paused, bowing to the two foreign girls, and speaking in English surprisingly. "Thank you for spotting them ladies. We're sorry; they are something of a local hazard for women."

"You're welcome," Hermione replied in Japanese, having remembered her translation spell unlike her lover, something she would rib the former Ravenclaw for later. "But we could hardly have seen them and just passed by, their actions were reprehensible! You're English is very good by the way."

The woman smiled at that but rushed off to join her team as they chased the perverts down without saying anything more. As the track team disappeared racing after the perverts the two women shook their heads and moved on quickly, exchanging a wry glance. "Is that kind of thing normal around here do you think?"

"I have no idea. From what I read on the internet the Japanese are supposed to be rather reserved in public. But that certainly wasn't the case just now. Perhaps that's just the older generation? The three boys, well you heard her. But no way are they as common as that young lady seemed to indicate." Hermione said, shaking her head.

Soon after that, they arrived at Harry's house, and Hermione moved to the front door, nodding appreciatively as she looked around at it. Padma shook her head. "It's a good deal smaller than the black mansion. Although I suppose this that one actually fits for Harry's personality better than that ever did. Or am I wrong?"

"You're not wrong love," Hermione said with a smile. "He's always preferred homely to grandiose. Surprising really, considering that for most of the time I've known him he considered Hogwarts his home rather than the place he grew up, which was technically speaking closer in design to this."

By this point, they had reached the front door and she knocked on the door. A moment later, the door opened, and Hermione linked looking down at the white-haired girl said standing there. She was a short little thing, barely coming up to Hermione's chest, with a petite, extremely fit body which was shown off rather more than Hermione would've liked to see you in a girl that age in what looked like a school uniform with a short skirt and tight blouse combo.

The girl in turn looked up at Hermione blankly and blinked slowly. "Yes?"

"Hello? I am Hermione Granger, and I'm here to see Harry Potter?" Hermione asked, somewhat hesitant. "Erm, this is his house correct? It's the address he gave me anyway."

Behind Hermione, Padma stuck out her head and looked down at the little girl, flashing a smiled at her. "I love the hair, have you ever thought of wearing it long?"

"You just channeled your sister Padma," Hermione said with a sigh.

"True," Padma said with a chuckle. "Still, it's a good conversation starter."

Koneko shook her head, but then replied without looking inside and shouting. "Lily is Potter-sensei out of the shower yet? He has guests."

"Who is it?" came the shout from inside, and when the answer was given, there was a sound of running feet. The door was swiftly flung open, and Lily ducked under Koneko's arm to grin up at her to aunts. "Aunt Hermione, aunt Padma! We didn't know you are coming!"

"Really?" Hermione blinked at that before turning to Padma. "I did send word right?"

"You did, by international owl."

"Oh…" Lily said with a nod. "Yeah, those don't seem to work as well in this country as they do elsewhere. Daddy thinks it's because there's so many residual ritual style magic left over from World War II in places."

Hermione nodded. There were several places like that in Europe, particularly in Germany around where Grindelwald and his forces made their last stand and other places of that nature. In particular the area where the bunker Hitler had died in was known to mess up a lot of spells. "I should've assumed that when his letter to me came to us via nonmagical mail," She said aloud "but may I ask who this is?"

"Oh, this is Koneko-chan! She's one of Daddy's students and my friend. She usually babysits me when daddy's out. We usually stay at school, but there was a program I wanted to watch, so we came home instead. Daddy just got home about thirty minutes ago."

"And what was your father busy with?" Hermione asked.

"He's learning sword fighting from one of the students there. Kiba's nice, and a very pretty boy, at least according to the other girls" Lily said with a giggle. "I don't see why that matters personally."

"That's because you haven't hit puberty yet dearie," Padma said with a chuckle of her own. "May we come in?"

Seeing as Lily knew them Koneko nodded, moving out of the way then turning back to Lily as she said, "Come on, let me show you around."

They were nearly done the tour when Harry joined them, coming down the stairs toweling his hair off. He blinked at the sight of the two women. "Hermione, Padma? What are you doing here?"

"Evidently my attempt to warn you of our arrival failed, so… surprise?" Hermione said weakly.

"Bah, don't worry about it," Harry said with a laugh, moving forward and pulling Hermione into a hug before doing the same with Padma. "It's good to see you both."

"I will be leaving now sensei," Koneko said, though she was looking at the two women inquisitively.

Harry smiled at that, and rubbed her head affectionately, whispering just loud enough for her to hear with her nekomata-enhanced hearing. "I will tell Rias about it tomorrow evening."

Koneko nodded slightly at that before Harry handed her money for watching Lily as well as a bag of sweets. She then exchanged a high five with Lily and promised to continue watching some anime show with her in the future, after which Harry walked her to the front door.

Coming back, Harry looked at his surprise guests and asked, "Have you two had dinner, or would you like to join us?"

After dinner and Lily was sent to the TV room once more to watch some TV, her homework having been done for the evening with Koneko. This left Harry, Hermione and Padma around the small kitchen table. "Now are you going to explain why you wanted this?" Hermione asked, setting the small jewelry case down on the table between them.

It had never left her side throughout their trip, and she had felt about as nervous as she had back in school when they had faced a horde of Dementors when she had to pass through the local magical security while carrying it. Luckily, the iron lined the inside of the box seems to have defeated their wards.

Harry looked at her for a second before opening the box, nodding slowly, his eyes flicking up to Padma's face.

She had leaned forward and now frowned in confusion. "All this for a damaged old ring?"

"Not the ring." Harry said softly" the gem on it."

"Harry," Padma said with a sigh "I am not my sister, but I know jewelry. A lot of my own research has gone into how to use gems and other small items like that to handle wards. That is a rather…" she paused, looking at it closely. "I… it's..."

Harry quickly closed the box lid, moving the box towards him. "That ruby is a lot more than it seems at first glance." Looking over at Hermione he cocked an eyebrow.

 _Up, there they go doing that nonverbal communication thing they sometimes fall into,_ Padma noted with amusement. The two of them and Ron sometimes did this when they were together though she felt that Hermione and Harry were a little better at understanding one another than Ronald had ever been. _If I didn't know they had already tried to date when they were at school I might be a little worried._

"I'll be right back," Harry said after a moment. "There are some things you need to hear. I wouldn't dream of even telling you about most of this, but Hermione trusts you enough to give you her heart, that's good enough for me."

"Thanks, I suppose," Padma said with a chuckle, fighting down a blush. She knew that Harry had approved of the two of them for a long time, but this was something much more serious than personal despite the reason why Harry had decided to trust her.

Harry came back with two items or rather he came back with one item and then revealed that the other had been on his person all along. He twisted his wrist slightly and a heretofore concealed wand holster shot out a very odd looking wand. It was more than a foot long, with odd-looking bumps to it that looked like clumps of some kind of berries, with a bit of whiter wood wrapped around the handle. The wood was not one she was familiar, with, and the overall design was just very strange.

He said that down next to the box and then set the cloak down. Padma knew about the cloak before this, but the wand she recognized from having seen it a few times at Hogwarts. "Isn't that Professor Dumbledore's wand?"

"It was and before him it belonged to a lot of other people. Perhaps you've heard of the Death Stick? Or the Elder Wand?"

Padma looked at him closely. "That is supposed to be an old wives tales, as along with the Cloak of Invisibility and the Resurrection Stone, the so-called deathly hallows. But I get a feeling that I'm looking at them now, and there's a lot more to that story."

"There is. There is actually even more to it than Hermione knows. Though I'll fill in what she and I had both learned before this. You see the deathly hallows are…" From there Harry explained about the three Deathly Hallows, how Dumbledore had discovered the truth about them, and how Riddle had been obsessed with them.

"So you became the Master of Death?" Padma asked skeptically. "I am not very religious in fact I don't know any Wizard who is, but that seems rather far-fetched to me."

"It is," Harry said bluntly. "And yet again it isn't. All three of them are connected to death in some fashion. The cloak hides the owner from any who would cause him or her harm. The ring can call bind spirits for a time and the Elder Wand can make you almost invincible in a duel.

"In a duel?" Hermione asked her eyes narrowing. "Not in a battle?"

Harry winced. "Yeah, you were always quick on picking up on wording choices like that, weren't you? Let's just say I ran into some issues last Sunday, and I've begun to believe that power has a quality all its own."

Hermione and Padma both blinked at that and their surprise was rather reasonable. Harry was inarguably the strongest wizard alive today. Hermione had actually heard Dumbledore say at one point before he died that Harry was stronger now than he himself had been.

"Anyway," Harry said after a momentary pause. "I told you in my letter about some of the local's different types of looking at magic. One area they look at very differently is the soul and how to defend it. In our school of thinking, the soul and the mind are the same if we think about it at all right?"

Both of them nodded and Padma even said that that was the case in India too, at least among the magic users.

"But here that isn't the case." From there Harry described the way the locals viewed the soul and how they defended it against foreign influences then how he had begun to meditate in the local style. He did not tell them he had actually run into corrupting influences since that would segue into areas he did not want to talk about with Hermione and Padma. This new world he was entering was one which he did not want them to get involved in if he could possibly help it. Neither of them were fighters and judging by what had happened on Sunday and his discussion with Rias, fighting was definitely in the cards in the near future.

Hermione could tell there was something else going on here however, she decided not to pry. She had learned that lesson when they were younger, and it had stayed with her ever since. Instead she simply said, "That sounds very interesting. Do you mind if I copy that book?"

"Not a problem, though I would warn you to figure out what elements you are in the local school. And then," he went on wryly, "follow the damn book's instructions on how to meditate on them. I don't think the book's version of how to meditate on steel would've worked for me, not with the added influences in my mind, but what I came up with instead was near to being put under Riddle's Crucio."

While Padma blanched at how casually Harry said that, Hermione once more grasped at something Harry's words had only hinted at. "Influences? Plural? You're not just talking about your werewolf side, are you? Were we right about the Death Stick influencing its user?"

"Yes and no. Yes, we were right, no we were wrong in how they influence. I don't feel invincible or anything with it in my hand Hermione, I just feel stronger, more attuned to its magic than my old one." Harry said, shaking his hand and setting the bracelet there to shake in turn. "However, I discovered after everything was finished being rearranged up here," Harry said, tapping the side of his head, "that my soul was connected to them." He described how it looked like in his mind: the central pillar holding the egg shape of his soul glowing in the center of his mindscape, with several small slivers of light heading out in different directions out of his mental landscape entirely.

"So you wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery?" Hermione said with a nod of approval. "That's logical. But what exactly are you expecting to happen now that all three of them had been brought into such close conjunction?"

"I'm going to see if I can send my astral self down those roads and gets to the bottom of this. Try to figure out what the connection is, how it occurred, and more importantly what it is." Harry replied bluntly.

Hermione nodded once more but she was frowning thoughtfully. "I don't like it. I think you're going in blind. But I can't imagine how we could figure out a way to get you any more information. This is so far outside of my own realm of experience. I've never even heard of anything like this at my work with the Department of Mysteries!"

"That shouldn't come as a surprise love," Padma said with a chuckle. "The DOM doesn't really solve or even find mysteries; they just hide any they find."

Harry interrupted before this argument could get going. He had heard this discussion between the two of them numerous times before and had no wish to hear it again. "Still, that's for later tonight. Do you too want to see anything while you're here in Japan?"

"We'd love to sight-see in the nonmagical realm," Hermione replied for them both. "We have a few tours set up over the next two days, but we have to leave Sunday afternoon. Lavender's getting married, and the two of us were invited to the wedding, so we can't stay for long. Now about these local meditation practices, I presume they came in books?"

Laughing Harry left and got them the books. As the two researchers eagerly began to read through his notes, Harry offered to put the two girls up for the night but they declined, saying that they had already booked a room at a local hotel. The couple did agree to go around town tomorrow after work with Harry and Lily, which caused Harry to take a brief moment to text Rias and tell her that their date would have to be bumped back a few hours. Rias surprised him by saying that she would like to meet the two women, and he sighed before texting back an agreement. "Now that's going to be an interesting conversation."

"What is?" Hermione asked, looking up from gathering her copied books into her magical pouch. She was eagerly looking forward to comparing them to some of her books back home, though of course that would have to wait until this whole wedding folderol was done with.

"Oh, just thinking of introducing you to another friend of mine tomorrow. Don't worry about it." Harry replied blithely, though inside he really was worried how that conversation was going to go.

Her mind on other things Hermione simply nodded, while Padma began to copy Harry's various notebooks into pouches too. Soon after that the two ladies, exhausted by their travel, were on their way. After saying goodnight to them at the door Harry returned to the TV room, shutting the TV off with finality. "It's well past your bedtime Lily. Come on," he said, reaching down to lift the tired Lily from where she had been watching some anime about a group of girls fighting off aliens while wearing strange looking mech suits.

Harry spent about ten minutes reading to Lily in bed before she fell asleep, after which he gathered the three Hallows from where he had left them on the kitchen table, bringing them up to the bed where he laid all three down to one side of him and laying back himself. _All right_ he thought to himself, _time to get to the bottom of this._

Closing his eyes Harry began to concentrate, and soon found himself standing in his mental realm. After a few moments spent looking over his astral form, he nodded in relief. There had been a few times when he came in and his astral form had shifted slightly, going back in time or appearing in his werewolf body. But today it hadn't happened thankfully. The moment of psychoanalysis that those times always gave Harry was something he didn't really want to deal with at the present time.

Walking through his mental realm Harry made certain that there was nothing untoward, no changes that he had not already been aware of. That done Harry shifted his attention to the spire holding the egg shape which represented his soul. The egg shape was even more pronounced than before he noted, ascending into the sky for a moment as to stand next to it. He could also see that the last of the three odd offshoots or paths had solidified to match the other two.

Frowning, Harry reached out and grasped those three lines of solid light with one hand, the other hand touching the silver of his soul. "Alright, let's… see what happens."

An instant later he was someplace else. Harry's mental realm was gone, and he found himself standing in a world made entirely of mist. Harry, however, got the impression he had after accidentally taking an Avada Kadavra from Voldemort: that he was now between the realms of life and death.

For a second the mist was all he could see. Then a mirror began to appear in front of him, solidifying out of the mist. "Okay, that's interesting… Is this supposed to be one of those seeing yourself as you really are things? And if so, who's controlling this?"

For a second Harry just the mirror but he backed away rapidly as his image changed. Out stepped Harry, in Death Eater garb, his head shaved, his eyes blazing red like that of Tom Riddle. The mirror rippled once more and out stepped a werewolf-Harry, although not Harry in his normal werewolf form but that of the distorted beast that too many other werewolves had become, having given themselves to the curse, merging it with their own inner darkness.

A second later, the mist dissipated replaced by a kaleidoscope of images, playing all around him. The first one was his mother, called back from the grave and wailing at Harry to let her rest as an image of Harry stood in front of her, the ring held out in front of him.

That had been a moment of weakness on Harry's part, the moment when he decided to give the ring to Hermione to hide away. He had called forth his parents, just to talk to them, to get to know them. But seeing the pain they were in from having been called from the beyond, he had let them go after simply saying he loved them.

This image was from that memory but distorted. There was far more pain in his mother's voice, and the image of Harry seemed to be taking joy in it.

"What the fuck…" Harry took a step back, staring first at the image than the two bizarre creations in front of him as they spread out to cover him from both sides. Once they had bracketed him, the werewolf-Harry charged as the Riddle-Harry lashed out with the green flare of energy that sometimes haunted Harry's dreams.

He ducked that, then rolled to the side to get away from the slavering beast as he scowled, ignoring the image in the back "My fears? I have to do battle with my fears, what the hell is going on here?!"

Despite his sudden trepidation and the images now flashing through other bad memories distorting them in bizarre ways, Harry did not lose his cool entirely. _This is my mind, my soul! I'm not going to get into my fears, and I'm not going to let them overcome me!_

With that, Harry swiftly shifted into his werewolf form, the sword of Gryffindor, or rather a mental amalgamation of it appearing in one hand, as magic started to gather in the other. There was no physical manifestation of the Death Stick here, though Harry wouldn't have trusted it even if he had thought of it given what was going on.

Werewolf-Harry closed quickly with the original, roaring and snarling. A quick slash of the sword kept him at bay, but Harry was forced to throw up a Protego to defend against a Reducto from Riddle-Potter. He slanted it just enough to let the shield spell take the blast easily, an idea he had gotten from reading about tank battles in World War II.

He lashed out with his own Reducto, before jumping up and over Werewolf-Harry. A heel kick nearly took the beast right behind its skull but it twitched away just enough to take it on its shoulder instead of the spine.

Then it turned leaping up and lashing out at Harry far faster than most would have anticipated. But Harry lashed out before he landed, forcing Werewolf-Harry back as the blade bit into its side. It snarled angrily, ignoring the wound lunging on, wrenching it out of Harry's hand as it got stuck on the bone. The next instant it slashed with its claws, trying to grab Harry.

However, Harry had twisted them around so that the beast was between him and Riddle-Potter, which seemed to force that one to stop its spellwork for just a second. This let Harry blast Werewolf-harry off its feet with a point-blank Bombarda before turning to exchange spells with the other apparition.

Harry tried to use Transfiguration on the ground, or whatever it was he was standing on, but the spell didn't work, forcing Harry to dodge a few dozen conjured spears. Harry then took control of the spears with an adroit Accio, hurling them at werewolf-Harry, forcing it to dodge back.

"HAHAHA HAHAHA!" Riddle-Potter began to cackle, launching powerful spell after spell towards Harry, the darker the better in this creature's opinion. Blood boiling, entrails exploding, Bombarda, Crucio, and of course dozens, hundreds of Avada Kadavras, raining them down like they were going out of style. It was, minus the use of transfiguration, a style that Voldemort had used to devastating effect.

But it was also inherently a brute force approach, inefficient and showy. Conjured blocks of stone slammed down to block the AKs the shards of that turned into shotgun shrapnel which Harry grabbed out of the air and hurled back around the stones at Riddle-Potter even as he concentrated on something else entirely. "Gin (silver)" he whispered in Japanese, conjuring the element into being. Then while still dodging around a series of AKs and blood boiling spells Harry grabbed the sliver of steel.

Werewolf Harry slammed into the original just then, and the two rolled around on the ground, forcing Harry to create a dome of stone to protect them both from the spells hurled Harry's way from Riddle-Potter. This allowed werewolf Potter to clamp its jaws around Harry's arm, nearly biting through Harry's arm.

"If you want my arm, take it." Harry snarled in turn, and as the beast tried to tear his arm off, almost succeeding, Harry stabbed it through the eye with the bit of silver.

The beast howled, releasing Harry's arm, which immediately began to heal back to normal within seconds. And, as Werewolf-Harry flinched away, Harry lashed out with a powerful Cutting spell, opening the wolf's throat then a Reducto slammed into the beast's heart, as the silver made its body unable to cope with the damage.

This left Harry facing off against Riddle-Potter. The two exchanged spells, always moving, never stopping in one place for long. Riddle-Potter did the same, taking to the sky and using Voldemort's ability to fly naturally, seemingly wary of letting Harry close the distance.

Almost immediately Harry realized that his own spell repertoire was far wider than Riddle-Potter. While he had mastered numerous dark magics no one else alive had and was at times both subtle and cunning in combat Voldemort, at least after his resurrection, had more often relied on brute force and the AK.

Riddle-Potter was no different. He continued to through-out dozens of AKs while also conjuring up giant beasts, hurling them at Harry. In contrast, Harry used his werewolf strength and speed to deal with them, smashing them to pieces or blasting them apart. Even Harry's signature sloped Protego couldn't stop some of the overpowered spells sent his way, and an all-encompassing blast of darkness seared away Harry's foot for a moment, acting as if it had been a blast of acid.

But Harry's healing ability made even most werewolves slow, and as soon as the spell faded his foot began to grow back. In return, he nearly nailed Riddle-Potter with a cutting spell and did upend the apparition in midair with a near miss from a blast of air.

This let Harry deal with the last of that round's conjured beasts, but he had to quickly use the bits and pieces from it to block the next round of AKs. The dust from the shattered stone nearly blinded him for a second, and two more spells impacted him through the dust, a blood boiler and a bone shatterer. One of Harry's arms nearly blew apart from the spell, and he felt his insides boil so much it was like a full-body fever.

The pain of this was horrendous, but Harry bore through it with ease, launching out a series of his own spells in a spell chain he had used in the war. "Expecto Patronum! Bombarda!" These two spells were followed by four silent spells without any gestures, a simple cutting spell, Sectumsempra, then Bombarda and an Illusion spell which created dozens of different Harry Potters racing this way and that. Under that cover, Harry did some beast conjuring of his own, sending two griffins after Riddle-Potter.

The massive owl that had become Harry's Patronus soared forward blazing with light and blinding Riddle-Potter as well as almost smashing him out of the sky before he could blast it apart. He was still able to get a Protego up between him and the Bombarda but had to dodge the next few spells, losing track of the real Harry for a moment in the confusion. He dealt with the two griffins easily enough, but by that point, Harry had already taken control of the battlefield.

Harry, his arm and body having dealt with the previous spells which had gotten through, reached out with a wide angle Wingardium Leviosa, lifting the bits and pieces of shattered stone, and conjured beasts, transfiguring the lot into his specialty, steel. They flew up towards Riddle-Potter in an all-encompassing wave from every direction. At the same time, Harry shot out more direct assault spells as he ran around using his illusions to cover his movement.

Dropping to the ground, Riddle-Potter got a Protego between himself and the oncoming spells coming from his right side, back and where he had originally been facing then attempted to banish back the wave of mixed steel assault only to suddenly gasp, his spell failing.

Misdirection in a wizard's duel was deadly. That, and how to control his own magical power enough to get the most out of it for the least amount of effort were things Harry had learned from Albus Dumbledore. These were lessons which contributed to Harry's mixed feelings towards the man's memory. Both lessons now proved their worth once more, as the flashy assaults had completely taken Riddle's attention from the one bit of flotsam that Harry hadn't used in his steel wave assault: the sword of Gryffindor.

The sword slammed like a thrown spear into Riddle-Potter's side, stabbing deep. The next instant, the storm of bits of multi-sized steel bits slammed into him from above, turning him into a pincushion with various bits of steel piercing his body from head to toe. Then Harry delivered the coup-de-grace by running forward, and literally punching the man's head off his shoulders. There was just something so very satisfying in that Harry couldn't resist

After Riddle-Harry's body started to disappear, the original Harry turned angrily to the mirror which had started all this. He was gasping, his body exhausted and somewhat sore from all the healing it had to do, but strangely enough, he wasn't feeling as winded magically speaking as he should have been. Setting that mystery aside for now, Harry bellowed his ire at the construct he found himself in. "All right, what the fuck is going on here! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't leave this, whatever this is and destroy the Hallows!"

"Weall," said a voice, as the mirror began to fade. "For sure there be the fact that you be the master of me Hallows now, and thus they for sure part of you to consider. And you're not such a reactionary as to destroy 'em without hearin' the full story Harry Potter so stop acting the maggot boyo."

The mirror disappeared as the voice finished speaking, and the mist slowly began to peel back, showing an ocean shoreline, one lined with sand, stone, and bones. Lots and lots of bones, whole skeletons, scattered bits, and skulls were everywhere. On the shore there was a boat made almost entirely of a single ruby, with skeletal oars stuck over the sides. From that boat stepped a man or something which looked like a man anyway.

The man had ginger hair flowing down to his shoulders in a wild, unruly mane, matched with an equally ginger beard, a scar down one side of his face to his neck, which was thick and powerful seeming, like the rest of him. He was dressed like a Celtic warrior, a cloak falling over his shoulders which looked remarkably like the Cloak of Invisibility. He also carried a sword in one hand with Celtic runes down its length. It was an ancient looking blade, nicked and twisted here and there. One of its guards was gone, but the edge still looked sharp and unblemished.

"Howya, Harry Potter. Me name be Manannán mac Lir of the Tuatha de Danaan. For sure you might've heard of me." The man said, his Irish brogue thick enough to cut with.

Harry actually had heard that name before. He couldn't remember where, though he thought Seamus might've said something about him at one point or cursed by that name like someone else would've said 'Christ'. You're supposedly a god from Ireland Right?" Harry asked slowly, circling the being still leery of trying to be attacked. "What are you doing here?" He paled suddenly, "don't tell me you're trapped or something within the…"

"No, no," Manannán held a hand smiling now. "Not trapped, dead. I said 'was' Harry Potter. For sure I'm as dead as the proverbial doornail."

"You just said my name and used a modern term. Yet you claim to be dead?" Harry asked, his tone skeptical.

"Souls are a very gammy thing Harry Potter, and the souls of Gods are gamier still. What you see before you is a fragment. A dying fragment now. I have been dyin' ever since you claimed the last o' me Hallows."

"That explains everything yet absolutely nothing at the same time. Are you sure you're not Albus Dumbledore in disguise?" Harry asked, even as he slowly un-tensed.

"I'm of Ire and a trickster God, for sure that's a double whammy boyo," Manannán mac Lir said with a laugh. "If you want it in plain speech though, I suppose I can do that if you can find some way to get me some whiskey or the black stuff."

At Harry's even stare, Manannán sighed but acquiesced, far too quickly in Harry's mind. When Manannán began to speak, the why of that became obvious: the god of death and trickery of the Tuatha de Danaan had a major anger issue with this topic.

"You see me lad, ages agone there were dozens of pantheons, each of them having numerous gods. But our powers, they were tied to the land of Ire, like those tossers down in Greece were tied to their mountain. All well and good, but then came the followers of Christ, all throwing shapes and acting big, pushing in where they weren't wanted. So we had a set to with 'em, but the thing was, where we had dozens of beasties and gods, the Christ God had thousands o' angels all actin' rugger bugger. We couldn't fight 'em all, and for'e we could leg it, they were lashin' us, taking our worshippers and killing us."

Harry was silent for a moment, putting this together with what he had learned of the three factions from Rias and Yasaka before her. "Alright, then what was this, your attempt to hide? But no, you said you died…"

"Aye, I did. Y'see, as a God of death, death itself holds no mystery to me. I might not've noticed the passage of time since this sliver of my soul was let off from the rest, but I still know it's been many a donkey's age since I died as humans think of it. This is been like a prison anyway Harry," Manannán said, glaring around the blank space. "And maybe, maybe even God can be reborn once they return to the great cycle. I'll get to find out."

Then Manannán seemed to shake himself. "No, the point of this bit o' magic was never to cheat Death out of his due, it was to leave a legacy behind. For gods, bein' forgotten, leaving nothin' behind, that be mankier than just dyin'."

"Okay, so what does this all mean for me now?" Harry asked bluntly.

"You, you're going to be a big old finger to the rest of the world, a shout saying yes feckers, we were here long before your new maggoty religion! We were here, and we were savage!" Manannán mac Lir growled, his voice serious and taking on a sonorous quality. "You'll have some of me powers and a major boost to your overall magical reserves once the process is finished. This'll also give you some actual magical resistance, especially added to yer were-form."

"How long will that take, and will there be any side effects?" Harry asked promptly. He rather liked the idea of having some more magical resistance and power. Besides, given the trouble he had just gone through, Harry felt he should get something out of it.

"You'll also be very, **very** long lived. As in thousands of years, rather than yer normal human lifespan." Manannán replied.

At that blasé announcement, Harry's eyes suddenly began to blaze and he reached forward to grab the figure of Manannán mac Lir though his hands passed through it. " **No!** I don't want to live like that! To see my d grow old and die! Why…"

"You'll have to figure that one out of yourself Potter," Manannán replied, showing no concern either for Harry's plight of his attack on Manannán's person. "It's already done. You can't stop it. Now, do you want to learn the rest or rage at the fact the sky is blue?"

Harry glared at the man, his fingers twitching with the need to lash out, but he controlled himself slowly. There was no way he could stop this now that had begun, Manannán mac Lir was right about that. The three Hallows were welded to his soul, had been the minute he had taken possession of the three of them; he was only now finishing the process.

"Go on," he ground out.

"From the cloak, you'll be able to hide from anyone who wishes you harm with a bare thought from now on. You'll even be able to cover others like that for a time. From the ring, you'll be able to speak to the dead, no change there though you'll get some powers to help things along as it were," Manannán said with a fleeting grin. "Undead of all stripes are not gonna like you one jot, willing or no."

"Does that include vampires?" Harry interrupted, mindful of his wish to help Rias get Gasper out of his shut-in ways.

"Don't know. The Tuatha De Danaan didn't have any vampires in our realm so I never interacted with those overgrown mosquitoes. Now, as for the Elder Wand, it'll lose some of its power to you, but it will also be a weapon which will conform to your will. And as a physical weapon, it'll be able to bypass any armor, magical or no. You ran into a spear recently, from the Catholic faith?" Manannán mac Lir said, his face twisting into a sneer even as Harry noticed that his body was becoming more and more incorporeal. "Well, my weapons an answer to that thing. Me blade's name is Answerer. Like it says, it'll also force someone to answer if you point it at them."

That was a major force multiplier, and Harry couldn't figure out anything negative to say about that or the cloak's effects. "Then again," he said, voicing that thought aloud. "I always thought the cloak was the sanest of the lot."

"Oh aye, your direct ancestor was definitely the most intelligent of the three. The middle boy, Ignotus, he was far too bright frankly. Nearly undid the whole deal he did." Manannán mac Lir said with a laugh.

His smile stayed on his face as he went on. "You might also notice a bit of a change in your personality maybe. He grinned as Harry looked at him angrily. "You might have thought your libido was totally because of your Potter blood and werewolf side but that's wrong. Randy as a God was a saying when we walked the earth, and you'll have quite a bit of that."

"Joy," Harry drawled still angry that he couldn't do anything about it. This was not what he anticipated.

Manannán mac Lir laughed. "Don't feel bad lad, this trap was generations in the making. The only way ya could've gotten out of it was to have never owned all three of the Hallows at once. After that, it was a foregone thing, though you put it off for a time by separating them all and not using the Elder Wand as often as its previous owners had. That says a lot about your self-control, your steel as the locals here on this weird island would put it, and this way at least me and ye were able to have a good jawin'. Now, have fun me lad, and show the world that the Tuatha De Danaan were here, and we can still make a noise!"

Harry scowled but didn't reply watching as Manannán mac Lir's image faded before he found himself back in his own mental realm.

Above him, a fog bank had joined the rest of his mental plane, and the eggshell of his soul had shifted, becoming a pillar of steel though it still gave off light for the rest of his astral plane. Along the base of it, there was a tiny ruby affixed, the same as which was in the ring and it was becoming more and more solid as Harry looked at it. In his hands, instead of the sword of Gryffindor Harry was now holding the blade Answerer.

"Well," Harry said philosophically as he stared around. "This has been an interesting night. I wonder what Rias on the others will think about all this?"

 **End Chapter**

* * *

This is the last chapter which will only cover events from a single week I think. I intend to speed up events from now on, leading quickly to canon events while cutting down on the time spent discussing normal life kind of things except for the romantic side of things, which took center stage here. Hope you all enjoyed it, I tried to make the date as interesting, fun and romantic as I could. As always, please read and review.


	6. Chapter 6

Ain't Rowling and can't draw.

For the small (I tell a funny) story, FIlFy Teacher won by a landslide. It won first place here on fanfic, bringing in 678 votes, and a total of 1,687 votes total.

Semblance of Hope came in second though it only took in 166 over on fanfic, it brought in a lot of votes over on pat r on, bringing in a total of 1,386. This puts it in second place and it will be updated tomorrow night. Just could not get it all done in time to update today. RL and going over FILFy Teacher took too long.

The next poll here on fanfic should also be up Wednesday night.

This is a large chapter. After this these chapters will shrink (by hook or by crook!) but there was a lot to get done and to be talked about in this chapter, and I didn't really feel like the one place I could break it off actually showed enough prior to that point to make it a real chapter.

This has been edited by… _Nad Destroyer_ and _Michael_. Hopefully that means there won't be any plot/flow mistakes and very, very few small errors and missing sentences LOL.

Apologies for the late posting, it took me four hours to go through the chapter when Michael got it back to me.

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Dates Going Awry**

Despite his moment of levity as he thought about what the reactions of others in his life would be to what had occurred, Harry was quite angry when those selfsame implications came back to him the moment he exited his mental landscape. After examining the changes to his mental landscape, Harry knew he couldn't reject them: the changes in him had started long before Harry had ever been aware of it, slowly filtering into his soul from its connection to the Hallows.

 _Manannán was right about that, curse it. Those damn Hallows started this process the instant I owned all three of them. I just wasn't aware of it. My being uncomfortable with leaving behind the ring, my decision not to go through with my initial plan to destroy the Elder Wand, and how I treated the cloak like a sacred family heirloom, those could all have been signs that I was being influenced by that connection._

But even the changes to his mental plane and possible changes to his body and soul, even the fact that the three Hallows' physical forms had disappeared, these were not the matters Harry was most concerned with. No, that was something else entirely, something more personal. _My life is going to be extended even further than it would have been otherwise. Practically immortal, he said, but I don't want that!_ _Lily…. Am I cursed to watch my daughter grow old and die while I stay young?_ This wasn't a problem that was going to rear its head any time soon, but it was going to be a problem, and one that Harry's treacherous mind kept on bringing up like an endless loop.

After a moment of silently thumping the side of the bed next to where he lay, which left the bed's mattress with a noticeable dent in it, Harry regained some measure of self-control, pushing himself to his feet and out of bed. _On the other hand, it is somewhat ironic that I seem to have achieved something that Riddle had sought for so long without real success. Right now I seriously need to blow off some steam before I try to get back to bed. And that will also let me get a handle on any new powers or abilities that this has given me._

With that forcefully cheerful thought, Harry went down to his basement. He had intended to set up this area as a workshop and training area, only he had never gotten around to actually doing the work. He had been so busy since coming to this country with various tasks that another project was just one too many. _I suppose I could have worked on it on Sundays, but I wasn't about to give up my days spent with Lily._

With that Harry walked into the center of the room and began to gesture around him with both of his hands. Having used the spell so often, the space expansion charm flowed out of his hands at that gesture, and the small basement slowly enlarged to being the size of a rugby field. Anchoring the spell would require runes, but, for tonight, simply expanding the basement was enough.

After a second the spell was done and he looked around, nodding grimly. A Lumos spell lit the cavern and it was ready.

"Now," he said, holding out his hand and looking at it thoughtfully. "Let's see…." With a thought he pulled Answerer out of his soul. An instant later the sword was suddenly in his hand, its edge gleaming in the light above him. The reality of it wasn't very different from its astral form: long blade around three feet in length with a hilt that was slightly longer than a single hand could wield. Its metal was gray, looking almost like rock instead of steel, with the only gleam coming from the edge and the characters of its name etched out along its length in ancient Irish or something. The hilt was simple with no ornamentation, only leather wrapped around it with a slightly wider than normal pommel stone.

Harry waved it around and found himself settling into an actual sword form. Frowning, he set the weapon down and conjured up a stick, moving swiftly into the same sword form. _So it's not the weapon, it's my knowledge that's changed._ About an hour spent experimenting with Answerer in its normal blade form told Harry that this was indeed the case. It wasn't as if the sword had given him all the knowledge to be a deadly warrior, but it had evidently jumpstarted some of the teachings he'd had over the years, taking them all to the next level from a journeyman's to something approaching a master's level. Odd, but certainly not something he was overly worried about.

Not that this was the only thing about the sword that was unusual. As Manannán had said, the sword could morph to his desires within some limits. It became a long staff when he thought of a wand, and, when he tried to change the shape of the blade to that of another sword type, that failed utterly. He could change it into a spear or a halberd, but not another kind of sword. Nor could he change it into a gun or a bow, though the reason that didn't work was easier to understand.

On the other hand, the onetime Harry attempted to change it into a make believe weapon, one he had seen in an anime show in one of the shops they had passed in Akihabara, it worked flawlessly leaving Harry to stare at the massive oni-style mace in his hand. The only thing that didn't change from one form to another was the odd stone-like nature of the 'blade.''.

Even better, was that Harry somehow also gained some understanding of the weapons the blade could change into. That made that ability somewhat amazing, though Harry knew he wasn't near to a master's level with those other forms like he was the sword.

Soon after that Harry set the sword aside and began to work through his magic spells, looking for anything unusual while also mentally preparing himself to use some of the knowledge that had come across from absorbing the Hallows. After several hours of work, Harry was convinced that there hadn't been any new spells added to his spell repertoire, though there had been a truly monstrous increase in power.

On top of that, there were a few… oddities. For one thing, the cloak of Invisibility was very different. Where before he would have had to wear it like any physical piece of clothing, the cloak now came out of his mind with barely a thought covering his skin in it's power even more utterly than before. It only became truly physical when Harry willed it to. When Harry tried to both remove it from his person and see if he could enlarge it, both those things worked. Though setting the cloak down didn't feel right, as if the cloak wanted to return to his mind the instant it left his hand and Harry had to concentrate some of his attention on not allowing this.

The second experiment, enlarging the cloak, should have been impossible: Harry had attempted to do that before with his Father's cloak several times. This time it worked: the entire table he had conjured which was big enough to fit right into the Great Hall of Hogwarts, was covered from one end to the other. But when he thought about extending it still further something even odder happened that caused Harry to blink for a few minutes before he pulled the cloak back into his mind. _That is… interesting… I'm going to have to incorporate that into my normal combat tactics from now on, that ability is too intriguing to not use._

Nor was that the only oddity. Harry could now fly—not hover, but actually fly—something he tried only on a whim. Needless to say, Harry was very happy about this, and determined to play around with flying as much as he could in the near future. He had always liked to fly, that was why he had enjoyed Quidditch so much. Flying without need of a broom was something Harry could see becoming addicting, all too easily.

His ability with air and fire-based spells, already quite high, had rocketed higher still. His skill with illusions was also far higher: where before he would have had to use small scale illusions, mostly to cover changes in the landscape, now he could create immense and detailed illusions with barely any thought. Harry's defensive spells also appeared more powerful, but he wasn't able to test that overmuch just yet and much like his skill with illusions, didn't have any idea just yet as to why that was the case.

And so it went on throughout the entire night, with Harry getting no sleep as he attempted to become used to his new powers. The only thing he didn't try was to use the powers of the ring. Harry was firmly of the opinion that the dead should stay both buried and silent.

This might have had something to do with his inability to call up the souls of his parents. The only time he had seen them had been when his wand and Riddle's had created Priori Incantatem. Later, when he had the ring, Harry couldn't stop himself and had tried to call them, only to fail.

Hours later Harry moved towards the staircase up to the rest of the house, thinking much more calmly now, even if he had just pulled an accidental all-nighter. _Those are some interesting abilities, many of which I'm going to have to try out in more detail and against actual opponents later. My ability to turn invisible now by simply willing it is interesting, though something tells me that there's a lot more to it than just hiding my presence. That will be interesting to discover. For now, time to set this aside and get on with my day. Whose bright idea was it to have schools in Japan to have a half day on Saturday anyway? Don't they know that teachers look forward to the weekend just as much as the students?_

About forty minutes later Lily woke up to the smell of bacon sizzling wafting from downstairs, the scent calling out to the young carnivore in her. Following her nose she hopped out of bed, not bothering to change out of her nightie racing out of the room down towards the kitchen.

There she found Harry setting up his version of a full English style breakfast: bacon, English style sausage, pancakes, waffles, and hash browns. Sniffing appreciatively, Lily moved over to give him a hug as he moved away from the stove. "What's the occasion, Daddy?"

He put his free arm around her in turn, ruffling her hair as he smiled down at her. "Nothing much. I just felt like treating you is all."

Lily's looked up at him, her eyes narrowing slightly at that. She could see bags under her daddy's eyes as if he hadn't slept well. And there was something different about him. Something **more**. It was as if he'd been multiplied many times over but then was stuffed into the same body. It was weird, weirder even than the explanation her mind had come up with just then.

Still, the way he answered told Lily this was something he either didn't want to bother her with or felt was adult stuff she shouldn't know about. Lily sniffed internally at that idea, but said nothing more as she moved over to the table. _After all, I don't tell him all my problems; it would be weird if he told me all of his. "_ It all looks so good, I don't know where to start!" she said even as she reached for the plate of sausages.

Later, as she was dressing for the day, she called Koneko. The two of them had talked several times over the phone, which had helped speed their friendship along. Now Lily asked Koneko for advice, trying to describe the change she felt in her dad, but unable, really, to get the impression across. "But I know he's tired and thinking about something. I caught him looking at me during breakfast a few times, as if he was all sad or something. It was weird, and I don't like it."

On the other end of the line Koneko replied by saying, "I'll tell Buchou. If something is bothering Sensei, Buchou and Himejima-senpai will handle it."

That made Lily smile and thank her since she didn't have the other redhead's phone number, though she was somewhat confused about Akeno. She liked her though not as much as she liked Rias, but that was because Akeno didn't seem comfortable around her at times. It felt as if Akeno wanted to become close to Lily but wasn't certain if she should, beyond teasing her occasionally. It was weird, but she was still a very funny lady at times, and even a tomboy like Lily could not help but to admire how good looking Akeno was. _That long ponytail of hers is awesome. I wonder how she and Rias keep all that hair they have clean?_

Hanging up the phone, Lily skipped out of her room and down the steps to join her father and the two quickly exited the house. They stopped outside, however, finding Hermione there, moving towards the front door, clearly intending to knock. She blinked at them and then nodded in understanding. "Oh yes, I had forgotten that Japanese schools have half-days on Saturday."

"Yeah," Harry said with a smile, locking the door behind him and gesturing for Hermione to join the two of them as they left. "It is kind of hard to get used to. I'm sorry if you thought we could spend time together this morning, but I have work until around three in the afternoon, maybe even longer."

Harry was still uncertain whether or not he wanted to tell Hermione about the Hallows, despite having thought about it for quite a few hours yesterday as he was figuring out what his absorption of the Hallows had done to his abilities. Yes, she was his best friend in Hogwarts, but even at the height of the war Hermione was a reluctant participant: while she had a vast repertoire of spells, she didn't have a soldier's instincts. Further, for a time she had bought wholeheartedly into Dumbledore's idea of always using the minimum amount of force necessary. She hadn't really argued the point that more was needed after a few incidents, but she had never been comfortable with using that amount of force herself.

And from his discussion with Rias on their date, Harry knew that violence was a part of this new world he and Lily had inadvertently stepped into. _Or perhaps the phrase should be, 'discovered we were already a part of?'_

Hermione looked at him, frowning in thought. There was something off about him this morning. Not the bags under his eyes or the slightly worrying twitch he had on the side of his mouth. Those she had seen before. She well understood how Harry sometimes got when he was in one of his brooding moods. No, that was nothing to worry about.

But for some reason when she saw her friend Hermione had to fight an urge to curtsy, which was just unusual. She wasn't even in a dress, for goodness sake. And there was just, just a kind of pressure around Harry right now. It was like being in Dumbledore's presence when he was angry, only more so and without the accompanying feeling of actual anger. "There is something different about you this morning, Harry. And you look exhausted. Have you been burning the candle from both ends again?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

Harry shrugged. "I meditated on the three Hallows yesterday," he said obliquely. "Something happened when I was doing so. Maybe you're feeling the effect of that?"

"You do know you're going to have to give me more than that," she drawled.

"Later," Harry said firmly. "After I have time to work through the implications myself." Hermione scowled at that, but Harry quickly changed the subject asking, "Where's Padma today?"

"Still sleeping of course," Hermione snorted. "Or have you forgotten that she isn't really a morning person?"

"Oh yes." Harry shuddered a little. "Her and her sister both." Parvati had been really scary sometimes in the morning when they were all at Hogwarts.

Hermione nodded at that, but kept on glancing at Harry. The odd feeling around Harry continued to niggle at her senses, pressing in on her. It wasn't uncomfortable after that initial moment, but it was fading only slowly. _I'll get the truth out of him later, I suppose._ With that thoughtHermione turned her attention to Lily, asking about schoolwork and such like. Harry, of course, joined the discussion, snapping his fingers and looking at Lily. "By the way, when will you have that sleepover you said you're going to have with your research partners?"

"Research?" Hermione asked, her eyes glinting. "She's only a second grader, and she is already doing research projects!?"

"Yep! A history project about the city of Tokyo and the train system," Lily said with a smile. "And two weeks from now, daddy. We're all going to start our own portions of the project, then spend a few days together to put it all together, and then a sleepover to both finish things up and to celebrate." From there Lily went into an explanation of the project.

Listening to this Hermione could only smile, forgetting for a moment the odd feeling Harry was putting out. "Where has the Japanese educational system been all my life?" she mused aloud.

Harry held up a hand, wagging it back and forth. "The hyper competitiveness puts them into a mold at most schools, something I can't say I actually approve of. And I also don't actually like the magical side of things very much. Or at least, not the people I've met. The magic itself is fascinating, both some of the spells and the system they use. Not as versatile as ours but just as powerful. Yet on a personal level, well, I realize that they are very leery of foreigners, thanks to World War II, but there needs to be a limit to how xenophobic you are."

 _And they're not exactly friendly to their own people either,_ he thought, rather grimly thinking about what Akeno had let slip about how her family had treated her. _Exiling and maybe even attempting to kill her simply because she was mixed blood. That is so far beyond the pale it's not even funny. For all that the Onmyouji seem to think they are different from the rest of us, in many ways they are all too similar._

 _Then again, it's not as if the Devils are any better with their whole pureblood rhetoric._ Just thinking about what Rias was facing was enough to make Harry clench his jaw, and that was without factoring his own relationship with Rias in, or at least he fooled himself into thinking so anyway.

"That is true," Lily said, scowling angrily. "The lady we met at the airport was nice, but the others weren't. And that one time I went with you when you handed in your test, that secretary was very rude to me."

"Exactly," Harry said with a sigh. "Still, tell us about what's been going back in Europe Hermione. Are Neville and Hannah still trying to push for him to become the next Minister of Magic in Britain? And what about your own home in Spain? Is the construction work you had going on done, and have your parents agreed to move in with you and Padma permanently?"

"Ooh, Ooh!" Lily exclaimed, hopping up and down and grinning like a Halloween pumpkin. "What about Auntie Luna? Has she gone on another expedition yet?"

They were so caught up in listening to Hermione tell them about what was going on with Harry's old friends that none of the trio noticed what was going on around them to the few people they passed. This early there weren't many people on the streets, and very few cars too, but as they got closer to Lily's school that changed, with more students and parents starting to appear around the street.

Lily was the first to notice, and she frowned, realizing that the people around them were either backing away automatically from Harry, Hermione, and her, or seemingly making obeisance towards Harry. _That is very strange._ It seemed to fade a little as the number of people increased, but Lily found it weird all the same.

Still, she shrugged that off when she spotted a few of her friends already in the school's jungle gym. _Daddy will notice something's strange soon on his own anyway. I can't always be solving all his problems for him,_ the seven-year old thought. "I'll see you later, Daddy," she shouted, racing towards them and leaving Harry and Hermione behind.

"I should get back too, Harry," Hermione said. "I'll need to have some coffee ready for Padma, or else she'll find something petty and disturbing to get me back for my lack of care."

"And that's about as much of the dynamic between you two as I want to know," Harry said with a bark of laughter. "I'll see you later."

"Yes, you will," Hermione said firmly. "Where you'll explain what you did last night as well as the ramifications of it."

"Yes, Hermione. Of course, Mistress Hermione," Harry drawled, feeling a little more irritated with Hermione's overbearing manner than he should have, something he put down to not having been exposed to it for a number of years. "Both your inner bookworm and dominatrix are showing."

Hermione huffed at that, pushing at his shoulder lightly, though again she felt something strange there, as if playing around with Harry like that had suddenly become almost unnatural. It was a very odd feeling, and she didn't like it, hence why she was willing to be pushy now, despite having learned over the years not to be. "Get on with you, Professor!"

Chuckling Harry turned away, and Hermione did the same only to pause and stare as the crowd of students, parents, and others moving about area around the elementary school parted for Harry automatically. Here and there a few men and women even began to nod or seemed to bow deferentially to Harry without even thinking about it. There were even a few girls just staring, blushing hotly. _"What the heck?!"_

 **OOOOOOO**

Thanks to Koneko giving them a heads up, Rias and Akeno had decided to take a detour to school which would just so happen to allow them to take the same route Harry would take from Lily's elementary school. To all that saw them, the two Great Ladies of Kuoh, who were almost as famous around town as they were in school, were ostensibly having a conversation about something entirely different, peering over a notebook in Rias's hands. This was a cover created by the Devilish equivalent of a Notice-me-not spell, and the most anyone trying to overhear would have heard would have been merely a jumble of talk about stocks and bonds.

They both looked up as something neared them, a presence that pressed down on them. It was as if they were in the presence of a high level devil, not Sirzechs, but close. No, Rias realized, it was the feeling of entering someone else's territory without their say so when the owner in fact was actively discouraging people from entering his or her territory.

"What is that!?" Rias muttered, swiftly putting her notebook away and moving towards the odd source as Akeno followed.

Unlike Rias, however, Akeno was struggling against the feeling that she should be kneeling. Rias wasn't struggling against that simply because the very idea of kneeling was anathema to her. Rias was the daughter of one of the Thirty-twoPillars of Hell, raised to be a King to her peerage. She could respect another person's power, even follow orders from someone else, but Rias would not give obeisance or show any sign of submission as the aura seemed to be pushing her to do.

She paused at one point, feeling another devil racing towards her, and turned to see Sona walking briskly down the street. "You felt it too, I take it?"

Sona nodded, pushing her glasses up her nose before looking at Akeno. Like Rias, she felt the power, but couldn't even feel the urge to submit, such was her refusal to yield to anyone. Save her sister, of course, but that was an entirely different thing. "Himejima-san, are you all right?"

"I, I am all right. It is, is just this pressure. It makes me want to submit. Hmmm, I've learned lately that I'm willing to play the Sub as well as the Dom, but this is rather beyond the pale," Akeno replied before straightening as she got used to the feeling. She could do nothing about the blush to her cheeks, however.

"That was a bit more information than I wanted to know," Rias said dryly. "But you are good to continue? Whatever the source, it is... Harry?" She stumbled to a halt, staring down the road as Harry came into view just as the source of the unusual feeling should have.

Down the street Harry paused, seeing Sona, Rias and Akeno, and he stepped backwards, moving towards a nearby alleyway.

Cocking an eyebrow behind her glasses, Sona looked at her friends. "Is there something you want to share?"

"I, Koneko said that Lily called her. She said that Lily told her something had changed in her father, but this is..." Rias shook her head. "Let's go. We need to get to the bottom of this. Harry, he feels like…."

"Like we're in the presence of someone who controls the land around him, regardless of where he stands," Sona said, frowning in thought. "Now, why did that phrase pop into my head…?"

"Ara, while I can't help you with that particular issue, Sitri-sama, I believe that we can at least find out the answers to our other questions by following our sensei into that alleyway," Akeno said, moving in that direction, followed quickly by Rias and Sona. She entered first, chuckling at Harry, who smiled wanly at her. "Fufufu. Inviting young girls into an alleyway, Harry-san? What would your fellow sensei say about this?"

"If they had any idea of your real personality, Akeno, they'd probably say, 'poor Harry, alone in that alleyway with Himejima-san,'" Harry said, smirking at the black-haired girl.

Yet underneath his own teasing Harry was once more dealing with some instincts he really shouldn't have been. They weren't really formed thoughts, rather simple urges dealing with the trio of girls in front of him. He dealt with them easily enough thanks to the way his mind was organized, but even so it was startling simply because it definitely wasn't due to any exterior stimuli. _No, this time it's all me. Damn it. Randy as a god he said? Ugh, just what I need. On the other hand, Rias was offering…no, bad Harry!_

Shaking that thought off he turned to smile at Rias and Sona, but before he could say anything the tall redhead had pushed him up against the wall of the alleyway while Sona had quickly thrown up a far more impenetrable spell to keep people away from the area.

"What happened last night, Harry! You, you're giving out an aura now like you said we were," Rias said, looking up at him in concern for Harry and worry, wondering about what this might mean.

Harry frowned. "Lily said something similar this morning, as did Hermione, but I didn't actually notice anything until I noticed the reactions of the people around me." _Damn it, I was took caught up with my own thoughts and listening to Hermione this morning, I need to remember to be aware of my surroundings._ "I take it you can feel it too?"

"You mentioned Hermione before and that her arrival meant we would push our date back tonight. That's fine, by the way," Rias said. She then shook her head and stepped back, crossing her arms as she joined Sona and Akeno in facing Harry. She did want to meet Harry's friends at some point, but right now the mystery in front of her was much more important. "That doesn't explain what's going on."

"What are you feeling?" Harry asked intently.

"Your aura is pushing against my psyche," Sona said cutting in, believing it best to cut to the chase. "But instead of trying to make me give into my base lust as you said our auras did to you, yours is trying to make me bow or submit in some fashion. It's almost as if I'm in the presence of one of the Maou in a particularly dominating mood."

"Which would be never with either of our siblings," Rias said with a faint laugh. "But yes, that is the kind of feeling we're all getting. And you're, I don't know, somehow **more** is the best way to say it. You're giving off this feeling of charisma now, Harry, more than you were before. That's not to say you weren't charismatic or handsome or anything before, but it's as if that's been multiplied now…" Rias stumbled to a halt, blushing. "It um, it's a nice feeling in a way, but…"

"Words do sometimes have trouble describing magic," Harry said with an understanding smile. "I've been there. Still, if it is an aura thing, I might be able to rein it in. Give me a moment. And then I'll give you that explanation."

Harry closed his eyes and leaned back against the brick wall behind him as he entered his mental plane for a moment. Standing on the walls that were his mental defenses, he frowned as he saw a mist, something which he recognized from his experiments, spreading from the walls out into the ether and ostensibly beyond.

Of course, this was his mental plane; this was simply how he pictured the effect Rias and the others had reported. _That mist again_ a _nd something else too,_ he thought, scowling before turning to stare at the pillar that held aloft his soul. Instead of simply shining light throughout his mental plane, that light, too, was extending beyond the walls.

" _Now, let's see if I can do something about that,"_ he muttered, his astral image raising his hands as Harry began to concentrate, making a grasping sort of motion towards the mist first. He slowly began to pull it in until it was behind his walls, no longer spreading out beyond them. Then he slowly began to enlarge the walls until they were a dome containing his mind instead of a wall around it, keeping the light inside. _Keeping the mist inside, though, that might be more difficult. I'll have to think about how to do that._

Opening his eyes, he found that Tsubaki had joined them. From their expressions, both Queens had been having a much more difficult time fighting off the effect of his aura. Tsubaki looked rather shaken, her legs wobbling. Akeno, on the other hand, looked flushed, licking her lips and staring at Harry for a moment before shaking her head and dispelling whatever lingering effect there was.

Rias nodded sharply at Harry, however, grabbing his attention. "That's much better!" Then she pouted a little. "How is it that you're able to control your aura that easily and we haven't been able to make much progress in the weeks since you told us about them?"

"Could be an inherent difference in our auras or mental conditioning," Harry said with a shrug.

"That Occlumency you mentioned," Rias said with a far gentler nod this time. "You did say you had books about that? It sounds far too useful not to want to learn."

At that reminder Sona grimaced. She had heard about the deal Harry and Rias had hammered out between them, but had yet to think of any way other than simple monetary means to pay to join the agreement to share magic. Sona wasn't as close to Harry as Rias was, of course, so felt like she couldn't simply ask to be included in that agreement.

"Now, about that explanation?" Rias went on, bringing Sona's attention back to the present, tapping her foot impatiently.

One hasty explanation later, all three of the other devils were looking at Rias. She was the known expert on comparative religions and far better at historical research than even Sona. This was because many Sacred Gears took their names or even powers from old, now dead, religions. Her brother had pushed Rias to become so from an early age, one of the many ways he had tried to help her over the years.

The redhead breathed out slowly, thinking through everything Harry had just said before she spoke. "One thing I think you will need to do, Harry, is look for the original legends of Manannán Mac Lir as well as any other god he might be confused with or could have been a part of or been based upon to figure out any special powers absorbing the Hallows might have given you. Old gods do new jobs, you see. They continually change as their worshipers change or the times change—that's part of religious theory—and they absorb new powers or expand their own. I can tell you quite a few about Manannán, he appears in Scottish and, I think, Gaelic legends as well, but that can wait until later."

She looked at Sona, one eyebrow raised, and Sona nodded slowly, which caused Rias to turn back to Harry. "But I think you should consider Fragarach, which is the real name of the sword, Answerer, as the equivalent of a Sacred Gear. It is a weapon that was one of the most powerful items in their pantheon from what I know of the Tuatha Dé Denann. It should be on par with the thirteen Longinus, like the spear you fought in Kyoto. I don't think it could match the True Longinus for sheer power, but it would slice through any armor and…."

She frowned, pausing as she tried to remember ancient stories she had read about the Irish pantheon. "And I think the definition of armor might be up to the user. I'll have to look up some of the old legends about that. Beyond that control of winds, wounds that don't heal I think unless the wielder wants them to and… and maybe the ability to stop people from lying when Fragarach is pointed at them. I'm sorry; I never looked directly at the Irish legends, only a few of their more amusing tales and heroes.

"As for what Manannán actually told you about what happened to his Pantheon, at least, he told you the truth," Rias went on grimly. "Well before the war between Lucifer's Fallen, the Devils and the Angels had become an open affair, God and the angels did wipe out other pantheons. But you shouldn't mourn them. Most of those pantheons were comprised of power-hungry bullies and rapists. The world is well rid of them. Manannán might have been relatively tame in his dealings with humans, but the rest of his pantheon were sneaky, deceiving, and never played straight if they could help it."

"I'm not. I don't know much about religion, of any sort, really, but I know some tales from the Greek pantheon. If the others were as bad as they were, then their passing was a good thing for humanity," Harry replied.

"Exactly. In terms of how Manannán could have created these," Rias paused, her hand automatically pulling a bang of hair into her mouth and chewing on it. "I… I, I've never heard of anything like this before. Oh, I've heard of some items or ancient ruins which have shades attached to them or act like phylacteries…. Um, what you called a horcrux. I can't tell you what a god could have accomplished with such. It just seems… off to me, I suppose."

What she wasn't saying was that she thought that if a god like Manannán had gone to the trouble of pushing some of his soul into items as he had, they should have acted like a normal phylactery, or horcrux: they should have tried to take Harry over. That they hadn't was surprising in the extreme.

"What is 'off,' as you put it Rias, to me is that you survived the process, Harry-san." Sona cut in tartly, looking at Harry. The others turned to her and only now noticed that her glasses were gleaming with some kind of spell as she stared at Harry. "Regardless of your status as a werewolf, a human being should not be able to contain the power you have within you right now. It's an almost astonishing amount. Before I could say you were incredibly strong, possibly with more raw magical power than any other magician I had met, including those who had become devils. But now, now you're stronger magically than either of us. You should not be able to handle that amount of power!"

"My whole life has been about surviving things I shouldn't," Harry replied dryly. "On the other hand, you're both right." He looked between Rias and Sona with a faint smile. "I do agree there is something off about this, and I'd like to understand why I was able to contain the amount of power I received when the process finished. I'm certainly not willing to take a trickster god's word for what happened to me. So perhaps sometime in the next few days we can get together and investigate?"

Sona nodded, then abruptly realized how much time they had wasted. "Indeed. But for now we all need to hurry or else we might not make it to class in time." With that she canceled the spell keeping them from being noticed and moved off, calling over her shoulder. "I'll trust you to arrange a time and place, Rias-san. It should be fascinating."

Harry swiftly cast a tempus spell and then gulped. "She's right. We need to go."

The other three students all nodded and moved with him, with Tsubaki actually running for a second to catch up with her King. The other two, of course, remained with Harry, walking at a brisk clip.

"Regardless, if Manannán at least told the truth about some of the things that the Hallows have done to you , there is a major upside in the long term from this, Harry," Rias said, her smile widening into the broadest grin that Harry had yet seen on her. She had been happy to start a relationship with Harry before this, but now... "Now that you are no longer technically human, your lifespan will match my own, which is fantastic!"

"Wait, what?" Harry asked sharply, stopping to look at Rias incredulously.

Rias blinked, slowing down to look at him which caused Akeno to do the same beside her. "Devils, Fallen, and Angels all have a **far** longer lifespan than humans. We live into the thousands of years rather than a simple hundred years if we're lucky."

"How, how does that work?" Harry stammered, looking at her in shock. "I mean, do you age slower? Are you really going on nineteen, or one hundred and ninety?"

"Hey!" Rias snapped, reaching out to smack him in the chest as Akeno giggled, her hand covering her mouth as she did. "We age the same way up to a point. But after that we just stop aging for a while."

"And all devils can have the same lifespan?" Harry asked intently, resuming his walk. "Even those turned?"

"Yes," Rias replied, then her eyes widened, and now it was her turn to stop and halt. She quickly enveloped him in a hug, squeezing tightly and nestling her head against his pec while she babbled. "Lily! Oh Harry, I'm sorry! I didn't even…. Of course, if it comes down to it, I'll gladly use a pawn or whatever I need to…."

Mindful that they were in public, Akeno threw up a small spell around them, shaking her head. _Mah, my king is getting awfully careless these days with her Great Lady reputation._

Harry too didn't care they were in public. Instead he simply smiled wanly, squeezing her back before Rias disengaged, each holding one another at arm's length. "Thank you for that, Rias. Perhaps eventually I might take you up on that. But if devils can give that ability, then maybe a demigod or whatever I am now can do the same. Knowing that there is solution to that problem is just a godse…."

Harry cut that thought off, chuckling and shaking his head as the two girls looked at him quizzically. "Okay, that thought is too filled with irony to even finish."

They laughed at that, while Harry reflected that if the two of them were alone he might have kissed Rias just then. But they weren't alone, and it was pushing on time for class. "Right now, though, we need to hurry."

Rias however didn't let Harry go just yet, standing in front of him, her face stern yet affectionate at the same time. "Harry, I need you to know that even if we weren't together I would have offered to turn Lily for you. And if you don't find a way to give her that longevity, I will still do it, regardless of what it costs me. Without a second thought, Harry Potter! You're not the only one who cares for Lily-chan."

His smile turning tender, Harry reached out a hand to gently touch Rias's face, tracing her cheek and then her lips with his thumb, causing her to, first blush, then actually tremble. "Thank you for that, Rias. I…. That offer means a lot to me. As does the feelings behind it."

"Uffufu, I am glad you two are having a moment. I am just as happy I am still maintaining the illusion over us all~. But we really should be going, you know," Akeno teased. With a whispered command she ended the illusion and raced off.

"Akeno!" Rias shouted, chasing after her friend with her blush still prominent on her face.

So happy was Harry at the idea that he wouldn't have to impotently see his daughter age and die in the future, Harry accidentally released some of his self-control as the trio walked briskly through the school grounds towards the class. But now that he was looking for it, he immediately noticed everyone's reactions. Having domed in the light coming from his soul, it seemed that the people around him were no longer paying obeisance. Instead the girls all around were looking at him and staring, blushing as they stared at him avidly, almost hungrily.

 _Okay, so the mist is how my mind perceives the portion of my aura that ties into that whole 'randy as a god' comment, and the light was what, my divinity? Good to know I suppose._ With that revelation, Harry quickly pulled in his mist-like aura once more and watched as the girls all around him came back to themselves. Most of them, anyway. A few took longer to come back to themselves. Some were apologetic, frowning and wondering what had happened. Others just giggled and moved off. Still more seemed to revel in it, winking at Harry before racing away. _This is going to be a long day, I can already tell._

That thought was soon proven all too accurate. Several times throughout the day Harry had to reassert control of his aura, pulling it back into himself. Each time the nearby girls would react, as well as the boys, if in very different ways. Some would blush while others would look flustered and worried or just fidgety, while the boys seemed to become almost submissive seeming towards Harry. Only those with strong wills seemed to ignore the effect, not even noticing it.

To the devils, this was first rate comedy after the trouble they were having doing the same thing. Rias even went so far as to hold up a card during gym class as they were playing dodgeball. The sign said, 'Know our pain, and feel our suffering.' This did not amuse Harry whatsoever, and he surreptitiously thwacked her on top of the head with one of the game balls.

He also noticed Akeno giggling along as he did, the only one in the classroom to have noticed, thankfully. The sight made him smile, but as he turned away his lips twitched into a frown as he thought about something else entirely. _Akeno. What am I going to do about that? I was telling the truth; there is a distinctly animal alpha male part of me that likes the idea of having a harem, but…._ Shaking that off, he turned his attention back to shouting out orders to the class.

As Rias and the senior class entered the locker room, Harry turned away, moving towards the main building. Inside, he quickly ascended the stairs towards the teachers' lounge, intending to get some paperwork done quickly before heading out to pick up Lily. He stopped halfway there outside one of the computer labs when he noticed the door was unlocked, which, on a Saturday, it shouldn't have been.

On Saturdays all the lab rooms, with the expensive equipment—in this case, computers—were locked up unless there was an ongoing experiment or something of that nature being supervised directly by one of the teachers. Moving towards the door on silent feet, he stopped just to one side of it, cocking his head and listening intently with his enhanced senses.

"This is, this is amazing! Oh my God, they're all there! You were right; this is better than the window!" said a voice from inside the computer lab.

It was a voice Harry recognized as Matsuda, the jock of the trio. _Oh God, not the three of them again, please. I don't need this today._

"I told you boys," said a second voice, which again Harry recognized to his growing chagrin. Unfortunately, even with his hearing he couldn't make out most of what was going on within the room.

Inside the lab, Motohama continued to speak. "Technology! Technology is the way of the future! With it we can have our paradise and be safe from misplaced feminine reprisal at the same time! Why, with modern technology we'll even be able to cut and paste. Take the best assets of one, say Himejima-san's, and stick them on Shitori-sama's body, for example."

"That sounds a little too much like work to me," said a third voice, that of Issei and just loud enough for Harry to hear every word this time. "On the other hand, I can't believe that you were able to do this. This, this seems a little too illegal…."

"My older brother did the programming., the second voice said before trailing off into a mumble that even Harry's hearing couldn't make out before rising once more. "A direct broadband upload of the scene now in front of us! Amazing."

Scowling, Harry moved away from the doorway as silently as possible, entering the teachers' lounge. He was unsurprised to find it empty. On Saturdays there weren't very many classes in the afternoon other than his gym class, which had just ended. His thought from earlier, that morning about how teachers look forward to the weekends, came back to Harry then, but he shook it off. He needed to concentrate on solving the problem in front of him.

Pulling out his phone, he dialed Rias's phone number and waited until she answered. "Rias, I just passed the computer lab, and the Perverted Trio is in there. They're talking about something. I can't make out most of the words without giving away that I'm there, but they said something about phones and a show. Can you look around for any phones that don't belong to any of the girls with you?"

Inside the locker room, Rias turned from where she had been about to peel off her gym uniform and turned around quickly. "Akeno, stop," she ordered. "Sona, Tsubaki, you too." The others looked at her quizzically, and Rias lowered her voice. "Look around for a phone, a phone with a video camera."

"Why?" Sona asked. She was already half-undressed, clad only in her sports bra and panties with a towel hung around her waist. This showed her small but very perky and perfectly formed chest, which really didn't need the support of the plain gray bra it was covered in. "What's going on?"

"Harry, um, that is, Potter-sensei just called me and said that the Perverted trio are doing something in the computer room. Given the timing…."

"That makes far too much sense. Blasted modern technology!" Tsubaki groused. Like her King and their friends she was partially undressed now, her slightly larger breasts pressing out against a towel she had draped over her shoulders.

"Ara, I wonder if we catch them in the act. Would that be enough to kick them out?" Akeno mused, staring down at the vast expanse of her bra clad chest, one hand holding said bra in place.

"It would if we weren't thinking that one of them might have a Sacred Gear," Rias said disconsolately. "With that we can't afford to kick them out, not until we're certain which one it is."

"That is disturbing on many levels. At least the boy I am interested in adding to my peerage isn't a complete lecher," Sona mused, staring around as they looked for any phone out of place or not being used at present.

"Ah, yes. Have you approached Genshirou-kun yet?"

"Not yet. I'm waiting for his scores and latest test to be finished, graded, and announced. That way it'll be obvious that he has the grades to be able to join the Student Council without me needing to show any favoritism. And there they are," Sona finished, gesturing with a finger slightly to one side into one of the corners facing into the shower room.

A few of the girls had already finished undressing and were heading in to the showers, their bodies obscured by towels, thankfully. _But even so, the boys who are watching this might well have gotten quite a show just now._ Scowling, Sona moved towards it, as Akeno saw another one near the doorway.

That one was much more cleverly placed. It looked as if a phone had simply been left in an open locker, its recording device barely facing in the current proper direction. The light that would have indicated that it was on was off had also been removed. Moving over in that direction as if to talk to another one of her classmates, Akeno quickly reached over and grabbed it, nodding towards Rias

Nodding back to her Queen, Rias spoke into her phone, turning to look at Sona who was also holding up a phone. "We found the phones and have disabled them, Potter-sensei. Thank you very much for warning us about this." While not really having much in the way of modesty, Rias still had no wish to show her body to just anyone, in particular three hormonal boys.

"You don't have to thank me, Rias" Harry said with a faint smile as he exited the teachers' lounge. With no one around him, he didn't have to be careful about how he addressed Rias, while she did have to worry about the reverse. "After all," he said, lowering his voice a little and whispering into the phone now as he moved down the hall. "Given our new understanding, I couldn't very well allow other men to see what I haven't yet."

As quickly as Harry was moving, the three perverts were already making a break for it. First out of the door was Matsuda, who slammed it open, racing away without another word, shouting over his shoulder, "Code Five-zero!"

Harry had barely reached the door before the window at the far end was flung open, and the two remaining perverts hurled themselves out onto a tree branch and down.

However, this didn't save the perverts. Harry quickly concentrated for a brief second and apparated himself to a tree near the gate leading into the school. The three perverts raced on, joining up once more and laughing at each other at their escape when Harry stepped out right in front of them, allowing the one in the lead to slam into his chest and bounce as he reached to grab the shirts of the other two. "Going somewhere, boys? One would almost think you are guilty about something, the way you took off like that. Were you doing something in the computer lab that you shouldn't have been?"

"Now," he went on, not even giving them a chance to speak just yet. "You can all come back with me to the teachers' lounge, or I can just assume that you were using school property to invade the girls' privacy, which would be an immediate three strikes, which would mean, in turn, that you would all face immediate suspension, if not expulsion, depending on how much actual planning you did and how much of their privacy you invaded."

Given what Harry had feared had happened, he knew it would be expulsion. But he wanted to give the boys a chance to save themselves, or, rather, he wanted to see if one of them could be convinced to throw the others under the bus in an effort to do so.

His voice was cold and measured as he stared at them, and he was surprised when Issei met his gaze levelly, looking a little guilty. _So there might be hope for one of them, at least_. Matsuda too met his gaze, though it obviously took a lot of effort, and he didn't look guilty.

The brains of the operation, on the other hand, looked away for a brief moment, then twisted to look back at the teacher, his gaze innocent. "I don't know what you're talking about, sensei. We were just finishing a paper so we could have the rest of the weekend free," he said virtuously.

"Then you won't mind pointing out what computer you were using and allowing me to look at your user history?" Harry replied.

Harry marched the three back towards the main building, stopping when Akeno, Rias and the others students filed out of the gym, heading into the building to pick up their belongings. Sona quickly crossed to Harry with Rias behind her, handing Harry the two cell phones they had found. She then leaned in to whisper, "We found them, but they appear to have lost power since. How much evidence do you think you'll be able to find?"

"I doubt I'll find any actual hard evidence if they were smart about this. But destroying the phones and making certain that they weren't able to upload to the Internet any imagery or copy it to their own personal CDs or whatever will at least mitigate the damage," Harry replied. "I would really like to expel them for this, but unless I find actual evidence, the most I'll get is a suspension and two strikes towards the next one, because it is so suspicious. Other than that, it'll be my word against theirs. And that won't fly, unfortunately."

Sona winced at that as did Rias, while Harry glared at the boys, shooing them past the entranceway towards the stairs.

"I'm going to separate them talk to each of them alone, see if I can get one of them to confess. Issei, at least, looks a little regretful. I think he's realized this was a step too far. Maybe I can get him to turn on the other two, maybe not. Regardless," Harry went on, turning to Rias, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you and Koneko to go get Lily for me again."

Harry had, in the rush of events following his discovery of the Perverted Trio being more enterprising than normal, completely forgotten about Hermione and Padma being in town. Not that he had any way to contact them in any event, since neither owned a cell phone.

"Of course!" Rias said with a smile, always happy to spend time with Lily. "We'll watch over her for a time until you're done. I'll take her to that park near her school or bring her back here to the clubroom depending on how much homework she has this weekend."

"She shouldn't have much. They were just assigned a big, long-term project, and I think the others classes will back off on the homework for a bit because of that, but we'll see. Thank you anyway," Harry said, smiling at her for a moment, his expression a little too tender for a teacher simply asking a favor of a student.

She smiled back, the expression just as warm, before they both turned away.

This left Harry and Akeno walking into the building together. Akeno was smiling her normal, airy smile, exchanging nods with other students as they passed while never moving far away from Harry. It was evident that she had something she wished to talk to him about. Harry had a feeling he knew what that was, but, though he knew it was rather cowardly of him, he decided to try to get out of hearing it at present.

Reaching the end of the entrance area, Harry paused, having had no need to change from his indoor slippers a moment ago. _Which, come to think of it, I should be grateful no one's noticed. That would have been awkward, to explain how I got in front of them without having to change my shoes doing it._

But that wasn't what had caused Harry to stop, looking at the group of students who were making their way out of the school. One of them was a boy named Saji Genshirou. Harry had noted him as being one of the better male students in the school. He was currently walking alongside another student who had caught his eye at one point, though she hadn't caught his attention since then.

He had spotted an odd aura around her using his aura sight at one point, but it had since disappeared. Because of that, Harry decided that it must not have come from her, putting it down to the girl having been right behind one of the Student Council members at the time. Her name was Amano Yuuma, and she was a sophomore who, like Genshirou, was a good student, at least as far as Harry knew. The two of them looked to be talking to one another in a very friendly fashion. _I wonder, is love in the air?_ _H_ arry thought sardonically. _Good luck to them, then._

Shaking his head, he made his way towards the teachers' lounge where he had ordered the Perverted Trio to wait for him. As he walked, Harry once more became aware of Akeno beside him. She paused outside the lounge, reaching out with her devil senses. _Hmm…. There is something there in one of them…. Hyoudou-kun, I believe. It is insanely faint still, but it's there, whatever it is, and it is strong, like a… like a giant shark stuck in a pond or something. It's covered by his aura for the most part, but if you delve deeper, you can at the least sense its presence. Koneko was right, darn it. I am not looking forward to taking my turn watching him…. On the other hand, the teasing material I could get out of it could possibly make up for having to observe Hyoudou-kun and his activities._

Opening her eyes, she moved closer to Harry, ostensibly to whisper, but really more to just be close to him. He looked down at her but did not move away, instead simply cocking an eyebrow at her. She pouted inwardly when his eyes showed only interest rather than any of the warmer feelings he showed to Rias, but Akeno figured that that would come in time. _At least he isn't, isn't rejecting me, s_ he thought.

Instead she concentrated on the here and now and weaved a subtle spell to change the topic of their conversation to anyone attempting to listen in. "I am afraid, Potter-sensei, that you were correct in your supposition about not being able to expel those three, if for a different reason than you assumed. One of them, Hyoudou-kun, contains a Sacred Gear of some kind, and we wish to know what it is. Buchou had already decided to observe him for a month to figure that out. As such, the faculty will not expel them."

Akeno caught Harry's look of confusion and elaborated. "You see, this school is under the control of the two houses of Gremory and Sitri. More than a few teachers are clients of the family, as is the principal. If either Buchou or Kaicho tell them to, they won't punish those boys for their actions."

"Well, I can't say as I am surprised by that revelation," Harry mused with a snort. "But if it's only Hyoudou you're interested in, can I at least try to get the others expelled? Or would that smack too much of favoritism if Hyoudou isn't expelled along with them? And I'd like to see them at least suspended. If they aren't punished severely enough they might try to do something like this again."

"That is more likely, I suppose, so long as we have time to set up some kind of surveillance on them beforehand. We can't observe Hyoudou-kun elsewhere as easily as on school grounds, but we can do it," Akeno replied, shrugging.

This set her chest jiggling, and she exulted when Harry couldn't stop himself from looking down. He looked up at her face again quickly, but there was something else there in those gorgeous emerald eyes of his now. Deciding to capitalize on that, Akeno broached the other subject she had wanted to talk to Harry about before heading off on a few of her contracts. With the amount of training they were doing, today was the first time in a while that Akeno had the time to do so.

The reason for that was part of what Akeno wanted to talk to Harry about. "So… you and Rias-sama are having your second date tonight. It makes me a little sad that you haven't yet taken me on one yet…"

At that moment another teacher came out of a nearby room, having been cleaning off the whiteboard within. "Ah, Potter-san. I understand you caught the usual suspects doing something again?"

"Yes, I did, Ishi-san. If you'd like to help me question them, I'd be grateful," Harry said, turning to address the older woman. _Thank you, Lady Luck, for just this once favoring me rather than doing your business on me._ This was one conversation Harry didn't want to have until he and Rias had sat down and talked about this whole multiple relationship thing.

Seeing Akeno's face go all stiff and don what he was beginning to think of as her 'Yamato Nadeshiko mask,' he decided to bend a little on that point. "We can continue this conversation some other time, Himejima-san. I expect some more information to be available by Monday."

"Ara, I will hold you to that, Potter-sensei. Ishi-sensei, Potter-sensei, have a nice day, the both of you." With that and a very proper bow, Akeno turned and walked off, adding just a hint of a swish to her hips as she did so.

Harry couldn't stop his eyes from following the seductive temptress for a moment but quickly turned his attention back to his fellow teacher. "Anyway, I found the trio in the computer lab, Ishi-san. What I'd like to do is…."

 **OOOOOOO**

Picking up Lily was something both Rias and Koneko had done before several times in the past, so the teachers who watched the children during dismissal at Lily's elementary school had gotten used to the fact that sometimes Harry simply could not get away from his own job as a teacher in order to pick his daughter up. The obvious closeness between Lily and these two girls in particular also offset any concerns they might have held.

As Lily skipped around them with a grin waving a test she had scored an A on she looked up at Rias quizzically. "So what's keeping Daddy this time? Is there paperwork, cleanup duty, or student trouble?"

"Student trouble. I'm uncertain if you've ever actually heard their names, but the three boys called the Perverted Trio decided to make some kind of trouble again," Rias replied, not going into any detail.

Lily's little nose wrinkled at that. "I never liked that name. I mean, I know what pervert is; that's fine. But calling them the Perverted Trio makes them sort of sound like the Three Musketeers or the Three Caballeros. I like those cartoons; I don't want to associate them with perverts!"

Koneko nodded emphatically in agreement, while Rias had to search her brain for the cartoons Lily was talking about. By the time she had them in her mind, the two younger girls had started a kind of slap game and were dancing around her. It was a game her teacher had developed for Koneko years ago when she was first training in hand-to-hand combat. She was passing it on to Lily now like an extension of their rough and tumble fun, and Rias found her head twitching this way and that like she was watching a tennis match.

This was the sight that Padma and Hermione saw as they were coming down the street hoping to meet Harry and Lily as the two of them left the elementary school. With their flight back to Spain scheduled for that night, they didn't have much time to spend with their old school friend. But when they saw Lily walking beside someone besides Harry, they stopped and stared for multiple reasons.

One, watching Lily and Koneko dance around the tall redhead was rather funny to watch. Here was a stately, very tall redhead being circled by two shorter girls, one of them huffing and puffing, the other wearing the most apathetic expression that either of them had ever seen.

The second reason was that the redhead in question was possibly the most gorgeous woman either of them had ever seen, and Padma, in particular, was having a little trouble with that idea. While not exactly as vain as her sister—which, she would quip, was impossible—Padma was used to being one of the prettiest girls in the crowd. But next to this girl Padma knew she paled in comparison.

 _Darn, she looks better than Fleur or Gabrielle! And that chest! That chest is either padded or a sign of non-human heritage. Or I suppose her parents could have paid for them for some reason. I wonder if they hurt her back?_ Padma thought.

Hermione, however, pushed past that and her shock at seeing a young girl not only keep up with Lily but making the young girl, who had preternatural speed and agility, look almost ungainly in comparison. _Who exactly are these two?_ Quickly, striding up to them ,she pasted a smile on her face and greeted Lily. "Hello, Lily. Might I ask you to introduce your new friend? And where is Harry?"

"Hi, Aunt Hermione," Lily chirped, then growled as Koneko once again dodged her slap before pouting outrageously as Koneko's hand tapped down on the top of her head. "This is Rias, she goes to the same school Daddy teaches at, just like Koneko," she said stopping the game and gesturing to each girl in turn. "They came to get me because Daddy is busy with a disciplinary issue at school."

"We often do this for Potter-sensei since he is the advisor to our club," Rias said, stepping around Lily and ruffling her hair affectionately before she looked at the two newcomers. "I take it you are Granger-san and Patil-san, correct? My name is Gremory Rias and this is Toujou Koneko if you haven't been told her family name before this. Potter-sensei told us you were visiting, though he didn't say anything about you picking up Lily-chan. Was that a miscommunication?"

"Not at all," Hermione answered, narrowing her eyes slightly at the redhead. There was something off about the way she had said Potter-sensei, but Hermione let it slide. "We met Koneko last night, of course, though we had no idea that you are such good friends with so many of Harry's students, Lily."

"Rias isn't just any student, though," Lily blurted out with a wide smile, seeing no reason to keep it a secret. Indeed, even if Harry had told her to keep his and Rias's new relationship a secret, she might not have, simply seeing it as one of those silly adult things. "She's also daddy's girlfriend! It was fun as heck! We went to this steampunk place; it had great music, and all the workers were dressed up as characters from the different anime shows, and we danced, and there was this song, and..."

"Yes, thank you, Lily-chan," Rias said hastily, seeing Hermione's face darkening and thinking quickly to somehow diffuse the upcoming explosion. "Koneko-chan, why don't you go and take Lily-chan over there to the jungle gym for a bit. Judging by the amount of energy you've just been showing, Lily-chan, I think we need to tire you out before we take you home."

"Not going to argue!" Lily said with a laugh before turning and racing towards the jungle gym, shouting behind her, "Last one there is a rotten egg!"

Koneko's eyes narrowed and she swiftly ran after the younger girl, aiming to pass her. "Not a rotten egg."

Padma looked between Rias and the slowly rising to a boil Hermione and decided to beat a hasty retreat. She didn't care about Harry's romances or whatever, so long as Harry was happy, that was enough. However Hermione had sometimes fallen into a sort of older sister role for Harry and Padma could understand why Hermione was reacting the way she was. But that didn't mean she wanted to be around for this discussion. "It's been long time since I've been on a jungle gym," she mused, hurrying after the two younger girls.

Left alone, Rias looked at Hermione. "Before you say anything, it's probably not what you think, and it is not an abuse of his power or anything like that."

Hermione seems to visibly count to ten for a moment before breathing out harshly, her voice a low but steadily increasing snarl. "Harry is twenty-six years old, a man grown, and you are still a student! How can this not be an abuse of power!?"

"Things are not always what they seem," Rias said calmly, gesturing for Hermione to follow her. "This is not a discussion we should have simply standing here on a park trail, however."

Hermione nodded at that and followed the taller redhead quickly, only now realizing how much taller than Hermione Rias actually was. Rias stood five foot nine, five inches taller than Hermione, which Hermione was trying not to notice along with the fact that it brought Rias's chest near to her own eye height. That was not something she wanted to think about right now.

Beyond that, her mind truly was a -boil from what she had just discovered, too many thoughts all buzzing together for the normally very controlled Hermione to get them into order. _Any other man, just looking at her I can tell that she could wrap most men around her little finger, but Harry's never been like that! He never even reacted to Veela! Not Fleur or any of her family when they turned on their allure. And while there is a certain maturity to this young lady, and not just her figure, that can't be enough to have attracted Harry, can it?_

 _I know he has a thing for redheads. He certainly made eyes at Davis, Ginny, and Susan for a reason, and that was the only thing those three had in common. But why would he jeopardize his job, his livelihood, and his reputation to be with a student!?_ _And why would she jeopardize the rest of her life getting into a relationship with a teacher? I can't imagine a parochial society like Japan would view her in a better light than they would him. More likely the fallout for her would be even worse!_

So busy was she with her own thoughts that it took Hermione a few seconds to realize that Rias had guided them to an out-of-the-way part of the park to sit on a bench there. It was only when she felt the wood under her rear that Hermione came back to herself and glared at Rias. "Now that I have thought about it, I **know** this cannot be an abuse of power. I know Harry Potter, full stop! He would never do something like that."

Hermione's eyes narrowed even further. " **However** , I also cannot understand the reasoning behind his getting involved with a student. And don't try to give me anything about it being in love at first sight; that sort of junk only happens in stories. Love is something you have to work for. So, explain what is going on here!"

"I completely agree," Rias replied seriously. Neither she nor Harry had used the word love. While they were moving in that direction, they certainly weren't there yet. "As for why we decided to give the relationship a go, we…. I was attracted to him from almost the moment he showed up. But that was a mere physical thing. We got to know one another throughout school and then through Lily and a few issues at school and with my private life. Eventually we just decided to stop fighting our attraction and see where it went."

She laughed, looking over at Hermione and winking, wiggling her fingers, where tiny sparks appeared. They looked like fire, but were actually bits of Rias's magical aura coming out around her fingers. "We both were dancing around a certain 'magical issue,' as it were, not realizing we were already both in on the secret, if from very different starting points. I am not fully human," Risa went on, watching Hermione for any reaction but unwilling to tell the older woman she was a devil.

While she trusted Harry with that information, she wasn't willing to trust Hermione or anyone she might tell. For one thing, Hermione wasn't going to be staying around. For another, there was no real point to sharing that information with her.

"It took a while for both of us to realize that, yes, we both knew about magic, and, yes, we could share that information with one another without any repercussions. From that shared understanding came more understanding and more time spent around one another," Rias finished.

"I see. And how serious is it? Even setting aside the fact that you are still teacher and student, which I am **not** willing to do," Hermione said, slapping her hands down on the back of the bench between them and glaring at Rias as she said that, "how serious can a relationship between a grown man and a girl your age be?"

"I am going on nineteen, and among my people that is the age where we are mostly married off if our families desire it," Rias said simply. "Beyond that, my age has little impact on my maturity or my mental faculties, so it should not be a factor when looking at my and Harry's relationship. As for how serious it is, we just started going out last week, as Lily-chan told you in that rather adorable way of hers."

Rias smiled at the memory, and not just from the memory of the kiss. The dancing and the talking were just as enjoyable to her. "It was a fun date for all the three of us, and we had a lot of fun. Harry and I were dancing around one another since the start of school, not flirting exactly or not often anyway, but the growing connection was there. But we're not really rushing to say the word love."

"Or anything else?" Hermione asked archly, glaring at the girl she thought was either a fangirl with a long term plan or a gold digger.

There Rias allowed herself a smirk, the same saucy smirk that had made Harry melt during their date. "I can't promise that."

Hermione did not melt. Hermione kept glaring. "Now you listen here, you…"

"Please think before you say anything else!" Rias interrupted sternly. "I am independently wealthy, both through my own means and through the money I will inherit in the future. I was a straight A student before Harry came along, and really did not need any help socially that he could give me. There is nothing physical, beyond himself that is, that I am interested in which Harry can give me. Mentally and emotionally, that is another story," Rias said with a smile.

At that Hermione paused, staring at the girl but unable to see any sign of deceit or prevarication. "All right, setting aside what could have attracted Harry to you, which I will get out of him later, believe me, why are **you** attracted to **him**? I'm just wondering what made you wish to go from being his student to his friend and then to, to girlfriend?" she finished, looking scandalized by the very idea.

Rias sighed and stood up, waving for Hermione to remain seated as she did. She then gestured down at herself with her hands. "Look at me, and what do you see?"

"A beyond gorgeous young woman," Hermione replied promptly, then frowned, immediately understanding the point Rias was making. "An object of desire and lust, I presume. Like a Veela would be, only without the added issues from their allure."

"Yes," Rias said with a sigh, sitting back down and not making any comment on the comparison Hermione had made, since Harry had mentioned them before. "Harry didn't approach me for my body. He didn't try to touch my body, didn't make any move to try and worm his way into my heart. Instead, he, Harry, wanted to first touch my mind and did. It was such a novel approach that I found myself responding to it. On top of that, Harry…."

She paused nibbling at a lock of her hair in thought before going on. "I can't tell you much about how much he has helped my friends and I. There are confidences there that I will not break. But he saw all of us as ourselves, as our deeply flawed, deeply hurt selves. Then he opened up the door to his own pain, to his own past and his own trials and, in so doing, helped us all. How could I not become interested? How could I not wish to become closer to such a man?"

After a moment spent staring at Rias, Hermione shook her head, her anger now gone as she gazed at Rias with new eyes and even some amusement. "Darn it. A logical and emotional argument, one that actually makes sense? I did not see that coming."

Rias laughed, but Hermione was deadly serious. The earnestness and honesty that Rias had spoken with, despite not going into any detail, told Hermione just as much is the words themselves. _And remember that Harry trusted Lily to them. That should have told you a lot right there._ Back home you could count on your fingers the number of people that Harry would trust to watch Lily. Indeed, if you took away members of the Weasley clan from that list, you could do so on one hand and have fingers left over. Hermione had always been rather proud that she was one of these.

"All right," she said slowly. "From your perspective I can't help but admit that the attraction and the idea of having a relationship seems to make sense. I'm still disturbed by the whole teacher-student thing."

"Actually, in this country so long as the student is of an age, there is no sign of favoritism and they are discreet there isn't a specific law against a teacher and student being involved," Rias said. "Or, if there is, it's one of those that is winked at and ignored. It hasn't happened at our school yet, but I have heard stories of other schools where teachers and students become involved with one another. In fact, there was another high school near here where a female teacher became involved with a male student she later married after he graduated."

"I really don't want to know," Hermione said bluntly, waving that off. "I have to wonder, though, and I don't mean this to offend you, but I did not anticipate that Harry would have moved on from Ginny so quickly."

It actually surprised Hermione that she really didn't mean to offend Rias. The younger woman's arguments had gotten rid of most of Hermione's anger. _I'll still have words with Harry, though._

Rias shrugged. "From what he told me, the two of them were growing further and further apart emotionally, so really the final issue Harry discovered was simply that last nail in the coffin. With that in mind, it really shouldn't surprise you that he was willing to try again so soon."

"That's true, but the two of them, they made so many mistakes. Ginny made mistakes aplenty, of course, falling in love with the idea of the Boy -Who -Lived and then trying to change Harry to match that image at times. She also forgot her anti-pregnancy potion while we were still all at school, technically, anyway," Hermione said, knowing she could speak about magic and everything else in front of Rias.

She had made note of the fact that Rias wasn't completely human, but Hermione simply figured that she was one of the local magical creatures, a fox demon, perhaps, or a female minotaur. That would certainly make her body make more sense to Hermione, who wasn't feeling jealous about Rias's height or chest size, whatever anyone might have asked.

"But Harry made a few blunders of his own," Hermione went on, staring into Rias's eyes now. "First, he oscillated wildly between giving Ginny her space and wanting to do everything with her. He was unwilling to bend, to try and enjoy the things she did, and was unwilling to try to live it up as she wanted, which would have honestly been a good thing. Harry could have had a big impact on our society if he had been willing to play by the rules. When he tried, Harry did so haphazardly, and that was even worse. He also restarted his education without asking for input from her and forced Ginny to rely on herself rather than their shared connection when she pursued her own career. To Ginny, that was another blunder.

"But the biggest mistake Harry made was that he let his desire to have a family blind him to their ages and the fact that Ginny really didn't want one. And he couldn't understand her. He couldn't understand that she wanted to continue to live her life as if Lily hadn't happened. To Harry, gaining a family was his primary goal. To Ginny, it wasn't even in her top ten. He simply could not get that."

There was a lot more to it than that, of course, but Hermione was not willing to go into further detail. Besides, the final straw that broke the camel's back was all Ginny. Hermione wasn't even going to try and defend that.

"I love Lily-chan," Rias said softly. "She's a darling girl. I'm not going to try to become her mother. If it happens in the future, it happens in the future. Right now I'm just going to be her older friend and female role model, if need be. And I won't ever try to get between them or demand he spend time with me that he wants or needs to with her or anything like that, if that's what you're trying to say. As for the rest, I like to think I prefer to be independent, and that he and I will learn to compromise if we have to."

"Emotional discussions like this are not my thing," Hermione said, an understatement that would have had even Ron goggling. "That was sort of where I was going with that last point, but I was also trying to say that on Harry's side of things, he might again be blinding himself to the fact that you might not want a long term, family oriented relationship. If that's the case, tell him now before it becomes more serious, as you say it might."

Rias would have said that that was not the case at all, but Hermione held up a hand before she could. "I just said that emotional discussions like this are not my forte, so I'll end this one now, all right? I can see Harry just entering the park over there."

Rias turned in that direction, and both women stood up, with the taller Rias holding up her hand to catch Harry's attention. He saw them and turned in their direction, only to be intercepted by Lily racing over towards him with Koneko right behind her. He laughed and swooped Lily into his arms, holding her against his chest as he ruffled Koneko's hair with the other hand and began to nod at Lily, who was again waving around the test she had been holding onto earlier.

Both Rias and Hermione smiled at that sight before Hermione turned back to Rias, turning her to face Hermione once more with a hand on her upper arm. "Look, I have seen Harry fall into and out of love. I've seen his crashes; I've seen him hurt. I have walked through hell at his side and can safely say that Harry Potter is the brother I could never have. With all that in mind, realize I am serious when I say this: If you harm him or Lily, if you lead him on, or if you do not return whatever his feelings are for you one hundred and ten percent, I will end you. The authorities will never find your body. Are we clear on this?"

"Understood," Rias said simply, nodding her head. She actually smiled as she did, happy that Harry and Lily had such a good friend to look out for them. She knew for certain that Akeno, if she wasn't also emotionally involved with Harry, would've been saying the same thing to him, after all.

She then led the way back to the others, where Harry had just set Lily back down her feet, promising her that, yes, they would stop for some ice cream, which made Koneko start tugging at his hand. When it came to sweets, any concept of humility or acting like the older sister went out the doorway with her.

"Why don't I do that?" Rias said with a laugh. "You've paid for Koneko's ice cream more than a few times; I think it's time for me to repay that favor. That way, you and Granger-san can catch up a little alone, Potter-sensei."

"A lovely idea," Padma said with a laugh, reaching down to take Lily's other hand. "I haven't tried any of these strange ice cream flavors I've heard about in Japan, after all. Is it true they have lychee ice cream? Or oolong tea ice cream?"

"Yep. The first is tasty, the second one not so much," Lily replied, already turning and pointing through the park towards the ice cream vendor. "Now, come on! Let's let Daddy get yelled at for a bit before we can all go back to having fun together."

Laughing at that Rias followed the others shaking her head at Harry in commiseration as she passed. "I had my turn with her; now it's yours," she whispered.

"That is a very clever young girl you have there. And I mean both Lily and Rias," Hermione said, staring at Harry. "Rias had a very interesting tale to tell. So, were you going to tell me you were involved with one of your students or were you going to try to hide it long enough for me to head back home none the wiser?"

"If I had thought of a way to bring it up in a conversation, then I might have told you," Harry hedged as Hermione led him back to the same bench she and Rias had used earlier. "It wasn't a conversation I was looking forward to having, obviously. I know this is somewhat morally distasteful, despite the fact that she is of a legal age, yet the idea of continuing to fight the attraction I felt towards her was one I was not willing to contemplate."

"Why, Harry?" Hermione asked. "If you're willing to move on from Ginny, why would you choose to move on with a student?"

"I attempted to move on with another woman first, actually. Kalawarner was around our own age, maybe a little older, but it didn't work out so well. She wanted just a physical thing, and…."

"And you're not built mentally for that. I could have told you that," Hermione finished with a nod. "Or else you would never have tried to settle down with Ginny. Okay, but why did you then just turn around and jump into a relationship with Rias?"

"It was more like we fell into it up to a certain point, then decided to plunge the rest of the way," Harry said with a shrug. "As for why Rias, you've you talked to her, right?"

Other men might have said have you seen her, but Harry wasn't particularly like that. Yes, physical attraction was important, but it wasn't the primary reason he would respond to someone as he had Rias.

"She's bright, intelligent, outgoing, and Rias saw me for me. Do you know how… well, of course you know how rare that was back home. That was rare even in France, Italy, Spain, anywhere in Europe, they either saw the Man Who Won, a dangerous werewolf, or a possible Dark Lord. Even here among the Japanese magicals there are people that judge me, though in their case it's just as a foreigner. Rias, she didn't see the labels; she just saw me. Harry Potter, family man, with a little something extra added on in the mystery that we were both trying to solve about one another in terms of what we were. Rias also doesn't mind Lily. In fact, she likes her. I mean, have you seen how Rias is with Lily?" Harry said in a rush.

"Yes, Rias mentioned that. What race is she, might I ask?" Hermione said, cutting into Harry's flow.

"That's her story to tell. Suffice to say her species doesn't mean anything to me, one way or another," Harry said which a shake of his head.

Despite Hermione having found out about his relationship with Rias, he was still of the opinion that he didn't want Hermione or Padma involved in the world that he was entering: with the Sacred Gears out there; the different factions and how they were in a very tense, armed standoff; and the Khaos faction out there, causing trouble.

Hermione glared at him, but Harry didn't back down, and she sighed. _We're not back in school anymore. I can't badger Harry with his homework or try to talk him out of getting into trouble. We're well past that point. He's a grown man, and if he wants to get into a relationship with another woman, that's his decision._ "I can't say I'm happy about the fact that she's your student or the difference in your ages. I realize she seems mature and is most definitely intelligent, but still, I cannot see how the relationship between the two of you can be one of equals. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Harry didn't reply to that, a smile hovering over his face, which made Hermione frown and wonder what she wasn't being told here. But her desire to know everything, to nose into other people's business specifically, had mellowed over the years. _Harry is a grown man,_ she reminded herself again. _If he wants to make his own mistakes, I have to let him do so._

"She is a lovely young woman," she said at last. "And, setting your ages aside, I suppose I'm happy that you seem to have found someone. Just promise me that you won't force this relationship the way you did yours and Ginny's? That you'll let it go at its own pace?"

"I promise we'll go at the pace we are both comfortable with," Harry said, hiding his own thoughts on that matter and making no move to share the fact that he might also become involved with Akeno, since that would just have been asking for trouble. _Besides, Rias and I need to talk about that tonight, anyway._ "Is there anything specific you want to know? Beyond her race, that is?""

Hermione shook her head. "No, nothing like that, I suppose. Just, again, I don't want you to make any of the same mistakes you did with Ginny. If I was staying around, you better believe I would try to stick my nose in regardless. I'm getting the impression there are other things going on here. But since I'm not, I'm willing to let that all slide. Just so long as you and Lily are safe."

"My daughter's safety is my primary concern, as you know," Harry said, still smiling.

"I notice you didn't make any mention of your own safety there," Hermione replied dryly, shaking her head with a put-upon sigh. "Still, I suppose I'll take what I can get. Now, let's head over to the others, and you can tell me more about what happened last night and local magical theory."

As they walked, Harry told her an abbreviated version of what had occurred between himself and Manannán Mac Lir: that the three Hallows had been created by him, not to hold his soul, but to hold his powers to serve as proof going into the future that his mythology had existed. He made no mention about how alive Manannán's interactions had made him seem, nor about his aura, which Hermione hadn't mentioned being affected by. Indeed, by the time she had seen Harry, the odd feelings of that morning had disappeared from her mind entirely, and the feelings didn't resume upon seeing him again.

Hermione asked questions, of course, dozens of them, as they were walking behind the others, with Rias listening in but not commenting on anything. This showed Hermione that Rias had already heard much of this, which made her scowl somewhat, not liking the feeling of not being the first person to know something about Harry.

But, the information she was getting from Harry about the Hallows and about this meeting in his mind were amazing. It completely overturned a lot of what she had thought she had known about magical theory, a process which was exacerbated when Harry began to talk about the locals. In return, Hermione proved to be wealth of information on Manannán, on top of which she also told Harry where Seamus was living these days. "He would be able to tell you a lot more about the Irish pantheon, though I don't think any of them actually follow those gods anymore. They still use their names to curse by, however, as I'm sure you remember," she said.

Harry did not mention the immortality thing. He thought that would be too much, which Rias would later agree with. Even so, they had given Hermione a lot to think about by the time it was time for her and Padma to head to the airport.

She stared at Harry thoughtfully as they stood at the intersection which would take her and Padma to the train in one direction and Harry and Lily home in the other. "I hope you find happiness, Harry," Hermione said, her eyes flicking to Rias, indicating exactly what kind of happiness she hoped he would find. "I hope you don't find any more trouble. But then again, trouble seems to already know your address, regardless."

With a chuckle at how well his old friend knew him, Harry pulled Hermione into a hug, then reached over and shook Padma's hand. "Have a safe trip, you two, and give my best to Lavender and Parvati. If you come back this summer, we can spend a few weeks traveling the country and seeing the sights together. The beaches, in particular, are supposed to be amazing."

The two friends stood there for a moment, just hugging, then exchanged chaste kisses on the cheek before parting. Hermione did so very reluctantly, still wondering in the back of her mind what Harry wasn't telling her and why he wasn't. But then she looked at Padma and shook her head. The days when she would spend her time running after Harry and getting into trouble and racing into danger beside him, all of that was past her now.

She had to get on with her life, just like Harry had to his. So, rather than voice that thought, Hermione said simply, "Be well, Harry," and turned, moving over to entwine her arm around Padma's, the two of them walking down the stairs into the subway station.

"Well, that was a lot less painful than I expected," Harry mused, winking at Rias, who giggled.

 **OOOOOOO**

"You know, love I'm proud of you," Padma said as she and Hermione exited the train at the airport. "You could have made a huge scene, could have blasted Harry to the Stone Age. You could have even threatened to tell Molly about his new relationship. But instead you handled it pretty calmly, and…." Padma trailed off, staring at her girlfriend's expression. "You're not going to just let this go, are you?"

"I am, yes. It's quite obvious that Harry was hiding something, but if he doesn't want me involved, then I will respect his wishes." Hermione's pious expression morphed suddenly into a sly smirk. "However, I think that Miss Rias Gremory needs to pass what is known as the parental test. And since Harry has no parental figure to do it, I think I should contact his remaining family, in the form of Tonks and Teddy, to step in."

"You are evil. I love it," Padma said with a laugh.

 **OOOOOOO**

Harry had just begun to put together dinner when the front doorbell rang. Frowning, he looked at the time. It was only six, and he and Rias had agreed that their date should be moved back to seven thirty at the earliest. _I wonder who that is? Heck, we've only been home for ten minutes or so._

He waved Lily back to the living room, from where she had hopped up from doing some homework. Pulling the door open, he blinked, staring at Rias, Akeno, Sona, and Tsubaki. Blinking, Harry nodded at them all. "Something wrong, ladies?"

Sona rolled her eyes behind her glasses, pushing them up her nose as she almost glared at the professor. "Potter-sensei, you have to understand that the mystery about the changes within you from last night isn't going away anytime soon! This is the earliest time both Tsubaki, Akeno, and myself are all free, so we inveigled Rias to bring us over today to get this over with."

Rias blushed under Harry's gaze, reading the disappointment and censure there. "Well," she said halfheartedly, "it is a mystery, and I'd rather like to solve it if we can."

"I suppose you'd better come in," Harry said, sighing. Stepping back, he concentrated, moving his hands in a certain fashion to connect to and disengage the wards around the house to allow visitors. "We can set up the basement floor as a research lab. In the future, though, I would prefer a heads up before you all just drop in like this, unannounced."

"Agreed. They rather sprang this on me as well. Though at least I was able to get them back a little," Rias replied with a smirk. The moment they had entered, she had quickly pulled out a large bag that she had been holding, pulling out from within it a long, white lab coat and putting it on along with the glasses she used when she was doing paperwork.

Harry blinked, then looked at her with a deadpan expression. "Really?"

She just smiled at him. "We're about to perform experiments, Harry. Magical experiments, true, but there are some proprieties to maintain." Rias's little joke was actually more to put Harry at ease about the process than anything else, and also, frankly, to tease Sona and Tsubaki as much as possible for edging in on her date with Harry. She didn't mind Akeno so much, despite the fact that Akeno had leaped on the opportunity to spend more time around Harry. "Now, come on, you three! Get dressed!"

"I can't believe you got me to agree to this," Sona muttered, pulling out more lab coats and handing them out to the others from Rias's bag.

Harry laughed, winking at Rias, knowing what she had just done and approving of at least half of it. He also honestly wanted to get to the bottom of why he was able to survive having as much magical power in him as he could feel, agreeing with Sona's comment from that morning when she said that humans shouldn't be able to process that much power. It was just the timing that was an issue. "While this does appear fun and informative, I suppose we'll have to put off our date?"

"We should be done by seven or so," Rias said apologetically. "If we hurry, anyway."

Lily looked up as the five of them moved through the living room, hopping to her feet and moving over towards them eagerly. This looked like a lot more fun than more homework to her. "I don't suppose you have one of those white coats for me?" she asked, looking at Rias, correctly intuiting her as the one who had supplied them, given how disgruntled the others looked. Or rather, how Tsubaki and Sona looked; Akeno looked more amused than anything else. Lily even broke out her puppy-dog eyes, blinking soulfully up at the tall redhead and adding an impromptu wobble to her lips.

"Rein in the look, Lily. You know that doesn't work on me. But yes, I do have a coat for you," Rias said, pulling out a coat and kneeling down to pull it around Lily, winking at the girl. "We're about to poke and prod your Daddy for a bit," she said cheerfully. "You can come around and watch." Then her eyes narrowed, and she pressed her finger against Lily's nose. "So long as you promise to do all of your homework tomorrow without complaint whenever Harry tells you to, all right?"

Lily crossed her eyes at the finger on her nose, wondering why Rias liked to do that to her, but still enjoying it. She rather liked just being around Rias frankly. "I promise."

"Good girl," Rias said with a smile, standing up and moving towards where Harry had led the others through the living room to the door leading down to the basement. He had paused, holding the door for the others as he watched Rias with Lily for a moment, a smile on his face. Rias saw that and smiled too, leaning in to kiss his cheek as she passed before turning to wink at Lily. "Now that you have the coat on, though, how is your mad laughter? If we're going to play scientists, it's best to play mad scientists. They have more fun."

"BWAHAHAHAHAH!" Lily shouted, causing the three women below to turn and stare as the little girl hopped down the stairs. "Are you ready for science!?"

"Oh, that was good. A nine out of ten on your first try," Rias said with a laugh. "Now, work on getting your hair to look like it's been electrocuted, and you'll be all set."

Chuckling, Harry followed the two crazy redheads down the stairs, joining the others, who were already spreading out. Since Harry's temporary expansion charms had worn off during the day, the basement was a normal-sized basement once more, the room having returned to its original size with nothing to block it from doing so. "So, how are we going to do this? I know spells to examine people medically, but not in terms of their magical power."

"Well, first we will want to examine you with an actual examination array. Devils use it normally to see if an individual has any unusual abilities, or when the… status of an individual is in question," Rias said, pulling out pieces of a strange looking kind of chalk which had several different colors mixed into it besides the normal white and passing them to the others.

When Harry looked at her, she shrugged. "When their parentage, I mean, might be in question."

"Ahh," Harry said with a laugh. "Yes, we have spells for that kind of test too."

"We can also view and test your essence, what you have called auras, to a certain extent. Not the power of it, but whether or not there are any foreign influences. That is what the globe is for," Sona said, not looking up from inscribing the array.

Harry watched her work keenly. A few of the symbols he almost thought he recognized, but they were just different enough he couldn't figure out what they meant. The center of the image was a pentagram, which Harry thought amusing considering how the pentagram was seen as an evil sign by modern culture, though it had originally simply been something which wizards and witches had used, specifically druids and others who were close to nature.

"We could use some furniture down here, Harry. Could you see to that, please?" Rias asked, kneeling down beside Lily and, with her help, putting out a series of decanters made of glass.

That caused Sona to pause in her work to watch the spell Harry cast, but she couldn't make heads or tails out of it. It was too quick. _He simply willed it into being, almost, darn it! I had hoped to use this as an excuse to figure out more about Potter-sensei's version of magic, but if that is the extent of it, I won't be able to tell anything about it. I could barely feel the magic as he formed it, let alone how he did so._

Tsubaki and Akeno simply kept on working, concentrating on creating the pentagram and murmuring instruction to each other, while Harry stepped back from his own bit of magic, watching them work. He knew that Akeno had the blood of a family that practiced Jugondo, or the vanquishing of monsters and demonic entities. As such, she should already have begun to learn their magics. He'd spoken of that with her before and hoped to see her start down that road soon, with his help.

But he also knew that Tsubaki was from a similar family. _I have to wonder if she has any knowledge of the wizarding world and simply stayed silent about it due to a magical oath or something similar, or if she too had been kept in the dark about the wider world by her family? All of us magic users, all of us so willing to go our own ways, to even go so far as to act as if the others don't exist. I'd say it was insane if it wasn't such an obvious defense mechanism. I doubt any force in the world could keep magic a secret for long if any of us went to war with the others._

He caught Sona glancing his way as Harry turned back to his own work, conjuring further bits of furniture. Not anything which would be used in the actual tests. The risk of the magical residue of conjured items contaminating the tests was too high. _I find it amusing that Sona is so obviously interested in my magic, but she hasn't simply come out right and asked. Mind you, I'm not certain what my answer would be if she did. I'd prefer to get something for that knowledge, but I still might simply give her copies of my books like I did Rias. If Sona asks nicely, anyway._

"We're done," Tsubaki said eventually, straightening up as Akeno nodded. They both stepped back, surveying their work as Sona and Rias did the same, moving around and very carefully looking at the circle.

It was a much more complex work than the central teleportation arrays that both Sona and Rias had in their respective clubrooms, the centers of their powers as overseers of the area. But, then again, it was intended to do something entirely different. It was an analysis array, intended to study the thing that stood within it or, in this case, the individual.

"So I just step in?" Harry asked, then smirked, looking at the four women. "I don't have to strip, do I? I'd have to send Lily back upstairs if that's the case."

Tsubaki and Sona both blushed and, before Akeno or Rias could reply, Sona spoke up quickly. "That's not necessary! Just, just step into the center of the array but be careful not to muss any of the inscriptions."

"Oh poo," Akeno said, pouting and causing Lily to laugh aloud at such an adult looking girl using such a childish word. "You're no fun, Sitri-sama."

"If you want me to play doctor rather than scientist, Harry, I'm afraid I didn't bring along the proper uniform," Rias replied, actually looking serious as she said it.

Laughing, Harry stepped into the circle. "All right, now what?"

The four devil girls moved to four of the points in the pentagram, leaving one blank at present, though, as the analysis began, they moved around. Rias began a quick chant, and the circle activated, blazing red, a purple so dark it was almost black, and then white. It faded into a dulled glow on the floor, but now Harry found himself outlined in color: white, this time.

"What we would like you to do is call upon one of the powers you already know about Harry. Or, better yet, call up Fragarach," Rias said.

"I wouldn't use the term , 'call up.' It's not like pulling the sword out of a expanded trunk or a mokeskin pouch or even conjuring it up. The sword's a part of my mind now, not a physical entity at all. Until I allow it to have one," Harry said, and without any effort or change in expression he was now holding the sword, Answerer.

There was no change in his color, and all the devils breathed a sigh of relief. "Hmmm, it looks as if there is no negative influence there, no change to his aura. If these items you absorbed were phylacteries, there should have been," Sona reported. "That's one worry dealt with. Let's see what else we can tell you here."

Harry remained within the array as the devils cast spells on it, asking him to change forms a few times and to use his magical powers occasionally. He also called up the other physical representations of the Hallows for a time, allowing them to actually examine the cloak, which Tsubaki and Akeno took to doing while Sona and Rias continued to study Harry.

What this told them about how Harry was able to survive having as much power as he did without simply exploding was nothing. They saw no reason in his magic, mind, or soul that explained that away. There were a few oddities, such as that which they had noticed when he first arrived, but nothing to tell them why.

This infuriated Sona. She hated it when she couldn't analyze something or, in this case, place an individual within parameters she understood. Was Harry Potter still human, for a given value? Was he a god or a demigod because he had absorbed one's power? She couldn't tell, and it infuriated her.

After about twenty minutes of this, Harry, then in his werewolf form, was allowed to exit the array. He hopped over to his daughter, nuzzling her face and going to lick it when the girl shrieked and backed away. "EW! No, bad Daddy!"

Laughing, Harry stood up and slowly changed back, winking at Rias who was rolling her eyes at his fun. "So, what now?"

"We didn't find anything in your magic or your mind that could explain how you survived the process, so that just leaves your blood to check. Might I have a blood sample, Harry?"

"Already intending to bleed me dry, and we haven't even dated for a month yet," Harry lamented, but he became serious an instant later. "I have no problem with giving you a sample, but do not take it out of my sight. I am fully aware of how many very bad things a person so inclined could do to me if they had a sample of my blood."

"Understood and agreed," Rias replied, with Sona wincing as her friend looked in her direction.

"Yes, we are all aware of that, I assure you," Sona said, moving to the table and picking up one of the items Rias had brought along, a syringe with a special glass needle and container. "My father ran into an issue when he was younger because someone had gotten a blood sample of his. We'll destroy the sample after we're done with it, Potter-san; don't worry."

Harry held out his hand, and Sona, after finding a vein, stuck the needle in with some difficulty. After that, she connected it to another alembic that Rias had brought along, and Harry turned to Lily. "Well, I think we're done playing mad magical scientist." Turning to the others, he said, "I'll take Lily and go and start dinner."

The two Potters, however, hadn't made it all the way up the stairs before Rias was calling Harry back. "Harry! Why in the name of all the Hells is your blood reading as Light-based magic, a deadly poison, and werewolf blood!?"

With his curious daughter behind him, Harry made his way back down. The blood sample had been broken into several smaller vials. One of them had then been dumped into one of the alembics, one that had a series of runic marks on it. That alembic now glowed with yellow light. Another had been put in a circular vial, which had a large 'X' on it. The 'X' was glowing a deep, throbbing red, which Harry supposed was a sign of how deadly the poison they had found in his bloodstream was.

"I don't understand!" Sona muttered, looking at that last. "This is impossible! The werewolf blood I understand, but the poison and the Light magic? You should be dead several times over with this in your blood stream! Good grief, if you just bled on someone it might well act like a contact based poison!"

"I am more concerned with the Light magic in his system," Akeno said, looking angry for a moment as she stared at the alembic which was glowing with yellow light. She controlled it quickly as she turned to look at Harry as he rejoined them, but there was still a dangerous sparkle in her eyes. "Is there something about your heritage you're not telling us, Potter-san?"

Ignoring the near-accusation from Akeno, Harry looked at Rias, his voice mild. "I did tell you I was poisoned by a basilisk when I was younger. It was one of my earlier adventures, actually, the same year I started to take control of my own life. The fact that it's still in my system is a surprise, but one that solves a few tiny mysteries about how fights in my past went here and there. And yes, it acts, I think, like a mild paralytic on contact, Sitri-san."

"You fought a basilisk!?" Sona gasped, as did Tsubaki and even Akeno. "When did you run into one of those things and how did you kill one? Even for high ranking devils a basilisk's magical immunity is no joke, and their poison is known as one of the three strongest in creation."

Harry looked over at Rias again, who shrugged. "I told them about your adventures but never went into any detail. If you want them to know, that is your decision to make, not my secret to tell."

Smiling at that, Harry briefly explained about the Chamber of Secrets and how Riddle had let the basilisk loose among the students and how Harry had fought his shade along with the snake, being bitten in the process. "Afterward I was saved because Fawkes…. Ooh…." Harry said, stumbling to a halt, his thoughts suddenly going a mile a minute. "Could it be that simple? But, of course, the blood, the blood, the source of the most profound and ancient of magics!"

"What are you talking about?" Sona asked, looking a little frustrated and somewhat shocked at the tale she had just heard. _A twelve -year -old killed a basilisk with a sword!?_ "Of course there's power in blood—we all know that—but how could this utterly bizarre mix have anything to do with your new level of magical ability?"

"And what does Guy Fawkes, a man who, I believe, is burned in effigy for his part in some kind of assassination attempt, have to do with anything?" Tsubaki asked tartly.

The others, even Harry, turned to her, their eyebrows rising in surprise, and the Student Council vice-president blushed. "Um, it…. I like history, and, um…. Let us just say that Wikipedia is evil and can take you in random directions. It, it stuck in my head."

"Right. Well, I wasn't speaking about that particular Fawkes, but the phoenix named Fawkes, who is a sort of companion familiar to the headmaster position at Hogwarts, my old magical school," Harry replied, shaking his head.

"A phoenix. You met a phoenix, am immortal animal which is associated with Light magic. I don't think you mentioned that before!" Rias said, her voice rising in shock as it was now Harry's turned to be stared at. The Phoenix, unlike the Phenex clan which took its name from them, was a known creature on the Light side of the spectrum. "You just told me Fawkes's name."

"Oops," Harry said, shrugging.

"Ahem. Let us put this aside. Harry can go into detail about this adventure which brought him into contact with two mystical creatures at a later date," Akeno said, actually clapping to bring everyone's mind back on task. "What does this have to do with our current inquiry?"

In response Harry began to pace, voicing his thoughts. "I was a little over twelve when I was bitten by the basilisk. I was dying when the phoenix, a creature of Light, as you said, saved me by crying on the wound. But phoenixes aren't known just as Light-based creatures…."

"Change!" Rias exclaimed, starting to follow the line of reasoning Harry was. "Change, rebirth, and the sun! The phoenix was revered as a totem of the sun, a creature of rebirth and change. They don't heal so much as renew the injured area, in this case the poison in your blood stream. It made you immune by making the blood part of you."

"Exactly. My blood was then imbued with the basilisk venom, merged with it because of the phoenix tears, which also merged with my blood. That's why I was able to survive the werewolf," Harry said, his eyes widening in sudden realization. "Or, not survive it, but, rather, when I was bitten, the Phoenix tears already in my blood again activated, changing the curse's physical form."

"And they were able to do so because the curse of the werewolf is magically connected to the lunar cycle, which is in direct but weaker opposition to the sun of the phoenix. You're not a werewolf, Harry, you're an entirely different species which is barely connected to the werewolf species," Rias exclaimed. "And each time your body became stronger, became better able to handle magical power. That's amazing!"

"And then," Akeno murmured, looking at Harry's hands and then the cloak he had allowed them to investigate, "and then you willingly separated the Hallows, put a vast distance between them, weakening the Hallows' ability to act as a single unit. And then you began to absorb the power of the Elder Wand, the strongest one of the three, along with the cloak. By the time all of them were brought back together, your body had already evolved to the point where you could safely absorb all the power within."

"That has to be it," Harry said nodding. "It has to be. There's no other explanation. My own messed up life is how I was able to survive the power of Deathly Hallows." _If I was someone who believed in fate, I might believe that that was a sign of it right there,_ he thought, shaking his head. _But I'm not._

Sona was now using her formidable self-control not to gape openly at her professor. _Definitely a demigod. The trials he's faced would stack well against those of Hercules!_

"How likely is it that all of that, including the basilisk blood, carried over to Lily?" he asked, looking at Lily who had been following all this with interest. "I've never had her blood looked at before, fearing what kind of magics could be done by the wrong people if they got a hold of it. But I know it's not normal for werewolves to pass on their curse like I did to her."

"I think there's actually a very good chance," Rias said softly. "She might not inherit your sheer magical power, but she will inherit all of your physical abilities."

 _And the same will be true for any other child he has from now on, too. Amazing! But, hmm… well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it,_ she thought, thinking about one of the reasons why the pillar clans were called that. _It's not like I care about that pureblooded stuff, anyway. And if they try to stop me from taking my position as head of the family because of that, I'll just have to beat them all down and take the position by force!_

Harry looked at Rias as she talked about Lily, not noticing how his daughter had scowled for a second, her shoulders hunching. But then the odd, irritated look disappeared before any of the girls around Lily could catch it.

Slowly, Harry nodded at Rias's comment, wondering if he would have to take all that into account in the future. "For now I think we've all learned as much as we can about why I survived the process of absorbing Manannán's power for now. And, I don't know about you three, but Rias was also here for a date, and I, personally, am getting hungry."

Laughing, Rias nodded at that as the others replied in various ways. Tsubaki simply turned away and began to clean up. Akeno giggled, "UFUFUFU," but Harry had to wonder if she was actually giggling or just making that noise. Sona rolled her eyes and muttered about not needing to know, while Rias pulled off her lab coat and put it back in her bag, which she picked up with a smirk on her face. "I don't suppose I could ask to use your shower, could I, Harry? I'd like to change before dinner."

"Certainly, my dear," Harry replied, bowing mockingly. "There's one at the end of the second story hallway, another in the master bedroom."

"Thank you," Rias said before holding out a finger towards the various equipment on the table Harry had conjured. Rias concentrated, her brows furrowing, and a reddish aura blossomed from around her before concentrating on her finger. A thin beam of the Power of Destruction lashed out, impacting the centermost alembic, and, a second later, everything, table and equipment, had all disappeared, flashing into nothing.

"There, no more blood." She then smirked wickedly at Harry, who was looking at the place where the table had been standing, his eyes somewhat calculating. "I don't suppose I need to worry about you peeking, do I?"

"I think you'd probably like that, but no, I'm a gentleman," Harry replied, turning, moving over to her, and pulling her into a hug, holding her gently against himself as he looked down into her eyes. "I can wait."

Blushing and knowing she had just lost that exchange, Rias hugged him back for a moment before following the others up the stairs. Chuckling, Harry followed, heading to the kitchen.

Despite the unusual beginning to their date night, after Sona and the others left, the dinner portion of Rias and Harry's date was still just as Harry had planned it. Lily happily munched her way through a spaghetti Bolognese with sausage. Harry had made a more elaborate lasagna for himself and Rias, with Lily supplying the salad portion and Rias bringing over some drinks. These consisted of two different types of fruit diet sodas which Lily hadn't tried yet and a very good Chardonnay for Rias and Harry.

"As a responsible teacher, I suppose I should remonstrate with you about drinking alcohol," Harry mused. Even so, he took the bottle from Rias, setting it down on the table. To one side Lily tried to drink from one of the soda bottles without the little metal or glass ball inside getting in the way

Rias shrugged. She was now wearing a black skirt that came down to her knees with a bit of lace at the bottom that was a deep crimson color, matching her hair. She also wore a black, tight fitting blouse with the buttons done in silver going right down between her breasts to stop right above her navel. Two of those buttons were unbuttoned at present, allowing both for Rias to breath and for a very nice amount of cleavage to show for Harry's appreciative eyes.

Harry, in turn, was wearing a tight fitting, black dress shirt and good pants. His shirt, too, was slightly opened, but not as much as Rias's. His hair was still its normal unkempt mop, but Rias felt that, once more, Harry cleaned up very nicely.

He had also, with Lily's connivance, made the kitchen look quite a bit more romantic than normal. The blinds had been changed to a nice red color, the lights turned off, and candles added to the table, and the table covered with a patterned tablecloth. Lily loved it, thinking it looked like the date scene from Lady and the Tramp, which caused her father to laugh when she said it aloud.

"That's a human wine, and I'm a devil," Rias replied simply. "I could drink seven or eight bottles of that and still not feel it. So long as I was eating at the same time, anyway," she added hastily. "I can't say I really enjoy drinking alcohol. Most of it really doesn't taste very good. But wine on a date seems to be almost expected."

"Well, in that case, I'll only say thank you for the gift. Next time, though, I'll introduce you to some real drinks made with wizarding world alcohol. It will be interesting to see if your Devil immunity spreads to magical varieties," Harry replied, moving around Rias slightly and letting his fingers stroke through her hair for a second before he moved over to pick up their plates by the stove and move them over to the table. Rias smiled at the touch, a sort of electric tingle going through her body from her hair on down, moving over to sit by Lily. She helped the girl serve herself from the salad bowl.

The conversation at the dinner table was dominated by Lily, for the most part, with Rias and Harry only talking occasionally about other topics. Lily asked Rias a lot of questions once more, this time about being a devil, not having had the chance to do that on the first date. Rias fielded them all with a smile and even showed her wings to the two Potters on request.

They then began to compare notes about their discussions with Hermione and then set up a time for Harry to meet with the Occult Research Club and the Student Council for a large-scale training session sometime in the future.

Rias wanted to have it this coming week, but that wouldn't work with Harry's schedule. He wanted to redo the wards around his house—re-energize them to higher standards now that he had so much more power to work with—and finish work on his current projects—learning the local runic arrays and the use of talismans —and, of course, spend time with Lily.

After dinner ended, Rias and Lily convinced Harry to watch some anime with them. The movie was called Castle in the Sky, and Harry actually enjoyed it immensely, as did Lily, though that came as no surprise. Afterwards the two of them put Lily to bed and then came back downstairs.

Harry picked up the wine bottle, which had remained chilled thanks to a brief spell, and came back with the bottle and two glasses, one of which he held out to Rias. She took it and held it out as he filled both glasses before they sat down on the sofa, facing one another.

"You're really good with Lily, you now," Harry said was whimsically, taking note of how Rias's crossed legs allowed him more of a glimpse of her thighs then he had previously seen. _Outside of those exercise shorts, anyway. Those things should be illegal. Then again, seeing her thighs like this is somewhat more intimate, and that doubles the impact_. "She's not the first young child you've had to deal with, is she?"

"No, she isn't," Rias chuckled, taking a sip of her wine and watching Harry over the top of the glass, her own smile rather wry. "I've watched my nephew several times. Milicas is the sweetest boy! I'd love to see him be happy and outgoing and as naturally precocious as Lily is, but with all of the responsibilities that his father has and with how often he's been in the limelight and forced to uphold the dignity of his position, he doesn't really get the chance. I won't hear a word against his parents, though. That is just the way it is for those of us raised into nobility. Childhoods, all too often, are set to one side. But you've done a magnificent job with Lily, Harry. I think you should be very proud of her."

"So far," Harry replied dryly. "I've talked to other parents, and this time of her life is the equivalent of smooth sailing. When we hit the teenage years is when everything will start to be a little fraught."

"I'm sure you'll handle it with equanimity and love," Rias said with a laugh before sitting upright and moving towards him, setting the glass down on the table in front of the sofa. "But let's stop talking about Lily, at least for tonight, okay?"

She kissed him lightly, tasting the wine on his lips before moving inward, kissing down his jaw and licking at his neck. She could feel her own heart beginning to go a mile a minute, desire starting to make her whole body heat up as she, at least, began to act on the feelings she'd been having on and off all day. "Can you guess what I want to talk about?"

"I don't think you want to talk at all," Harry said, his voice coming out deeper as his body began to respond to Rias's attentions. Any desire to take it slow had taken a severe hit during their date tonight, with Rias sitting across from him looking almost as edible as the food on the table. Setting his own glass down, he raised his hands, moving one through her hair while the other ran up and down her back under her hair.

Slowly, as Rias kissed and nibbled at Harry's jaw, the hand in her hair moved up to where it cupped the back of her head, whereupon Harry guided her head back up. They kissed, slowly and deeply for a moment, before he pulled away in turn just as Rias was about to open her mouth to give him access. Ignoring her whimper, he began to nibble at her jugular, then slowly pushed her away. Unfortunately, there was something he wanted to talk to Rias about.

"Wait, Rias. I do have a topic I actually want to talk to you about tonight." Rias pouted but cocked her head, waiting for him to go on. "It's about this whole 'sharing' thing. I know what I said, that part of me really likes the idea of having a relationship with two girls at once. But…."

There Harry paused, waiting for Rias to realize he was serious about talking about this right now. He then watched as he she moved slightly away, but not too far away. Instead of moving back to her own part of the sofa, she sat back on his legs, sitting on them lightly and staring at him. "All right, that sounded a little ominous."

"Not ominous, just serious," Harry replied, one hand moving up to rake through his unruly black hair. "Look, I realize that in your society harems are considered normal. But it's not normal for my society. In the wizarding community, at least, equality between the sexes was something that's always been there. They have a lot of other problems," he added wryly, "almost as much as much as your pureblood society seems to, but the whole 'men are more important' thing can't survive when both sexes are able to use just as much magic."

Shaking his head, Harry tried to steer what he was saying back onto the actual conversation rather than the sideline. "Anyway, the point is, I told you I don't know if I would be able to give both you and Akeno the attention you deserve. But there's more to it than that."

He paused again, then decided to just take the plunge and get it over with all at once. "I like Akeno. She's bright, intelligent, and rather funny. But she's not outgoing on a personal level. You and I, we made it plain immediately that emotions are a major part of what is going on here. I've only seen glimpses of that from her. Akeno's response to Lily is also up in the air. I can tell she likes her, but I don't think Akeno understands what you showed you did before we went on that first date of ours."

"That Lily is a large part of your life," Rias said softly. "That you refuse to compartmentalize."

"Exactly. Sometimes she'll play with Lily, but she won't go out of her way to do it, and I always get the impression that she is doing it just so she can then flirt with me," Harry said with a sigh. "I, I'm just uncertain of this whole multi -relationship thing and Akeno's and my compatibility. And I think if I tried to talk to her about it, she would just try to flirt with me or dodge the question."

"I know that, Harry. She's always been like that, using her sense of humor and her… interests… as a defense mechanism. Oh, don't get me wrong, the S&M hints she's dropped are accurate enough," Rias added hastily. "But at least half of why she's so open about it with you is to get a reaction. But I think you could be really good for her and vice versa. And Akeno does have feelings for you, it's just getting her to admit to their depth is an issue.

"Her reaction to Lily is also understandable, if you consider her history." Rias sighed. "You know some of it, but not all of it, though I bet you could guess. She will get over it eventually.

"As for you not giving us both the attention we deserve…. As I said before," Rias said, reaching over to touch Harry's face lightly. "I think you have a far bigger heart than you give yourself credit for, Harry Potter. I think we could all be very happy together."

"Rias..." Harry said with a sigh, reaching up and pulling her hand away, though he reached out in turn to touch her face, tracing from just below one ear down her jaw line. "Rias," he said again, watching as Rias fought the urge to close her eyes. "Look me in the eyes, look me in the eyes and tell me you wouldn't prefer to be in an exclusive relationship. To have it be just you and me."

Rias looked back, the turmoil of her mind showing clearly in her blue eyes. Rias tried, she really did, but… she couldn't. She was a devil, and as such even more prone to jealousy, one of the original sins, than a human would be. She didn't want to share Harry with anyone but his daughter. She had not liked it at all when she saw him and Akeno kissing that one time, and she had not liked it when Akeno occasionally attempted to flirt with him.

But jealousy was not the only sin, or even the only emotion, working within her.

"I, I can't say that," she said at last. "Part of me would like to be exclusive—I've seen such a relationship before even among Devils: my older brother and his wife Grayfia, for example. But I also love Akeno, and I don't want to see her hurt. I also have to admit to thinking that she is somewhat attractive."

She lifted a hand to her hair, putting some to her lips and nibbling at it in a way that was strangely erotic, given the setting. That and the feel of her rear, her legs to either side of his own, as she sat on his thighs, was starting to get through Harry's self-control.

"And I do love her as a friend. I don't want to jeopardize that. So I'm greedy, dammit!" Rias huffed, then barked out a short laugh. "My devilish instincts are pulling me in two different ways right now, two of the original sins going head to head. I want to be greedy and retain my friendship with Akeno just as it is now, and I want our relationship to continue to grow, to have my cake and eat it too. I also would like to see us, just the two of us, regardless of how badly Akeno would be hurt if we shut her out. That is my sin of jealousy rearing its head. That part of me wants to have you all to myself and doesn't even like the idea of sharing your time with Lily.

"But Akeno, she would be very hurt," Rias said, turning back and now almost glaring at Harry. "Akeno is a lot more emotionally vulnerable than you might think, even with the breaks in her armor you've seen. In fact, those chinks are why I know she has feelings for you. She would never have let you in even that much if it was just a physical attraction."

Biting the hair she was still holding to her mouth, Rias went on. "If… Akeno realizes that she isn't in love with you, that it is infatuation and won't go deeper, that she doesn't want to build a life with you, that would be best. Don't lead her on but don't reject her. Let Akeno realize it on her own if you are truly incompatible."

Harry sighed, closing his eyes as he thought for a second before opening them and slowly nodding. "All right, I'm willing to give her a chance. It's not like you and I have made any long term promises either. But nothing physical until she opens up," he added warningly. "She stops flirting with me at all until we go on a date, and we talk. I cannot separate the physical and emotional in this," he said, reaching forward now with both hands, running them down Rias's face and cradling her head in his hands. "And if trying to let her in gets in the way of you and me, I won't continue to try. This, you and me, where this can go is too important to jeopardize like that."

"I can agree to that," Rias said, her eyes slowly closing under his touch.

 **{Waffy Lime incoming}**

"Good, because I think I'm done with the serious talk for now," Harry replied before pulling Rias down into a slow languid kiss. The kiss continued until they had to break for air, which was quite a bit longer for the two of them then it would have been for two humans. After that Harry began to rain down kisses on Rias's neck and collarbone, licking, nibbling, even trying to leave a hickey, the feel of which caused Rias to gasp. Her hands, which had been tangled in Harry's mess of his hair, started to go down his body, feeling his muscles.

She then 'eeped' as Harry's hands went to her skirt clad rear. Squeezing briefly, Harry lifted her up just slightly as he flipped his legs onto the sofa and then turned them both so they were both laying down, facing one another. His hands moved from her rear, much to Rias's disappointment, but they moved up, one into her hair, just gently kneading at it, and the other up and down her back as he smiled at her, his emerald eyes gleaming. "Better?"

"Mmmm…" Rias murmured, actually blushing now under that gaze, but meeting it with her own, aqua looking into emerald. They stayed that way for a time, and this time it was Rias who initiated the kiss, leaning forward, her lips latching on hungrily to Harry's. She pressed her body against his and actually rolled them so that she was now lying on top of him, her body flush against his, her breasts pressing against his chest, and a heady throbbing starting to go through her body from her lips on down.

Harry's hands moved up through her hair, holding Rias's head still as he lightly twisted his head just a bit more to the side, then opening his lips, his tongue flicking out. She gasped, and his tongue quickly slipped into her mouth, teasing her tongue and around her teeth. That won a moan from Rias, which translated to a thrum from their connected mouths, causing Harry to chuckle.

Rias seemed to take that as a challenge. Her hands moved, one going from where it had been gripping at Harry's shoulders down his body to the bottom of his shirt, where she worked at it, pulling his shirt up out of where he had it tucked in. The other started to try and unbutton the shirt.

Feeling this, Harry hesitated, pulling back from the kiss, panting, and looking at Rias in question. "Rias…," he said, making her name both a question and a warning.

Understanding what Harry was saying, she smiled, the look somehow both impish and sinfully sexy at the same time. "Your pants stay on as does my skirt," she said simply. "I warned you, though, that I was going to push this side of things."

"You did…," Harry said with a slow nod, his own hands moving to her silver buttons on her blouse. He paused then, and she nodded. He sat up far enough to help her pull off his shirt, then went back to work on her buttons as Rias took in the view of Harry's naked chest.

Rias slowly ran her hands down Harry's chest, reveling in the muscles there. Harry was both taller than her and better built, in a way, than most men she had seen, even her father and brother, whose powers mainly relied on their magical capacity. Yes, they were fit, but not like this. Harry's build was like that of a middleweight boxer, his arms, stomach, and sides very well built. His sixpack was not stark but noticeable, and, to her surprise and delight, he didn't have any hair on him. "You don't have much body hair?" she asked, her fingers pressing into his sixpack with a certain amount of delight.

That caused Harry, who had just finished undoing her last button, to twitch away. "Um, uh, yes. My father apparently was the same way. Potter men don't grow much hair on our chests. Despite, I'm told, some experiments in his high school days to correct this…. Why are you looking at me like that?"

Her fingers twitched on his abs again and caused Harry to jerk. "Oh my, you're ticklish too!" Rias giggled. "That's adorable!"

When her fingers made to poke at his abs again, however, Harry retaliated, grabbing them both as he twisted to the side until he was lying on top of her. "Let's not go there," he said, his voice turning into a low murmur as her blouse fell open. "Magnificent…"

Seeing the look in Harry's eyes change lit a molten fire within Rias, and she unhesitatingly unclasped her bra, sitting up before she threw it to the side and lay back, baring her chest to her new lover's gaze. Harry stared into her eyes for a moment, then, without any further prompting, allowed his gaze to drop back down.

Rias's chest was creamy white, like the rest of her skin, without a single beauty mark. Her stomach was flat save for her little belly button. Rias's waist was almost inhumanly slim, though there was no sign of any built up musculature there, only the kind of build that spoke of both genetics and effort. Her breasts were large, so large that Harry's hands would have trouble encompassing them, and jiggled only slightly as she moved, showing an inhuman amount of perkiness. They were capped by perfectly shaped pink nipples, the size of them just beyond that of a British pound, a comparison Harry's mind made for some odd reason of its own.

Harry leaned down and unhesitatingly began to nibble and bite at the valley between her breasts, his hands slowly caressing their sides, then down to her stomach and back up. Rias gasped and bucked upwards the fire within growing under Harry's tender ministrations. "You are so beautiful, the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

This was not hyperbole. Harry had been around many beautiful girls, though it had to be said he hadn't seen many like this. Hermione was gorgeous, Padma and her sister were runway model level, and several other witches he'd seen had bodies that would put any model to shame, like Lavender or Tracy Davis. Ginny was the very epitome of an athletic beauty. Kalawarner was the perfect example of a seductress, her curves and looks almost designed to make a man mad with lust.

Rias blew them all out of the water.

"I, mmm, could say that you are a most handsome man too," Rias said, pulling Harry up into a kiss. Her tongue invaded his mouth this time, but Harry made no move to resist, kissing back just as fiercely while their arms went around one another.

The kiss went on for a time as both of them began to get a bit heated, with Harry actually beginning to grind his pelvis against Rias's core, her skirt slowly rising as her legs parted. In an effort to cool himself down, he twisted them both to lie on their sides, breaking off the kiss to watch as his left hand began to trace down Rias's arm to her side.

Rias did the same, only pausing as her fingers reached a circular scar about as big as her fist on his side right to the side of his pectoral. "What's this?" she murmured, her fingers gently caressing it.

"Ah, that's the scar I got from being bitten by the basilisk. Phoenix tears healed me of the poison, but it still left a scar." In return, Harry's own fingers grazed a thin scar about the length of his thumb, on Rias's own side. "Hmm?"

"Oh, that? Kiba caused it," Rias murmured. "He attacked me the day he was turned but stopped when I simply smacked his sword away and hugged him instead of getting angry. My parents were furious about it, but I calmed them down after I was healed. Now I look back on it and laugh, since he's become part of my precious family."

Harry's fingers traced around and down, finding another small scar. "This one?"

"Hmm, falling out of a tree," Rias said, biting her lip as Harry's finger slowly traced that scar, then moved upwards, tracing around her nipple but never actually touching. Despite being on her side, her hips automatically began to twitch at that, the feelings within her rising further. She tried to concentrate on her own hand's exploring, finding another scar, this time on Harry's forearm. "What about this one?"

"Ah, um, a conjured silver sword stabbed me there. I healed from even that, but silver can leave scars."

"Yours are much more impressive than mine," she whispered, scooting down to kiss his basilisk scar, then around it.

"My life was much more fraught than yours," Harry replied, his voice tightening at the sensations Rias was giving him. A part of him wanted to push this along, to take control and make her scream his name. But he didn't. Despite thoroughly enjoying the joys of second base, he didn't want them to take this too far. Whatever added sexual desire taking Manannán's power in might have given him, Harry was still the one in control.

"Stop talking like that!" Rias ordered, looking up from where she had just kissed his left pectoral, biting at his skin to emphasize her point. "Your life led you here, to me, to my arms. And I am not letting you go."

"Heh, you really are a greedy girl," Harry murmured, leaning down to kiss her in turn. Now, with his own hormones somewhat more under control, Harry began to take charge subtly, slowing down the pace. The two of them continued to explore one another, kissing here and caressing there.

Harry learned that Rias was incredibly sensitive along her collarbone to her left side, but not her right, for some reason. He learned she was ticklish on her sides, but only slightly, though from the shifty eyed look she had when he found that out, Harry knew Rias had to be ticklish somewhere else.

She, in turn, found all the scars he had on his back and chest, wincing at the few long, red scars on his back, coming from what she knew could only be some kind of whipping. She had learned something about his childhood with the Dursleys and wanted to learn more, but now was not the time.

Soon, though, the pace started to pick up as they found each other's erogenous zones. Harry groaned aloud when Rias began to nibble at his jugular and then his ear, while Harry began to finally give Rias's breasts the attention she felt they rightly demanded, turning her into a panting, moaning mess. Yet as the lava in her started to feel as if it would burst, as she slowly lost the ability to speak her voice, turning into a series of moans and pants, Harry still didn't play with her nipples.

 _Why, why, why won't he!?_ Rias thought, moaning ever louder. She was lost now. Even though she was currently on top of Harry, Rias was no longer in control of their make out session. She was simply moaning incoherently, her head thrown back and her hair slowly beginning to stick to her back as she started to sweat. "Haaarrrryyy…." she moaned, thrusting her waist down and feeling the hardness of Harry's reaction in his pants, sticking almost straight up now.

"You are so gorgeous, Rias," Harry said, then without warning moved from where he had been working on leaving a hickey on the side of her neck to her right nipple. Latching on, he began to suckle, his tongue twirling over the hard nub.

This entire evening had been well beyond anything Rias had ever felt before. No man had touched her beyond a tactless grope here or there and her bastard of a fiancé. She had touched herself occasionally, but never very much, and other than the one time she had done so to thoughts of the man she was with now or to anime characters who had grabbed her attention those moments hadn't been all that earth-shaking. To the feeling Harry had evoked within her in the first few minutes of tonight's make out session those earlier explorations were nothing. Ever since she had simply been climbing a mountain of feelings, her body like a volcano about to go off.

Now that fire exploded, the volcano finally erupting. "AHHHHH!" Rias shrieked as she came by another's touch for the first time in her life. Her entire body spasmed as fluid spurted from her panties and her back arched almost painfully. She held there for a second as Harry retreated from her nipple, and then she collapsed, falling down onto his chest.

Harry chuckled, gently running his hands through her hair, using a whispered spell (it wasn't a spell he'd used often enough to not need the verbalization) to get rid of her accumulated sweat as he tried to ignore his own issue, which was still pressed hard up into Rias's bunched together skirt. "Someone seemed to have fun," he teased.

"Mmmm…you have **no** idea! No wonder there are devils who have given themselves over entirely to lust," Rias said with a moan. She eventually became aware of Harry's ongoing issue and giggled, her hands slowly winding down from where they had fisted in the pillow to either side of his head. "Let's see what we can do to help you now, hmm?"

 **End Lime}**

Just then, however, there was the patter of feet on the stairs, and Harry and Rias both froze for an instant. "We forgot noise canceling charms!" Harry whispered, as Rias hopped off of him, grabbing up his shirt, the closest to hand, and pulled it quickly over her head.

She met Lily as she was about to enter the living room, kneeling down and picking the girl up. "What's wrong, sweetheart? Did we wake you up?" she asked, her face red but thankfully unseen in the doorway as she covered for Harry.

For his part he suppressed a groan with effort and began to swiftly clean the sofa up, grabbing Rias's shirt and bra and tossing them behind the sofa. After that he quickly began to use the same spell he'd used earlier on Rias to clean the sofa.

"Mrghl, no. Not just that, anyway…" Lily grunted, nuzzling against Rias's shoulder, not protesting the fact she had been picked up because she was so tired. "Was having a bad dream about some little creature trying to make a contract with me to make me a magical girl. I kept telling it I already was one, but it didn't believe me and just kept on chasing me. Then I heard a shriek, its mouth opened, and all these teeth, and brrrr!"

Unseen by Harry, Rias's eyes narrowed dangerously. She ignored the last part since that most likely showed the impact of the noise she'd made a moment before on Lily's dream world to concentrate on the rest of what Lily had just said. "Ah. And who exactly let you watch that anime, Lily-chan?"

"Oh, a few of the older boys were talking about it, and one of them showed a clip to us from his phone before some older girls chased them off," Lily reported. "Can't sleep now…." She sniffed the air in the living room, and her little nose wrinkled. "Smells like flowers and fish in here. Weird."

While Rias ignored that line in favor of making plans to slowly torture the people who let elementary level students watch that particular anime, Harry quickly used a air freshening spell behind her. "Well, sweetheart, would you like to sit with us and watch another movie?"

"Yes, please!" Lily said with a sleepy smile.

Rias put her down, and the girl moved around her and went toward the TV rather than her dad, who seemed busy trying to find out where his shirt had gone. _Weird. Why did Rias need Daddy's shirt? Did she spill something? But then, why didn't Daddy just conjure her a new shirt? Adults are so silly sometimes._ "What else did you bring over?"

"A few more movies. Pick one out and we'll watch whatever you like," Rias replied as Harry stood up, moving to ruffle his daughter's hair. "I'll get us some cocoa."

At that suggestion Lily cheered, and Rias moved toward the kitchen.

She paused, though, as Harry pulled her into a one armed hug. "The sleeping potion is in the topmost shelf right by the kitchen doorway in a bright orange clay bottle. Add two drops to her cocoa."

Nodding her head, she leaned in to whisper into his ear. "Are you, um, going to be all right?"

"I'll be all right for now," Harry said with a weak chuckle before going on, his voice strained. "Love means you don't kill your daughter when she cock-blocks you."

Rias snorted at that and made for the kitchen, while Harry started to help Lily pick out a movie, putting it into the movie player, then turning the lights off. With a wave of his hand, Harry then transfigured the sofa into a bed, large enough for all three of them with white sheets. He then waved his hand once more and conjured a massive dreamcatcher on the wall behind it. "There, sweetheart. You think that will keep the bad dreams at bay?"

Lily laughed and hopped into the bed with Harry following quickly, pulling the covers over them both. The two then leaned back against the head board, which hadn't been changed and was still the soft back of the sofa. A moment later Rias came back, handing each of them a cup of steaming cocoa and winking at Harry. The older redhead sat up in the bed on Lily's other side, putting an arm around the young girl.

They watched barely 20 minutes of the next video that Lily had Rias had brought over, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, with Rias explaining some of the background, before Lily began to nod off again. She nuzzled into her father's side, her eyes slowly closing as she fell asleep.

Smiling, Rias set her cup of cocoa to one side, gently stroking the young girl's hair as she moved her arm from around where she had been hugging Lily. Rias then looked up at Harry, an almost fierce look on her face. "I **love this,** Harry Potter. This," she said, gesturing to Harry and Lily and herself. "This is part of what I want for my future, a very big part."

While her parents had failed to instill a true desire to marry another pureblood demon as they had hoped, they had done something else very well: they had instilled in Rias a love for family and a desire to be a mother. Not a brood mare, which Rias knew was what she would be for Riser, but a mother and a wife.

That statement and the implications of it sent a tingle down Harry's spine and threatened to bring Harry Junior to attention once more before he shook it off. "So, so you want a family, I take it?"

"Yes," Rias said, leaning down to Lily and kissing her lightly on the cheek before exiting the bed and bending to retrieve her original shirt and bra. "I want to take over as head of my clan and become the strongest Gremory head there has ever been, and I want a **big** family. Those are my dreams for the future."

Harry coughed, looking down at Lily for a moment as he tried to recover from that statement. "There's that going too fast thing again."

"That's me," Rias said, turning to give him a smoky look. "Positively sinful, pushing all the time, greedy in what I want, prideful in what I am, and a glutton for what I desire too."

The two of them stared at one another for a moment before Harry shook his head with a faint chuckle. "I'll see you on Monday, Rias. But first, come here for a second."

Rias did, and Harry laid a gentle hand on her head once more. She felt the familiar tingle of Harry's magic allowing her access to the house, just as he had had to do earlier that evening, but this time the tingle went on for a few seconds, and, when it ended, where before there had been nothing, now there was what she would describe as a warm sort of welcoming glow just out of sight. "What was that?"

"That was me permanently adding you into the wards," Harry's smile. "Feel free to come over any time; one of us will be here. I would ask you to stay away from the basement, at least until we talk more about the differences in our magical styles and spell work. The same goes for trying to actually interact with the wards, but that's about all."

"That's perfectly reasonable," Rias said, her heart soaring at the implication behind this gesture. "For now, though, I need to get going." She leaned over and gave him another kiss, and this time it was her turn to groan when Harry opened his mouth and started using his tongue. His hand on the back of her head held her still, and it was all she could do not to drown in it, not to take as much as she could and simply hop back into bed with him.

But despite the desire, that almost consuming need, she still had the will to pull back eventually. "Until Monday, Harry," she whispered, her breath puffing against his lips. Rias then stood up, holding her hands to either side as a magic circle appeared around her feet.

A second later she was gone, leaving Harry to fall asleep next to his daughter. But while Lily fell into a dreamless sleep, Harry's dreams were dominated by a certain redhead and activities they would have to do very, very often to make the big family Rias wanted.

 **OOOOOOO**

Having spent most of Sunday practicing his self-control, Harry had at last been able to conquer his aura. This was a good thing, since by the end of Saturday a rumor had started to go around that just seeing him could make girls go into heat, which was just awkward on many levels. Indeed, besides a certain gleam in his eyes and having even more energy than he had had previously, there was little change to Harry's outward appearance to tell of the change within.

That morning found two meetings taking place. One was Harry and his fellow teacher meeting with the principal to discuss what they had discovered from the issue that had occurred on Saturday. The principal, as Harry had feared, was indeed unwilling to do anything against the Perverted Trio for now, saying it was nothing they could take to the police, which they would have to if they tried to expel the trio of over -the -top perverts.

Suspending them, however, was something they could do. The Principal agreed that they had grounds to do so, this incident being enough to count as two strikes under their system even with only circumstantial evidence. He would be calling in their parents for a meeting that evening, after which the trio would be taken home and not return for a week.

The second meeting seemed to occur almost randomly to the passerby who noted it, yet was anything but. Sona Sitri had been hoping to talk to Saji for a while now, given that, of the two boys who she and Rias felt might have Sacred Gears, his personality and scholastic ability made him a better candidate for joining both her peerage and her cover story for it: the Student Council.

Saji was putting his shoes away when he looked up as a voice he knew (and secretly adored) spoke up from behind him. "Genshirou-san, might I talk to you for a moment?"

He turned rapidly and bowed quickly. "Ah! Yes, of course, Shitori-sama! What can I do for you?"

"I rather think it is what we can do for one another," Sona said, allowing a very minimalist smile to cross her face. "You see, we of the Student Council have been thinking that we need to add a boy to the group. We were waiting until this point to accumulate enough grades to understand which of you were among the best candidates, and I was hoping I could offer you the job?"

This was actually only partially true. Yes, Genshirou was a very good student, but he also had a Sacred Gear inside of him, one whose power the devils had begun to notice in the past month. The boy's grades were just an excuse to get him on to the Student Council, where Sona would then approach him about his abilities, her otherworldly nature, and what she could offer him.

While Sona was certain that introducing someone who had no knowledge of the supernatural to their world would be somewhat irritating, she didn't doubt that Saji would take her offer. _Saji might be better at hiding his hormonal thoughts than most of the boys, but I've seen him staring after me more than a few times. If I offer the chance for him to join my peerage, he will accept quickly._

To her surprise, however, Saji didn't jump on the offer. He grinned and opened his mouth, then hesitated before slowly shaking his head. "I, I am sorry, Shitori-sama, but I have to decline.

"You see," he went on, blushing and looking away. "I um, I recently entered into a relationship, and I'm afraid that working with the Student Council would take too much time away from that. If the offer is still open in the future and I've talked it over with my girlfriend and she says it won't, then I'll take you up on it then. But, until then…." He bowed before turning away and moving deeper into the school.

Inwardly Saji was howling in frustration. _Dammit! If that had happened before I started dating, but no, I have to choose between apples and oranges! I want them both, blast it!_

Behind Saji, Sona stood for a moment, looking a little shocked to those who knew her. One of her peerage, Reya, moved through the crowd of students to her side. "Shitori-sama, are you all right?" she whispered.

"I am fine. It's just, I think it was just turned down because of my target's hormones. And I rather don't like it."

"They are troublesome things, my King, but where would we be without them?" Reya said hesitantly. She herself had been having certain thoughts towards Yuuto before he and Tsubaki had gotten together.

"Men," Sona muttered, turning away and also making her way deeper into the building. "They make everything more difficult."

Beyond that, however, nothing new and interesting happened that week until Thursday. It took Akeno until then to work up the courage necessary to talk to Harry about opening up further on an emotional level as Rias and, through her, Harry, had basically told her that she had to in order to join this relationship they were attempting to build. She understood their point: Any relationship had to be a thing of emotional openness as well as attraction and shared interests.

But it was very hard for her. She was so used to hiding her real self, her real feelings, behind her defenses, that even sharing what she had already with Harry had been very tough. Despite that, however, she did follow through with the other aspect of Rias's decree: she stopped flirting entirely with Harry throughout those four days.

During that time Rias, Sona, and Harry began to think about training ideas and what would be necessary for them. The three of them agreed that it would be a better idea to enlarge the training area already underneath the Occult Research Club than to have one under Harry's house. This allowed Harry to change his basement into a magical laboratory and classroom. Since he intended to start teaching his daughter some magic on top of more lessons on self-control this coming summer, that suited Harry down to the ground.

Rias also took possession of the books Harry had copied for her and Akeno. These covered both the local Onmyodo tradition and the wizarding world's brand of magic that Harry had brought with him from Europe. She was positively gleeful, as was Akeno, about what those books could teach them.

However, Akeno **did** eventually work up the courage to talk to Harry. On Thursday her last class was a science lab, but afterwards she moved with purpose to the teachers' offices. Spotting her quarry, she pasted her normal public smile on her face and asked pleasantly, "Potter -sensei, may I speak to you for a moment?"

Harry looked up from where he had started to grade some papers, his eyes narrowing for a second. Having no class scheduled during his last period on Thursday meant that Thursday had become the day where he could get some stuff done before picking up Lily which, in turn, made his weekend a little easier.

He looked searchingly at Akeno but could not see past her normal Yamato Nadeshiko mask and finally nodded, standing up quickly and moving towards the door. "Certainly. Would you like to talk here, or is this about that writing project I assigned on Monday? Have you chosen your books?"

"It is, Sensei," Akeno said with a respectful nod. Harry had assigned the seniors a long-term writing project in English. They were to find four English language novels of any kind of genre or trope they wished, but each book had to come from a different decade. The students would have to show how the trope as well as the writing style in that genre had changed over time. Though difficult, the fact that the students could choose their own books made even this kind of project quite fun. To add to this, Harry had supplied examples of several dozen modern books taken from the different genres.

The two of them moved through the halls to the room where Harry taught Akeno and Rias's class, which was empty, of course, by this point. Wordlessly, Akeno moved into the interior of the room to lean against the teacher's table, looking at Harry with an expression he couldn't quite read even now.

Closing the door behind him, Harry then threw up a few spells to keep people from realizing they were in the room at all as well as to keep people from wanting to come near the room in the first place, what he would call a layered Notice-Me-Not. He then turned around and moved to sit on one of the students' tables facing Akeno. Once seated, he waited for her to speak, and, eventually, she did so.

"I am not an emotionally outgoing person," she said bluntly. "I have a lot of issues, issues I am loath to share. Rias knows most of them but not all. I have opened up to you already in a way that I would normally not have, and, while I understand why you wish me to open up more, that is very difficult for me. Could we not simply wait for a little while and just have some fun first?" she asked, a smile flickering across her face at the last few words only to disappear quickly.

Harry considered his response for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "I don't think so. I haven't mentioned this before, even to Rias, but I tried to do that very thing a few weeks after I first arrived in Kuoh. There was this woman I met when I went out clubbing. I was looking, or, rather, I thought I was looking for a fling, just to get over my… responses to you and Rias."

"To get your pipes cleaned, in other words?" Akeno asked tartly. Her face now showed a mix of amusement and some jealousy at the idea.

"Exactly," Harry said with a nod. "It didn't work out as I had thought. I was unwilling to go very far with the woman in question, and she was afraid to make any kind of permanent commitment. Around the time I was able to finally defend myself from your auras we broke it off. Because of that and a few adventures I had when I was in high school myself, I've come to realize that I am just not mentally and emotionally prepared to have a purely physical relationship, as I told you before."

"I feared that," Akeno said with a sad smile. "So does that mean that there's no chance for you and me?"

"It would be you, me, and Rias, remember," Harry said cautiously. He reached out to clasp one of her hands in both of his own and gently began to rub his thumb over the back of her hand. "Akeno, you are a beyond gorgeous, intelligent, caring, and funny young woman. But you have walls around you, and you need to let them down to let anyone in, and I do not know if we are emotionally compatible. I am, against my better judgment, willing to try this whole three-way relationship thing, but you have to be willing to meet us halfway."

"Give and take," Akeno mused, her face twisted into a small scowl. "I can see that you're willing to try something your society would find anathema, and you are further bending your own sense of morality to date students at all. But what exactly has Rias given up for this relationship?"

While Harry could have taken that as an attack, he knew it was more of a plaintive question than anything else. After all, from Akeno's perspective, it seemed as if Rias was getting everything she wanted and wasn't unhappy at all, as Akeno was, with the idea of further lowering her defenses. That wasn't the case, and Harry knew it since this past Saturday.

"Rias isn't nearly as happy about sharing as you might think she is," he said simply. "We talked about that Saturday, and it was a major point of contention. She is very torn at the moment, Akeno. Rias loves you as a friend and believes that you have feelings towards me, so she is willing to give sharing a try. But she's also feeling the 'sin of jealousy,' as she puts it, and that part of her is urging her to not allow you that chance."

Akeno's eyes widened, and she bit her lip, looking away. There were actual tears in her eyes, and she shook her head quickly. "I, I will talk to her. There are ways to deal with jealousy like that, and…." She paused, then nodded slowly to herself. "I really have to do this don't I? I need to open up to you more," she said almost wonderingly, her face actually brightening at little.

Looking at her, Harry thought it seemed as if, now that it had come to it, now that she had been forced to face that fact once more, a weight had been removed from her shoulders. "You do," he said slowly, still rubbing the back of her hand and staring at her thoughtfully. "If you want us to have our cake and eat it too, as Rias put it."

Akeno giggled. "That's just like her, greedy girl! Still," she said, her face slowly morphing into a positively sinful smile as she leaned forward towards Harry. "I'm a devil too, you know, and I can be just as greedy as her."

With that she leaned forward, crossing the distance and kissing Harry on the lips. Her lips were soft, just as soft as Rias's, only a little fuller, but she pressed her lips against Harry's just as ardently as Rias had.

Harry slowly responded, putting his arms around her and pulling her into his lap. The fingers of one hand began to work into her ponytail while his other hand started to rub the small of her back. And when Akeno experimentally opened her lips, slightly her tongue flicking out against his, Harry responded, opening his mouth and letting his own tongue out to dance with hers, pushing her tongue back into her mouth and exploring within.

Eventually, however, he used the hold on her hair to pull her away from the kiss, looking into her eyes. "So does that mean you agree? Y ou'll try to let more of your real personality show to see if we're as compatible as you think?"

"I want to try, at least," Akeno said, with a nod. "Will you let me try?"

"I think the fact that I just kissed you back and am now holding you in my lap should tell you the answer to that one," Harry said dryly.

Akeno laughed and did a little wiggle with her rump, smiling as she felt Harry begin to respond underneath her. She then hopped off of his lap before Harry could decide what to do and said softly, "I am free next Friday as well as next Saturday, if you want."

Understanding what Akeno was asking, Harry nodded. "I have made no plans for next weekend. Either would be fine with me." This weekend, they both knew, would be very busy: Harry with his own schooling and research into his new status and Rias and Akeno with their own research into Harry's brand of magic.

"Next Saturday, then." Akeno paused, nibbling at her bottom lip in a way that was positively adorable to Harry, with a bit more lust included in the image than that word would normally imply. "Have you ever been to karaoke?" she asked, looking almost vulnerable for a moment.

"I can't say I have, no," Harry mused. "Do you want me to make the arrangements?"

"No, I can do that," Akeno said with a shake of her head. I already know where several karaoke places are. Just leave it to me. You can pick me up at seven-ish?"

Harry nodded at that and stood up before surprising Akeno by pulling her into a hug and kissing her forehead. "I'm looking forward to it, Akeno, and to seeing more of the real you," he said, moving away before she could return the hug. He winked at her and then exited the room quickly.

Behind him Akeno huffed irritably, blushing at the tender gesture despite the intense kiss they had shared barely a minute before. "Hmmf. Now who's the tease?"

 **OOOOOOO**

The process of transferring from one college to another was actually somewhat difficult for Loup, considering that the principal at his current school knew he was a werewolf and was actually supposed to discourage youkai from transferring away from Kyoto, where the Youkai Association could both help and control them. Loup ran into several issues for the first few week after he started the process, on top of which the fact was the fact that he wanted to transfer mid-semester and leave classes halfway through, losing those credits.

After that, though, the principal seemed to have a change of heart. He urged Loup to put it off until the next round of tests was done, and he did so. In return, he would be allowed to simply move into the class's equivalent at the college he wished to transfer to as a special dispensation. He wasn't a straight A student, by any means. Mathematics in general did not stay in his head, and public speaking, for Loup, was right out, but he did very well in the classes which would help him in his chosen field, that of horticulture and forest-care.

Loup also ended his lease agreement on his apartment for the month and rented a truck to take all his stuff with him. Finding a place to store it in Kuoh was equally easy, though finding another apartment to live in was still an ongoing process. There weren't many actual apartment complexes in Kuoh, being more of a suburban district than anything else. Loup didn't have enough for a house and even paying the monthly lease on some of the apartments he had found for rent would be painful. Still, Loup felt that he would be able to crash with the Potters if need be.

He had just begun packing when he received a summons to Yasaka-sama's office which asked him to stop by at his earliest convenience. Most of the time when a ruler or leader said, 'at your earliest convenience', they meant right now. But with Yasaka it meant just that, and Loup knew it. So when he next felt he deserved a break, after lifting his reinforced sofa and bed one after another into the truck, Loup made his way into and through the forest to the kitsune's castle.

There he was ushered into some of the new construction had recently been finished. After the attack, Yasaka had decided to move her daughter's room down the hall to join her own and put in a receiving area/sitting room that would act as the entryway from their private quarters to the rest of the palace. Outside of it, two other kitsune sat lazily on wooden chairs to either side of the door. Loup, however, knew these two and knew not to take their lazy attitude as reality. They both nodded at him, and one of them gestured to the door. "You can go in now; Yasaka's free now."

Loup paused almost the moment he entered, blushing and looking away. Yasaka was actually not free, technically speaking. She was, in fact, doing some kind of exercise in front of the TV, stretching this way and that with her daughter beside her. She was also wearing exercise clothes which hugged her figure, hence why Loup had begun to blush. The top was a pink shirt, almost skin tight, which accentuated the fact that she was not wearing a bra underneath, and her yellow exercise shorts were very, very short and equally tight on her trim figure. Even though he had decided to put aside his puppy love for the Yasaka, the look still affected Loup, and his blush was enough to light up the room.

The two foxes had looked up as the door opened, and Yasaka giggled at Loup Garou's expression. "Sorry Loup-kun," she said, not at all apologetically. "I didn't expect you for another few hours."

Then she giggled wickedly, completely destroying the fake image of apology she had tried to so briefly maintain. "Honestly, Loup-kun, you're such a prude! That's always a problem with those of you raised among humans: you take their silly ways to heart." Patting her daughter on the head, she got the little girl to stop her own stretches and asked, "Sweetie, can you turn off the TV for a moment? I need to talk to Loup-kun."

The girl nodded, wiping away some sweat from her forehead and moving over to turn off the TV, waving her tail at Loup. "Hey, Loup."

Loup nodded, smiling at the little girl and knowing that she wouldn't take his silence for a lack of response. Loup was stoic in the extreme, but that didn't mean he couldn't communicate.

"I understand you're nearly ready to transfer to Kuoh?" Yasaka asked, pulling the werewolf's attention back to her. Given the fact that she was still wearing her exercise clothing, this wasn't exactly a good thing for Loup's blood pressure, but Yasaka didn't tease him further, simply looking at him calmly as she moved over to a desk set in one of the corners.

"Yes," Loup said simply. "Credits have transferred; I'm packing now. Planning to leave Sunday."

"You'll find that your apprentice contract with the Park Rangers has been fully paid out," Yasaka said, turning away to rifle through her desk. That this gave Loup a view of her derrière was not lost on her, and she heard his groan of frustrated hormones combating his prudishness with a giggle that she rapidly covered up. _All right, that's enough teasing the boy._

She turned back, holding out two folders. One of them was very thin but looked incredibly official. It was glossy black with the red and gold seal of the Youkai Association on its surface and closed with a long bead of wax marked with what looked like thumbprint marks. The other folder was filled with files of some kind.

"When you arrive there I assume you'll be getting in touch with Harry-han," she said without preamble, using the Kyoto dialect equivalent of the ending '-san.' Loup just nodded at that, and Yasaka went on. "This one," she said, holding up the stuffed folder, "is a report on several individual youkai who went missing before I began my sweep after the disaster a few weeks ago. I am forced to assume that they joined this Khaos Brigade. I also know for a fact, however that the chaos faction has its own separate sects now. Did you ever meet a monkey demon named Bikou?"

When Loup shook his head, she shrugged. "No real reason you should have. It was just a thought. He is a youkai from China who came around here last year and beat all of the Association's best fighters in one on one matches. He comes from the Mountain of Flowers and is a direct descendant of Sun Wukong. He also wields the Ryu Jingu Bang."

Loup's eyes widened at that, and she nodded grimly. "Yes, that makes him much more dangerous than he would otherwise be, both with the training and that staff. While, given Bikou's personality, humorous but straightforward, I have no fear that he will be going around kidnapping or taking prisoners or anything of that nature. But I spoke to Sun Wukong this morning, and he informed me that his descendant has apparently joined a faction of the Khaos Brigade."

Slowly, Loup nodded, taking the folder and quickly flipping through it. Each page held information on a single individual, none of whom registered as much of a threat taken alone, but together which could prove a danger. There were two male nekomata, one cow -man, or Minotaur, as he would be called in Europe, four Tengu of mixed gender, and, sadly, another werewolf. That one Loup had met, and he was tough, strong, and durable as all werewolves were, but he wasn't a trained fighter by any means. Loup could deal with him easily enough, so he figured that Harry or anyone that associated with him would be able to as well. Bikou, on the other hand, he was a threat all on his own, given his various abilities.

Putting that folder under his arm, Loup looked back up at Yasaka. "The other?"

"This," Yasaka began slowly, holding the file in front to one side of her face. "This is a sealed, binding contract of alliance between the houses of Sitri and Gremory of the Thirty-two Pillars and the Youkai Association in my name. You'll take it with you and, once they have signed it, the pact will disappear and return to me."

"After that my daughter will be transferring to Kuoh as well, the same school where young Lily-chan is going," she said, smiling over at Kunou, who was busy by the TV rewinding the video they had been exercising to. "They won't be in the same grade, I think, but I believe that with a friend already there and Harry-han nearby, she will be both safe and able to do something she hasn't been able to do here."

Loup eyes widened at that, and Kunou turned around to the adults with a massive grin on her childlike face. "Why?" the werewolf asked bluntly.

"Thanks to my position, Kunou-chan hasn't made as many friends among other children as I would like. Further, because of my own fears about precisely what nearly happened to her that day, her education has been somewhat lacking in comparison to a child who has gone through the human public school system. The way she clicked with Lily gave me a lot of hope, and I feel I can trust Lily-chan to be her friend and Harry-han, Gremory-han, and Sitri-han to look out for her if anyone figures out where I've sent her in the first place."

 _And this will give me the excuse to visit if I can ever find a way to mitigate the pain I feel from being away from Kyoto. It might even force Harry to come and visit me here, heheheh._ Yasaka was willing to put up with quite a bit in order to try to pursue Harry, but that pain was a bit too much. Combined with her duties in Kyoto she was rather stuck here, unfortunately.

Slowly, Loup nodded at that, looking down at the little girl who was actually wiggling in place, her tail wagging like a happy dog's and looking like she was going to transform into her fox form at any moment. "Will she be traveling with me?" he asked roughly.

"Now, Kunou-chan won't be doing that. I imagine they will be sending a portkey back after agreeing to the deal," Yasaka said, looking a little sick at the very idea. "The fact that they will be looking after my daughter is part of the agreement of alliance that I've written out."

At that Kunou's excitement died a violent death, and she whimpered, hugging her tail tightly as she looked up at her mother soulfully. "Why?!"

"I'm sorry, lovey, but you and Loup-kun on the road alone would make far too tempting a target if anyone learns that you're leaving. Since so many people were able to escape before I began my investigation, I can't rule out the idea that there are spies still among the Association, even possibly among the human population of the city. This way you can cover the distance between here and be there in single thought."

 _And you'll be safe at both ends,_ the worried mother thought. She felt this was a good move on many levels, but that didn't stop her from worrying.

The girl continued to pout, but Loup just nodded at that. "Is that all?"

Yasaka nodded. "I'll send a few men over to help you pack up if you want some help, otherwise, yes. Good luck, Loup-kun. I have a feeling that you're going to need it. Whatever is happening with this Khaos Brigade, Harry-han will be at the center of it, one way or another."

Loup had absolutely nothing to say at that. He was rather afraid he agreed with her.

 **OOOOOOO**

Over that weekend and all of the next week, school and 'normality' proceeded apace, as did various projects Harry and the others were working on. Harry began and finished upgrading the Potter home's wards and built and furnished the basement to his satisfaction. This last took him a while, considering all the other demands on his time, but he considered it time well spent.

He and Rias also took several hours a day to research Manannán Mac Lir. They found a few dozen books and ancient writings and researched a few powers that had little to do with traditional magic as either of their schools thought of it. Only a few had direct combat applications, but Rias was very grateful afterward that they were putting off the training session she had tried to set up between Harry, her peerage, and Sona's.

It also proved to be the first time that Harry instigated some flirtations with Rias and Akeno. When they were not in public, his inhibitions towards such went away. Rias and Akeno, in turn, found it was very different being on the other side of the teasing, not that he ever went beyond a light touch on their backs, running his fingers through their hair, or hugs and light kisses at any point on campus, even in the ORC clubhouse. But even so, it was enough to make them both blush and stammer, on the back foot for once.

During this time Rias and Akeno continued to teach themselves the magic of Harry's people. This involved some interesting discoveries, some of which had an immediate impact, like the featherweight charm. Others had more long term uses.

At one point Rias called up Harry, her voice a near squeal. "Flame freezing charm! You have a flame freezing charm?!"

Harry held the phone away from his ear, wincing a little. "Careful, Rias. You don't want to blow out my eardrums, do you? As to your question, yes, there is a flame freezing charm. It was used by a couple of crazy witches in America at one point during their Salem witch hunts to not only survive but to troll the poor nonmagicals of the time something fierce. I presume you think it might help you against a certain burnt chicken?"

"I certainly hope so!" she said fervently. "I'm going to have to test it, of course. That's not the kind of thing you want to use for the first time in battle. But if it can, that charm alone could be enough to turn the tide against Riser, especially added to all of the other tactics I've been working on."

Rias and Akeno had taken to talking about what they were learning from those books and were not exactly subtle about dropping hints about how amazingly versatile Harry's magic was in front of the other magic using devils on campus. By this point Sona was almost to the point of biting her nails in frustration. She had been trying to wrack her brain to come up with something she could use to pay for her own copies of those books, but since Rias had already shared books on the demonic version of magic—and she and Harry had had several discussions about the differences between the two schools—that avenue was right out.

But perhaps the most important thing that happened during those days did not start out that way. Rather, it began with a discussion about an entirely unrelated topic between Rias and Harry in the ORC clubroom, which had slowly become Harry's choice of hangout after school, where he could finish his paperwork before taking Lily home. That he could also flirt with Rias and Akeno while they were there to a certain extent was a definite bonus.

"By the way, you said you were keeping an eye on one of the perverts, Hyoudou. How exactly are you doing that and still spending so much time learning magic?" Harry asked.

"Oh that's easy, Harry," Rias said with a laugh. "None of us really wanted the job after the first few days, but that invisibility spell of yours as well as the sound deadening spell can work on familiars, not just people."

"You all have familiars?"

"Haven't I mentioned those before?" Rias mused, cocking her head thoughtfully and leaning back, smiling as Harry continued to work on her feet, his hands trailing up her legs boldly occasionally. Little moments like these were immensely meaningful for both of them. Nearby, Rias could hear Akeno puttering around, making tea for them all, while on the other sofa Lily and Koneko sat close to one another playing some kind of video game on a handheld device, their homework done for the evening. The only one missing was Kiba, who was out on one of his contracts. Rias idly wondered if she or Akeno could ask Harry for a back massage to round out the evening.

"I know what a familiar is," Harry corrected with a laugh. "I had one in the past, an owl named Hedwig. She was possibly the most intelligent owl that has ever lived."

"What happened to her?" Rias asked softly, having heard the pain in Harry's voice when he spoke that name. She sat up then so that she could hug Harry's side as Akeno came over, gently sitting beside him and taking his hand in her own.

"She died taking a spell for me during a fight with Riddle's supporters. I'm over it now, but it still hurts sometimes," Harry said putting his arms around the girls and hugging them both before looking at Rias. "You were saying?"

Rias in turn looked over at Akeno. "Akeno?"

Akeno stood up, moving backwards a little, and then gestured forward with both of her hands. Several of her little oni appeared around her, hopping to the floor and forming a line. "These are my familiars," Akeno said with a giggle, kneeling down beside the oni to pat each of them on the head as Lily eagerly hopped up off of the sofa to crouch down in front of them, staring at the little creatures avidly. "These little fellows are quite a bit more durable than any of our other familiars, though not quite as smart as Rias's bats. I have one of them stationed at Hyoudou-kun's home, and the other is hidden in his bag."

At that moment Issei was at home, his bag open and on his desk, but he was on his bed… busy...

Since Akeno had had the two of them holding hands at the time she put the spells on them, the two little oni could see one another. They were now looking at one another in shocked horror. "Desu." Translation: I want to die.

"Desu, desu…," said the second one. Translation: Some things cannot be unseen….

Back in the ORC clubroom, Harry nodded. "You know, that has a lot of interesting implications. But, after delving into your Devil style magic, comparing it to Onmyodo and that to the European style, one area of magic I've been thinking about most often is traps and enchantments…."

Both Rias and Akeno looked interested at that, and Harry went on. Soon enough all three were smiling evilly.

 **OOOOOOO**

Nor were the devils and Harry the only ones who were having an interesting time in those two weeks. A case in point occurred the next weekend. While Harry and Lily were working on turning his basement into an actual classroom and laboratory, and Akeno and Rias were attempting their first real spells in the European style, the Fallen were on the move, if in an unusual way.

Saji Genshirou stared down at his forearm which was currently covered in a weird looking bracer which went around his forearm and over the back of his hand. It looked almost like a lizard with violet eyes and a chibified face on the back of his hand with four wing-like protuberances to either side along his forearm.

But his eyes weren't actually seeing what was in front of them at the moment. "'I'm going to show you something you've never seen before,' she said. This was not what I thought Yuuma-chan had in mind."

Life had been going great for Saji for the past few weeks. Despite the fact that he had turned down his idol, Shitori Sona-sama, for a place on the Student Council, having a girlfriend had more than made up for needing to step back from that dream for a moment. Saji reasoned that he could use what he learned with Yuuma later on to get closer to Sona in the future. He had the time; he had the looks; he had the brains; he could do this! That and just having a girlfriend was freaking awesome!

They had been going out on dates practically every night, and Saji felt closer to Yuuma than he had ever felt to anyone else. So when she had said those words, Saji thought he was going to get lucky.

Instead of bringing her to her home, however, Yuuma had brought him to a rundown church on the edge of town and introduced him to several other people who, along with her, were apparently angels. That threw him, of course, and Saji would've run away gibbering if his girlfriend hadn't also revealed her own wings along with her fellows.

 ***Flashback***

Turning, Saji made to rush out the door, but Yuuma stood there, blocking his way. As he watched, a light enveloped her, and, when it faded, Yuuma had changed. Her black hair had grown longer, and she had gained at least a size in the chest area. Further, her clothing, which had been her normal school uniform, had shifted to something out of a wet-dream: a black string bikini with skintight boots rising to mid-thigh and equally tight gloves. All of it matched the color of her hair and wings perfectly and highlighted the pink of her skin amazingly well, which, coupled with how much skin was showing, had completely disarmed Saji.

"Saji-kun, stop! I know this is scary to you, but you have to listen to us," Yuuma said, looking desperate. "You see, we Fallen aren't the only supernatural entities in the area here. And I'm not the only one interested in you. But whereas my interest in you has changed, the Devils out there won't hesitate to rip from you what caught my eye about you in the first place: the fact you have something which is called a Sacred Gear…."

 ***End flashback***

After showing him how to access his Sacred Gear, Yuuma—or Raynare, which was her real name—had kissed him so hard he saw stars, dry humping him until he rather embarrassingly came in his pants. That she seemed to enjoy it too made up for that somewhat.

Still, now that his girlfriend was nowhere in sight, Saji was having trouble conceptualizing everything he had learned. Angels, devils, the fact that as a Sacred Gear user he would be forced to choose sides? All of this was new to Saji, so far out of his normal realm of understanding that he could barely understand it. _Still, Yuuma, or Raynare, at least gave me that pendant which will help me hide the fact that I've woken my Sacred Gear from the Devils, and I can train here, I suppose. The fact that she hinted that I might attract other girls if I get strong enough gives me a goal too!_

Saji looked up from where he had been staring unseeing at his gauntlet when the door to the room he had been given for meditation purposes opened. The woman called Kalawarner stood in the doorway, then moved into the room, the door closing behind her. "So, having a girlfriend's wonderful, isn't it? I have to wonder how far you've gone with my little Raynare, hmm?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, I, um…. We, um, we haven't done more than kissing," Saji stuttered, poking two fingers together, utterly surprised, first at her appearance and then at the sudden question. He then frowned in confusion as Kalawarner, instead of answering verbally, held up a small card.

Kalawarner moved forward towards him until she was certain he could read what was on it as she spoke. "That's probably true; she's always been a bit of a tease. What you probably should do is hold out on training yourself until she starts to give you a little, you know, a **little~** " she said, adding at teasing lilt to her voice. "Of course, you could do it the other way around—offer to work hard and do 'things' for her first. That would be the gentlemanly thing to do. Do you need any… research material in that area?"

Now blushing hotly, Saji tried to concentrate on what was written on the card rather than what Kalawarner was saying aloud. The card only had a single sentence on it: 'Keep your eyes open and don't trust everything Raynare says'. Looking up at the taller woman—Kalawarner was easily one of the two tallest women he'd ever seen, right up there with Gremory-sempai, who apparently was one of the devils in the area—he blinked in confusion. "Um, what?"

Instead of replying to what was really causing his confusion, Kalawarner rolled her eyes and stowed the card away somewhere on her person. "I said, do you want any research material, 'how to' books and other things of that nature? I have several you could use."

"I, I suppose that would be, um, helpful?" Saji squeaked, but he then tried to recover, smiling in what he thought was a suave manner. "But I've always been more of a hands-on learner."

"Down, boy," Kalawarner said sardonically, watching his eyes flit from her face down to her chest and stay there. "That's what you have Raynare for. Do some reading before you try to graduate to field work. And my eyes are up here, boy!" she finished tartly.

The boy blushed but was still able to meet her eyes, showing both arousal and confusion. That was good enough, Kalawarner decided. "Pervert," she muttered, turning away. "But then, I suppose that makes it all the easier to control you."

With that she left the room, leaving behind a very confused and very aroused Saji who was wondering just exactly what he had gotten into for the second time that evening.

 _What am I doing here?_ Kalawarner thought, shaking her head as she moved through the church, nodding at a few of the exorcists around them. Several groups of them had arrived in the city over the past few days: the least violent and most controllable groups first, followed by the more violent but also more skilled crazies.. _It was a good plan,_ though Kalawarner, still resenting the fact that they have to work with these castoffs.

She didn't really see them at the moment, though. Kalawarner was still confused about her motivations for this as well as her thoughts on Harry, though she had come to at least understand why his rejection had messed her up something fierce. _Still, am I doing this to repent, to get back into his good graces somehow, or just to give myself an out of a situation I can see spiraling rapidly out of control?_

She, Mittelt, and Raynare had all been in the town this last weekend and had felt the pressure of someone new and powerful in the area. It had been Kalawarner who wondered if it might have been Harry, somehow sensing some of his personality there. But since it had disappeared that same morning, Raynare had scorned her concerns, not even giving them the time of day. Kalawarner, though, was certain about what she sensed and was now willing to at least betray Raynare, Dohnaseek, and their exorcist 'allies' to save herself, if nothing else. She was still a little bemused about her feelings towards Harry and what she wanted beyond survival going forward.

Leaving the church, Kalawarner wandered the streets, not thinking about anything in particular, just wandering and letting her thoughts circle around Harry. Frankly, despite the fact she had been able to function the past few weeks, Kalawarner was still messed up inside. Feeling guilt for the first time in thousands of years would do that to someone. What to do about it and about her feelings towards Harry in particular still eluded her, however.

Not really looking where she was going, it wasn't entirely unsurprising that when Kalawarner turned a corner that she ran into someone. The surprise was that it was actually three people. Three boys, in this case, who all had their heads together as they rounded the corner, staring down at a simple brown paper bag. "I still say I should be the one to use it first. After being lectured by Potter-aho, I need it! I acck!" the middle one was saying as they all bumped right into her.

Kalawarner was a very tall woman and a Fallen Angel. That meant she was a good bit more solid than a normal woman. Further, two of the three boys were on the short side, and both of them bounced off, actually falling to their rears. The third, a slightly better built youth, attempted a dodge to one side at the last instant and got away with only stumbling slightly to the side. "Hey, watch where you're…. Hubba hubba!"

From the boys' perspective they had just been run over by someone who could have been a runway model, possibly from America or Europe, given her height. She stood taller than any of them by a goodly bit, with navy blue hair done in a long pony tail down her back, the front of it somewhat obscuring her forehead, and brown eyes in a somewhat haughty looking but still beautiful face. But, of course, for the three boys it was her figure that really stopped their breath: she had legs going on forever framed by the short purple skirt she was wearing, coupled with a purple trench -coat -like top. The top was only closed by two buttons, which revealed her flat stomach and a cavern that led to the delightful mountains that were her breasts.

Rolling her eyes at that boy's comment, Kalawarner glanced uncaringly at all three of them. "You idiots should watch where you're going."

Then, with a start, Kalawarner realized that one of them was the original target, Hyoudou. The others were his perverted friends, who Raynare had mentioned several times, though Kalawarner couldn't remember their names for the life of her. The one who had been in the middle was Hyoudou, and he was currently sitting on his rear and staring up at her in awe and lust. She could even hear him muttering, "Oppai, oppai, mighty oppai!" under his breath.

The other boy was now adjusting his glasses as he looked up at her from the side, muttering what sounded like her measurements under his breath. _I wonder how he does that? s_ he thought idly, noting the brown package which had fallen between them.

Reaching down, she quickly picked it up, flashing her cleavage at the still sitting twosome, before straightening and stepping forward, slamming a heeled foot between the glasses wearing one's legs. "I know I'm pretty, boy, but that doesn't mean I want you to share those numbers with everyone and their mother! And what's this?" she asked, holding up the bag.

"Hey, give that back!" Issei shouted, hopping to his feet and reaching for it. "Just because you've got wonderful oppai doesn't mean you can just steal from us!"

"Yeah, that's ours!" the tall one said, while the one in glasses rapidly scooted backwards from the woman whose foot had come within a centimeter of slamming a rather pointed heel down on his man parts.

Rolling her eyes, Kalawarner reached out and grabbed Hyoudou with a grip on his head, holding him still with minimal effort. Her other hand, still holding the package, smacked out and sent the taller one thumping into the wall of the building to one side. "Oh please, don't make yourselves look any more pathetic than you already have."

"Gah, she's so strong!" the tall one groaned, holding his shoulder which had slammed into the building. "Give it back, darn it!"

At the same time Issei tried to pry her hand off his head, only to fail, her grip like steel. "Darrggh! Is she some kind of robot sent from the future in disguise!?"

"Come and take it, brat," Kalawarner replied calmly, actually enjoying bullying the trio. It made for good therapy. "And as for you, crew-cut, are all boys your age this weak? And you, four-eyes, are you just going to sit there like a useless lump or are you going to actually do something?"

Scrambling to his feet, the glasses wearing one attempted to actually body tackle Kalawarner. Since this would have placed his head right in her chest, his reasoning for such a move was suspect, not that it worked. Kalawarner simply smacked him aside with the same arm that had sent his friend reeling. He bounced off her elbow to land in the street, but luckily there was no traffic at the moment, and the few other passerby merely smirked at the little street theater before hurrying along on their own affairs.

The taller boy attempted to grapple with Kalawarner from the side, but she simply stepped back and used Hyoudou as a shield, actually smacking him into the other boy and sending the taller one stumbling to his rear as Hyoudou became even more frantic to get free of her grip. A kick then flicked out, catching the one with glasses in his ankle and sending him face first onto the concrete.

"She's too strong!" groaned the taller boy, scrambling away as Kalawarner raised her leg. The fact that this gave him a panty shot was actually ignored in favor of noting how her heel looked as pointed as a stiletto, and she was eyeing him like a bug she wanted to crush. Unlike his friend Issei, that look did nothing but fill him with dread. "Flee, my compatriots!"

The one in glasses moaned, but another kick to his rear as he lay on the ground sent him ass over kettle, and he groaned, stumbling to his feet and racing away. "Retreat and fight another day! No one treasure is worth this!"

Still stuck in Kalawarner's grip, Hyoudou bellowed, "Hey, don't just leave me like this, you bastards!"

"Every man for himself!" shouted the tall one. "Your sacrifice will be remembered!"

"And remember, you have redeeming qualities, Issei!" the other one shouted as he too raced off.

"Screw you guys!" Issei shouted.

"That's it?" Kalawarner asked, releasing Hyoudou. "How boring."

Growling, Issei got to his feet and faced her. "Give that back! We bought it fair and square! Even if you've got a magnificent set of oppai, that doesn't entitle you to just steal a man's treasure like that!"

"What, you aren't going to try and take it? At least you're somewhat more intelligent than your two friends," Kalawarner taunted. She opened the package, pulling out a porn magazine of some kind. _Of course._ She looked over it at Issei drolly. "Really?"

"Don't judge me! A man has needs, and one of those is oppai!" Issei said, attempting to sound virtuous. "Now give it back!"

Rolling her eyes, Kalawarner reached out and slapped him upside the head with the magazine so hard he nearly fell to his knees despite the fact that it looked as if she'd just given him a dope slap. Staring down at the boy, she shook her head. "Don't beg, please, not about porn. That's just beyond sad."

"Who asked you, lady!?" Issei said, grumbling as he pushed himself upright once more before staring at her glumly, his eyes tracking between her face and her chest, before he shook himself and closed his eyes, actually placing his hands behind him like a man facing the gallows. "Well, get it over with. I suppose I can take my beating like a man, unlike those two!"

"That would be admirable if your beating were for literally anything else in God's creation," Kalawarner said with a bark of laughter, though she was looking at him thoughtfully for a moment. _There could be something underneath the exterior…. Very,_ _ **very**_ _deep,_ she though with amusement.

But frankly, Kalawarner wasn't in the mood to go searching for it. She wasn't even in the mood to beat him up anymore. _You know,_ she thought suddenly, _there's no one I can really ask for advice on this issue, not and get some actual advice instead of sarcasm, taunting, or contempt. But he is a boy. He could give me at least a little insight on how Potter might think, right? God, I'm desperate, aren't I?_

Even though she thought that, Kalawarner decided to go along with the idea of asking Issei for some advice. It probably wouldn't give her anything, but even asking might make her feel better. "I'll let you go. I won't give this back to you, but I'll let you go without a beating if you answer a question for me."

Issei opened his eyes, looking at her suspiciously. "What?"

"If a woman, a woman who was giving you mixed signals, say, did something or tried to do something you really didn't like—made a mistake—what would you, that is…," Kalawarner stuttered. _Dammit, this is harder than I thought. I'm a millennia old Fallen Angel who fell due to the sin of lust, and I can't get out the words to ask for advice on a relationship?! Ugh, how pathetic is this?_

Intellectually, Kalawarner knew why that was. Angels were not supposed to be as emotional as humans, and, of course, there was nothing in their society that had anything like the casual relationships humans formed between them. Further, as a Fallen, Kalawarner had been twisted by the sin she had fallen for. Emotions were only peripherally connected to lust, and she had spent millennia not allowing them to affect her work, pushing them further away and falling deeper into her sin. While she was now trying to fight her way out, to change her ways, she didn't have any of the personal experience with real relationships humans had.

Despite that, she still went on, finishing her question _._ "From a guy's perspective, how should she try to make that kind of mistake go away?"

"…We're not talking about trying to poke holes where they shouldn't, are we? Or poke fingers where they shouldn't go?" Issei asked worriedly, backing away and actually holding his rear for a moment. "No guy is really into that unless they're gay!"

"Nothing like that, you idiot!" Kalawarner shouted before groaning just as loud. "You know what, nevermind! Just get out of here."

"Wait," Issei said suddenly, looking at her now more seriously. It actually made him look a little better than he had, which was somewhat surprising. "You're serious, right? You're talking about doing something that messed up a relationship or something?"

"Yes, dammit!" Kalawarner barked back, causing him to twitch and actually cower a little. "Just forget I said anything," she muttered, turning away. "Go on, get out of here."

"You, you can't," Issei said, causing Kalawarner to turn back to him from where she had been about to storm off. "You can't make it go away if you make a mistake like that. But you can, you can apologize. Talk to your boyfriend, the lucky bastard!" Issei growled, his hands actually clenching and unclenching at his side as he looked at her. "You can try to see what he thinks; ask him what he wants you to do to apologize. But don't think they'll forget. Just apologize as honestly as possible. That's all you can do."

Kalawarner blinked, then blinked again, her face taking on a wondering, almost astonished look. "That, that actually makes sense! Where the hell did that come from, pervert?" she asked wonderingly.

"Are you kidding me!?" Issei said, looking at her incredulously. "Whatever you did, it can't be that bad. Any guy would cut off his left arm to be with a girl that's as good looking as you."

Rolling her eyes at that, Kalawarner waved him off, actually tossing the package to him. "That'll do, boy. Quit while you're ahead. Get out of here. Though why you lot would buy magazines when you have the Internet, I don't know."

"The Internet is amazing, it's true, a glorious treasure trove of oppai," Issei replied seriously, nodding his head like an art connoisseur agreeing with a point someone else had made about a famous painting. "But there's something about holding the magazine in your hand that makes the fantasies better. Plus, magazines can be used in bed."

"Too much information. Seriously, learn how to put a lid on that, brat," Kalawarner replied dully, all her earlier amused surprise at how his advice had actually made sense disappearing. "Now get out of here before I decide to give you that beating you wanted."

Watching Issei run off after his friends, Kalawarner sighed. _Well, now I know what to do. I just need to build up the courage to try._

 **OOOOOOO**

Lily scowled as she stretched in her chair before pushing to her feet grimacing. She felt her muscles and bones twitching when they shouldn't be and she fought to keep in a growl as the school rang signaling the end of the day. _It's about time darn it! Thank goodness we don't have school tomorrow; I'd be really annoyed with another day like this._

Scowling further, but this time at herself, Lily shook her head, sending her wild red hair flying. _No, stop that, Lily. Yes, school's boring, especially those darn writing lessons! But that's not the main reason you're irritable these days. Remember what Daddy said: don't let the inner wolfie out until you can put it on a leash._

It was a full moon tonight, and, like her father, Lily had to deal with more werewolf issues around the full moon. This wasn't unusual, though the severity of their issues was. All normal werewolves were forced to change at the full moon. Harry and Lily weren't forced to change, and, indeed, these days Harry barely felt it, which, given the revelations about his blood he had come to a few weeks ago and his Occlumency, made some sense.

Lily, on the other hand, became somewhat irritable, her body twitching, itching under the skin and not quite under her control any longer. It hadn't been so bad at first, since she had learned why she felt like that, but every month the twitching and moodiness got a little worse. Despite that, she was unwilling to tell her dad about her problems, believing it was simply part of her heritage and not wanting to burden him any further.

This was especially true since Lily secretly wondered at times how many of the problems between her daddy and mother were because of her. She had often overheard people when they went around with other magical people that thought she was a freak, and, of course, the few other magical children she played with just repeated that, only louder. Now, knowing she wasn't even a werewolf, that they had been right to call her a freak, made it even worse.

When Lily was thinking straight she didn't care about what other people said. She couldn't even care less about being a werewolf or how it was supposedly a curse. She liked it. She liked the fact that she was quicker, faster, stronger than other kids her age, and that she shared it with her daddy. But that was awful hard to keep in her head at this time of the month.

 _Come on, Lily! It's just a—what did Auntie Luna call it once?—a secondary monthly monster? And I have to deal with that_. She didn't understand the second part of that phrase or why her daddy had groaned so loudly when he heard that before proceeding to bang his head on the table. At the time it had just been funny, but it was definitely a monster to deal with these days.

As she nearly stumbled when she picked up her shoes, Lily pouted, reaching for them again. _…Grr. Maybe I should tell dad about it,_ she thought. _I know he had to deal with some of the same things, at least at first. Maybe it won't be that big a deal?_

Lily paused at that as she pulled her shoes on, then shook her head. _No, he'd want me to stay home and spend time with him while we deal with it, and tonight's our victory sleepover. No way will I want to miss that._ "And besides, he's got enough to deal with," she said virtuously to herself.

With that Lily headed over to her friends, smiling and exchanging high fives at how their project had been received that morning before leaving the school to meet up with the host girl's parents. Harry had known about this for a while and had already gone over to their house to cover it with a variety of protective spells.

Thus Harry wasn't there to pick her up, and Lily left school with a few of her other friends and their parents. They were going to pick up some party food before heading over to the host house for some games and then out to dinner and a movie. It was the newest One Piece movie, and she was eager to see how Luffy and his crew would make fools of themselves once more before saving the day.

So happy was Lily, talking to her friends, that she didn't notice a few people near the school had paused as they walked along the road to watch them, fading almost into the background as they did. Both men wore long trench-coats over white pants and shirts which had a slightly clerical look to them. One was young with a slightly pointed chin, odd red eyes, and black hair, which looked wet and almost slick, like it had been recently dyed. The other was shorter and a little older looking, with a close-cropped beard and deep brown eyes.

"She's young, but you can feel the taint from here! A freaking werewolf; touched by Satan they are! And there she is, just walking around like any other normal girl. And it's full moon tonight, which means those other girls are in danger of being turned! In the name of God, we should save them," the younger man said to the other before smirking and licking his lips, a gleam of madness entering his eyes. "By hunting down that little bitch and skinning her for a rug!"

"You know what the Fallen have said. We can't act out until they say so," the other man replied. "Even with as blatant a threat to normal people as that little bitch of a werewolf is."

"Fallen!" the other man spat, shaking his head and turning away. "So certain in their own strength over us they give us orders like that, but also too wimpy to actually do anything! I say it's time we start cleaning up this town from the demonic filth in it, and I think I'll start with her."

"Just be careful you don't get caught," said the other man mildly. "Otherwise, go for it."

 **OOOOOOO**

With Lily out with their sleepover and having already covered that house with protective spells, Harry spent some time getting ahead with his paperwork before picking Akeno up at the house most of Rias's peerage shared, though few knew that. He was answered at the door by Kiba, who smiled in welcome at the older man who had become one of his closest friends in the past few months.

"I am wondering if I should be taking notes every time you show up at the door," Kiba asked half-jokingly as Harry waited by the door for Akeno to come down. "Just the other day Tsubaki-san and I were wondering about going to a karaoke bar ourselves."

"I'll be sure to write up a review for you," Harry replied with a chuckle, looking at Kiba closely. "And how's that working out for you?"

"Very well," Kiba replied honestly with a smile of pure contentment. "You've noticed, I'm sure, that my fan club has shrunk dramatically?" Harry nodded, and Kiba went on. "What you might not know is that Tsubaki-san had something of a following too made of both boys and girls, and they also have backed off. Not all of them are happy about our being together. I've gotten numerous death threats, in fact, in the form of letters left in my shoe locker. But despite that our lives are much simpler now without so much attention on either one of us."

"And that's the most romantic thing you can think of?" Rias asked, coming up behind Kiba and gently smacking the back of his head. "That being together makes your lives easier?"

"No, but then, I don't have to tell you about all of the good things that come with having a significant other, now, do I, Buchou?" Kiba asked, looking back at her.

"Don't rub it in," Rias growled.

Having to hide their relationship over the past few weeks had not been fun for her. Akeno seemed to get a kick out of it, and Harry couldn't honestly complain, given the fact they could still flirt, if lightly, in the ORC clubroom. But he had to agree with Rias that the fact that they couldn't be open about their relationship was a bit of an irritation. "Still," he said philosophically, "If our relationship lasts long enough we won't have to worry about that in the long term."

Most girls her age might have been worried about the way Harry said that in a variety of ways. But Rias simply nodded. Despite her physical attraction to Harry she wouldn't have entered into a relationship with him if she didn't think they would be able to make it work for the long haul. "You better believe it!"

Akeno's voice sounded out from behind her two friends. "Ara. As amusing as this conversation could become, I think I would like to cut it short and get on with our date. What do you say, Potter -sensei, or rather, Harry-kun?"

Still smiling, Rias moved to one side, letting Akeno walk forward past her and Kiba, who moved to the other side of the doorway. Rather than wearing her normal school uniform, Akeno was wearing a pair of jeans which looked as if they had been grafted onto her legs and a loose, black colored blouse with long sleeves. Despite being loose, however, it still accented the curve of her chest, given the amount of cleavage it showed, the top two buttons undone. Her ponytail was still in place, yet this new ensemble seemed to give it a bit more impact in an odd sort of way.

"You look amazing, Akeno," Harry said honestly. "Though a little more down to earth than I expected. You normally give off a very high class air, so this is rather surprising."

"Karaoke isn't the kind of thing you want to get dressed up for. If you're doing it right, you can get quite a bit of exercise~. As for me, I'm just a bundle of contradictions," Akeno teased, smiling at Harry and looking him up and down. "You look good too. Though not as animalistic as I had hoped. Isn't tonight a full moon?"

"It is, but thanks to my unique heritage and my Occlumency, I don't have much of a problem with the full moon unless it's a full moon coinciding with Halloween for some reason. Before our discussion I had simply assumed that it was because I had learned Occlumency prior to my being bitten, but since then, I suppose it's more because my nature is pulled towards the sun as much as the moon. For now, though, let's set aside these serious thoughts and have some fun tonight," Harry replied with a smirk.

Harry too was wearing jeans—though his obviously were not nearly as formfitting—along with a white T-shirt with a black sleeveless vest over it. It made him look a little younger than he actually was until you saw the smirk he was wearing as he looked back at Akeno. That smirk set her pulse to racing, and, when he held out his hand after he finished speaking, she took it, actually feeling her hand tremble slightly in his.

Watching from the side, Rias felt that familiar pang of jealousy, but then Harry looked at her and smiled. "You know, after this I'll have to take you both out on a date at the same time. Just to see if this whole multi-relationship thing works out."

"Why don't you like to use 'harem?'" Akeno asked curiously, cocking her head even as she stepped forward to Harry's side and turned slightly to look at both him and her friends. "It would certainly be less of a mouthful."

"Because at least emotionally, I prefer that we are all equals. I don't want a relationship where all the women concentrate solely on me. We all have to care for one another equally," Harry said simply.

Both Akeno and Rias smiled at that, while Harry looked around in puzzlement. "Where's Koneko?"

"She's out on a few of her contracts this evening. She'll be back, though. She and I have plans to have a nice night in. Kiba, on the other hand, has about forty minutes to get ready for his own date…," Rias said, trailing of as she looked at her Knight with one eyebrow raised. "Unless you want to make Tsubaki-san wait, of course?"

"Actually, she has already read me into the wards around her and Sona-sama's home, so I will only require twenty minutes to get ready," Kiba replied simply, but he still moved back into the house. Unlike Rias's smaller peerage, most of Sona's peerage still lived with their own families. "Have fun, you two."

"What he said," Rias said with a smile, pulling her friend into a hug and whispering into her ear fiercely. "And don't do anything on a first date you'll regret later."

"In other words, don't do anything you haven't already?" Akeno whispered, unwilling to back down.

Rias pulled her tighter, their breasts squishing together, but still forced out a laughed as she moved back.

Again, however, Harry seemed to understand what he had to do to keep the peace. He moved forward, putting his arms around her in turn and kissing her lightly on the lips before pulling away with a faint, dare she say, loving, smile on his face. "We'll see you later, Rias."

Rias smiled back, and then watched as the two of them walked off. _One way or another, whatever happens we'll get through this, we'll get through this together._

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time that Harry and Akeno were starting their date, a newcomer to the area was arriving. Asia Argento was her name. She was a short, blonde haired young girl with a trim figure, around fifteen years of age, though the innocent look in her light green eyes as she stepped off the train made her look younger. She was currently wearing a cloak over a nun's habit, tied at her waist with a simple rope braid. Her long blonde hair was set free down her back, but on top of her head she was wearing what looked like a wimple. Around her neck she wore a small cross, which she touched lightly as she looked around her.

Staring at the girl thoughtfully, Kalawarner felt a myriad of confusing emotions. First was something like envious hate; how long had it been since she was that innocent? A part of Kalawarner wanted to ruin that innocence, to drown it in sin or pain. The second was confusion, wondering how a girl who had been kicked out of the Church could still believe in God as this one seemed to, given her hand on the cross. _How, by Lucifer's light, did the Church ever think this little girl should be kicked out of the Church for just one mistake? Oh well. Their loss is our gain. And her presence might be useful for my own plans too._

"Asia Argento?" she asked, stepping forward from the pillar she had been leaning against and sending a glare at two men who had been about to approach the young blonde. The sight of the tall woman and her glare sent them scurrying backward, and she looked quickly back to the girl. "I'm Kalawarner. I was sent to escort you."

"Oh, thank you! Um, yes, I'm Asia, or, darn it, that should be Argento, shouldn't it?" Asia replied, her Japanese coming out with a marked accent and with some hesitation.

"Speak Italian if you want to, Asia. I can speak that language well enough too. But in the future, yes, it would be Argento Asia-san to any native Japanese," Kalawarner said, not unkindly, even if she had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. _Good grief, she's practically leaking cuteness out of her pores._ "You would address superiors with '-sama,' strangers or equals with '-san,' younger children or a loved one with '-chan,' or '-kun.' Close friends and loved ones would also just use your first name without an addition or with the '-chan.'"

"Oh, praise the Lord. I might have learned Japanese, but the sentence structure and how to address people is so confusing," Asia replied in kind, smiling happily and with a demeanor so friendly that even Kalawarner, jaundiced though she was, could but smile back. "Thank you for picking me up, Kalawarner. I was also worried about finding my way to the church by myself. I'm afraid my sense of direction is not the best."

"Well then, we should get going," Kalawarner replied, and without another word she turned away, causing Asia to have to hurry to catch up.

They exited the train station, and Asia looked around avidly, her eyes gleaming with interest. "Outside of Rome I've never been in a city before," she confided to Kalawarner. "It all looks so amazing! Um, can, can we look around for a bit before going to the church? Unless you have work for me, of course!" she added hastily. "The Lord's work always comes first!"

"No, we don't have anything for you to do just yet. If you want we can take our time going to the church," Kalawarner said with a sigh. "But if we are going to do that, I think you need to practice your Japanese at the same time." _Why me?_

As she watched the girl flit from one store to the next, Kalawarner shook her head. _She's so, so innocent._ The little girl was staring at everything avidly and smiling brightly at everyone who met her eyes. The fact that most of them smiled back, somewhat hesitantly in a few cases, seemed to buoy her along.

 _And she believes that we are still following God, too. She's not like the rest of us, who have given up on His ways or turned our backs on Him._ Even stranger from Kalawarner's point of view was that Asia seemed interested in her too. She continually asked questions both personal and about Japan and other places Kalawarner had seen, but never seemed to take Kalawarner's brusque answers to the personal questions to heart. In fact, Kalawarner found she actually began to like the young girl against her better judgment.

That bothered Kalawarner. She could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people she had worked with that she liked enough to get along with. The fact that Asia treated her like this threw Kalawarner off her stride. A part of her still wanted to tear away Asia's innocence, but that part diminished as their walk continued, slowly subsumed by the growing part of her that wanted to change her ways.

Eventually, however, the sun started to go down, and Kalawarner sighed. "Asia-chan, it's time to return to the church. Come on."

Sighing with resignation, Asia pulled herself away from where she had been staring into a pet store. "All right, Kalawarner-san. But if we have nothing planned this evening besides evening prayer, do you think I can go out a little later?"

"Maybe, but I have another job I need to be doing this evening," Kalawarner said with a sigh, now wanting to get away from the girl. The way she was starting to get under Kalawarner's skin, to make her like the youngster, bothered her a lot. _I do not need any more complications right now, Lucifer curse it!_

Her job that evening dealt with training Saji with his Sacred Gear as Raynare kept an eye on a few of the local devils who were running a study group that evening for a test on Monday. Raynare was confident enough with her disguise to do so, though the decision to try had been a tough one to reach. But, given the fact that they would begin moving within the week, they needed to know as much about how the devils themselves moved as possible.

"And I, for one, am getting kind of hungry. Have you ever had real Japanese food, not the American and European version?" Kalawarner asked.

"No, what's the difference?" Asia asked, cocking her head to one side.

"A lot less meat and a lot more rice, basically. Just stay away from the sushi for now until you have one of the others around that can point out which ones are good to eat. I do not cook with raw goods," she said firmly.

Dinner went remarkably well, with only a few of the exorcists around, none of whom were the kind to make things difficult or, in Kalawarner's opinion, simply creep Asia out. If they could keep Asia away from the exorcists entirely, especially that Freed fellow, she would be very, very happy. There was just something about Asia's innocence which made her want to protect the young girl for some reason. She knew what was planned for Asia, of course, but hadn't been bothered by that before. Now, however, already dealing with feelings of guilt and self-loathing, Kalawarner was wondering if her plans for Saji could also be extended to help this innocent.

"I'm sorry that the exterior looks so dilapidated. We don't really have the funds to repair both the interior and the exterior," Kalawarner said as they cleaned up. The kitchen refectory and back rooms had all been renovated by the Fallen themselves after they had moved in. Most Fallen had some skill in creating hiding places or doing carpentry and so on. But the exterior still looked as if it the entire church was abandoned.

"Oh, no. Please, don't worry about it," Asia said cheerfully. "The trappings of the exterior don't really matter in comparison to the reality."

"Wise words," Kalawarner said with a chuckle. "Let me show you the library for now. You can spend a few hours reading before your evening prayers. But then I really have to go."

Once Asia was safely ensconced in the library, she nodded to Dohnaseek and a few other of the more sane-seeming exorcists who they had eaten with. "I'm off."

"And when will you return?" Dohnaseek asked.

She shrugged. "Say, around ten, eleven, maybe? Raynare asked me to push Saji's training hard, so that's what I'm going to do."

"Why she chose you for that job, I don't understand," Dohnaseek grumbled. "Surely, as the most experienced of us all in actual combat, that job should be going to me."

"You couldn't motivate him as much as I can," Kalawarner said, pulling lightly at the front of her shirt to show him what kind of motivation she was using.

That she was waiting for Saji to react to the hint she dropped him a few days ago was something she left unsaid, of course. She was actually starting to wonder how long it would take the pretty boy to work up the courage or maybe even the curiosity to do so, or if he was just too busy staring at her tits to remember what she had said at the time. _I thought the cue card was an interesting little trick, but it might have backfired. Still, maybe with Asia around I have another way to show my penitence._

With that final thought, Kalawarner left the church for the rest of the night. She should really have wondered if Dohnaseek, or even Mittelt, who was currently sleeping off an all-nighter, could really be trusted to watch over a young, blond girl who didn't even realize what they all were.

 **OOOOOOO**

Lily and her friends exited the movie theater, giggling and exchanging shouted attacks from the movie they just seen. Even the chaperons were chuckling. _One Piece was always good for a laugh,_ Lily thought to herself, then blinked as a few of the kids stared up at the sky. She resolutely did not follow their gaze. She knew what was up there. Lily felt its impact even now, but her current good mood was making it easier to ignore the twitching and 'itching under the skin' feeling as well as how the blasted circle in the sky messed with her emotions.

The two boys in the group started making howling noise at the moon, and Lily rolled her eyes, unseen by any of her friends.

 _It's not nearly as fun when the moon has so much control over you,_ she thought, trying to ignore the pressure, all the itching and other feelings she'd felt building up further in her body as the moon's rays actually beat down on her. It was always like this in the full moon, but Harry had taught her some breathing exercises to force down the instincts to subside. He warned her that, as she grew, the instincts would become more and more persistent, or at least he assumed so after asking some men and women who had been turned when they were young, like Remus.

But so long as Lily concentrated, she could ignore it. _Ergh, but maybe I should really have told daddy how much this is getting to me. He told me he wanted to wait until I was older so I could create my mental landscape without doing my learning harm, but still, maybe he could have helped me. Darn it, I didn't want to bother him with this. I'm a big girl; I should be able to handle this._

Harry had explained the why of that to her as well—that his Legilimency had helped him absorb his werewolf side. Of course, he'd also been helped along in that by how odd his body already was by that point, but his lessons on that still helped other, normal werewolves like Loup. And since most of those same 'additions' had been passed on to Lily, she knew she'd be able to do the same thing.

But learning Legilimency was dangerous for unformed minds. It could have a sharp impact on how flexible Lily's mind could be, could inhibit different aspects of her mental processes, and could even mess up her emotions in the long term in favor of being able to learn more facts and more control. You had to be at least seventeen or older before you could safely start using the mental arts.

So busy was she at keeping herself under control that Lily never noticed that she had fallen behind the rest of her friends as they turned onto the near empty street where the hosts' house was, a suburban cul-de-sac with over a dozen small, neat houses on it. All of them, even her first and pretty much best friend, Tamiko, hadn't noticed either. The group of five were joking and laughing with each other or simply making fun of the two boys who had been howling at the moon earlier. The absence of Lily would have seemed unusual to them all, especially the host parents, but they were not in their right mind.

Because of the distance which had built up between her and her friends, however, Lily was able to hear the faint 'chuff' of something behind her, something going very fast. Before Lily could really understand, her instincts took over, and she dodged to the side as something really fast smacked into the ground in front of her, and Lily gasped, now recognizing what it had to be. _A dart of some kind?_

She looked around, then dodged again as there was another sound from behind her, and another dart flew by where she had been standing. A man leaped over the fence in front of a house nearby, smirking evilly down her as he raised a knife. He was a little older looking than her father, with red eyes and a spare frame and wearing something that looked like it belonged on a church person of some kind. "Hello, shitty werewolf! Praise the Lord, your sinful life will end tonight on the edge of my holy blade!"

The fact that the blade gleamed silver in the moonlight meant that the man could very well make good his boast. While Lily knew intellectually that she might have some of the same healing ability her father did, the only time that had been tested was the time she'd fallen from a tree and her broken arm had healed before her mother could finish rushing to her from where she had just shouted at her to get out of the tree in question. Even if she was in her right mind, she didn't want to test that healing ability against silver if she could help it.

Desperately, Lily leaped backwards, for once using all of the speed and agility at her command, wondering desperately where her friends had gone as she shouted, "HELP! Help! Lolicon rapist!" She honestly only understood the last term a bit, but she understood the first term pretty well by this point and also knew that combining the two and shouting it at the top of her lungs should bring a lot of people either running or shouting for the police themselves as they took out their phones to record whatever was going on. The Japanese were weird like that.

This time, however, all her shouting brought was laughter from the young man in front of her. "Hahahah! Yeah, yeah, I'm bad, baby! I might kill you and rape your corpse, but I'm also smart about how I go about doing the Lord's work, even if it's work the Church would never condone, as shitty as it is! It would not serve our ends for people to realize redemption is at hand, so we used our holy crosses on everyone in the area. No one here's going to hear your little cries until my holy work is done!"

The exorcist would have tried to throw up a bounded field around them, as devils and Fallen routinely did if they had to get into a fight in public, but none of them knew how, since that spell was rather more energy intensive than most humans could use, like many in the Factions' shared arsenal. The most the exorcists could do, even those like Freed who, while insane were also extremely skilled, was use magical items to influence people's minds.

With the number of magical spells protecting the house where Lily was staying that evening, Freed and the group of four like-minded individuals Freed had gathered for this task had staked out the neighborhood it was in. That was the closest any of them were willing to get to the house, given the defensive spells set about it, which they could barely discern thanks to their training. From there they followed the group of children to the restaurant and the movie theater, carefully marking the group's route and then began to influence people's minds around the area to keep them away while they were in the theater.

By the time the youngsters were heading home, everyone in the area had either left or was inside, deaf and dumb. Worse for Lily, the fact that they had used magical items had neatly bypassed the limited observation bubble the devils kept on the Kuoh area, a fact that would no doubt piss both heiresses off the moment they heard of it.

Right now, however, that didn't matter, because Lily Luna Potter, all of seven years old, if a rather precocious seven years old, now found herself fighting for her life. Whimpering, Lily dodged again around the knife, her mind almost blank for once as she began to panic entirely. She was panicking so much that she forgot entirely about the portkey necklace she wore, although it was debatable whether she would've remembered it in any event, giving the effect of the full moon, whose impact on the fight was almost immediate.

So busy was she dodging that Lily's self-control over her werewolf side slipped. Between one dodge and the next the full moon above her started to work its magic, and Lily, for the first time in her life, began to change, shredding her clothing.

Adult werewolves under the control of the curse would become monsters that would strike out at anyone. This was not up for debate; it was simple known fact, the outlier that was Harry Potter notwithstanding. If they changed on the full moon unconsciously, no werewolf would be able to control themselves from lashing out at any human being nearby. Animals would be safe, hence why the other marauders had become animagi to be with their friend.

This was rather simple to understand. When placed in unknown situations or around strangers whose smells were alien or dangerous to them, animals, especially predators, would lash out. It was simply the fight or flight reflex.

Young children, on the other hand, did not fall on the fight side of that equation. When faced with unusual smells or actual danger, children would run. That was what Lily did now. She ran. She ran as fast as she could.

Leaping from a standing start, she passed over a fence and turned, running. Behind her she could hear other sounds like those first darts and dodged this way and that, leaping over a tiny wading pool. The sides of the pool popped as the darts struck it, but she carried on, leaping over an iron fence.

Behind her Freed howled in humor as he raced after her, only to scowl as Lily's speed started to leave him behind. "That little bitch is fast! But keep after her anyway! She must die in the name of the Lord!"

"And stop using your dart guns," said another voice over the earbud Freed had in one ear, this one almost as bloodthirsty but a little more controlled. "She's running into the rest of the town. We'll have to be wary of being noticed by civilians. And remember how many damned, curséd devils there are here."

Freed scowled but nodded, putting away his dart gun and leaping up to land on a rooftop nearby to stare at the small figure racing down the road away from them. Three other exorcists had attempted to cut off Lily's escape, but she had raced to quickly for the first one, dodged the other, and then actually slipped between the third's legs as he went for an overhead blow with his sword.

That sight actually made Freed laugh. "Hah, that'll fucking teach you, Jario!" he chortled, shaking his head he spoke into the microphone embedded in his mock-cassock. "Hey, I don't suppose anyone knows where we could get our hands on some shitty pest control uniforms?"

"No, you fucking necrophiliac, we don't. In case your memory's crapped out on you like your pecker, I should remind you we arrived with you just this morning," said a third voice, sounding a little winded but just as manic as Freed. "Why?"

"Fuck you," Freed said almost conversationally. "As to the reason why I wondered about the outfits, the little bitch just went full wolf. She's a little running puppy now, and I bet, given her age, she's got no more control than any puppy."

Elsewhere the last of the exorcists had raced after Lily without taking any time to curse or taunt her or even banter with his fellow crazies. Instead he just wanted the kill, to see the little inhuman bitch's blood on his blade. He raced after her, leaving behind the small street, out into the rest of the city, twisting around a few passersby and ignoring their shouts of irritation as he plunged through them, most of them assuming he was after the puppy that had slipped around their legs.

A second later the man raced into an alleyway. At the end of it the puppy had started to push itself through a hole in a tall, wooden wall separating this side of the alleyway from the other. But it looked to have gotten stuck. Cackling to himself, the exorcist marched forward, pulling his dagger out. A normal exorcist's sword blade was made of Light magic, the same kind Fallen and Angels could make use of. But these exorcists had been warned to buy silver blades for this operation by Dohnaseek, who was worried about Potter. Using them against his daughter just made sense.

"Nowhere to run, little bitch. Now it's time to die. Don't worry, though; I'll make it slow," the exorcist said, slashing down.

But puppy-Lily had dug the hole around her body large enough to just barely squeeze through the hole. The silver dagger came down, cutting into her side, and instantly the paralyzing pain made her howl in pain. But the fear of it also gave her enough strength to push through the hole and away. She also left behind the necklace, which had been snagged by a bit of the wooden railing where it stuck into the small hole she had crawled through.

Cursing angrily, the exorcist stood back and began to gather himself to leap over the wooden wall. But then a hand descended on his shoulder. "What the fuck, man! You just barge past us without an apology? I don't know where you come from, gaijin, but around here that don't fly!"

Snarling, the exorcist turned, and a punch flashed out, catching the other man—a tall, muscular young man with tattoos—in the jaw, sending him stumbling backward. "I don't have time to deal with you, heathen!"

With that the exorcist turned and leaped over the wooden wall after Lily. But she was already gone. The only thing left was a blood trail leading out towards the busier road at the other end of the alleyway. "FUCK!" So busy was the man cursing, he didn't even notice the small necklace left behind in the hole, instead racing after the trail of blood.

 **OOOOOOO**

The karaoke bar was a small, one-story building with several partitioned rooms set off a long hallway. At the end of the hallway was a fully stocked bar and restaurant, which catered to each room in turn if the users called in on a phone set into the walls inside. The interior of each of those squares was the same: a large TV screen set on one wall and two sofas facing inwards from the side walls at a table set with glasses of cheap tea. Besides the tea was a large binder full of songs programmed into the karaoke machine, two microphones, and a restaurant menu.

It was interesting, and Harry asked, "This looks like a fun place. Do they give family discounts?"

"It depends on the time of day," Akeno answered, inputting a few commands into the karaoke machine set to one side. "You rent by the hour multiplied by the individuals. But coming during the day is much cheaper than coming at night when they're busier. Do you have any preference?"

"Only that I don't sing first," Harry said with a laugh, watching her move around the room purposefully. It was very obvious that Akeno had done this before. "So," he asked lightly, "how often do you come out to sing?"

"I've never actually been in a karaoke bar before. Although I do like to sing," Akeno said, pausing briefly to look up at him, her violet eyes expressive. "I sometimes sing in the shower and sometimes when I'm alone in the house, where we actually have our own karaoke machine. I sang Koneko to sleep a few times right after she had joined us, and even Kiba once or twice when he had nightmares. Though Rias helped with both of those."

"And what style of song do you like?"

"Honestly?" Again Akeno paused in her movement, smiling at him. "American rock for the most part. Their women singers are allowed a far wider range of styles that they can pursue and become popular in. The whole J-pop scene has completely flooded the media business, not allowing for many female singers outside of that genre to become popular. And don't get me started about what girls have to do to get ahead, sometimes, in their agencies. I have taken a few contracts with girls in that business, and I know that there are many other devils who have done the same."

"To protect them from being abused, I take it?" Harry asked.

"Exactly. To allow them to get ahead through using their voice rather than their bodies. That doesn't happen as often as certain doujin games might make it seem, but it does happen." Akeno smirked, running her hands down both of her sides for a moment, watching in delight as Harry let his eyes track the movement. "I have no problem with putting my body on display to elicit a response. However, I have a major problem with the idea of someone believing they are entitled to my body simply because they're helping me get ahead in my career."

Harry hummed appreciatively, still watching her hands for a moment before looking back up at her face. "That's interesting. I would have thought you would be more interested in Japanese classical or Japanese country. So, is that your dream for the future?" When Akeno nodded, he let loose a light laugh. "Huh, not even ten minutes here and I'm already learning new things about you, Akeno."

"There is a lot about me that you need to learn, Harry," Akeno said, her earlier teasing mood disappearing like vapor as she gripped the microphone tightly. "A lot of it is going to be very painful for me."

Harry stood up and pulled her down onto his lap, hugging Akeno tightly. "You don't have to pour out your entire soul all at once, Akeno," he said softly into her ear, allowing his hands to move up and down her back comfortingly. "You just need to be willing to share in the future. To share your dreams, your hopes, your emotions, not just your desires. Your past you can keep to yourself, so long as you promise to share eventually like I have with you."

"No," she said with a sigh, burying her head against his shoulder, her voice a murmur as she spoke, her lips moving against the skin of his neck, sending a delightful feel up his spine. "It's best to get the worst over with right away, like pulling off a bandage."

"I've heard that before, and I've been bandaged more often than I care to think, and I am still not certain if that saying is actually true," Harry replied, resting his chin on the top of her head. "But if that's what you want, I'll listen to whatever you say."

"And will you promise that you still give us a chance once I'm done?" she asked, her lips now trembling.

Harry laughed quietly. "I don't think anything you say could make me turn away from you in the manner you seem to be afraid of, Akeno. I can't say that you and I will work out in the long term, but whatever you tell me about your past or whatever you are hiding there won't be why we don't. **That** I can promise."

Akeno laughed, then slowly pushed out of her place on his lap, not even trying to get a final bum wiggle in. "That means a lot to me, Harry. Thank you. For now, though, we sing."

"You first!" Harry said quickly, reiterating his first point. "I have to work up my courage for this!"

Giggling, Akeno moved back over to the karaoke machine and entered the number for the first song.

Akeno turned out to have an incredibly good voice, not that Harry was surprised by that. She sang the American song, No Roots, then Adele's Rumor Has It. She performed both magnificently, scoring 100 percent on the karaoke machine each time.

"You really do have an amazing voice," Harry said with a laugh as he clapped heartily. "I'll have to bring along Lily the next time we do this. She would seriously get a kick out of trying to compete with you."

"Ara, does the munchkin have a good singing voice?" Akeno asked, looking amused.

"Not at all," Harry said with a laugh. "I don't either. That's what will make it hilarious."

Akeno giggled. "That seems rather cruel."

"Parenting often is," Harry said with the most dead pan expression he could muster.

"However," Akeno went on, holding out the dreaded microphone. "It's now your turn."

Harry tried to sing Highway to Hell —which he thought was appropriate and which caused Akeno to giggle—and then another song from the Beatles before they ordered some food. Akeno took the time the food took to arrive to sing two more songs, both of them American songs Harry haven't heard before.

The food arrived, and, like Harry had inwardly feared, it was somewhere between fast food and that found in a bar. The drinks were incredibly good in Harry's estimation; the food, however, was well below his standard. Akeno said much the same thing from where she had nuzzled into his side as they ate.

Despite his concerns about the long term, Harry had to admit he was having a lot of fun with this. It was very much like his first date with Rias, very fun and interesting. And between songs they had talked. They haven't shared anything deep just yet, but, given the way Akeno was drinking down her sixth strawberry daiquiri, Harry believed that she felt she needed some liquid courage before getting to whatever deep, dark secret she had .

 _Or do I need to take the plunge first? Still, what can I share with her that I haven't already? That would get her to open up further? She says she wants to rip the Band-Aid off, and should I even go with that or tell her to ease into it? After all, Akeno's self-loathing isn't the only reason why I am uncertain if a relationship between us can work._

Setting aside his own social mores and that aspect of Akeno's personality, the other reasons Harry was uncertain about he and Akeno having a future came in three areas: her mixed signals toward Lily, whether or not her dreams for the future were compatible with his own, and her 'interests.' Harry supposed those last were just in S&M, but Rias had hinted that there was more to it.

Deciding to be bold about dealing with this conversation, Harry reached around Akeno with one arm and pulled her sideways until she was sitting once more in his lap. While not exactly the best position for a serious conversation, at least this way the two of them could look one another in the eye without having to twist their necks or having a table between them. "So, Rias and I have talked about the future recently, mostly in the form of long term goals and dreams, not our relationship, per se. She wants to become the strongest head of Gremory house that has ever been. What about you? Do you have a goal in mind as a devil or as a woman?"

"And Rias-chan wants to have a large family. I've known that since practically the moment we met. Don't think I'm going to overlook that when I'm sitting on top of the thing which might help her achieve that goal," Akeno said archly with a slight hint of slur to her words. Whatever immunity devils had to drink had evidently been met by the amount of alcohol she had consumed up to this point. "Ara, and I do believe it likes me~," she went on, wiggling her rump a bit as Harry's body responded.

But if she had expected this to shock Harry, she was mistaken. Instead he simply smiled at her, his hands falling to her hips to still her movement with an ease that spoke of his werewolf-given strength. "Hmm, it likes you, just like I do. But that's not going to change my question, Akeno. What are your dreams for the future?"

Leaning back, Akeno rested her hands on Harry's shoulders, only that and Harry's own grip on her hips holding her upright. "Hmmm…. Dreams for the future. Well, as I said, at one point I wanted to be a singer. That was before my mother was killed, of course."

She said that line so matter-of-factly that most would have thought she was over it. But Harry knew Akeno better by this point, and his hands tightened on her hips in lieu of pulling her into a hug which, Harry suspected, would not be welcome at this point.

"Now…now I want to help Rias achieve her dream and, perhaps, perhaps prove to everyone that my, my heritage doesn't matter. Beyond that, normal goals, I suppose. Nothing that defines my life like Rias's does hers. I suppose, in that way, I am actually much more normal than she is, aren't I?" Akeno actually giggled at that point.

Yet she instantly became serious again. "Family. She wants a large family. I, I can't say the idea doesn't have any appeal, but Rias is ready to be a mother now. Me, no. Not even a little. Ask me again in eighty years."

Harry chuckled at that, knowing that to be a reference to the fact devils lived for so long. Yet, at the same time, it did serve as a marked contrast between Rias and Akeno: Rias wanted to be a mother; Akeno didn't. "Is that why you don't like being around Lily?"

"I don't mind being around Lily. I think she's very cute, very intelligent, but I am not very good with kids," Akeno said with a sigh, now almost sounding sober again. "Especially little girls like her. They remind me too often of my own past."

"You know, you have to let the past go sometimes," Harry replied softly, one hand leaving Akeno's hip to cup the side of her face, his thumb gently caressing her cheek. "Learn from it, yes, but remember what I told you before, Akeno: you are not at fault for anyone else's actions. Existing is not a crime."

Akeno began to sniffle for a moment, looking like she was about to cry. Then she concentrated and wings appeared from her back. But, unlike the devil wings Harry had seen before from Rias during their second date, these were very different. One wing was that of a Devil, though it didn't look as strong as Rias's had, being thinner all around, and with the membrane between the bones looking almost sickly. The other was what could only be a angel's wing, done in black. "Even, even if I'm like this, sensei? Even if I have the blood of the Fallen in my veins?"

"I told you nothing from your past could make me reject you, Akeno, and I meant it," Harry said sternly. His hands moved around her waist and pulled her into a hug. One arm tightened around her there as the other hand rose to gently trace along her wing on that side, that of the Fallen wing. Harry could feel Akeno tremble in his arms as he did, but made no comment on it.

Knowing his next words would be very important, Harry stayed silent for a time, letting Akeno get over her trembles as his hand continued to move through her feathers softly. "Beautiful. They are beautiful just like you, Akeno-chan. Did you think I'd care that you were of mixed blood rather than mixed Japanese as I assumed? I don't care about your past, just like I don't care about Rias's family being so important. I care about you, the person, Akeno. What race you are has nothing to do with that."

Akeno's body heaved for a few moments, and Harry could feel his shirt getting wet where her face pressed into his chest. "Thank you, thank you," she whispered, her voice muted by his shirt as she slowly recovered.

Harry simply held her, smiling at yet another breakthrough with her. _I might not care for her as much as I do Rias, but I can see that happening in the future. I still don't know if I could give them both the attention they deserve or that Akeno and I will prove to be compatible going forward, but at least I think I've finally shattered that self-loathing image Akeno has had of herself._

Wiping away her tears, Akeno leaned back and, to Harry's surprise, didn't go in for a kiss as he had sort of expected. Instead she was looking at him, cocking her head to one side. "You just…. In a matter of months you've shattered my shell, Harry-san. I do hope you are prepared to pay the consequences."

To Akeno, having the blood of the Fallen, the same blood as those who had killed her mother, had been one of the defining horrors of her life. It was why her extended family had made her life hell, had thrown her out and then hounded Akeno with the intent to do away with her for good. It was why she had been prepared to let them when Rias and her brother found her. Akeno had attempted to hide from it, to seal it away, to simply push it aside for fear that if she acknowledged her mixed blood, people around her would hate her for it just like her family.

Harry was now the second person to know about it and to utterly reject that concept. More, he had taken it a step further than Rias had: He had said that he cared about Akeno regardless. Je had said that it didn't matter at all to him, that she had a right to exist regardless of what anyone else said.

"Oh, and what exactly does that mean?" Harry asked, one hand moving to her cheek to wipe away her tears.

"I am a very, very bad girl se~nse~i," Akeno said with a giggle, her wings disappearing from behind her as she slowly slipped off Harry's lap to kneel on the floor until she sat on her haunches directly between his legs, her head resting against his inner thigh, her hands on his knees.

To Akeno's intense surprise Harry only reacted to this by raising an eyebrow in query. "I thought Rias said that you shouldn't do anything she hasn't?"

Giggling, Akeno retorted, "Hmmpf. Well, as fun as that would be, and I am certain it would be fun for both of us…." Akeno trailed off, actually licking her lips as she stared up at him. "That isn't where I wanted your mind to go. Not yet, anyway. I said I'm a bad girl, Harry, and I meant it. I, like, pain."

"Is this supposed to come as a surprise? You've hinted at that all along," Harry replied, actually waving that off with one hand while his other began to play with her hair once more.

"I like, no, I love pain. I like causing it, and I've recently learned I like having it done to me. I love pain, Harry, and anyone who I am in a relationship with must understand and be willing to… take me to hand, as it were, and also let me have some free reign at times," Akeno said, staring at Harry seriously.

Harry's eyes narrowed at that. "I, I don't like causing pain. I never have, not even to Riddle for all he did to me. I might have an issue with that, but I don't know if I'll dislike that kind of thing before I try it. So long as you can keep that aspect of your personality away from Lily at all times, I don't have a problem with at least trying that particular kink. Not on a first date, though," he said with a laugh.

"Mmm, I suppose that will have to do," Akeno said with a laugh. She looked up at the clock and sighed again. "Good grief, the time does fly at times. It is nearly ten already." They had bought time until ten when they entered the karaoke bar.

"Well, unless you want to sing some more, I think I'm done for the evening," Harry said with a smile. They had actually come a lot farther than he had expected tonight, frankly. Looking at Akeno, he still felt he wasn't as close to her as Rias and couldn't honestly see them together in the long term. _But, but is that because of my own preconceived notions about how love should be or because of her personality? A personality which, if I'm honest, has actually grown on me over time? Regardless, my own perspective of this relationship needs to be said._

As Akeno turned toward the door, Harry stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Akeno, I can't say where this relationship is going in the long term. I won't reject you because of your sadist kink, and, as I said, I don't care about your past. It's just, when I see the future, my image of the future is much more in line with Rias's at the moment, because I know what I want in the future. I want a family, a large one, just like Rias. I am also still having a lot of trouble with this whole multi-relationship thing. I…."

"Harry," Akeno said with a smile, interrupting him and putting a hand over his mouth. "I don't know where I see myself in the future. Why would I have a problem with you not seeing where our relationship could go? As for the large family, we will have a lot of time to get used to the idea. Let's just see where it goes, okay?"

"…Well, I can't say it would be the first time I've gone forward without a plan. So long as you understand that and understand that I have no wish to get between you and Rias, then I suppose we can indeed see where this goes," Harry said with a laugh.

"Don't worry about that. I love my Rias too much to let anything damage our friendship. She gave me my life back and a family; I will never forget that. My jealousy about the two of you will fade, as will hers when she sees us together. Else she would never have even allowed me to try my hand with you." Akeno stared at him seriously until he nodded slowly, then switched gears, giggling wickedly. "But are you sure you wouldn't rather like to be... between us, in a certain sense?"

"You know what I mean, minx," Harry said with a launch, actually spanking Akeno hard on her rear. "Now, come on, let's get out of here."

"Mah~~, you are a quick learner, aren't you, Harry?" Akeno mused, following him out as she blushed hotly, feeling her body respond instantly to the bit of pain Harry had just given her. _Mmmmm. I don't know myself my own depth of feeling towards you, Harry, be it budding love or just adoration mixed with lust, but I think I can safely say I'm going to enjoy finding out._

The two of them left the karaoke bar soon after that, and Akeno turned to Harry. "Well, the night is still somewhat young, Harry. What say we…. Harry?" She trailed off, staring at Harry who had suddenly stiffened.

He looked around him then, sniffing the air, even going so far as to transform to his werewolf form to Akeno's shock. She had not yet seen him in this form and was later surprised that his clothing expanded with him. "Lily, it's Lily. I smell her. She went by here, and she was afraid!?"

Harry could also tell there was something else there: fear, a lot of fear. He could also smell his daughter's normal rosewood and cherry scent along with the smell of fur. _Shit, something caused her to transform!?_ An instant later he growled as the scent of blood hit him.

Akeno stared as he sniffed the air, then rushed forward, ignoring the shocked shouts and screams from all around him, then watched in growing shock as Harry turned, leaping up onto the rooftops and away. He left behind over a dozen people who had just witnessed his magic, and he couldn't care less. His daughter was in danger, and nothing else mattered now.

Behind him Akeno growled, then instantly began waving her hands around her, enchanting everyone within sight and then some to forget the last few minutes ever happened before moving to the nearest man, taking his phone, and deleting the picture he had just snapped. _Harry neglected to mention that any relationship with him takes second place to his little girl, but I suppose I can't fault him if Lily is truly in danger. I wonder what is going on tonight? I'll have to call Rias later. Right now, though, I have my work cut out for me._

 **OOOOOOO**

For once during this mission, Raynare and Kalawarner found themselves in complete agreement with one another. "What do you mean, she's gone!? You let her just wander off!?" they shrieked as one before turning to glare at one another, then back at Dohnaseek. In the background Mittelt frowned as she ate some leftovers, wondering what the hell she had missed while catching up on some sleep.

"I didn't notice her leaving, and I was never told we were supposed to keep her a prisoner," Dohnaseek said, shaking his head. "If you had wanted her to stay here, you should have told me that."

"RAAHHH! I'm surrounded by idiots!" Raynare shouted. She'd been having to put up with Saji and his teenage groping for weeks, making her normal attitude even more waspish, and she had been looking forward to getting this job over with as soon as possible. But part of that operation had to deal with Asia Argento.

"What the fuck, Dohnaseek? You know how important she is to our plans! We need Twilight Healing to test the siphon on, if nothing else. And with it we could more easily extract both Saji and the original targets!"

Kalawarner turned away, scowling. "Idiot! I'm going to go find her. Raynare, you search around here; she might not have gone far. I'll search back along the route we followed on our way here. There are a few stores that might have grabbed her interest if Asia was looking for something specific."

"Right," Raynare said, shaking her head. "And if neither of us finds her, Dohnaseek, or if one of the devils has, you and I are going to have a problem!"

 **OOOOOOO**

Hoping to take in the sights, Asia had left the church after evening Mass. The fact that she had been the only one in the sanctuary at that time praying had been a little worrying, but Asia preferred to see the best in people. Perhaps her new benefactors were not as punctual about their observances as the Church would have liked, but they were still her benefactors.

 _And besides, where would I go anyway? s_ he thought as she walked down one of the same streets she and Kalawarner had walked along before. Though she didn't show it, Asia knew that her circumstances were rather dire. Having been excommunicated and kicked out of the church, Asia had no knowledge of how to fend for herself.

"On the other hand, if I had stayed with the Church I would've never traveled! And I would've never met such interesting people either," she said to herself in Italian, then Japanese for practice. Asia knew that she would have to get used to speaking in Japanese, but that was going to take a while.

Here in Japan she hadn't met many people yet, but Kalawarner, at least, seemed nice, once Asia got to know her. The two of them had a very nice conversation as Kalawarner had prepared dinner for them and the others. The other churchgoers she hadn't talked to as yet, so she hoped that they would be friendly. The other angel, Dohnaseek, on the other hand…. Well, it hurt to say it, but he didn't seem very nice.

 _Maybe I can make a friend here, a friend outside the Church_. That was one of Asia's fondest dreams, to make real friends, friends who associated with her as an individual rather than as a Sacred Gear user or as a nun. 'The Holy Maiden,' they called Asia back in Rome, until they turned on her, anyway. But while that meant she had been revered, that didn't mean that Asia had actually had very many friends. Or knew very many people at all.

Having no real destination, Asia wandered the streets, taking in the sights in the shopping district at night with no real destination or goal. It looked like a lot of fun, though, of course, Asia didn't have any money to spend, so she could only window shop. She stopped at a few places, including a confectionery store that was giving out free samples, talked to a few boys her own age about places to visit, and generally had fun despite the odd looks her habit and blonde hair drew.

When a nearby clock struck ten, however, Asia gasped, looking around her. _Have I been walking around for that long?_ She now stared rather worriedly around, wondering if she could find her way back.

She tried to retrace her steps but soon found herself lost once more. Asia found herself on the outskirts of the shopping district on a small pedestrian only road leading to a bridge across an aqueduct of some kind. Luckily for her it was pretty well lit with lampposts here and there, including two at either end of the bridge.

"Oh, good. That must be the way back to the church, praise the Lord," she said to herself, having remembered crossing a similar bridge on her way out, one hand gripping her rosary. Then she blinked, staring ahead of her and below the bridge. "What's that?"

The aqueduct's sides were steep, but there was a small path right above the water. And on that path, hiding underneath the bridge, barely visible in the shadow, was what looked like a small animal of some kind hiding there. As she walked closer, she saw more of the shape and realized that it was a small puppy. _Is it lost? Or, or homeless?_

With that though Asia began to make her way down the stone slope to the little pathway below. It was a very steep gradient down to the water, and Asia almost lost her balance several times, but she righted herself as she landed. From there she moved towards the bridge, slowly, as to not scare the possibly frightened dog away, only to stop as the little puppy growled at her from underneath the bridge.

"No, wait!" Asia said, backing away a step. She got down on her hands and knees, looking at the puppy and holding out one hand. "I'm a friend. I don't mean you any harm. I even have some chocolate here. Oh, wait," Asia dithered for a moment. "Um, do puppies like sugar candy? Ooh, I should've thought of this before! If you're wild and scared, why would you come near me?"

Then she gasped as she noticed the little puppy had an injury on its side. "You're hurt! Please, let me help you," she said now, almost plaintive. Asia hated to see anyone hurt, let alone an animal like this.

Puppy-Lily heard the words, but they meant little; it was just human noise, since she couldn't understand them. She had been running scared, utterly terrified, in pain, and running purely on instincts, hoping desperately to find her pack leader, who would make everything all better. But she hadn't been able to. Puppy-Lily didn't know his scent well enough and couldn't pick it out from among all the unnatural man things.

So she had just run: confused, frightened, and growing ever more desperate. Then puppy-Lily had smelled the river and hoped to use it to both hide and overcome the smells of the unnatural man thing scents everywhere.

It had worked, and puppy-Lily had hoped to hide here from the mad crazy humans that were chasing her until her wound went away. The wound the last crazy smelling man who had nearly caught her had given puppy-Lily was still hurting, though it had closed noticeably.

Now she saw the little human with blonde and blue fur stumble down towards it. Puppy-Lily was ready to bolt, but the smell of the girl—she was a young girl, the smell told her that, near to the age of the she-cat who was puppy-Lily's packmate—soothed her somewhat. As did the girl's actions, backing away and kneeling down rather than towering over puppy-Lily.

Now she was holding out something tasty, the smell of it wafting toward her, and puppy-Lily cautiously moved forward. She looked up at the human girl before lifting her muzzle and licking at the small sugar candy in the girl's hand, lapping at it, then biting into it and chewing energetically.

Asia giggled, then gently raised her other hand to rub it along the little puppy's head, now able to make out more detail and discovering that this puppy's looks were very unusual. For one thing, it had reddish fur, a deep russet color, and had green highlights around its eyes, which were also a green color. For another, its form looked stretched out, almost, with longer back legs and forelegs. Its head was a little large and its snout short, but it still looked very pretty to Asia.

"Well, aren't you a pretty little puppy," she cooed, scratching behind its ears, causing the little puppy's tail to wag. Then she slowly moved her hand over the dog's side, concentrating and bringing out her Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing. "Now, let's get rid of that nasty thing for you."

On her hands matching rings appeared. Done in silver, they were shaped to resemble multiple differently sized crystals, a few layered on top of one another, with a diamond shaped one centermost.

From the ring on the hand above the animal's side, a green glow began to emanate, flowing into the puppy and healing its wound. Despite its severity, though, the wound healed almost instantly, as if it had already started to heal, but just needed a boost.

Puppy-Lily gasped, backing away as she felt something happen to her wound, but, feeling it disappear, puppy-Lily realized that the human girl in front of her must've done something. In thanks she began to lick the human girl's fingers, nuzzling into her hand. With the pain receding now, she could feel some of her instincts slowly beginning to recede too.

Asia giggled, pulling the puppy into her arms and scratching her even more thoroughly behind the ears, causing the puppy to pant happily, its tail wagging. "Well then, little one, you don't have a collar, so does that mean you're wild? Hmm…. What do you think? Would you like to come with me and be my friend?"

The puppy, however, looked up at the bridge suddenly and began to growl. Turning in that direction, Asia saw three men dressed like the exorcists at the church, bar the cloaks over their uniforms. All three of them were armed with a long gleaming dagger in one hand and glaring down at Asia and the puppy.

Before she could say anything, one of them leaped down to land between Asia and the bridge as the other two moved to take up positions above her on the road and behind her on the pathway above the waterline. "What's this, what's this? A little lost nun befriending an unnatural, sinful creature like that? We can't have that, now, can we?"

This man looked a little younger than the others, but, despite having a somewhat handsome face, something about his eyes, which seemed to gleam red in the light of the lamps above, made Asia back away despite knowing that she had nothing to fear from an exorcist.

"You must be the former Holy Maiden! Oh, how rapturous, how rapturous to meet someone who was lauded so high and has fallen so low! Father Freed at your service, dear girl!" Freed said, gesturing at the puppy. "Do you not know what creature is?"

Despite the scary words and attitude, Asia answered quickly. "She's, she's just a puppy."

"Just a puppy, she says!" Freed said with a laugh, joined by his fellows. "You seem to have an interesting history with running into strays that aren't what they seem to be! God may have gifted you with that Twilight Healing of yours, but it should've gifted you with a brain too. That's no mere puppy; that's a young werewolf!"

Asia gasped at that, looking down at the puppy who had scrambled out of her hands and was now growling, backing away against her leg, knowing she had nowhere to run. "But even so, she's not dangerous. She's just a little puppy. Does that not mean she's a child too?" Asia said, looking up at the exorcists.

"So you don't even know your own Scripture? 'And the sins of the father shall be carried on to his son,'" quoted Freed with a laugh. "That little bitch was tainted with sin the moment she was turned, but at least if we kill her now she won't drag any innocents down with her."

Asia's eyes narrowed at that, and she shot back, "A father shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall only answer for his own sin. When the son is just and right and has been careful to observe all my statutes, the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself! If this puppy's only sin is the curse running through her veins, then she has done no wrong!"

All three exorcist snarled at that. "Bah! The sin is already within her; she can't change what she is."

"Nor can we all," Asia said with a sigh before stiffening, raising her chin defiantly even as her legs started to tremble. "But, but she is an innocent! If, if you want to harm her, you you'll have to get through me!"

"Fine by me, bitch!" said Freed raising his silver dagger as the other two did the same. Both of them showed the same eagerness as Freed but seemed to be willing to let him have first go.

"What the hell is going on here!?" shouted another voice from on high.

Asia idly noted that this little area was getting a little crowded as she looked up at the bridge above Freed. There Kalawarner stood, black wings slowly dissipating from where they had been visible over her shoulders.

At the sight of those wings, Asia winced. _Kalawarner-san's a Fallen? Then, then I have been working with them rather than the Church? I, I thought that I could work with these people and work my way back into the Church proper. But if they are all Fallen, then…_

Kalawarner glared down at the three exorcists. Having been searching for the girl for over forty minutes by this point, she was in no mood for this shit. "What the hell do you three think you're doing!? We told you not to do anything to arouse suspicion around here, not to do anything at all, in fact, without our express permission! And here I find you not only threatening Asia, who is one of ours, but a random little puppy? What the hell is wrong with you!? I know some of you exorcists are insane, but I didn't think you were this bad."

With that she hopped down, placing herself beside Asia facing Freed, who was the closest to the girl. Though she kept one hand out thrust toward the exorcist standing on the path above, since with the height advantage he had he was the next most dangerous. But beyond that, Kalawarner knew about Freed, having been warned by Dohnaseek about him, being as skilled as he was insane.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm stupid! Yeah, I'm crazy! But that doesn't change the fact that that puppy isn't a puppy; she's a werewolf, and I want some blood on my dagger tonight!" Freed shouted. "It can be that shitty bitch's or it can be yours!"

Kalawarner glanced down at the puppy sitting by Asia's feet, growling at the three exorcists. Or, it had until a moment ago, but now it started to sniff the air and seemed to relax. _Huh, I wonder what that's about?_

But now that she looked at it, she knew exactly what that puppy or, rather, **who** that puppy was. _FUCK! This is not a complication I fucking needed right now!_

"Not this puppy," Kalawarner said before realizing the words had left her mouth. Not questioning her reasoning right now, she held out a hand containing a lance made of holy energy. She pointed it at Freed, her voice commanding. "Not tonight. And if you keep on pissing me off, it'll be your blood on my lances, not vice versa. When it gets right down to it, I'd frankly rather wipe out all three of you rather than let you have your fun right now."

Whatever Freed might have said to that was interrupted by the arrival of yet another person: the individual whose smell puppy-Lily had caught on the wind, coming towards them.

Harry was utterly, and completely furious, both with himself and with this situation. Here he was, out on a date, believing his daughter would be perfectly safe with her friends, only to find out that this was not, in fact, the case. He was furious with himself for having fun, for being away from Lily and not realizing the danger she was in and for not having thought about protecting her further than the portkey charmed necklace she wore around her neck.

It was obvious that whatever had happened had scared her so much she hadn't been able to think clearly enough to activate the portkey. _I should've thought of that, but I'll have time to correct that mistake later,_ Harry thought as he arrived at the river, having used his werewolf form to leap over the rooftops.

Pausing, he took in the tableau below in an instant, seeing the surprising form of Kalawarner dressed up as she had been when they first met, a young girl in a nun's dress, and the puppy that Harry's nose was telling him was his daughter, being threatened by two men. The fact that Kalawarner was holding a weapon that seemed to be made out of solidified light was not lost on him, but was immaterial at present. _Lily is being threatened. Remove the threat as quickly as possible._

The man closest to Harry's current position had barely an instant to turn, some instinct warning him that Harry was there. He didn't try to dodge, though, and was blown backward over the heads of those below into the ocean by a Reducto, angled just enough so that none of the blood and viscera could land on the trio below. The second man also had only an instant to turn towards Harry before he too died, his body sliced in two by a barely formed cutting spell, though, thankfully for Asia, the cutting spells also cauterized as it went, unlike the Reducto.

The other one, however, Harry allowed to live. He seemed to be the leader, judging by the way Kalawarner was facing him, which meant getting answers out of him would be easy, and Harry wanted very desperately to know what was going on tonight, and he wasn't willing to trust Kalawarner's words at this point.

Instead, that one simply lost his thumbs as tiny cutting spells slashed through the air faster than the blond man could see. He had turned in Harry's direction, staring in shock as his friends died so quickly. This allowed Harry to aim at his hands. The spells sliced into his thumbs, causing him to drop both his gun and the sword he had pulled out from under his long coat. Before the pain could even begin to register, Harry was in front of him and between him and the others, holding up a furry hand. A stupefy then lashed out, knocking him backwards and unconscious.

Kalawarner was momentarily stunned at how quickly Harry—who else could it be, after all—had both arrived and dealt with the three exorcists, as well being stunned by his current body. Harry's werewolf form looked nothing like what she had expected, having heard about werewolves from the others. There was scant sign of the deformed creature they had anything, he looked rather, well, rather handsome, in a wild sort of way.

Even more jarring than Harry's form, however, was that he was in full control of himself and the magic he had used just now. _Magic like that, with no incantation or buildup, no staff, and enough power to get through the minor magical immunity that exorcists grow during their training that easily? Fucking hells, Harry's far more dangerous than I thought._

She was about to say something, but Harry stepped around her, not even glancing in her direction. "Cauterize his wounds," Harry ordered.

Kalawarner winced at the brusque, almost dismissive tone of voice that Harry had just used even as she knelt to do what he asked. N _ot only does he not see me as a threat, but he also doesn't see me as, well, anything. Damn, did that ship truly sail? Did it take too long to get my thoughts in order?_

At this point Harry really didn't care about Kalawarner. All he cared about was his daughter.

Asia had blanched at the sudden violence, backing away quickly at the very scary looking wolf-faced man in front of her, his looks and size both making her afraid. But instead of attacking them in turn, he simply moved around Kalawarner with surprising deftness, instead kneeling down before Asia and the puppy.

The puppy yipped happily, hopping up into his arms. Harry caught her easily, nuzzling into her furry side as the puppy licked his face, eliciting a chuckle, which cause Asia to calm down further for some reason, staring now in fascination rather than fear at the odd creature.

"I am not going to let you live that one down, Lily," Harry said aloud, his voice an equally deep rumble as the chuckle he had just let loose. "But for now, let's see if we can get you back to your proper two-leg shape."

Harry held Lily at arm's length for a second, staring into her eyes as he intoned the magical spell to send his mind out. "Legilimens!" His mental probe dove into his daughter's mind, moving past the low grade natural defenses a werewolf had against the mental arts easily, diving deep until he found what he was looking for: the mental image of his daughter, surrounded by black, barely formed shapes signifying the instincts which had took over when she shifted.

Luckily, they were already beginning to fade. _Thank goodness, she was already starting to come back to herself! That will make this much easier._

With Harry's help, that process, which could've taken several more hours or perhaps as long as an entire night until the influence of the moon once more waned, took barely a few minutes in the real world. Inside Lily's head it seemed longer, but to the ones watching it seemed very fast indeed.

As Asia and Kalawarner watched, the little puppy started to transform into a young girl, far younger than she was. Asia estimated her age at around seven, possibly eight. And she was naked. "Oh my!"

But before that thought could even start to form, the wolf-man who had saved them using magic she had never heard of before conjured up a cloak from thin air, again something that Asia had never heard of before. _Well, at least life here in Japan isn't going to ever be boring_.

The cloak Harry pulled around Lily wasn't anything to write home about, but it would work for the moment. Not that Lily cared about her lack of clothing, too busy throwing her arms around her father's neck and hugging him tightly as she fought back tears. Even the renewed itchy feeling underneath her skin was a relief.

"It was so scary, Daddy! I was out with my friends. I was, I was having trouble with my, you know, werewolf thing. I was trying to control it, pushing it down—the itchiness is always worse at this time of month," she babbled, her secret coming out along with the rest, not that she was in a right mind to notice. "Then these people started to attack, saying that I was dangerous, that I was a sin! And I couldn't both run from them and control the werewolf part of me. It took over, and I just ran!"

"Oh, Lily," Harry said with a sigh. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you," she muttered into his shoulder. "I knew what people back home said; didn't want to be a larger burden."

"Lily," Harry said, pushing her away slightly so he could look into her eyes. "You could never be a burden to me. You're my daughter, and I love you." He held her eyes until Lily nodded, and then he smiled. "We will talk about this later, but right now, who is this one?" he asked, gesturing with a finger to Asia.

"I don't know her name. They said it, but I was, well…. She gave me a bit of chocolate, and then she did something to make the pain go away," Lily replied, also looking at Asia.

"Pain?" Harry asked sharply.

Asia spoke up at that point hesitantly. The large werewolf man in front of her was rather intimidating at first sight, but seeing the tenderness he showed to his daughter had disarmed her. "Um, Sir? Um, she, Lily? Lily had a wound on her side. Since she's a werewolf, I suppose it must've been from silver. It was fighting her ability to heal, but it was unable to fight my Sacred Gear."

"And then she was going to fight those people until Kalawarner arrived," Lily piped up.

At that Harry's eyes softened still further, and he took a single step forward before enveloping Asia in a hug too, pulling her up into his arms to join Lily. For Asia, this was one of the very few times she had ever been hugged by someone, and even if it was coming from a stranger werewolf man, it felt good!

"Thank you for helping my daughter," Harry whispered into her ear, even as he began to push down his own werewolf side and slowly change back to human. "My name is Harry Potter, and you've made a friend for life tonight!"

This did nothing to dispel the warmth Asia was feeling, still being hugged against his chest. Lily then reached out and took her hand as Harry gently set them both back down. "Now, Asia, I'm going to send you to my home with my daughter here. The two of you should be safe there while I… clean up and find out what was going on here. The process is somewhat disorienting, but Lily will be there to help. If you're hungry, feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen."

Asia blinked, then watched as Harry lifted the small necklace that had been left in the alleyway where he had first caught Lily's scent and put it over his daughter's neck once more. With a final hug, Harry stepped back and nodded at her.

Lily smiled up at Harry wanly, then whispered, "Activate," and both girls instantly disappeared, to the watching Kalawarner's astonishment.

Not that she had much time to wonder about how they had done so. The second his daughter was out of danger Harry turned on her with all the speed of a striking cobra and suddenly all Kalawarner felt was **pressure**. Pressure, an aura of fear and rage that pressed down on her like she was facing an angry god and she slumped to her knees, staring slack-jawed at Harry.

In his hand he was suddenly holding a very old looking sword which radiated power to her senses almost like a Sacred Gear, a powerful one. Its tip was pointed directly between her eyes, and Harry's gaze on her was beyond furious as he growled, "Now, Kalawarner, you had better start talking. Or else!"

* * *

 **End Chapter**

Woo, that was a beast of a chapter. But it was the last setup chapter before the main plot really starts moving. There will be a bit more time-skips, one training scene, but beyond that, the next chapter will let me jump straight into the whole Raynare plot, as Harry decides to be proactive…


	7. Chapter 7

I can't draw boobies, nor am I British.

 **For those with ATP questions, I have the next chapter somewhat outlined and one scene written, but I am waiting until Mordreek and I can communicate on a set schedule before promising I can get the next chapter out: RL sucks that way. Once we can communicate more routinely, work will proceed quickly, but at present I am in no position to promise anything.**

For August this month FILFy Teacher one again, if barely. Here on fanfic it brought in 593 votes, gaining a total of 1719. The second story in the small (Splinter voice: Hahaha, I tell a funny) story was not ,alas Stallion of the Line as I had hoped. Instead _Gods and Devils and Wild Horse_ with a total of 1707, though it only brought in 275 votes here on fanfic.

For those of you interested, _Semblance of Hope_ was with only 420 total votes. Why does it get so little love here, a measly 120 votes? _Sword bow and Horse_ a concept story which i would have posted over on patty r on, brought in 424. I love that this is getting so much attention over there, since i think the idea of Ranma in the world of Lord Marksman and Vanadis would be a lot of fun. just wish it was enough to overcome the existing fics LOL. _Fate Touched in Middle Earth_ brought in 385 votes here putting it in second place of the fanfic only poll, but in total only 941 once patty r on votes were accounted for. _Anything Goes Game Changer_ 958 votes total, with only 173 coming from fanfic. In third place was my personal choice, _Stallion of the Line_ , It brought in 240 votes here and with my votes added earned a total of 1,355.

This has been betaed by _Michael_ and _Nad Destroyer_ , so there shouldn't be many mistakes.

And just a warning, some controversial things go down in this chapter, so i know there will be people complaining about bits of it.

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Overwhelming Response**

Immediately after dealing with the initial rush of having to erase so many minds and delete so much evidence from not only the phones of the passersby but the five security cameras that witnesssed Harry's transformation, Akeno had called in her King. In turn Rias had ordered Kiba away from his date and he, Akeno, and Rias herself had begun to canvas the town from their locations at that point.

Rias also sent Koneko straight to the Potters' home, feeling that Harry had a better chance of finding Lily faster than any of them, and, if he did, he would send her home. There she would need someone to look out for her while Harry dealt with whoever had attacked her.

Right now, Koneko stood in front of the house ringing the doorbell incessantly, her finger mashing it down so hard she was in danger of breaking the device, despite not using her Rook-given strength. Not that she cared. The only reason she wasn't smashing the door down entirely was because it belonged to the Potters, and that would be bad.

Her Nekomata ears twitched out from under their illusion as there was the sound of a thump inside the house, and a girl's voice she didn't know let loose an 'ugggh!' followed by Lily's voice, so low that even Koneko had to strain to hear it through the intervening door. "Yeah, portkeys are not fun the first time."

 _Was it Lily's turn to save someone, then?_ Koneko thought, calming down slightly. This did not stop her from ringing the doorbell again, and this time she forgot to hold back her strength. The doorbell died with a squawk and a dying squeal that could only charitably be called a bell ring.

For a moment Lily felt fear at that sound, and she was about to rush and find the ward's anchor stone to bring them up to full power and blast whoever was out there into dust. Daddy had explained the power of the reinforced wards to her; he had even used her favorite term, "'Kazzaam,' and then, 'fwoosh, no more baddy.'"

But instead she moved over and opened the door very slightly.

Or at least, that was the plan. The moment she unlatched the door, Lily had an instant to recognize her older friend before Koneko pushed the door wide open and grabbed Lily into her arms, ignoring the slight tingling feeling of the wards as they responded to her presence. Thankfully Koneko had been read into the wards even before Rias had. So despite Harry's work on bringing their power up, they still recognized Her and did not fricassee Koneko for her temerity.

"You okay?" Koneko asked, giving the younger girl a hug that would probably have broken any normal seven-going-on-eight-year-old girl's bones.

Lily simply hugged back, smiling warmly if wetly up at her older sister figure, though her voice was rather tremulous and weak. "I'm okay. Asia helped me, then this other woman, er, I think I recognized her from somewhere, well, she arrived to try to make the crazies who attacked me leave me alone, and then Daddy arrived, heheh, just one after another. It's kind of funny when you think about it."

Koneko's eyes narrowed at that, and, still holding Lily in her arms, she moved deeper into the Potters' home where she found another girl, as she had thought she would. She was young, maybe the same as Koneko herself, the Nekomata estimated, and had just pushed to her feet as Koneko moved into the main hallway. She looked up and smiled wanly, holding her stomach. "A, ano, hello? Erm, my name is Asia Argento. Erm, I, um, I could say Lily-chan and I have had a bit of an adventure. Um, I understand this is her home?"

"Mm," Koneko said, looking her up and down. Then she nodded. "Thanks for helping." She then looked down at Lily, who was still wearing the conjured cloak that Harry had thrown over her after her transformation had ended. "Getting this one dressed," she said with a nod. "Wait here. Will make snacks after."

A moment later Asia joined the other two on the sofa as Koneko handed her some sweets and gave Lily some sweets and a fruit bowl. Sitting down next to Lily, who was now dressed in her normal t-shirt and shorts pajama combo, Koneko pulled her into a sideways hug as they munched on sweets. Luckily, by this point the slight shivering and trembling of Lily's limbs that Koneko had noticed while she was hugging the girl earlier had gone away. She still twitched occasionally, but it was only obvious once Koneko was actually touching her, though she couldn't tell whether it was coming from fear or aftershocks of adrenaline. "Going to say what happened? Thought you had a protective port thing?"

Lily groaned a little, looking sheepish. "Didn't think of it at the time," she muttered. Then, when Koneko made no effort whatsoever to release her from her sideways hug, Lily sighed and began to speak about the issues that she had been having with her werewolf side, about how she had tried to hide it and why and how thinking about them had led to her forgetting about her necklace and it's portkey.

She would have gone on to describe the attack, but at that point Koneko did let her go so she could to smack Lily upside the head, the same kind of light smack that any older sibling would give a younger one when they were being an idiot. A sentiment Koneko gave voice to a second later. "Idiot," she said, now pulling Lily into an even tighter hug. "Potter-sensei, never see you as a burden. You are not a freak. You are just Lily."

Asia piped up too. "While I am still a little leery about how, erm, Potter-san? Is that the way you address him? Anyway, about, um, how he appeared on the scene, I could already tell you within a few seconds of his arrival that your father cares for you very much."

"I know,…" Lily said, though there was a slight hitch in her voice as she said that before she went on. "But I thought if I could handle it I on my own I could prove I was a big girl."

Koneko shook her head. "Little girls are cuter," she said with a serious nod of the head, glancing down at her chest. "Better to be small than to be big."

Lily blinked, and then frowned as she saw Asia nod almost automatically in agreement. "Why do I think we're talking about two different things now?" she asked, looking between them.

The two older girls looked at one another, then, as one, said, "Nothing."

From there Lily explained what had happened: how she had been chased by the crazy people and how she had lost control of her werewolf side. How, after that, she had simply run, afraid and unable to control herself. Koneko in turn just hugged her again, while Asia sighed, sad that so many exorcists had turned away from the meaning of God's words, instead simply picking and choosing both the words and how to follow them to best serve their own madness.

For a moment the three fell silent, until Asia asked hesitantly, "So, um, so what happens now? Specifically, what happens to me? I don't mean to sound egotistical, of course," she added hastily, though she still looked worried. She was very willing to take people as they came, and Koneko seemed as nice as Lily did. But she still could not forget the fact that not only had she been working with Fallen Angels and not know it, but that she had now been captured by the enemies of that group.

"Safe here," Koneko said with a shrug. She had noticed the girl's religious outfit, but didn't really have much of an issue with the Church. She hadn't met any Angels, exorcists, or church people, after all, though she knew that Kiba had a major issue with them for some reason. On top of that, this little girl most definitely was not a threat. Well, not physically, anyway. There was one thing they had to talk about before anything else.

She looked down at Lily, then let the little girl go and pushed her lightly in the back to get her off the sofa. "Find something to watch. Will stay up until your father returns."

"Ooh, that sounds like fun," Lily said, hurrying around the low table towards the TV, sitting down on the floor, and sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth as she thought about what she wanted to watch.

She didn't notice behind her that Koneko had leaned in and locked eyes with Asia, her voice a low hiss as she went on. "The Onee-san position is mine!"

Asia backed away rapidly. "I, I'm sorry?"

"Big sister position is mine," Koneko said, still glaring as she translated the term into English. _Doesn't seem to have the right impact though._ She kept that glare on the younger woman until Asia nodded.

"O, of course. I wouldn't dream of it," Asia said, still not quite understanding, but Koneko released Asia from her glare, turning back to watch Lily in silence.

Despite the fact that she was acting nice and calm, Koneko was rather angry, not with anyone else, but with herself. Twice, **twice** now, her adopted imouto had been in danger, and twice Koneko had not been there. Sitting on the couch, watching Lily rummage through the various DVDs that she and Harry had bought since arriving in Japan, Koneko vowed to herself that there would not be a third.

 **OOOOOOO**

Harry was coldly furious, and whatever control he was able to exhibit over his Demigod aura was gone. To anyone with any senses of the supernatural, Harry looked like a living embodiment of wrath now, and that feeling bore down on Kalawarner, pressing her down to the ground and causing her to feel so much fear she couldn't even breathe. She could barely twitch, and she couldn't look away from the wrathful creature that was now pointing a sword at her. It was demanding answers, yet she couldn't give it any.

In his paternal fury Harry didn't realize this or that he was being rather unfair given the fact that Kalawarner had been defending Lily rather than attacking her when he had found them. With the memory of his daughter crying into his shoulder in his mind, it was all he could do not to kill Kalawarner where she knelt, but he needed answers to what had happened tonight. Only that thought was able to get through his rage at first, as he growled at Kalawarner, "Well, are you going to say anything, Kalawarner?"

Fortunately for the blue-haired Fallen Angel, Harry's unfettered aura acted like a flare to everyone else in the area, and this included Rias. Kiba was a little too far away, and his ability to sense magic and auras were not nearly as developed as Rias or Akeno's had become since becoming aware of their own. Akeno was at the other side of the city by this point, still cleaning up from Harry's sudden display of magic. It turned out that one of the stores whose security camera had spotted him stored their recordings on a server rather than in the camera or in a computer on campus.

Coming upon the scene, Rias took one look and noticed that Lily was nowhere in sight and that there were several dead bodies nearby as well as one possibly still living one besides the Fallen Angel that was now currently quailing underneath the sword point of Fragarach. The sight of the Fallen Angel made her eyes narrow, and she quickly moved forward, pushing through Harry's aura with an ease that would've astonished many Devils who had known her even a scant few months ago, given the strength of it. She put her arms around Harry from behind; feeling him stiffen slightly, then slowly release his tension as she said softly, "Harry, calm down. She can't answer you right now; your aura is affecting her too much."

Looking down over his shoulder, Harry gazed into Rias's eyes and slowly nodded his head. He let Fragarach slowly dip down to rest point first on the ground as he concentrated, pulling in his aura.

As he was doing that, Rias let go of Harry and stepped around him to kneel down in front of the older woman. She was still shaking now, even as Harry pulled back his aura. "Look at me, fallen," she said coolly, grasping the older looking woman's chin and turning her so that they met eye to eye. "Do you know me?"

You're the Gremory girl," Kalawarner replied, her dilated eyes slowly returning to their normal size. "Damn," she muttered, "I knew he was strong, especially after the spike of power I felt a few weeks ago, but being in his presence is an entirely different thing."

"I agree, but Harry is not your only problem," Rias replied. "I am your problem, because you, fallen, are operating in **my** territory! Further, Harry seems to have apprehended you at the scene of an attack on his daughter, someone who is under my protection just as she is his." She lifted a finger to gently touch the Fallen Angel's forehead as the hand behind that finger started to glow with the Power of Destruction pulsing slightly toward the finger but not traveling along it just yet. "So when we ask you anything, I expect to be answered very, **very** promptly, as honestly as you possibly can. Do I make myself clear?"

To Rias's surprise, the woman simply nodded, showing no further fear. Then a hand rested on her shoulder, gently urging Rias to her feet. "I don't think we need as much threat Rias," Harry said. "I'll even apologize to you for my anger Kalawarner, but I take my daughter's safety very, very seriously, and you seemed to know those three who were attempting to kill her."

Rias stood up, moving to one side and looking at them both before very deliberately moving to Harry's side, looking up at him and standing on the incline of the aqueduct so that she was equal to his own height. "I take it you sent Lily home?"

"I did," Harry said with a nod, looking at Rias now.

"And you know this woman?" Rias asked, her voice very deliberate, and he cocked a wintry eyebrow at him. "You called her by name."

Harry nodded again. "I know her and knew she knew about the supernatural, but I had no idea she was a fallen angel. I thought she was a devil like you all after I learned about you in the first place, anyway. But before that I had cut off contact with her."

Rias's eyes narrowed, and then she threw up her head. "And of course, because we didn't say anything about her, you simply assumed she was just another devil in the area." _I_ _am_ _ **really**_ _glad Akeno isn't here just yet. We so do not need to make this situation any more volatile._

"I guess I accept your apology," Kalawarner said in response to Harry's words to her as she slowly got to her feet. "Your anger is understandable, even if the magnitude surprised me. What is that about, anyway? You surely didn't have that kind of power when you and I were dating."

That caused Rias's body to stiffen angrily, but Harry simply shook his head. "From what I remember, we attempted to date. It didn't actually work out, now, did it?"

That caused Kalawarner to deflate, and she looked away down to the small river going by them. "True enough."

"Nor does it have anything to do with why we are gathered here now," Harry went on. Fragarach rose, pointing at Kalawarner again. "You owe me some answers, Kalawarner."

"I also owe you an apology from that time," Kalawarner started, then she looked a little surprised, staring at Harry in confusion and then at the sword. "What the.…"

"This is Fragarach. You won't be able to prevaricate or lie with its point on you. I would suggest that you don't even try," Harry replied, though he had cocked his head to one side and was looking at her with something other than suspicion now.

For a moment Kalawarner stood still, pride, hurt, anger, and hope warring in her face so obviously that both Harry and Rias could see it by the light of the nearby lamps then she simply seemed to sag. She sat back down on the incline and stared up at Harry, who kept Fragarach pointing at her, seemingly ignoring Rias's presence entirely now. But instead of being disturbed or even angry at the idea of not being able to lie, it seemed to buoy Kalawarner on.

"Well then, I might as well get it over with. First, my apology: Harry, I'm sorry. I think losing you was the most perfect example of not knowing what you have until it's gone I've ever come across, certainly have ever felt myself. I didn't realize how important our interactions, how just being around you—talking, flirting, everything—had become until I attempted to try to subvert you with my aura and you shut me down. I couldn't even say you were wrong to do it. I made a hash of us, of you and me, and I am sorry for that, for not taking you up on your offer to become something more and for trying to subvert you."

Harry sighed, and his body released the last of its tension and anger dissipating as his aura already had. But he didn't lower Fragarach from pointing at Kalawarner. "I understand, Kalawarner. We all make mistakes, and I can understand yours, though I will never forget it. But now I think you need to tell us everything you can about those three. Who are they? Why did they try to attack my daughter?"

"And what are you doing here?" Rias cut in to add. She had been content, if not happy, to let the two of them talk for a moment, but now she really wanted them to concentrate on the important things.

For a second Kalawarner simply stared back at them, then she breathed in once and began. At first her voice came out hesitantly, but then it was as if the floodgates had opened, and she told them about everything she could in a wild jumble.

She first started to talk about Raynare and why they had been sent into the area in the first place. From there she described how their mission had expanded over time and why Kalawarner had pushed to see if she could seduce Harry in the first place. "I'm sorry about that too," she said, shaking her head. "I thought it would be just another mission, but by Father, I was wrong."

Kalawarner then spoke about how she had been utterly emotionally wrecked by Harry's rejection, how she had begun to think and feel things that she had not felt for centuries since she had fallen. Halfway through her story, Kalawarner began to cry. It had started when she started to talk about her feelings and the emotions that Harry had brought out when she said she had asked her Father for help, only to not hear a reply. Replaying the roller-coaster of emotions and feelings and thoughts that she had been on for the past few weeks, it would have been surprising if she hadn't begun to break down.

At that point Harry sighed and set down Fragarach so that it still pointed toward Kalawarner. He then sat down, pulling her into a loose one armed hug. He felt somewhat guilty about forcing the truth out of Kalawarner like this, but not overmuch. Lily had been in danger, after all, and, frankly, it looked as if Kalawarner had wanted to do say all this anyway.

But before he could say anything, Kalawarner went on, switching to talking about how she had been trying to figure out a way to protect herself from the inevitable fallout she could see coming from Raynare's growing anger and how Raynare had then seduced Saji as part of a side project, which caused Rias to jolt in surprise as Harry twitched, glancing up to Rias, who looked back in surprise. "B, but I always thought I needed something there, something to tell you or show you I was willing to change, so I tried to see if I could influence Saji's thoughts away from Raynare. That, and I even started to feel sorry for the kid on my own. So I started to try to influence him, tried to convince him to question what Raynare was saying.

"Then, then I came back to the church after Saji once more didn't question me about what I had said, the stupid boy! And then I found that Asia had decided to leave without anyone noticing, and then when I started to search for her, I came upon Asia and those three exorcists! Not only were they going to attack her, but they were also going to attack Lily and already had done so! I, I didn't even think then. I just couldn't let them hurt her!" she shouted, tears falling freely now from her face.

"That's enough, Kalawarner," Harry said at last, tightening his arm around her, even running his hand through her hair soothingly. "That's enough," he reiterated, looking up at Rias.

Rias had heard all of this and was now looking at this scene with decidedly mixed feelings of her own. On the one hand, Rias didn't like the fact that Harry and Kalawarner had almost dated or the fact that Harry looked as if he felt guilty about what they had just had to do to Kalawarner now. _But, on the other hand, if Kalawarner had returned his feelings then, would I have been able to be with him now? I could all too easily see Harry not giving me or Akeno a chance given the issues he initially had about getting involved with me at all with our teacher-student relationship. And I doubt a fallen would've been open to sharing, to let me have a chance with Harry in the first place._

Shaking that thought off, Rias nodded to Harry. "Yes, Kalawarner. Thank you," she said. "But we need to think about what to do. It's obvious that Kalawarner here told the truth, but we still don't know why your daughter was attacked simply because she doesn't know. Was this something Raynare kept from her, compartmentalization, or just some psychopathic exorcists acting out? Further, were they truly sanctioned to be in my and Sona's shared territory at all?"

Harry nodded, still standing upright and pulling Kalawarner to her feet before releasing her and looking over at the one still living exorcist. "Then we get some answers out of this one."

Kalawarner gulped then wiped away her tears before shaking her head. "That one's name is Freed, and I really doubt you'll get any information out of him. Not that he'll have nothing to share, but I bet he and the others simply decided to go after Lily the moment they somehow realized she was a werewolf. They're crazy like that. That's why they were all among the last batch of exorcists we brought in."

Rias frowned at that, understanding the implications. The Fallen and their allies were ready to move against either Issei and had already gotten to Saji. _But that doesn't answer the one main worry I have: was this a prelude to war? Were they really here on orders from Azazael?_ From what she knew about the head of the Grigori, that sounded unlikely, but only Azazael could have ordered them to be here, in territory owned by two of the 32 Great Pillars.

Gesturing in the air with one hand Rias concentrated and a small magic array appeared, out of which came a small bat which hung from one of her fingers. "I'm going to send a message to my brother. We need to figure out if these fallen and their allies are acting alone or if they are real representatives of their faction."

Harry shrugged his shoulders at that. Whatever the answer was, it wouldn't change his response to this attack on his daughter. "You said he's crazy?" he asked over his shoulder, looking at Kalawarner.

Kalawarner nodded, looking at Rias who was speaking into her familiar's ears with the information she needed to relay. The bat would then head back to the occult research room where it would use the main teleportation array to her family's mansion, where it would seek out her brother. "And tell Onii-sama that if he doesn't get the information to me quickly, I'll know he doesn't love me anymore," Rias finished, sending the bat into the air.

At those words Kalawarner and Harry both looked at her in shock, and Rias shrugged. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," she said calmly.

Shaking that off, Kalawarner turned back to Harry. "Yes, he's crazy, literally insane. Exorcists like him don't care about missions or causes or getting caught! All they care about is continuing to kill unbelievers. And, of course, devils count as unbelievers."

"Would that also include our clients?" Rias asked, scowling.

"Yes," Kalawarner replied simply.

"If he's insane, I can't use my Legilimency on him," Harry said, staring down at the still unconscious man. "Entering a crazy person's mind is like entering some kind of new age painting. The rules of the world shift and change every second. You can never be certain what you're seeing or doing.

"However," he said, pointing a finger at the man, "Imperio works just as well on them as on anyone else. Enervate," he intoned, and then intoned, "Imperio," as the man jolted awake. He ignored the somewhat horrified worried looks that came from both Rias and Kalawarner as they watch those spells hit the exorcist, looking over him intently. "What is your name? What color is the sky?"

"What in the Seven Hells? That spell feels so foul," Rias muttered, with Kalawarner nodding agreement. "Did, did you just dominate his soul, Harry?"

Harry nodded, his face grim. "I mentioned the three Unforgivables to you before, Rias, during one of our magic question and answer sessions. I realize it's horrible, but it is also rather useful, especially at a moment like this."

"I understand the necessity. I just was not prepared for the wrongness I would feel from the spell itself," Rias replied. "Let's get this over with."

Kalawarner just shook her head, watching everything. There was evidently a lot more to Harry Potter that Kalawarner didn't know yet, beyond even the recent power up he seemed to have gone through. _But the fact he can use a spell like that and only see it as a tool rather than something he could get addicted to, the feel of controlling someone like that, speaks well of him._

With those questions setting a baseline, Harry went on. "Why did you target my daughter?"

Freed replied easily. "She's a little werewolf bitch and should be put down. It's that simple."

His jaw clenching uncontrollably, Harry nodded slowly. "Fine. How did you realize she was a werewolf?"

"All exorcists are trained to recognize anything unusual or otherworldly. We saw straight through her paltry disguise and acted to save others from her curse!"

"How many of you were there in this attack?"

"Six, originally," Freed replied, still completely unable to fight the effects of the spell, Harry's will dominating Freed's own easily.

"Where are the other three?"

"Two of them turned back after we couldn't capture her in the initial rush, and the other went with them a few minutes after we lost the trail the first time," Freed replied. "They were cowards: always so fearful about being spotted, always so scared of letting blood fly! But who cares what happens so long as we are doing God's work and doing away with sin!"

"How did you cover your attack, why didn't people see anything?" Rias asked leaning forward intently.

"We use magical items to get by your detection array, and to erase the minds of those around our target of course!" Freed said with a slight cackle to his voice. "Its an old trick that everyone uses demon girl!"

Harry shot a look in Rias's direction and she winced shrugging in ignorance. "Looks like that detection 'bubble' you told me about isn't all its cracked up to be." Rias scowled and looked away and Harry turned back to the psychotic exorcist. "And are you situated in the rundown church here in town?"

The man simply nodded convulsively, and Harry smiled, grimly. "Excellent. That will make it easier to kill you all at once."

"Hold on, Harry," Rias interjected, reaching forward take his arm, not at all incidentally pressing it in between her breasts. "We need to wait. I need to make certain they were rogues. If you want to kill this one, that's fine. He's entirely unimportant, but we can't move against the rest of his group until we make certain that they aren't really representatives of the Fallen Faction. If they are and are operating here in our territory, that's huge, especially if they were ordered to attack someone under our protection. But we can't be the ones to move against them first even if they are here."

"I'm not part of your peerage or involved in this factionalism at all," Harry replied, his voice mild, but his eyes hard emeralds. "There were three others working on this attack on my daughter, and, judging by what Kalawarner said and the threat they represent, I am not going to wait around."

"I'm not saying we shouldn't prepare to move against them, Harry, just that we need to wait," Rias almost pleaded. Then she began to smile. "Not in a way that will lead anyone who investigates what happens back to us, anyway.…"

"Well, that we can do. There are other ways of cracking an egg than straight on, Rias. We're going to mix something between the Western and Eastern philosophies of magic," Harry replied, smiling thinly.

From there he outlined his plan, and the reactions of the two women were rather telling. Kalawarner looked utterly shocked, but her breath began to come in gasps and a slight blush had come to her cheeks. It was evident that Harry's ruthless idea on how to deal with Raynare and her allies met with her approval.

Rias also felt mildly turned on. If there was one thing that that Fallen and Devil women would agree on, it was that power and ruthlessness was rather attractive. _On the other hand, I am still glad that Akeno isn't here. After hearing that kind of ruthless and, above all, bloody plan, her face would be simply obscene._

"That actually is workable," Rias said with a smile, pushing down her devil induced emotions. "I'll call in Kiba as well as Akeno. The three of us can stand by with you, just in case. I had them looking around the city for you and your daughter before this, but I sent Koneko over to your house, and I want to leave her there to watch this Asia girl and your daughter."

"Wait, really?" Harry asked, cocking his head. "You pulled Kiba out of his date with Tsubaki because of my ending my date with Akeno like I did?"

"I've told you before, Harry, you're not the only one who cares for Lily," Rias said, wagging a finger at him. She then blushed as Harry took that hand and pulled her into a deep kiss. "Thank you," he whispered just before their lips touched, and Rias hugged him tightly, deepening the kiss as much as she could.

To one side Kalawarner looked on, shaking her head with a faint frown on her face. _So, that's how it is, then?_

Eventually, Harry moved away from Rias, leaving her somewhat breathless. Then he began to think about what he would need for this.

While he did that, Rias called Kiba and Akeno on her cell phone before questioning Kalawarner about the Sacred Gear extraction device. She was not pleased to learn that the machine would probably kill the individual whose Sacred Gear they were extracting, but she supposed it made sense. There had been a few times she had read about when a person's Sacred Gear was forcibly taken from them. Every time the process proved fatal, but it had also resulted in the Sacred Gears simply breaking apart, 'dying,' in other words, before returning to wherever they came from when they weren't implanted in a human's soul.

Despite having farther to come, Akeno arrived first, appearing out of a teleportation array to one side rather than racing over the rooftops or flying. She nearly stumbled as she alighted on the incline of the aqueduct and took a second to glare at Kalawarner before turning to Rias. "Buchou, we have a problem!"

 **OOOOOOO**

What Harry and the others had not considered was that the pressure Harry had released after sending his daughter home might be felt by the other Fallen, which was what had occurred here. Raynare was close enough to feel it before even Rias had, but instead of racing towards the center of the pressure, she had decided to race away as any sane person would.

With the feeling of Harry's fury hounding her heels, Raynare known knew the jig was up. _It's like the feeling from two weeks ago, only magnified many times over! I don't care what is causing it; we need to get out of Kuoh before whatever it is comes for us! Fuck, I hope whatever it is hasn't found that fool Freed!_ She paused on the top of a streetlight, looking around her. _And that means the time for subtlety is over with._ With that decision made, instead of racing back to the church, Raynare turned and swiftly made her way across the city towards where their initial target lived.

Since it was pushing midnight, Issei was in bed, reading a magazine of some kind. Raynare shuddered once as she looked in on this, and then smiled. _Wait, I can use this. We do have the extraction machine, after all._ With that thought Raynare knocked on the window, then, when Issei looked around, she pulled the window open from the outside with ease before leaping inside.

Issei sat straight up in bed, staring at Raynare, who was wearing her normal garb of a black string bikini with skintight boots rising to mid-thigh and equally tight gloves, the bikini barely encompassing her chest. The black of her outfit matched her hair and her wings perfectly, and, in the light of his bedside light, her light pink skin seemed to shine enticingly.

All in all, the image this woman was giving him was beyond anything he had ever seen in any magazine or even hentai anime before. Thus, it could almost be understood why the first words out of Issei's mouth were: "Wh, wha, is this a dream?"

Raynare smirked and decided to quote a movie she had seen at one point. The boy looked idiotic enough to fall for it. "Come with me if you want to fuck."

"Oh, so it is a dream. Wow, my imagination is getting pretty damn awesome!" Issei muttered. With that he actually got out of bed and moved towards Raynare.

Before he could even let out a squawk, Raynare grabbed him up in her arms, leaping back out the window. A second later she was away, her wings flaring out as she flew with the boy back to the church. "Stay quiet, boy. We need to get you away from here before our pursuers find me. Then we're going to have some fun."

Again, this, coupled with the fact his head was pressed between her glorious oppai, was enough to make Issei think this was all simply a very lucid dream. So he gave her a thumbs up and didn't struggle, concentrating on motor-boating her to his heart's content, something which caused Raynare to develop a twitch in her eye.

Behind her, in Issei's room, the two little familiars on duty stared out into the nighttime air and then back at one another. "Desuuu!" Translation: Oh, shit!

 **OOOOOOO**

After Akeno finished telling the others what her little Oni had passed on moment they were all quiet for a moment then Rias said simply, "This changes things. We can't just send in Freed now; we need to send in actual people to get Hyoudou-kun out of there and possibly Saji too. Being so blatant like that, Raynare is running scared. She'll try to cut her losses and run." She scowled, biting at the end of her hair that normally stuck out from her forehead in a light curve. "And that means we can't wait for my brother to get back to us either."

Before anyone else could say anything, she whirled to Harry, her eyes suddenly gleaming. "Harry, have you played around with your new powers of illusion?"

"Not often. I've been concentrating on bringing up the powers of the wards around my house as well as learning about my aura. Why?" Harry asked.

"I think I have a plan. You see, I've developed these crystals which can use the Power of Destruction for other things.…" Rias began to explain, only to be interrupted by her bat familiar returning like its wings were on fire.

In its claws it held a message the likes of which Harry recognized from his time at Hogwarts. "Is that a Howler?" he asked incredulously.

"Um, kind of. It's our version of it. Oh dear, maybe I shouldn't have pushed my Onii-sama's buttons so harshly," Rias mumbled.

Akeno, Kalawarner, and Harry all looked at one another then leaped away as one when the bat reached Rias and Harry hastily threw up a silencing spell around the redhead. Dropping the message at its master's feet it turned, racing away, its wings flapping so fast it almost looked like a hummingbird.

An instant later the slightly smoking message went off. Rias winced, covering her ears as a tiny image of her brother appeared from the top of the message, and her brother began to scream, the image bowing with each word.

"No, no, no, no, Rias-tan! Your brother will always love you, I swear it! But there's only so much I can do quickly. No one told us about any kind of Fallen presence in your area, and it would be highly irregular if there was one. I sent off a message to our contacts both official and unofficial within the Fallen Faction, but I can't possibly hear back from them so quickly. I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please forgive this incompetent brother for not doing more!"

At that point a hand appeared in the image, pulling sharply on an ear. "Ow, ow! Grayfia-chan, that hurts! Can't you see I'm trying to.…"

At that point the message thankfully cut off, and Rias, looking a little windswept, looked over to Harry, who obligingly removed the silencing spell. "He can't tell us anything tonight. We're on our own, which means we need to be sneaky and underhanded about this. So here's my plan…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Kalawarner feigned injury as she pushed the door to the church open, with Freed following her in, looking like death warmed over. He was missing fingers from both of his hands, but other than that looked in one piece. Indeed, he was still wearing his trench coat.

Behind them, Kiba was there as well, portraying one of the other exorcists Harry had killed, hidden under an illusion to that effect so powerful and accurate that even Kalawarner, who had seen Harry place the spell around the Knight, would have been hard-pressed to tell it wasn't real. "Remember," he said quietly as the doors creaked open and he followed her inside. "We need to get Hyoudou-kun out of here if we can."

At first it looked as if they needn't have bothered with Kiba's disguise or with Freed's bedraggled, near comatose appearance. No one noticed them enter until they were well into the inner chapel, where Mittelt looked up as Kalawarner entered. "Where the hell've you been!?"

"Out rounding up our exorcist 'friends' and trying to find Argento!" Kalawarner replied tartly, falling into her normal attitude easily. "Which, you'll note, I haven't been able to do. I found a few of the exorcists and the scattered chunks of one of the others." She gestured to Kiba. "This one, at least, was just trying to find the others after getting lost. But Freed, he ran into something tonight which made frappe of his fellow psycho before he cut and run."

Mittelt nodded at that, and then turned to where Raynare was standing in front of the chapel, holding up her hand in exultation. "That explains why Raynare decided to act like she did tonight. She must've felt what was going on."

"You didn't?" Kalawarner asked, frowning as she stared at Raynare's arm, where something was beginning to take shape. Over the heads of the crowd, though, she couldn't see anything more, not even the Sacred Gear extraction machine which had been placed between the place where the church's cross had been and the front-most pews.

Mittelt shrugged. "I was asleep until Raynare started to shout a few seconds ago. Though, if I were you, I'd present the idiot before too much longer."

The taller fallen nodded at that and pushed Freed forward, leaving Kiba behind her at the doorway alongside Mittelt. If it came to it, Kiba was close enough to neutralize Mittelt, though, given what Freed was hiding under his cloak, Kalawarner doubted it would be needed. Or rather, Kalawarner thought that right up until she saw the item that had finished appearing on Raynare's forearm. "That…can't be…" she whispered.

Standing on top of the pedestal where the original cross had been placed, Raynare saw her friend, who stood nearly a head taller than most of the exorcists. "Look at this, Kalawarner! **Look at it**! The Boosted Gear, Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor! It's all been worth it! All the humiliation, all the irritation, putting up with that blond brat's mindless pawing and inane fantasies, needing to tiptoe around those young bitches with their freakish power levels, hiding from that fucking werewolf teacher and his weird senses, all of it **worth it**! With this, with this K, I mean our superior, was right! With this we'll have **both** Heavenly Dragons on our side!" Darn even when she was ranting she didn't' slip about Kokabiel there.

Kalawarner stared past Raynare to the Sacred Gear extraction device, which was covered with hundreds of thousands of tiny glyphs and runes of all different sorts, scattered around everywhere. It was basically a crucifix with wires situated to tie someone to the wood of the cross, while several long tubes ending in vacuum ends would attach to the individual over the head, stomach, spine, and heart. Once attached via suction, the tubes would then extrude long needles of magical energy directly into the victim's body, while more would be attached to the individual who was taking the Sacred Gear from the victim.

At the foot of the device lay Issei, left to drop there like a piece of dirty clothing. He looked unconscious, his eyes wide and unseeing, and his chest barely rising and falling as he lay on his side. At the sight Kalawarner felt sad. Sad the boy was dead, or dying, sad that she would never be able to repay him for the advice he gave her, sad that she hadn't realized this was even a possibility, sad that they hadn't arrived in time to save him from this fate.

But she kept all that from her face as she moved through the crowd of fifty or more exorcists until she was near the front. "Raynare, I see your search was a lot more profitable than mine. Did you leave the boy alive, though? His chest is still moving."

"He'll die soon enough," Raynare said with a shrug, not even looking at the boy she had callously manipulated. "The brat didn't even put up a fight. I convinced him to come with us with a line from a porn flick, and he thought it was some kind of weird bondage when I plugged him into the system! How pathetic is that?"

"Heh, that is funny." Kalawarner nodded at that, and then pushed Freed forward, stepping to the side and away through the others, moving towards Issei and staying away from where Dohnaseek was standing. "That's good and all, but Freed here has something to say about what he and the other idiots with him were up to tonight. I've already heard it, but I think you all need to hear it too."

With that Kalawarner turned, moving even further to the side, out of Raynare's direct line of sight. She nodded almost imperceptibly towards Kiba, who blanched a little underneath his disguise but tensed himself resolutely.

"I suppose we should hear about it even if we are going to be getting out of here within the hour," Raynare said.

"Oh? What about Saji and Asia?" Kalawarner asked, stalling for time as she moved through the crowd of exorcists. Unfortunately, there were many of them, and they weren't very willing to move aside for her at first.

"The brat? Meh, I suppose I'll pick him up as we're leaving. I've put in so much time on that brat I don't want to leave his Sacred Gear behind after all this. As for Asia's, bah. I'd bet that was found by the Devils by this point. And we couldn't have extracted it in the first place; the device broke down after the transfer was finished." Raynare shrugged unconcern, holding up her arm with the Boosted Gear on it once more. "It's not like her Gear is anywhere near as important as this one, anyway.

With that she turned her attention back to Freed, who had also been moving haphazardly through the crowd, moving like one utterly exhausted, or rather, someone who wasn't quite under his own control. "Now, what the hell did you and your fellow brain dead idiots do, Freed?"

"Indeed," Dohnaseek said, moving through the crowd of exorcists towards Freed and glaring at him angrily. "Even I felt a flicker of that power here in the church! Did you run into a visiting Demon Lord or something?"

Freed shook his head at that, his eyes staring straight back at Raynare as he gripped his trench coat with his mutilated hands. "Have, have a message," he slurred, causing more than one pair of eyes to widen. Dohnaseek, in particular, frowned as he realized that something might be wrong here. "Don't fuck with the Potters!"

With that he pulled open his trench coat, and for an instant everyone there could only stare at was hidden inside. There were hundreds, thousands of talismans of some kind. And on each of them was the same runic array. If any of them knew European-style runes, they might have realized they were looking at what were called explosive tags.

These talismans wouldn't last very long. European runes did not last when placed on something so flimsy as paper. But, then again, these didn't have to.

With Freed's words as his cue and with no one looking in his direction, Kiba lashed out to one side. A massive claymore appeared in his hand, created by his Sacred Gear, Sword Birth. The flat of the blade smashed into the unaware Mittelt's head, sending her down and unconscious. Kiba then leaped to stand over her and pulled out a small ruby, flinging it into the air between him and Freed after sending a pulse of his own magic into it to activate the spell embedded in the crystal.

By the time Freed had opened his trench coat, Kalawarner had made her way to the front of the crowd. Now she flung herself forward to land on top of Issei, throwing a ruby exactly like the one Kiba had into the air above her after activating it with her own magic.

At the same time Dohnaseek flung himself forward, pushing past the stunned and now quickly dispersing crowd, a Light Spear appearing in one hand as he did. Raynare too hurled herself into the air but she moved away, trying to get some distance as she called on her new power. Several more exorcists nearer the back of the chapel dove for the entrance to the back of the church. Two more at the back of the crowd raced for the doorway, ignoring the sight of one of their fellows knocking out a fallen.

But all their responses came too late. An instant after Freed opened his coat the tags went off. There was an explosive boom, and the chapel from one end to the other was filled with fire and fury. It was as if someone had snuck in a few bunker busters and they all went off at once, their impact spreading out in every direction.

An instant before the explosions went off, a bright red oval umbrella appeared in front of Kiba and over Kalawarner and their charges. The explosion slammed into them but the fire and fury disappeared, almost looking like it was absorbed, but rather it was destroyed. The wind of the explosion came around the shields, but couldn't do more than push Kiba off his feet.

Outside Rias and Akeno waited, having helped Harry create a Notice-Me-Not array around the church before taking up position in the door. Now they blinked as the loud boom from inside reached them. "Ara, I think Harry might have overdone it, don't you, Buchou?"

"Not at all," Rias replied, a vicious snarl on her face. "There's no such thing as overkill when it comes to protecting your family. I just hope that Harry got into position in time."

To that Akeno could only nod in agreement, blushing somewhat as her body responded to what her friend had just said. An instant later two of the excommunicated exorcists came racing out of the church. However, before they could take two steps they were instantly struck down by cutting spells. Difindo was one of the few spells the two of them had learned so far from Harry's books well enough to not need to verbalize, and they used it now so that there would be no hint that Devil-style magic had been used.

Even the rubies, loaded with protective spells powered by Rias, would not register as Devilish in origin. When she created the spells in the crystals, what Rias did was to put her own powers within the crystal, a very, very tough process given how, well, destructive the Power of Destruction was. But after that was completed, she could impart a spell into the crystals surface which would then feed off the magic within to activate at a later date. It was a bit like the enchantments concept Harry had come up with, only more limited in scope since the spells Rias could power like that were very limited in type. She could put offensive spells on them, or rather she could, the effect just wasn't what the spells were supposed to be.

But she could create shields, though they did not react like any shield spells Harry had ever heard of. Instead of casting a magical barrier to block spells or objects, the shield spell the crystal created was like a solid version of the Power of Destruction. It annihilated anything that came in contact with it, be that thing energy or matter or anything else.

Even better for tonight's operation, the crystals would read like an unaligned magician's magic, someone who had built up power without making a long-term contract with a Devil.

That was the whole point behind this sneaky method of attack: If anyone investigated they would have no clue that Rias or her peerage were involved, and so few people among the Three Factions knew about the Wizarding world that it was incredibly doubtful they would recognize the spells used.

Akeno and Rias then raced inside quickly, only to pause and stare for a second. The interior of the chapel was wrecked. Not a single pew had survived, nor were any of the exorcists in one piece. None of them were alive, and those closest to Freed had, like Freed himself, been simply immolated, blown apart. This included Dohnaseek, though his fedora had survived, flung into the air by the explosion, and his body had stayed somewhat intact unlike the humans caught that close to the source of the explosion.

Even the wall separating the chapel from the small entranceway had been destroyed, as had the wall at the far end where Harry now stood, moving over the rubble and the bodies of another few excommunicated exorcists that had tried to escape that way.

Seeing Kalawarner hovering over the body of Hyoudou-kun, Rias raced over to them, kneeling next to the boy. "Akeno, get over here. Kiba, make certain that other one is unconscious!" Taking Mittelt alive had been the only request Kalawarner had made before joining this operation.

Seeing the two girls dealing with Issei, who he thought was just unconscious; Harry looked around, his eyes hard as he looked around for the mastermind of this operation. "Where's the one called Raynare?"

Kalawarner looked up from moving to one side of Issei and pointed. Harry turned in that direction, and saw Raynare pushing herself to her feet. "That's her."

Half of Raynare's body looked broken and seared, including her wing, which had been turned into ash and burnt flesh. While her other half looked only bruised, that would have been enough to kill any human being just from the pain alone, yet there was a light of madness in her eyes and Raynare lifted up an arm clad in a red metal gauntlet, the only thing on that side of her body which looked undamaged. "No," she slurred. "Not like this! Not when I've finally gotten this! **BOOST!"** she shrieked, launching herself towards Harry, who was the nearest enemy. Magic visibly gathered around her broken, dying body concentrating into her gauntlet where it started to gutter out slowly.

Without any change in his expression, Harry flicked a hand forward, and a cutting spell sliced Raynare's arm off at the elbow before her attack could gain further momentum. She screamed, but didn't have very long to do so. In the next instant a full powered Reducto caught her in the face, turning it and much of her upper body into mush.

Striding forward, Harry picked up the severed arm and looked at the gauntlet thoughtfully. "Is this what this was all about?" Harry could feel the power radiating off the thing, but it really wasn't all that much…or was it? He couldn't quite tell. The surface feeling wasn't all that much, but something about the red gauntlet gave him a very odd feeling of buried power.

Rias's eyes widened as she looked up from pulling out what looked like a pawn, the chess piece gleaming black and red with power. "That is the Boosted Gear, Ddraig the Red Emperor! It's a mid-tier Longinous, a Sacred Gear able to kill a god. Their infiltration of my territory and their attacking people under my protection now makes much more sense if it was for something that important."

Kneeling next to Rias, he looked at the boy. "How is he?"

"Hyoudou-kun was dead the instant his Sacred Gear was taken from him," Rias said with a sad sigh. "For now, anyway. It's been a short enough time that I can resurrect him as a devil."

Behind them Kalawarner smiled at that. For some reason she was happy they could save the boy from permanently dying, at least.

"And what about this?" Harry asked, pulling the gauntlet off Raynare's severed arm and tossing the arm away to join the blood and scattered bodies that covered the church.

Rias stared at it and then down at the boy. There was no visible wound on him beyond a few suction marks, the extraction process seemingly leaving no other physical mark on him. She stepped back, staring first at the gauntlet, then down at the boy, her eyes narrowing. "What do your senses tell us?"

Harry frowned at that, and then activated his aura reading ability, wincing as he looked at the gauntlet. "All right, that thing is a lot stronger than I expected! And it seems to have a soul?"

"The thirteen strongest Sacred Gears have souls within them, or at least that is what I've read. Most of them are…I suppose you could call them dormant most of the time, but the two Dragon Emperors are supposed to be a little more 'awake' then the others," Rias mused before shaking that off and concentrating on the current issue. "But is there any connection between the two of them?"

"I can't see one," Harry said after a moment, shaking his head.

"Nor can I," Rias said with a sigh. "If there had been any kind of bond there, if the Sacred Gear had been awakened before it was extracted, we would probably have had to use that extraction machine to somehow reverse the process in order to keep him alive. But, as it is, that won't be necessary. My chess piece alone will be able to fill the damaged areas of within his soul."

"But he will live as part of your peerage?" Harry asked, turning away and beginning to use cleaning spell and vanishing charms to get rid of the blood and viscera everywhere. After he was done there would be no physical evidence to explain what had happened to any of the exorcists or the fallen. If anyone came around looking for answers, they weren't going to find any here. "And what about the Boosted Gear? That woman attempted to use it but didn't seem able to."

Rias looked at the Boosted Gear for a moment in Harry's hands, her eyes narrowed as she tried to sense the soul within and failing. "Yes, Hyoudou-kun will live on as one of my peerage. If the Sacred Gear had been awakened at all before it had been extracted, it would have taken far more than a single pawn piece."

"As for the Sacred Gear, I don't know," she said after a long, silent minute's thinking. "I would love to add its power to my peerage, but I don't know if its style would work with any of my friends or I myself. And we might have to somehow communicate with, or bond with, Ddraig's soul in order to use the power of it. That would not be pleasant at all. There's a difference between wearing it and using it."

She turned and looked at Kalawarner and Mittelt, then to Kiba who was standing over the unconscious fallen who was dressed, Rias now noticed, like some kind of gothic loli. "Kiba, Akeno, please escort Kalawarner and Mittelt to our home, would you. The basement should be secure enough to hold Mittelt for now. After that, Akeno, please stand by. I might need your help to rearrange some more memories of the family Lily was supposed to stay with tonight. Kalawarner…"

Rias looked at the blue-haired fallen, her eyes narrowing, then she sighed. "While I trust you, Kalawarner, I must err on the side of caution here. You can take one of our guest rooms, but Akeno will be placing wards on the door and window so you cannot leave without our say-so. This will probably last only for the night, but I have to keep you under lock and key until I get word from my Onii-sama."

"You don't have to do that, you know," Kalawarner said mildly, her eyes flashing in stark contrast to her tone. "I gave you my word that I wasn't going to try to fight, that I was trying to change. With that, where would I go?"

"I realize that, and I would personally be willing to trust you. But I also have to act as a leader should, and that means keeping both you and Mittelt under lock and key until I figure out whether or not you all were really sanctioned to be here by your higher-ups or if something else was going on. If something else is going on, I might be forced to hand you over. You realize that, don't you?"

Harry winced at that, looking up at Rias, his work on cleaning up halfway done. "I would not be comfortable with that. If push came to shove, I would offer Kalawarner my protection. She was prepared to defend Lily tonight, and she apologized for what she nearly did to me. She's trying to redeem herself; that has to be worth something."

"It is to me personally," Rias said once more with a sigh and a fond look at Harry. "However, this is politics."

"They won't ask if we were acting under Raynare's orders rather than the Grigori's. They'll cut their losses," Kalawarner predicted with a shrug and a glance towards Harry. "Still, I'll go along with this for now."

As the others left, Rias moved over to Harry, who was still carrying the Sacred Gear. Rias looked at it quizzically. "I take it you're going to take command of that?"

"It seems fitting, since I was the one who disarmed Raynare," Harry replied with gallows humor, which caused Rias to smack his upper arm with a scowl. "More seriously, given some of the things that Manannán told me about how I had power over souls and the undead, I might be best able to actually speak with the soul within."

Nodding thoughtfully at that, Rias fought down the greedy, and wholly idiotic, urge to demand that Harry give her the Boosted Gear. The amount of power the Boosted Gear would add to her peerage was beyond tempting to Rias, but, as she said earlier, there was the question of compatibility to consider. _And even if there wasn't, it certainly would not be cause enough to argue with Harry right now._

By this point Harry had finished cleaning up the church, even repairing the majority of the pews, the walls, and the floor. Some of the pews and the weird device that had been used to extract the Sacred Gear in the first place did not come together correctly under his Reparo. For the pews, Harry supposed that pieces of them had simply been burned to smoke, the spell unable to reform those bits. The device, however, had seemingly fought his spell in some fashion because of the leftover Fallen magic within it. "Well, I think we're done here."

Nodding, Rias moved to put her arms around Harry's waist, looking up at him with a smile. "Then let's go." At Harry's inquiring look, she shook her head. "I told you, Harry, you're not the only one who cares about Lily. I want to make sure she's all right too."

"Mmm, so you said," Harry replied putting his arms around her in turn and enjoying the feel of her pressing against him, his hands staying firmly at the small of Rias's back despite an urge to explore further. Harry knew that this was not the time for that, but he could not stop himself from leaning down and kissing Rias lightly on the lips. He pulled back quickly, however, and warned, "Brace yourself, the first apparition is like the first use of a portkey, only worse."

"Wait, wh,…" Rias began, and then they disappeared from the interior of the church only to reappear in the Potters' backyard. She stumbled and would have fallen but for Harry's arms around her. She had to close her eyes for a moment, recovering slowly as Harry hands moved in a soothing circle on her back as the protective wards around his property welcomed them both, a light buzzing sensation going through their bodies.

"Oooh, ugh. Harry, I think I know what we're going to be doing, first thing: placing a teleportation array in your house. Gah, I do not want to ever use that method of teleportation ever again," Rias groaned, then looked up at him with a wan smile. "But don't let that stop you moving those hands like that.…"

"I see you're feeling better," Harry replied, letting go of her gently, his hands sliding down her sides and away. As the door to his house opened he had already moved away and smiled at Koneko as she appeared.

Rias too turned to face her youngest peerage member, moving toward her with Harry. "Has everything been okay here, Koneko-chan?" she asked, rubbing Koneko's head.

"Un. No problems. The puppy's attackers?" Koneko asked, staring at them both, her body a tense bowstring waiting to be released.

"Dealt with." At Koneko's murmured sound of 'mmm?' Harry went on. "We exploded them for the most part. Beyond that, Rias can tell you about it later. Right now I want to talk to Lily. Is she still awake?"

Koneko nodded and turned to lead the way back into the house. But before they entered, Rias put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Harry, would you mind telling me what you're going to talk to Lily about?"

"Lily hid from me the fact she was having trouble with her werewolf side, which was why she wasn't able to remember to use her portkey, something that should have gotten her out of trouble. She told me why, but I want to make certain she understands she isn't a burden, that I could never see her that way," Harry replied firmly.

Nodding thoughtfully, Rias asked, "Can I talk to her, do you think? Some things are better handled from an outsider's perspective, a friend rather than a father."

"Or from a young woman to a younger girl?" Harry asked sardonically.

"Exactly," Rias said with a smile.

Inside the house, they found the two younger girls still on the sofa. Asia was asleep, curled up to one side of the sofa as Lily watched the TV avidly, a bowl of popcorn between them. She looked up as Koneko and the others entered and smiled wanly at her father, waving her hand and whispering, "Hey, Daddy, Rias."

"Hello, lovey," Harry said with a smile, moving over to hug her tightly, the same feeling of fear he had felt when he smelled Lily's blood going through him just then. But he controlled it with difficulty and just hugged her as tightly as he could. "The bad men and their friends have all been dealt with, and Asia here is going to stay with us for now. Do you like that?"

"Sure, she's nice, though she doesn't know anything!" Lily whisper-shouted while rolling her eyes and freeing an arm to gesture at Asia. "She says she's never been to school, and worse, she's never even seen cartoons except in commercials and only has seen a few anime on the plane ride to Japan."

"Then I'm certain you and Rias will have a lot of fun educating her in that area," Harry replied before falling silent and just hugging her for a few minutes before he sighed and forced his arms apart. "For now, however, I am going to put her in bed, and then you and I need to talk, okay? And Rias has decided to join us for this talk too."

With that Harry gently lifted Asia into his arms and, after settling her against his shoulder, made for the door. Koneko moved with him to open the door to the guest bedroom and also to allow Rias start the talk with Lily. Koneko had already given the little girl her opinion, but she knew that her King was a lot better at this kind of thing.

Without a word Rias sat down next to Lily, pulling her into her lap and running her fingers through the little girl's hair as Lily nuzzled into Rias's prodigious chest. "Lily, sweetheart, would you like to talk to me? Just woman to woman?"

Lily looked up at her and slowly nodded. "When, when we were living in Britain with Mother, I…"

From there Lily described how she had always wondered how many of the problems between her parents were because of her. How she had often overheard people when they went around with other magical people that thought she was a freak, including many of the other kids she occasionally met. How her thoughts on that had been made worse by the revelation of her and her Daddy's odd blood.

Halfway through this retelling Harry came back down, and he stood in the doorway, silently listening, his eyes flashing in the old 'Avada Kedavra eyes' look his friends and former enemies knew all too well. But as it continued, he bit his lip, his anger retreating in favor of another emotion: guilt that he hadn't spotted this problem building up in his daughter. _I noticed she was having trouble in her new school, but where was all this? How did I miss it?_ _How could I ignore the fact that rumors could hurt her?_

Rias listened silently, simply stroking the little girl's hair with one hand as she hugged her. When Lily wound down, she said, "I understand why you might think you're a burden to Harry, but I think you know he would never look at you like that, don't you? I know you might think that's because fathers aren't supposed to think like that, but it is also simply because he loves you, Lily-chan. If you love someone, helping them with their problems, big or small, is just something you do. And you do need help in this area, don't you?"

Lily hesitated then nodded, Rias feeling the movement against her chest more than seeing it given how tightly Lily had pressed her face into the older girl's body. "Good. Now let us move on to the word, 'freak.' Has your father ever told you about his own childhood, Lily?"

"Some. Not a lot," Lily muttered.

"Hmm.… Well, I think he needs to tell you about some of his time with the Dursleys. He knows that words hurt, Lily-chan. He won't think less of you for letting them get to you. As for you being a freak, though, there is **no way** you could **ever** be called that!" Rias said, her voice becoming stern as she gently pushed Lily's face away from her chest so that she could see the girl's green eyes. "Lily-chan, look at me."

When the girl had no choice but to do so, Rias went on. "Would you say the first of something is a freak? The first butterfly in the world? Or the first bird who had evolved from a dinosaur? **"**

"Um…no, no, I wouldn't," Lily said, actually having to think for a minute there. So absorbed in her discussion was she that she didn't notice her father's presence until he sat to one side of them, putting a gentle arm around her shoulder. But she still didn't look away from Rias.

"That is what you and Harry are, Lily-chan: the first of a new breed. You're not a freak; you're unique, like a snowflake or a butterfly. And in many ways you're better than normal werewolves: stronger, faster, in more control, and far prettier in your other form too!" At that Lily laughed, and Rias smiled, but went on seriously. "Never be ashamed of being different, Lily-chan. Be proud of it."

"She's right, sweetheart," Harry said, and Lily turned, nuzzling into his chest in turn as his arms went around them both. "We might be different, but that is a source of strength, not a sign we're freaks. I was called that a lot when I was younger. My relatives hated the fact I was able to use magic. They used words and…actions…to try to beat me down and make me conform to their idea of normality. But I learned then, and later on, that being different isn't something to be afraid of. And I'll help you realize that too."

"As for the rumors about you, Lily, How would you normally deal with someone saying something bad about you to your face?" Rias said with a faint smile, enjoying the group.

"Punch them in the nose!" Lily said, causing Harry to laugh and Koneko, who had come down by this point as well, to nod in agreement.

"Ah, but that is how a silly **boy** would deal with the issue," Rias said, putting as much derision in her voice as she could when she said that word while making a face at Harry. "It might solve some problems, but not all of them. Would you like me to teach you how a girl would deal with this kind of thing? So if there is ever another rumor campaign against you, you'll know what to do?"

Lily thought about it for a minute then nodded. She was also looking a lot cheerier now. The idea of striking back at the rumormongers without violence had never actually occurred to her before, and the fact that Rias and her Daddy hadn't just waved aside her concerns but had addressed them made her feel a heck of a lot better. _I'm not a freak; I'm_ _ **unique**_ _!_ she thought to herself.

"That, however, will have to wait for another time, since it is well past midnight now, and little girls need their sleep," Harry said with a smile, lifting Lily out of Rias's lap and standing up in one motion. "And tomorrow we will talk about harnessing your werewolf side further and some of my own experiences about name-calling and how to not let rumor get to you."

"After that, I will start teaching you how to fight rumor with rumor, like every girl should know," Rias said, standing up and following after the two Potters. "I'll also have Koneko-chan stay over with you tonight."

In actuality, given the look in her young Rook's eyes, Rias knew she would have had to order Koneko away, and it would have been a wrong move. Instead, Koneko nodded at her King, relief shining in her eyes.

Given the lateness, the physical exertions, and the emotional turmoil (and the fact that Koneko hadn't let her have any sugar-type sweets), Lily was practically asleep before Harry put her in bed. She clung to him for a moment, kissing his cheek. "Love you, Daddy."

"I love you too, sweetheart; never doubt it," Harry replied, kissing her on the forehead. Then, to Koneko's shock, he did the same to her as she got in bed with the younger girl. Koneko's eyes widened at that, and she froze as Harry smiled warmly at her before turning away.

Outside Harry and Rias were silent as they walked back down the stairs to the entryway. There Harry paused, pulling Rias into a hug and kissing her gently on the lips. He pulled back after a moment, murmuring, "Thank you for your help tonight, and not just with Raynare and that bunch. You were right. You really were able to get through to Lily more than I would have. It would not have occurred to me to separate the werewolf issue, the name-calling, and her own thoughts on the matter into three like that. I would have just told her to turn the other cheek to the rumors because I stopped caring about what people said about me and forgot they could hurt other people."

"Girls are always more susceptible to nasty rumors like that than boys. Boys normally deal with problems far more physically as I mentioned,," Rias replied, leaning up to kiss his chin and then his neck, nibbling at the skin as Harry's hands moved down her back, his fingers beginning to wend their way through her hair while his other hand gripped her rear with just a bit of pressure.

Harry let loose a rumble, leaning in to capture Rias's lips once more before reluctantly turning away. "We have to stop now, or else I'll never let you leave."

"Who says I'd want to," Rias replied, leaning in to give Harry a kiss this time, her tongue out and pressing into his mouth.

Even more reluctantly, Harry pushed her away gently. "It's late, Rias, and we both need our sleep. And if you stayed, sleep would definitely not be on the menu."

Rias giggled. "Too true." She then became serious. "I will tell Sona about what happened tonight, tomorrow morning. I think, after that, we might need you with us when we go to talk to Saji, just in case.

"And Kalawarner," Harry replied with a nod. "Call me when you decide where you want to meet, and I'll meet up with you after breakfast. But I will want some time to talk to Lily before that. And Asia too."

"Mmm, I'd almost forgotten about her," Rias mused. "Still, we'll talk about her tomorrow. Till then, Harry."

"Till then, Rias," Harry replied, watching as she moved away and, pushing her arms to either side, created a teleportation array and disappeared.

 **OOOOOOO**

In the now totally abandoned church where Raynare and her people had operated, a single person walked through the repaired interior, looking around with a faint frown on his face. He was a young man, seeming to be of high school age or thereabouts, with a pointed chin, high cheekbones, and a slightly European cast to his features, though his dark green hair certainly did not fit that image. His amber eyes also were highly unusual, as was the fact he was dressed in incredibly fine robes to be walking through what amounted to a ruin.

"What exactly happened here?" he mused, scowling as he pulled out a small holy cross in his gloved hand while also pulling out a small crystal ovoid in his other hand. He set that one down on the floor, tapping it twice before moving away as it began to emit a violet glow and scowling as he looked down at the cross he was still holding.

"Hmmm.… She is either hidden under powerful wards or…perhaps dearest Asia has rejected her faith? Mhmmm that would be a most fascinating thing to hear, though I would have preferred to break her of that belief myself. Still, there are other expressions I can make her show me," the man went on; talking to himself like it was an everyday thing.

A low pitched sound distracted the green haired man after a second, however, and he turned with a scowl to stare at the ovoid, which had just stopped glowing. "What? That's impossible. There had to be some magic used here.…" His scowl deepening, he stared around, and then pulled out an even larger ovoid. "Can't use any spells myself, blast it. Those two slut heiresses are, no doubt, on high alert. Getting in here in the first place was hard enough with all those familiars on watch, along with the Gremory Knight and Sitri Bishops hidden and watching."

He placed those magical items in different locations, this time near where the cross should have been, and then placed the larger one in the center of the chapel, placing the original ovoid on top. So reinforced, the magical scanners did get a response this time, though the one he'd placed near the front of the chapel didn't get anything once more.

Even the two which worked created a return that he did not understand. "Green and white? Not Demonic or Fallen? White… that could be an uncontracted magician's magic, but green.…" The young man grit his teeth, shaking his head. "I dislike mysteries intensely, especially when they get in the way of me attaining the prize I want."

His amber eyes lit up with something that could only be called a sadistic desire. "But don't worry, Asia-chan. I will have you eventually, whatever happened here. You will be mine!" Sighing, he turned away, pulling a cloak around him which covered him from head to toe, causing him to disappear. "For now I will have to seek out my new patron for aid in figuring out this mystery."

 **OOOOOOO**

Asia woke up the next day, and, for a moment, she didn't realize where she was. She was in a room she hadn't seen before and in a bed slightly larger and far softer and more welcoming than any she had slept in before. And there was a smell coming from somewhere nearby of breakfast being prepared. She pushed herself upright, yawning and stretching before looking around, remembering much of what had occurred the night before.

As she finished stretching and was about to get out of bed to perform her morning prayers, the door to the room opened. She recognized the girl named Koneko from the night before, who looked back at her with a slow, catlike blink. "Food," she said.

"Ano, I'll, I'll be down in a moment," Asia replied hesitantly. "I have to do my morning prayers."

Koneko paused, looking at her thoughtfully, then nodded once and exited quickly.

Now alone, Asia knelt by her bed, putting her elbows on the bed while pressing her hands together as she held her rosary. Because she had forgotten to pray last night, having fallen asleep on the sofa, Asia performed two prayers while apologizing for missing her prayer last night, ending with, "And please, Lord, I do not mean to sound selfish, but could my new acquaintances be my friends? That's all I ask of You, Lord, that I continue to do your will and make friends doing it."

With that she pushed herself to her feet and moved to the door, which opened before she could reach it as the young werewolf man from the night before poked his head in. "All done, Asia?" he asked, a slight smile on his face. "Come on, we saved breakfast for you."

"Oh, thank you. You didn't have to go the trouble for me," Asia replied hesitantly, moving towards him as Harry held the door open for. Now, in the light of day, she could tell a lot more about Harry's appearance than she had last night by the light of the lampposts. Harry was a rather handsome man in his mid-twenties, fit and with emerald eyes that made her flush a little as she passed him.

Asia hadn't been around very many handsome people in her time, of course. Mostly she had been around older priests and younger and older nuns. The nuns and the young priests weren't allowed to mingle in the Church, after all.

"It wasn't any trouble. This just let me talk to my daughter some before breakfast rather than after or during," Harry replied.

To Asia's surprise she found an actual place already made for her at the table, with Koneko across from her, Lily to her left, and Harry to her right, sitting on the other sides of the small table.

"Hi, Asia!" Lily said, waving her hand. "Come on and sit! It's always more fun to have meals with friends."

"Friends?" Asia asked, halting in the doorway into the kitchen. "You, you think we're friends?"

"Mhmm. You saved my life last night, then we watched movies and ate snacks together, so that makes us friends," Lily said, holding out her hand to shake Asia's. "I love making new friends."

Asia smiled tremulously and shook her hand firmly. "So do I! I just don't have much experience in it…" she mumbled.

"Come on. Sit and eat before it gets cold," Harry said, putting a gentle hand on the small of Asia's back and urging her forward. "We won't bite."

Asia blushed at that, since in all the werewolf tales that was precisely what they were supposed to do. Although a small niggling part of her mind wondered if being bitten by Harry would be so bad. Before that thought could gain momentum enough to cause her to blush again, she quickly sat down and looked at the food in front of her, which was a mix between English and Japanese, with an emphasis on breakfast sausages. "It all looks so good!"

"Thank you for the compliment," Harry said, smiling and bowing at that as Koneko added a murmur of agreement to it. "Now, dig in."

Lily instantly began to dominate the discussion, asking Asia a lot of questions about where she came from, what she had been doing, and about the magic she used to heal Lily the evening before. Asia answered hesitantly at first then got into it more as she saw no condemnation or anger in any of their faces, even sharing how she had been kicked out of the Church.

Even with that, none of them responded with anything but understanding towards her. Towards the church not so much, but Asia attempted to calm their anger at her predicament, even if she honestly didn't understand why she had been kicked out either.

She occasionally noticed Koneko wince when she mentioned God and praying, but neither of the werewolves responded to it, which was surprising considering, again, what she had been told about werewolves. _But, then again, if I really listened to what I was told about werewolves, I should have stepped aside last night. I wonder how many other teachings of the Church are…misguided._

Even thinking that was rather hard for Asia, but she was being forced to reevaluate that kind of thing of late. She still firmly believed in the Bible and God, but while the Bible was used to create Church doctrine, Church doctrine had, in many ways, grown past the great book, and in possibly the wrong directions at times.

However, despite her young friend chattering away, Asia could not help but wonder what was going to happen to her from now on and what had happened last night to Kalawarner. Had she or any of the others come looking for her? Where was Asia supposed to go from here? She had come here because she had thought that, by working with Raynare and the others, she could make good her mistake from a few months ago: that of healing someone who turned out to be a Devil. But with that having proven a false hope the instant Kalawarner showed her Fallen Angel wings, Asia was left rather adrift. She had felt that last night, too, but had been able to push the thought away.

As they begin to finish up breakfast, however, Asia asked hesitantly, "Ano, excuse me, but, um, what happened last night after you sent Lily-chan and me here, Potter-san?"

"You don't have to use honorifics with us, Asia. We're not from Japan ourselves, after all. First, you have to understand that this is Devil territory, two of them. They're the nicest devils you could ever meet, just like Koneko-chan here," Harry said with a faint smile. "Your fallen 'friends' were not actually supposed to be in this area according to the state of peace that exists between the Factions."

"Oh," Asia said, looking around herself fearfully, then at Koneko who allowed herself to smile at the girl.

"Don't worry. Gremory-san, one of the two devils who control the area, already heard testimony from Kalawarner last night that you had no idea they were Fallen at all, let alone that you shouldn't be in the area. So long as you don't become violent or anything like that, you'll be allowed to remain in the area. That just leaves one question, of course: what do you want to do?"

"What?" Asia asked, blinking in shock. "A, ano, what do you mean?"

"What do you want to do with your life going forward?" Harry asked intently, leaning back and folding his hands at his waist. "What do you want to do with your life? Do you want to try to get back into the Church? Do you want to travel the world? What do **you** , Asia Argento,want to do?"

Asia blushed, looking away for a moment. "Um…I, I don't know. I've no place to go, really.…"

"Bah, you don't have to worry about that!" Lily said, reaching over and grabbing one of Asia's hands and squeezing it with her own. "You can stay here with us, if you want."

"R, Really?" Asia asked surprised.

"If that's what you want to do," Harry said with a nod. "But don't let my little daughter browbeat you into something you don't want. What do you want?"

Asia blushed again under Harry's emerald gaze, looking down at Lily's hand and squeezing back thankfully. "A, actually that sounds really nice. I want to, well, I'd like to act like a normal girl, I suppose? Go to school, that kind of thing. But I'd also like to make friends."

Harry looked at her steadily for a moment, then a slow smile crossed his face, and he nodded. "That sounds like a very familiar refrain to me. Being unusual or abnormal, that is a hard burden indeed."

Looking from Harry to the others, Asia saw all three of her nodding at her. "Yes," she said with a sigh. "I wouldn't give up Twilight Healing I was given this power by God for a reason, after all. But I would, I would like some normality, I suppose. Friends and a, a family, though I suppose that last one is beyond me."

"We can see to most of that right now, Asia-chan. And don't give up on the idea of a family just yet. For now, why don't you let Lily show you around the grounds—I doubt you saw much of the house last night—and take a nice shower? Koneko, why don't you head home and grab some sets of exercise clothing and maybe a skirt for now? I'll either ask Rias or take Asia out myself later today to shop for some more. Asia, I'll have a questionnaire for you to fill out after your shower, so I'll know what grade you should join. Koneko, when you come back, I'll want you and Lily outside.

Koneko nodded and hopped to her feet, moving around to take Asia's hand and pulling her quickly out of the room with Lily following. Harry watched them go for a moment as he began to pile up the plates, smiling widely. _Heh, it seems like my family has grown, if in an unusual manner, and more than just Asia and Koneko, I think._

 **OOOOOOO**

While cleaning up after their own breakfast in her mansion, Rias and Akeno both sneezed, the redhead quickly holding a hand over her mouth as Akeno grabbed at a paper towel. "ACHOoo!"

"Ara, is someone talking about us, do you think, Rias-chan?" Akeno asked, pulling the paper towel away from her nose and going back to washing dishes without a beat.

"Maybe," Rias replied with a shrug. "I wonder who?"

"Ufufufu. Rather spoiled for choice there, Rias-chan," Akeno replied with a giggle.

 **OOOOOOO**

Issei too woke up that day around the same time the others had, though full wakefulness took more time. When his brain finally came online, Issei's eyes snapped open and he pushed himself out of bed, rolling away and staring around him, his arms up between him and anything that might attack him. But there was nothing there, and Issei looked around wildly, realizing he was in his own bedroom once more.

"Wh, what the? Was that a dream? What the hell?! I've never had a dream turn into a nightmare like that, especially when oppai are involved!" Issei practically shrieked to himself, looking around in abject confusion.

But he saw no sign that anyone had been in his room. Then he looked down at himself and saw no physical sign of the odd thing Issei had first taken to be some kind of bondage device, which he knew had left suction marks. "Maybe it really was a dream? Maybe, maybe it's a sign that I need to give up on my goal. Maybe my subconscious mind is trying to tell me that oppai can turn on you."

He thought about it for a moment, and then shook his head. "No! No way! Just because a dream went bad just then is no reason to give up on my own goal to become a Harem King! For the Oppai, I will never surrender to my fears!"

 **OOOOOOO**

At the Potter household, Harry had finished cleaning up from breakfast and, as Asia began to fill out the questionnaire, he took Lily and Koneko out into the backyard. There he took up meditative pose on the ground with his daughter in his lap, as he slowly walked her through changing forms. "Now that the genie is out of the bottle, Lily, you'll need to practice more self-control. Maybe you'll even have a better time of it given the fact that both you and your were-side are so young."

Lily hesitated, and Harry could feel that in her body, and he leaned in, kissing her hair and hugging her gently. "Remember what Rias said last night, Lily; remember what we talked about this morning. You are not a freak. We, you and I, are simply unique and unique means special, which is a good thing, not a bad. Your werewolf side is not your enemy or a burden; it is simply part of you. Accept it into you, but don't let its instincts control you."

Koneko leaned in, pressing her face against the side of the younger girl's, allowing her body to shift to her normal form from the human body she usually retained. Lily felt the nekomata's cat ear rubbing against her and opened her eyes to look into Koneko's golden ones. "Lily, watch," the older girl ordered.

As Lily and Harry watched her, Koneko stood up and moved away, her twin tails swishing. She looked down at herself, then back up at Lily, her eyes fierce. "I, I'm not just a nekomata, but nekoshou. Rare breed: stronger, tougher, but wilder, able to use Senjutsu, take power from world. It can be very, very bad. But it is senjutsu that is bad, not being nekoshou. Being nekoshou, being phoenix werewolf, not bad. Being different, not bad. It what you do with it that matters."

The white-haired girl's words raised more than a few questions in Harry's mind, though he had heard the story about her sister before, both from her and a very short, abbreviated version of it from Rias's perspective. At the moment he set those questions aside and smiled proudly at Koneko, who had just said more words in a single moment then he had ever heard from her before outside of class. But there was one thing he just could not let slide. "Phoenix werewolf?" lol

"Heard about the phoenix tears getting in your bloodstream," Koneko muttered, blushing and looking away. "First name for you two I thought up. If you don't like it, can always come up with your own."

"True." With that minor point taken care of, Harry looked down at his daughter. "Well, Lily, that's another person who believes that being special is good. Are you ready to use what makes you special rather than be afraid of it?"

Staring first at Koneko, then her father, Lily could almost feel the words she had heard back in Britain wash out of her mind, and she threw back her shoulders proudly. "Let's do this!"

"That's my girl," Harry said with a smile. "Now, what you need to do is.…"

Harry helped Lily through a few simple meditations, taken not from the European school, but the Onmyouji style. That way Lily would start to protect her soul first, which she could do without any repercussions to her mind or its structure. Harry also felt that this would allow her to better access her werewolf mind, which, now that he had realized that the werewolf side of Lily would be as young as Lily herself, he was willing to see occur.

With Harry's help and the fact the full moon had been just last night; Lily was able to get in touch with her inner puppy. And it was, indeed, a puppy. When Lily stood in front of it, while around them was the unformed mass of her mind and soul, her werewolf side was just a little puppy! It barely came up to her knee, and it was sleek, with red fur and emerald eyes just like Lily's own.

Lily blinked down at it, and then got down on her hands and knees, though what she was actually kneeling on, she couldn't tell. The puppy growled at her, its lips peeling back, but then paused as Lily just looked at it before slowly holding out a hand. "You and I, we're supposed to be one and the same. So let's show Daddy, Koneko, and the others we can handle this, okay, and um… get together?"

The puppy sniffed her hand, then allowed her slowly start to rub its ears before slowly dissipating into a fine fog, which then 'whooshed' into Lily's own 'body.' A second after that, Lily opened her eyes and found herself back in the real world, though her perspective had slightly changed.

"You okay, Lily?" Harry asked calmly, running a finger through his daughter's fur.

"Mm.… Feels weird; so many smells, tough to concentrate," Lily said, turning to look at her father, feeling an urge to run, to play, to be active that she would normally think was from a sugar high. "Weird, but fun too."

Lily looked down at herself and found her body had indeed shifted, but it wasn't quite the same as it had been last night, though she didn't realize that until Harry explained while Lily hopped out of his lap. "Your muzzle's smaller, which I sort of expected, but your limbs are also more shapely. And you seem far better able to stand up on your hind legs."

Indeed, Lily now looked almost like a much shorter version of Harry's own werewolf, or phoenix werewolf form, standing a few inches taller than she had been before, with her body covered by a light covering of red fur, her hands a little longer and her nails sharper. Her shirt and shorts had expanded to accommodate her new size, thanks to some hasty spellwork from her daddy, but her shoes had been a lost cause, her toes bursting out of the front of them.

"Yeah, but all these weird smells. I didn't realize…" Lily muttered, pawing at her nose.

"Yes, those do get some getting used to, but you will have to learn how to control it. Still, for now, why don't you and Koneko have some fun?" Harry said, standing up.

With this cue, Lily turned to Koneko and leaped toward her, shouting, "Tackle attack!"

Koneko dodged to one side and then hopped back towards Lily, bearing her to the ground as the two of them rolled around. Nekomata, while being cats, actually had a bit more in terms of socializing in common with wolves and other pack animals. So Koneko loved to roughhouse and couldn't do it very often before Lily had come into her life. And even then, she'd had to act merely slightly above human normal. Now, however, she let loose some of her Rook-given strength, and Lily, though younger, was able to match her slightly enhanced speed, if not her strength and exceeded her sheer exuberance.

Watching this wrestling match turn into a race and then a game of pounce, Harry chuckled, looking at the damage they were doing to his yard. "Hmm.… I'm going to need a bigger backyard."

After watching this for a while, Harry felt a frown try to fight its way onto his face. _I nearly lost her. I nearly lost Lily. And not because of those psychopaths, but because of my own complacency! Not again. It's not going to happen again. Someone is going to be with her at all times, if not me personally. And I also have to do better at spotting it when Lily is hiding something from me. That's.… My guilt over that is going to take much longer to get over._

Shaking off his guilt on those two points, Harry called the two girls over to him. "Listen, girls. I need to leave to talk to Rias and Sona about more of the aftermath of last night. Koneko, I'm leaving you in charge here. Neither Lily nor Asia are allowed out of the house without me with them unless Akeno or Kiba come by to accompany you. There's food in the fridge for lunch if I don't return before then." Harry would have added Rias to that list, but he knew she would be out with him.

"Ahem!" Koneko said, a bright smile on her face, easily the most expressive of its kind Harry had yet seen from the girl as she thrust out her chest self-importantly. "Count on me!"

"Good girl," He said, leaning down to kiss her forehead and then Lily's furry cheek. "And after I come back we'll have a special Magic is Amazing day, okay? Oh, and if Asia comes out to play, girls, remember she's not as durable as the two of you."

"Ooh!" Lily said, then began to chatter about what that meant to Koneko as Harry walked off, leaving the girls to their fun.

He checked in on Asia, finding her barely a third of the way through the tests. He told the blonde girl that he was going out and to take her time filling out the tests. "Just do your best; don't try to finish them quickly. And tonight, if you have any requests for dinner, I'll see what I can do about treating you, okay?"

Asia nodded and bent down to her work resolutely, flushing in happiness at the head-pat Harry had just given her. With a final nod, Harry turned away and left the house.

 **OOOOOOO**

Sona waited somewhat impatiently at the school gates, going over what Rias had told her about last night. Of course, Sona and Tsubaki had both felt it when Harry had lost control of his aura, but Sona had long since decided that anything to do with Potter-sensei fell under Rias's purview, and she had decided not to investigate at the time. And while she wasn't happy with everything that had occurred last night, Rias had been fully within her rights as co-owner of the territory to deal with everything that occurred without consulting Sona.

She didn't like the fact that Rias had gambled so heavily on Harry and her own abilities, but couldn't deny the results or that soon enough Rias could need the help against Riser, despite Rias's own words on that subject. _I could wish she hasn't taken the phrase, 'who dares, wins,' to heart, but that is almost certainly my own predilection to caution. And I can be hopeful that this will pave the way for Saji to join my peerage. As for the Boosted Gear…_

Sona was not happy that she hadn't detected a hint about the Boosted Gear, not a one before this. Even Tsubaki, who was slightly better at sensing Sacred Gears than Sona, had only detected a hint of power from the boy, nothing to show the signs of such a powerful Sacred Gear. _And now Harry has possession of it. Odd that Rias didn't comment on that, but I suppose, given everything else that occurred, that might seem a minor point._

 _Still, given what Rias passed on about what Kalawarner said about Saji's Sacred Gear, it could be very powerful too. And, unlike Rias, I can afford to play the long game when it comes to building my peerage and my power base._ Sona smiled a grim little smile. _And besides, I have made quite a bit of progress on my own given Rias's hints and my own research into the storing and releasing of magical power._

She looked up as Rias came into view, walking from the ORC's building. A moment later, as Rias reached her, exchanging a smile of greeting, Harry walked into view from down the street. _At least they had the good sense not to be seen arriving together,_ Sona thought sardonically.

The two girls exchanged a few meaningless pleasantries as they moved to join Harry, who smiled wanly at them, a package under one arm. "Gremory-san, Shitori-san, good morning. Do you have the young man's address, Shitori-san?"

"I do, sensei, but what is that?" Sona asked, gesturing to the package. It was wrapped in brown wrapper and looked like a bowl of some sort.

"This is something that might help the two of us and Kalawarner convince Genshirou-san of the truth of what we're telling him," Harry replied, winking and not giving any details.

Sona's lips pursed at that, but she refused to give the man the satisfaction of rising to the bait. "I see." Now that all three of them were walking together once more, Sona gestured lightly with a few fingers, releasing a spell that she had prepared to cover the trio. If anyone came close enough to overhear their conversation they would hear nothing more than a mundane discussion about school work.

With that in place, she turned to more serious matters. "Rias-san, have you heard back from your brother?"

"I did. According to Onii-sama's contact within the Grigori, Raynare was only supposed to observe Hyoudou-kun and take action if his Sacred Gear looked to be going out of control. Taking action as she did, in particular bringing in those exorcists, was well outside her mission parameters. Therefore, anything that happened is on her head and has nothing to do with the Fallen Faction, and we can do anything we want to them," Rias replied, her tone somewhat exasperated. "So we could have just gone in last night guns blazing instead of being sneaky about it!"

Sona's lips twisted into a full scowl at that. "What? How did they even know he had such a powerful Sacred Gear **dormant** within him? Why did they not simply approach him once they were aware of it? And why did the Grigori think we'd ever be happy with the idea of one of their agents operating in our territory!? Are we supposed to just forget that, to believe everything that occurred was some kind of mistake and overlook it?"

Shaking her head, Rias replied dryly, "In order: yes, that's what I was told. I have no idea. Possibly because they were not in a position to, given the fact Hyoudou-kun has lived his entire life here and this was our clans' joint territory long before you and I moved here to take it over. I daresay they didn't expect to be caught, and yes, we are supposed to believe the Grigori as a whole had nothing to do with it."

"Impossible. I do not know much about how the Fallen Faction organizes itself, but the idea that four fallen were able to gather more than two dozen excommunicated exorcists and create that extraction device without twigging anyone to what's going on is laughable. I realize that Azazael might not be the best leader, but he has very good subordinates for that kind of thing."

"I came to much the same conclusion," Rias replied, hiding a grimace as she remembered one such subordinate and the connection, however strained, he had to her best friend.

"You devils seem to have your own different political leanings. Is it so odd to think that this Grigori group is just as broken?" Harry asked mildly, the tone a teacher took when reminding his students of something obvious.

Both devil women turned to him then slowly nodded at that. "Warmongers," Sona said, her voice one of dawning horror. "Someone set this up as the first move in trying to restart open warfare between the Three Factions. That's…not good at all."

"Could it be the Khaos Brigade?" Rias replied, far better able to internalize the idea that someone wanted the bloody conflict between the Factions to resume than her friend, having heard about and begun research into that group. "They could have someone in the Grigori after all. That would be marginally less worrisome than someone in the Grigori itself trying to do the same."

"A possibility, but don't go borrowing trouble," Harry cautioned. "Just realize that this group might have your territory in their sights as the most visible weak point to force the Devils to resume the war." He paused then, watching as both girls nodded, and then went on calmly, though there was nothing calm in his emerald eyed gaze. "It seems to me to be a very good idea to up your training, hmm? And tomorrow, after school, we are going to talk about defense. Don't think I haven't forgotten that this Faction and their exorcists were able to not only hide from your 'detection spells' but also use magic, which I was told was impossible without your knowledge."

Realizing the older man was quite angry about that, Sona fell silent, looking away uncomfortably as Rias sighed, but nodded, her hand tapping against one of Harry's own. Sona watched that hand flex, but since they were only covered by a spell that kept their discussion from being heard, Harry did not take Rias's hand, which would have been far too personal a thing to have occur between a teacher and a student. Despite that, Harry calmed down, the hard look in his eyes fading as he smiled at Rias, who smiled back.

Rolling her eyes at her friend while also feeling a flutter of girlish glee in her heart for the romance in front of her, Sona gnawed at that problem that Harry had just brought up. The fact was, she was…unhappy was too small a word...with the way her and Rias's detection array had worked out. Or not, which was far closer to reality given the fact the exorcists had bypassed it through the use of simple magical amulets rather than proper spellwork.

 _I feel that we were sort of set up once more by our parents in this. Just like with our auras we were supposed to learn about the detection array's holes and fix them on our own. But they did not know there was this group out there which would take advantage of such for such a dangerous purpose. The question is what can we do about it?_

Before she could voice that question, Sona realized they had nearly reached their destination. "We're here. Now we learn if that Kalawarner woman's word to you was worth the breath it took her to say them."

Harry simply pointed, and the two girls looked in the direction he was pointing.

In front of them was a large, upscale apartment complex, one of many around the Kuoh area. This one had a full security gate and its own parking area, pool, and everything. It was here that Saji Genshirou and his family lived. And, as they looked, Kalawarner came out, walking beside Saji.

Saji took one look at the trio waiting outside the complex and made to turn away, looking at Kalawarner in shock. But she gripped his arm below the shoulder, shaking her head. "Sorry about the lie earlier, kid, but there's something we four have to tell you. Don't worry, you won't be harmed or anything like that. You just have to listen."

While Saji could have broken that grip if he summoned up his Sacred Gear, he couldn't do something like that in daylight like this and before he could wonder if it might be worth it, Harry tried to allay his fears. "Don't worry, Genshirou-san. Kalawarner is telling the truth; we're not here to harm you, just to talk. The problem is that you've been lied to before this, which is what we have to correct."

"Indeed, Saji-san. You have only heard what the one called Raynare has told you. Surely you are intelligent enough to realize you should learn the other side of things before deciding where the truth really lies?" Sona asked.

Saji glared at them before looking back at Kalawarner and then back to them. "Fine. It doesn't look like I have much of a choice anyway. But we stay in public. And no spells, or else I'll go down swinging!"

Even with his Sacred Gear activated, this was much like a young lion cub trying to overawe a group of elephants, but, despite that, Harry and the two women with him simply nodded. "Perhaps a nearby park, then? There are places in the park we can go and be undisturbed without the use of spells."

"Fine."

The walk this time was a tense one, and none of them talked much until they reached the park, moving through it to a small out-of-the-way bench. Ironically, it was the same bench where Hermione and Rias had had their confrontation, which she recognized immediately. It almost caused her to giggle, but she refrained.

Harry squatted on the ground in front of the bench, gesturing for Saji and Kalawarner to sit down while Rias and Sona knelt on the grass around the bench. "Okay, so talk," Saji said, clenching his hands into fists. "But first, what did you give this traitor to get her to betray Raynare!?"

"That would be a tale in itself, but first, you have to know what Raynare didn't tell you. You see, she was not here to simply try to get you out from under our thumb or whatever she told you. Raynare was here to retrieve the Sacred Gear held in Issei Hyoudou for her superior. You were a side benefit," Rias said, her voice like a scalpel, trying to make the cut as painless as possible but also getting it over with quickly.

Saji scowled at that, but Kalawarner spoke up before he could say anything. "I told you not to believe everything Raynare told you, Saji. There was a reason for that. Raynare was using you, would have continued to use you as a feather in her cap. But it all came undone on her last night, when some of her subordinates acted out and attacked Lily Potter."

"Wait, what? Why?" Saji asked, his shock at that making him forget he was supposed to not listen to the lies these people told him. He, like every other student at Kuoh, had seen Lily by this point and knew her as a cute, if somewhat aggressively active, young girl. And he also knew that Harry was fiercely protective of her.

"She's a werewolf like me," Harry replied softly. He had no desire to go into the differences between regular werewolves and he and his daughter, and no need to, either. "The excommunicated exorcists that Raynare and the others were bringing in spotted her walking around town and attacked her that very night. You can talk to her about it if you want, but I would prefer she not have to relive the chase if she doesn't have to."

"…" Saji just stared for a moment, and then nodded slowly. "Okay, say I believe that happened. That doesn't mean that Raynare didn't care for me, and it certainly doesn't mean I'm going to jump ship and join with the Devils like you and this one seem to," he spat out, gesturing to Kalawarner. "If you people really want me to believe you, you're going to have to show me some real evidence."

"That is why I brought this with me." With that Harry pulled the cover off the item he had been carrying under one of his arms.

It was a large, misshapen bowl made of either ceramic or some kind of rock, Sona wasn't certain, the sides of it about an inch thick, the bowl itself a foot wide and half that deep. Along its edges were a series of tiny designs etched into the material. The inside of it was covered with what looked like a thin paint of gold. All in all, Sona decided it looked like one you could find in any knickknack shop, a thought that Saji shared and gave voice to with a snort. "Sensei, I didn't think you'd be the type to go for curios like that."

Harry laughed but set the bowl down on the ground between them all with a certain amount of ceremony. It was only then that Sona realized that those designs flickered with magic under the spell she had on her glasses to let her see inactive magic.

"This is a pensieve. It's a magical creation that allows a person to share memories with several other people. Kalawarner, can we see your memory of last night?" Harry asked, looking up at the tall, blue-haired woman.

She gaped down at the bowl, nor was she the only one. Sona did the same before gritting her teeth while Rias attempted to mask a smile, very poorly. _Damn it! A whole school of magic with a lot more versatility than ours, and I can't partake in it!_

"Um, is it painful?" Kalawarner asked.

"Not at all. It does feel rather unusual, but it isn't painful. At least, not for wizards. It might sting a little, but it certainly won't hurt more than, say, a mosquito sting," Harry replied.

"And I'm supposed to believe her memories? Or that they haven't been altered or something?" Saji asked irritably.

"Memories can't be altered like that. They can be erased, but not altered. I could take a magical vow to that effect. If I lied, my magic would desert or possibly kill me," Harry said, his voice calm as if he was talking about the weather, not something that

That in itself was telling, Sona reflected. She had, of course, heard about several of Harry's adventures second hand and even one or two first hand by this point. But to hear how blasé he took such threats to his person was another thing entirely. It was like listening to her older sister or one of the other veterans of the war against the Old Satan sect speak.

Saji was struck dumb by that same attitude, and he nodded silently, looking down at the bowl and then to Kalawarner. He still didn't like what was going on here, but he was willing to listen.

Nodding thoughtfully, Kalawarner looked over at Saji and then down at the bowl. "Would you mind if I added more memories beyond the one from last night? If we're looking to convince the kid here about how Raynare felt about him, then its best she state it herself, right?"

Harry nodded at that and then stood up, placing a finger to the side of Kalawarner's head. "Think of the first memory you want to share; hold it in the forefront of your mind." When Kalawarner did so, he slowly pulled back his finger to reveal a long sliver of silver foil or something similar.

"Fascinating," Sona murmured, staring at the thing in Harry's hands. "It looks almost solid but also like something made of water. How very odd. Is it the user of the spell or the individual whose memories are taken that create that imagery?"

"As far as I know, the memories always look like that," Harry replied absentmindedly, placing the silver thing into the bowl where it instantly acted like a quart of silvery water had been poured into the bowl. The runes on the outside started to glow lightly, accompanied by the glow of the water.

"I'll just throw up a minor obfuscation spell, shall I?" Rias said hurriedly. "Good grief, Harry, that is rather obvious, isn't it?"

"I suppose it is, Rias. Sorry," Harry said with a shrug.

Saji blinked at the familiar way the two spoke to one another but set that to one side as Harry went on. "Place your finger in the water and close your eyes. The magic of the pensieve will do the rest."

Frowning, Saji, Sona, and Rias did so, followed by Harry, who looked at Kalawarner for permission first. She waved him off, since that memory wasn't of anything personal or something she didn't want the others to share. It was the memory of Raynare coming to Kalawarner and speaking about her plan to approach Saji to gain an in with the boy as a 'secondary goal.'

Once the four of them came out of that memory, Kalawarner shared another.

The next memory was of the night when Raynare came back from the first date she'd had with Saji. How she had ranted and waved around, shouting about how it had been the most boring date ever, and that human teenagers were easily the stupidest thing in all of God's creation. But that stupidity made them equally easy to manipulate.

The third memory was of the same night when Kalawarner had talked to Saji. Raynare had later crowed about the ease with which they had convinced Saji to follow them, convinced him of the rightness of their cause. Kalawarner had then asked Raynare how she felt about being a seducer, and Raynare had scoffed, saying, "It's just another means to an end. This whole emotions thing these humans place so much weight in, they are worthless in the face of power. But if his emotions convince Saji to think with his little head rather than his big one, it doesn't matter so long as he obeys me."

The final memory was of Raynare's rant right before Kalawarner and Kiba had launched their attack. There was no need, after all, to show the full battle. But even cut short rather more obviously than the others, this memory served to wear away the last bit of resistance in Saji to the fact that Raynare had never really cared about him, had, in fact, seen him as a minor objective if anything at all.

They were all silent for a moment as they came out of the last memory until Kalawarner spoke. "I tried to warn you, kid. I hoped that the way I went about it would convince you to try to talk to me about it. But you never did. I'm sorry you had to learn about it like this."

"I, no. If I hadn't seen those memories like that, I doubt I'd have believed you," Saji muttered.

"Now that you have heard the truth from her own mouth, do you have any more questions on whether or not we are telling you the truth rather than Raynare?" Sona asked, pushing her glasses up her nose while she tried to concentrate on Saji's face rather than looking over at Harry or down at the pensieve. That had been a fantastically interesting experience.

"I, I suppose," Saji replied, leaning back. "I guess it was too good to be true. A girl who turns out to actually be into the same things I am, striking up a conversation out of the blue with me after running into me like a lame anime cliché?"

"Hey, I'll have you know some clichés are fun," Rias said with a huff before smiling at the younger boy. "You don't have to criticize yourself for being so open to Raynare's manipulations. Fallen are always good at that kind of thing,"

"So are devils, historically speaking," Saji said now, looking at them rather sharply and glancing toward Kalawarner out of the corner of his eye. "What exactly do you want to get out of telling me this?"

"Right to the point, then. Excellent," Sona said with a smile. "I offered you a position on the Student Council several weeks ago. You turned me down because of your relationship with Raynare. However, you know what I am now and what I was really offering, do you not?"

The blonde boy nodded, looking away slightly. "I do. Are you here to offer it to me again?"

"I am. A newly trained Sacred Gear user will not survive very long on his own. Even within our territory, your being alone will act like a lodestone, grabbing attention from the Fallen, possibly even the Angels and other more esoteric groups that are out there. As part of my peerage you will be protected by my name and by your fellow members. You'll be able to grow stronger far faster and in a more organized environment."

Saji looked down at her, the gentle rise of Sona's chest, her sharp but still gorgeous face, and the gleam of her violet eyes behind her glasses, so compelling. Even though he knew she wasn't really human, he could not help but remember that this was Sona, the girl he'd had a crush on since before even going to school with her. Just from seeing her walk around the town, Saji had fallen in love with her. "Um, w, who is part of your peerage?"

"The entirety of the Student Council," Sona replied promptly.

The images of those girls passed through Saji's head, almost visible to those who were looking at him. It was obvious that, despite the shock to his system he'd just taken and his self-control, Saji was at least in one way rather more like the Perverted Trio than he would like to admit.

Harry interjected at that point. "You don't have to answer right away. Just think about it for a bit, and if you have any questions about the supernatural world or just want to talk, call me." Harry held out a small card which had his personal cell phone number on it. "Just don't call after ten or before seven in the morning, okay? Students aren't the only ones who need their sleep, and ten is Lily's bedtime."

"Ah, thanks, Potter-sensei," Saji chuckled wanly and took the card with nod, looking away from Sona so as to not be drawn into those alluring violet eyes of hers, or be bewitched by the rest of her body. "Right," he said, standing up and bowing to Sona and then to the others. "I'll tell you my decision tomorrow, Kaicho." He then paused, looking at them closely as he gulped. "Ex, exactly how was Raynare dealt with?"

Sona paused to think about how to answer, as did Rias, but Harry answered promptly before any of them could. "While her subordinates had attacked my daughter, Raynare herself attacked one of your fellow students, the one she was here for originally the one whose Sacred Gear she was ranting about in that last memory Kalawarner showed you. The extraction process would have killed him if not for Rias's intervention. She also had more than forty psychotic excommunicated exorcists ready to fight. We decided to respond in like kind."

Saji gasped as the two girls winced, thinking there was probably a much better way of putting that, but Saji surprised them. After a single moment of shock, he nodded his head, looking back at Harry with grim, understanding eyes. "Understood, Potter-sensei, and thank you for being honest with me. Sitri-sama, I will give you my answer tomorrow."

"You're welcome, Genshirou-san, and remember to call if you have any questions." Harry shook the younger boy's hand before stooping to pick up his pensieve as Sona replied in the positive to his response to her, then watched as he left the park.

"Huh, he took that better than I feared, frankly," Kalawarner said, to which the two younger women could only agree. She then turned to look at them and Harry, her eyes lingering on him before twitching over to Rias. "So, what now?"

"Return to my home. Harry and I will be by in a few minutes. We have one more errand we need to do before we talk to you and Mittelt."

Kalawarner seemed to hesitate for a moment, her eyes glancing toward Harry again, but when he just nodded at her, she sighed and, after covering herself with the Fallen equivalent of a camouflage spell, she changed into her normal body and flew up into the air and away.

When the fallen angel was gone, Sona turned to look at Harry, her eyes flashing dangerously behind her glasses. "Why did you stop Genshirou-san from agreeing to my offer right away? The sooner he is part of my peerage, the better, for all concerned."

"I did not want him to me to be rushed into the decision, and you were acting rather like a vulture circling a weakened animal, trying to force him into something he might not want," Harry replied mildly. Sona's flare of anger did not matter at all to him, and he once more felt like a teacher trying to correct a student's actions.

"I was not!" Sona said angrily. "I was simply offering an alternative to being alone. There are a lot of things that, as an independent, he will have to do on his own, whereas if he becomes part of my peerage he will have a structure and a logistical base that can aid him in getting stronger, acclimatizing to the occult, and even helping him achieve any mortal wish he might have, both for the long and the short term."

"I'm not saying you are right or wrong. I am saying that the timing was suspect," Harry said, while he did not think that Sona had offered purely the out of the goodness of her heart, it hadn't been entirely self-serving either. "I just believe that he needs to think about whether or not he's willing to give up his humanity. It's a decision he needs to make from the head, not from the hormones."

The three of them walked to the park for a moment silently, and then Rias said dryly, "That doesn't quite scan, Harry."

"Well it's better than the alternative: that he needs to make that decision with his big head rather than his little.…"

"All right, enough! I understand your point," Sona said, rolling her eyes as Rias giggled. By this point they had left the park and had come to a crossroads. "Here is where I leave you." She paused, looking at her friend, and then smiled. "You did not deal with the Fallen as I would have, but I think your way might well have been the better way. And I am really looking forward to Riser's face when you deal with him."

Rias smirked back before hugging her friend. "I hope Saji comes around, Sona. I think he could be a breath of fresh air for you and your peerage. I'll see you tomorrow." She then turned away, moving down the streets with Harry.

Sona stood there, looking after them for a moment. _Once Saji calms down, both from his hormonal attack there and from his grief at his ex-girlfriend's deception, the logic that had made me want to approach him instead of Issei will come into its own and point him in the correct direction._ Yet beyond the issue with Saji, Harry and her inability to partake in this entirely new brand of magic like Rias and her peerage were was bothering Sona quite a bit.

She had spoken to her Queen about it, and Tsubaki said that some of the things Rias had let drop in terms of meditation practices and gesture-based spellwork sounded familiar, things she might have seen when she lived with her family, the Shinras. Sona had long known that Tsubaki had come from a magical family, but that there could be an entirely different world beyond them was astonishing. To the best of Sona's knowledge, no one in the Devil Faction had dealings with the Onmyouji beyond the Shinra, Nodachi, and Himejima clans, who themselves were almost entirely separate from their fellows. That was both worrisome and fascinating, something Sona desperately wanted to take advantage of.

Yet Sona had her pride. She could not simply go up to an independent operative like Harry and ask that she and her peerage be allowed access to his books and information. Even if she considered Harry an ally of Rias and her house (she didn't since Sona knew the Gremorys would have conniptions once they learned their daughter had taken up with a 'human'), such a thing would not be proper between two of the 32 Pillars. No, she had to have something to offer in return, if not of equal value, then something that could grab Harry's interest enough to serve in terms of payment.

 _But with Rias offering all she has on Devil style magic, does that leave anything? Think, what would Harry be interested in? Something for his daughter perhaps? Something that can help them protect her, for certain, especially after this latest issue._

Sona shuddered at the memory of the look in Harry's eyes as he talked to them about wanting to sit down with them and talk about the detection bubble that she and Rias had put up. _I am not looking forward to that conversation, almost as much as I dislike how limited that bubble really is in what it can and cannot spot._

But then an idea came to her. _Of course. Familiars, specifically, access to the familiar forest. That way Lily will always have a companion around her to protect her when her father isn't able to. Yes, that is an excellent idea. And perhaps even Harry would be able to find a familiar there. Booking a time frame for an allied independent rather than my own peerage will take a lot of paperwork and time, however, Maou-cursed politics! And I must remember to warn Harry about that perverted lolicon who owns it, but yes, I think that will do nicely._

OOOOOOO

Harry and Rias walked slowly down the streets of Kuoh, having no need to hurry and wishing to have a few quiet moments together. Now covered with a full Notice-Me-Not array, they clasped hands, fingers entwining around one another as they walked. "So you decided to put Asia up at your house? Is it just me, or does someone here have a soft spot for young damsels in distress?" Rias asked teasingly.

"Heh. I must admit that my people saving thing does seems to come on stronger when saving girls," Harry replied in like kind, squeezing her hand in his, enjoying the sensation of Rias's hair gently touching his arm and the feel of her beside him.

"More importantly, Asia seems to be an innocent, wrongfully accused and then forced into circumstances outside of her control," Harry went on, looking down at their joined hands with a smile on his face that almost made Rias melt. "Why in the world she was kicked out of the Church for an honest mistake, I don't understand, but I'm not a Catholic. I suppose it must have made sense in their twisted little minds."

Rias laughed aloud at that, highly amused at Harry's irreverent attitude given what Sona had coined his demigod status.

"So, will you try to adopt her formally?" she asked after a second, frowning thoughtfully. "I can help with some of the paperwork. My family has numerous connections throughout Japan's governments that can help, if Asia has any paperwork at all to speak of in the first place, anyway. She might not. She was a ward of the church for her entire life, correct?" When Harry nodded, she sighed. "Yes, they don't often actually bother with the paperwork of that sort unless it's absolutely needed. On the other hand, my people have always loved paperwork, far, **far** too much!"

"Why am I not surprised that Devils like bureaucracy? Did one of your relatives invent it, perhaps?" Harry asked teasingly before becoming more serious. "In answer to your question, yes. If, after a week living with us, she has fit in and she and I think this is something she wants going forward, I'll look to adopt Asia legally. You don't have a problem with her staying with me?"

"Not at all," Rias replied promptly. "Normally I would have an issue with a representative of the Church living in my territory at all, but, as you said, she seems to have been caught up in events well outside her control. And while I would like to see if I could convince her to join my peerage—Twilight Healing sounds like an amazing power—if she does still believe in God, that's going to be a very hard sell. Asia will be safe with you, which is always a good thing, and, given our own agreement, it will protect her from the interest of other devils. _And_ , Rias thought to herself, _unlike Kalawarner, Asia is in no way a threat to myself or Akeno._

"Now we need to deal with rest of the aftermath from last night's events," Rias said after they had walked about another half block in comfortable silence.

"Issei?"

"He shouldn't remember anything concrete, but we will continue to keep an eye on him. He is technically part of my peerage now, but I want to wait on that."

"And the Boosted Gear?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea just yet. It depends on how sentient it is, really. If it wants to go back to Issei, then I will watch the boy, see if he is getting stronger in some fashion to build up his magical potential, and then reintegrate the two somehow. If not, I would prefer to see if one of my current peerage can use it if you don't want to keep it yourself. Issei's personality is such that I am very afraid of wrecking our team dynamic by bringing him in, although I will admit that I've seen flashes from Kalawarner and your own reported interactions with him that might indicate he has hidden depths."

"As Kala put it, very, very deeply hidden ones," Harry replied with a grin. "So, will you assign someone to watch out for him? After all, if he doesn't seem to be part of your peerage or Sona's, won't he also be possibly targeted by stray devils and other fallen? That is, of course, until we finish putting up a true defensive array," he said, his voice turning into a low growl that sent a shiver of both fear and arousal down Rias's spine.

"I'll assign Akeno to it. Koneko is going to be too busy helping you with Lily. Kiba isn't the best when it comes to sneaking around, and he doesn't have any familiars that can help him do so. Whereas Akeno is decent at sneaking around and already has a few of her little Oni assigned to the task."

 **OOOOOOO**

Akeno looked up from where she had been trying on a dress, looking over at her five little Oni, two of whom had just shivered and turned to one another to share looks of horror. "Ara, that was not the reaction I was expecting."

 **OOOOOOO**

Harry and Rias soon reached the mansion where Rias stayed with her peerage, save Kiba, though he spent most of his time there anyway, as shown by the fact that he was the one to answer the door. Akeno soon joined them, wearing a dress that came down to her knees and a blouse that matched, blue on the black dress, and showing an inordinate amount of cleavage. She preened a little as she saw Harry, quickly moving to his side and asking him if he liked the dress.

Harry smiled slightly, reaching out to gently hug Akeno. "I've always found myself interested more in the body under the dress than any kind of fashion statement the dress might be making, Akeno."

"Mah, now there's an idea, Harry-sen~sei~," Akeno purred.

While trying to ignore the bit of her that didn't like seeing the two of them flirt like that in front of her, Rias sent one her bat familiars through the teleportation array to Koneko, who came back a moment later, looking a little disgruntled at leaving Lily with only Asia to watch out for her. Indeed, if not for the fact that the wards on the Potter House were quite nasty, she wouldn't have left Lily at all. But then again, neither would Harry, for all that Koneko would have been there to protect her.

"I'm sorry to pull you away from your big sister duties," Rias said with a smile, putting an arm around the younger girl's shoulders as Harry ruffled her hair, moving slightly away from Akeno as he did. "But I want to talk to you all about something. As you all know, we took two prisoners last night, or rather, one prisoner and one possible ally."

"I am not certain I would have believed before the fight last night that Kalawarner-san's offer of or desire to redeem herself was real," Kiba interjected. "But seeing her sadness and desire to save Issei's life last night made me a believer."

"He gave her some good advice," Harry said softly. "It helped her, and she seems to have wanted to repay him somehow."

Rias nodded. "Exactly. Anyway, my Nii-sama got back to me this morning and told me that the two of them and Raynare were all operating well outside the bounds of their orders, which means we can deal with them however we want."

Akeno interrupted this time, lightning crackling from her fingers. "Oh, goody! Does that mean I get to have some fun~~?"

Harry reached down and gently took her hand, squeezing it, and the lightning in her other hand fizzled out at once, a light blush appearing on her face. "Just listen," Harry said, a little disturbed at this sight of Akeno's sadism and wanting to see if he could temper it. "And remember what I said: don't use a few bad examples to paint all the fallen as evil."

Pouting, Akeno nodded, looking over at Rias. She already had a good idea of what her King was going to say and didn't like it. Though Akeno was rather darkly amused about Kalawarner and how the woman's mistake had opened the doorway for her and Rias. _And I suppose I do need to practice what I've been learning lately, as Harry would put it._

Rias looked at her other peerage members, smiling slightly at how Harry had so quickly diffused the unexploded Akeno. "I want to offer them places in our peerage," she said simply. "They could help us a lot, especially against other devils. Light Magic, as you all know, is one of our genetic weaknesses. Plus, they are both far older than any of us and have a lot of experience, if not brute power, and most of that experience will be in a real combat, an area where.…" She paused looking for the right word.

"Where we suck," Koneko said bluntly, shivering a little. "Don't like being off the ground."

"I could help you in that area too, I suppose," Harry said with a faint smile. "Remember, I told you I've been able to fly short distances these days since absorbing the Hallows, though I haven't had much time to experiment with it yet. But before that I was a star Seeker at my school."

Koneko giggled at that, nodding while Rias frowned. "You told me about that game and that it was on broomsticks, but you never went into detail with me."

"Lily showed Koneko-chan my old jersey, and we spent a night talking about sports and stuff like that a few weeks ago," Harry said with a shrug. "I could actually show you a memory of a game in my pensive if you want."

Rias's eyes lit up, and her frown turned into a smile. "That would be wonderful!" Then she pouted. "But what would you like me to show you in return."

"How about that time when you and Sona-sama had your first tennis match, complete with magic?" Akeno said, giggling lightly behind one hand. "But for now, however, I think we need to deal with our two guests."

Rias sighed but nodded, bringing her attention back to the here and now. "Do any of you have any objections to bringing them into our peerage?" Rias asked, her eyes on Akeno in particular.

When her Queen did not object, Rias smiled and nodded to the others who had also stayed silent. "In that case, they'll be downstairs in our basement. Akeno set it up for the prisoner last night, and I asked Kalawarner to be on hand down there as well."

Kiba led the way, with Koneko after him and Harry following, as Rias moved over to Akeno, holding her back for a moment before hugging her friend and whispering into her hair. "Thank you."

"I realize what a potential bonus they are to our peerage, my King," Akeno said, turning to hug Rias back. "And you and Harry are right. While I have reasons to despise both the Fallen and my father in particular, I can't use that to blind me to the fact that they are individuals and need to be judged as such."

Rias smiled down at her friend and nodded, then put an arm around her shoulder, and they both followed the others, with Rias looking at Harry, who smiled back at her. His werewolf hearing had allowed him to overhear that little conversation, and, like Rias, was happy with how Akeno was acting.

In the basement they found Kalawarner sitting against one wall of the small magical lab while Mittelt was pacing angrily, shouting at her about something. Kalawarner was simply taking it stoically, staring back at the pint-sized fallen until she wound down as Rias and her peerage reached the door. "Are you done yet?"

That seemed to work on the younger looking fallen like someone had doused her in ice cold water, and she first glared, then sighed. "Yeah, I'm done. Life sucks and then you die!" she said cynically. "I still can't believe that we got taken out so easily, though."

With that as a cue, Rias opened the door and walked in. "Considering you weren't supposed to be here at all, I can understand that," she said, stepping into the room and looking at them both. "Although the fact that you were here in territory claimed by the heiresses of two of the 32 Pillars should've made you realize that whatever happened there would be consequences."

Mittelt crossed her arms and moved backwards to lean against the wall next to Kalawarner as the rest of them trooped in, forming a loose semicircle facing the two fallen. Her eyes twitched as she saw Harry, standing slightly apart from the others as he braced up the back of the door. His being here was an implication that Mittelt hadn't realized before as well as being a sure sign of the friendship that Raynare had reported.

"All right," she said with a scowl. "Lay it on us. What are you going to do with us? Are you going to send us home with a slap on the wrist? I imagine our superiors would be willing to go along with some concessions or something. Or are you going to kill us or torture us? I don't see any whips or chains around, though."

"Ara, if that is what you want, I would be most happy to oblige~," Akeno cooed, her voice utterly at odds with what she was saying as a blush spread across her features.

"Ahem!" Rias said with a scowl for her friend before she turned back to Mittelt, visibly setting aside that last bit of repartee. "Your superiors might be willing to give up concessions for your return **if** your mission to retrieve the Sacred Gear within Issei had been an official one. It wasn't. The Maou Lucifer officially contacted the Governor of the Grigori, who professed to know nothing about your mission whatever."

The redheaded King let that sink in for a second before going on. "In fact, Raynare was the only one supposed to be here. She was assigned to watch Issei, not interact with him, and certainly not try to steal his Sacred Gear or seduce Saji to your faction. Here is a copy of the official missive from Azazael on that point to my brother, the Maou Lucifer," she said, holding out a printout while dropping that last bit in just in case one of these two hadn't realized how connected she was.

Mittelt scowled and held out a hand, and Rias handed over the small printout. Seeing the formal lettering and heading of the Governor-general of the Grigori, she gulped, then began to twitch at how blasé it was, saying aloud, "'Hey, man, whatever is going on in Kuoh doesn't have anything to do with us. Raynare-chan's orders were just to watch, nothing else. If she or anyone taking orders from her acted in any other way, that's on their heads and nothing to do with me and mine.'"

Her anger rising, Mittelt counted to ten for a moment before crushing the paper and flinging it to the side, growling, "Lazy, lackadaisical asshole!" With that Mittelt moved off, cursing like a sailor and punching at the side of the room with her fist for a moment.

Rias waited calmly while Akeno chuckled, taking a pleasure in the other girl's anger and, though she was careful not to show it, pain at being so easily cast aside. Kalawarner simply sat, having come to terms with this before and frankly having decided that she was going to jump ship anyway. Her eyes twitched over to where Harry was watching and saw him frown. "I'm not certain I want her around my daughter with that kind of a mouth on her."

"Oh, screw you!" Mittelt shouted, turning and glaring at Harry before turning her attention to Rias. "All right, so our boss **says** he doesn't know about our mission. But I'll tell you flat that I saw Raynare getting orders from someone."

"Agreed," Rias replied easily. "Still, given Azazael's known personality, I doubt he had anything to do with it or even knew about it at all. We think that someone within the Grigori has a personal agenda and was using you towards that end."

Despite her vituperative tongue and current state of mind, there was nothing wrong with Mittelt's basic intelligence, and she got it immediately. "Someone wants to restart the war. You and that other girl, you're vulnerable here. Visible and vulnerable. Making trouble here would be way easier than making trouble anywhere else and taking the Boosted Gear right out from under your nose would be a major step forward to any long term plan. But If not Azazael-aho, who?"

"We have no way of knowing, but hopefully the Governor-general is looking into that on his side of things. But that leaves the two of you at loose ends. And if we attempted to just return you, whoever was behind this could easily have you killed before you can take a stand against them. Despite not knowing very much about your orders or who was issuing them," Rias said caustically.

"Fuck," Mittelt muttered, then nodded. "Fine, you wouldn't be talking to us if you didn't have an offer. What is it?"

"I want you both to join my peerage," Rias said simply. "With that, you will gain both a place and the protection of my family and the rest of my peerage against anyone who comes after you. And I get access to Light Magic, which will be a force multiplier against any other devil."

"Agreed," Mittelt said immediately.

Rias blinked, and Kalawarner also looked at her friend in puzzlement.

"What?" Mittelt asked, shrugging her shoulders. "It's better than being up on the run and all that shit. Besides, you're the anime otaku, aren't you?"

Rias blushed hotly, while Akeno laughed behind her head, and even Harry smirked. "I think she prefers the term anime enthusiast, but how exactly did you know that?" He asked.

"Meh, the story about the demon princess being obsessed with the human world and Japanese cartoons in particular have spread to even the Fallen Faction," Mittelt said, waving that off. "You're not going to force me to go to school or anything like that, are you?"

"With that mouth on you, no," Rias replied tartly, recovering somewhat from her earlier embarrassment. "I think putting you with your apparent age group would be horribly damaging to them all. But why were you asking about my interests?"

"I want to go into dress designs. I've always wanted and been fascinated by fashions, especially some of the ones in those anime shows. They are kind of cool, so I figure, why not?"

"You're taking this rather well," Rias said, smiling at the idea of having her own dressmaker on hand. She and Sona would both get a lot of use out of that, for certain, and if she really was interested in some of the clothing shown in various anime, then Rias's own obsession would be very, very well-served.

Mittelt looked at her blankly, and then sighed. "Look, girl, I'm really low on the totem pole in the Grigori. I'm a one pair-winger; I've never shown aptitude towards combat or seduction, except for a very select sort of target. So I'm not exactly useful. I've got a mouth on me and there are few people I like and fewer I respect, and besides, it's all crap anyway. Devil, Fallen, Angel, all of that crap, good and evil, it's all a matter of perspective."

Kalawarner rolled her eyes at her friend, who was letting her age old anger at her underdeveloped body get the better of her. She looked up, however, as she felt eyes on her.

"What about you?" Rias asked. Rias was willing to give Kalawarner a lot more leeway than Mittelt, given the role she'd played in last night's events, but she wasn't willing to let Kalawarner operate on her own in Kuoh.

Kalawarner licked her lips, and then looked over to Harry. "Can I, can I talk to you for second?"

Harry's eyebrows rose, and he looked at Rias. That was the thing, Kalawarner thought. He looked to Rias and to Akeno. _**FUCK!**_

In reply to Harry's look, Rias frowned but, understanding why he wanted to both have her okay for this and why he also wanted to talk to Kalawarner in the first place, she acceded. "Very well." She gestured for Mittelt to follow her out the room, the rest of her peerage following quickly. "Let's go in and get you your piece now, then we'll decide where to house you."

"I'd think an apartment for myself and Kalawarner, maybe someplace nearby? You don't want us living with you all right off the bat, right?"

"Despite how well you're handling this, not right away, no," Rias replied dryly. "As for an apartment, that's not a bad idea. But we'd have to.…"

At that point the door shut behind them, and Harry turned back to Kalawarner, sitting down where Mittelt had been a moment before. Then he fell silent, simply looking at Kalawarner. She looked back at him, just as silent, but she couldn't keep it up for long. Under those eyes she simply blurted out, "Is there any chance for us?"

Harry had thought that this question would be coming ever since last night when Kalawarner had opened her heart up to him and Rias as she had under the influence of Fragarach. "What do you want there to be between us, Kala?" he asked gently.

"Love?" Kalawarner asked hesitantly. She looked at him, biting her lip again before going on. "I fell due to my lust for a mortal man," she said at last. "But I thought it was love at the time. The man I thought I loved…he betrayed me, rutted with a human woman right in our own fields. And ever since then, lust and a desire to use it to manipulate those around me have dominated my mind.

"But that, that stopped when you rejected me. When you did that, I realized all my lust couldn't make me feel what being in love did. I want to feel that again. I, I've tried my best, tried to work through my issues. Helped you last night, apologized last night. I just.… I know that it won't be the just the two of us, and I am fine with that. If I can have some of the pie, it's better than nothing."

She laughed wildly, suddenly, and shook her head, sending her long blue hair flying. "God, listen to me. Even without Fragarach pointed at me like the finger of a judgmental God, I'm still babbling. You've fucked my mind up something good, Harry!"

Harry shook his head slowly and said softly, "I'm not a priest. I can't grant absolution. Whatever you've done since falling, I can't wave that all away. You will have to think about whether or not you can possibly make all that right. I think you were trying to, and I'm very grateful for it. But I'm really uncertain why I was the one to get through to you after so many centuries."

"You denied me," Kalawarner said simply. "You wanted my heart and wouldn't take my body even though I offered it to you without the heart attached. Of course I became fixated on you."

 _So is this just an honest confession or simply lust, twisted, denied, and needing to be fulfilled? Damn, these Fallen and Devils have some mental issues, don't they? Lying to her won't do any good, though._

Harry sighed. "Kalawarner, I won't deny I was hurt, deeply hurt, by the way you attempted to influence me with your aura. But before that I tried several times to move beyond simply fuck-friends." The harsh way he put that made Kalawarner wince, but he went on inexorably. "After you tried to influence me, I moved on."

"With the redhead and that other girl, right? The one who was glaring at Mittelt and me? The half-fallen?" At that Harry's eyebrows quirked, but Kalawarner waved it off. "We can all recognize our own pretty easily. A kind of sixth sense, you might say."

"I wouldn't bring it up with her unless she does first, well, unless you have death wish," Harry said mildly, shaking his head. "It would be better for all concerned if you did not poke that particular anthill."

Kalawarner nodded but then went back to what she had been saying. "I understand that, and I can't blame you for doing it. Can't say I'm happy about it, of course, but I won't let jealousy control me." Kalawarner was very honest with herself at this point. She wanted a piece of Harry, if a piece was all she could have. "But is there a chance for you and me?"

"There is no you and me right now, Kalawarner. Can we start over, build a new connection? I don't know," Harry said, shaking his head. "Like I said, I'm with Rias and Akeno right now, and even that is a stretch for me."

"But you're not saying no," Kalawarner said, her heart pounding now as she stared at Harry.

Harry looked back at her, remembering the fun they've had on their dates despite what he had said to her earlier. Remembering how amusing she had been, her sarcastic sense of humor, her worldly air, entirely different from what Rias or Akeno had been, despite their best effort at times. But then he remembered how she had tried to use her aura to influence him. How she had continually pushed away any overtures of an emotional attachment.

Then Harry compared the woman who had made those choices to the woman in front of him and found himself smiling a little. "I told you that what we had was gone; that Kalawarner is gone. The Kalawarner in front of me is an entirely different creature, and I think I will like to get to know her. I will not say that there could ever be love between us, but friendship is possible. Will that be enough?"

"And if I don't want to join Rias's peerage? What then?" Kala asked, not answering his question, since at this point she honestly didn't know if friendship would be enough. "I don't think I want to become a devil just because I turned my back on my life as a fallen."

 _That, and if I become part of her peerage, she could just order me to stay away from you._ Kalawarner didn't know Rias Gremory very well, but she had met many devils in her time. If the King of the peerage wanted to, they could do practically anything to their peerage, and, unless the individual in question was strong enough to stop it, then they were forced to obey. _And as for settling for friendship, that's fine too I can play the long game._

Harry sighed. "I'll talk to her about it. We'll see what happens."

The two of them moved out of the stripped down magical lab to rejoin the others, and Harry indicated that Rias should step aside with him for a moment. The two of them entered the kitchen, where Harry outlined what Kalawarner had said.

Rias was not happy about this for a number of reasons. "I want her to be tied to my peerage, Harry. As part of my peerage she would not just be controllable if need be, she could be contained within my territory and traceable. As it is, she isn't. I realize that we're going to be working on the defensive array, but what's to stop her from simply running off?! I don't want to keep her in prison forever, but that would be the only alternative."

"You've already convinced Mittelt to join up with you today. Put this off for now, just for a while," Harry said soothingly. "We owe her. **I** owe her. She helped save my Lily."

"I understand that, but…but are you sure it's only that?" Rias asked, her eyes flashing as jealousy reared its head.

"I told her that what we had is gone, Rias. I also told her that you and I are and Akeno are together. I'm already having trouble with just being with the two of you; I'm certainly not looking to attract more," Harry replied, pulling her into a hug. "Is that enough to convince you that she's not a threat to you, me, and Akeno?"

A part of Rias wanted to scream no, because Kalawarner would still be around Harry, able to rebuild that foundation of interest and affection. But Rias loved Lily too, and Kalawarner had protected her last night. On top of that, Kalawarner had helped them a lot in dealing with the rest of her group.

"For that," she said at last, "For what she did, I will allow it. I'm not happy, but as long as Kalawarner isn't living with you, I am willing to allow her to remain with Mittelt and not be part of my peerage. Unless, of course, I could move in too," she said, her lips twisting into a sultry smile as she tightened her arms around Harry.

"Not a chance," Harry said with a laugh. "We've only been dating for less than a month, after all."

"Maou damn it," Rias muttered, looking away.

Harry laughed again. "Greedy girl." He leaned down, giving her a light kiss before pulling away, staring into her eyes seriously as he tightened the hug. "She won't come between us," he said, his tone making the words a statement of fact rather than simply attempting to convince her. "Even when I was with Kalawarner, I was comparing her to you. How different the two of you were, how much I preferred your personality in many ways. I can't say that I would have agreed to date a student if she had been willing to be a girlfriend rather than a friend with benefits, but, even so, I think in many ways that would've been settling for second best."

Rias took his hands from where they had been resting on her sides, gently pushing his hands down to rest on her hips below her skirt, then raising them, taking the skirt with them. "I won't be a student forever, you know," she whispered against his mouth as she pulled those hands upwards.

"Heh, you're moving fast again there, greedy," Harry murmured, smiling as he said it, pecking at her lips.

"Is that going to be your nickname for me?" Rias asked, arching an eyebrow even as she fought the urge to close the distance and kiss Harry in turn.

Harry looked down at her, their noses and foreheads touching as he felt that movement rather than saw it. "Maybe?" he said, his lips squirting into a smirk, his eyes alight with some kind of emotion that caused something inside Rias to clench with need. No longer able to stop herself, she leaned in, kissing him ardently, and Harry responded, deepening the kiss.

After that they found an apartment in a complex near Rias's home that had just gone on sale. A married couple had just moved out, intending to buy a house. The apartment was a two room apartment, one small guest room and one master bedroom, with a good sized bathroom, and the previous couple had even left the kitchen appliances and furniture in place.

The two fallen would stay there but would report to the ORC club room soon after waking, with one of the devils checking in on them periodically for a time. Mittelt had already agreed, however, to start taking jobs and raising her magical powers in the typical Devil manner. Kalawarner, on the other hand, who had remained a fallen, would make use of the training room. They had both been asked to prepare some lessons for the younger devils on aerial combat, which, after much grumbling, both of them had agreed to do.

With that, Harry and the others took their leave, with Harry leading the others back to his home. Koneko hopped next to him, eager to get back and see the puppy again. Playing rough-and-tumble that morning had been the most fun she'd had in years. Koneko had never actually been around anyone her own age or younger who she could play with like this, and, on top of being the Onee-san in this situation, it was just fun as heck, hearkening back to the good times she'd had with her sister before she went crazy.

They found Asia and Lily having finished the younger girl's homework for the weekend, having also walked Asia through some of the Japanese calligraphy. Harry picked up his daughter and looked around at the others. "Normally, once a month, we have a Magic is Fascinating day. Would you all like to join?"

He specifically looked at Rias, and Rias realized that this was his way of apologizing to her personally for the way he had stood up for Kalawarner earlier. Not that he had really needed to apologize in the first place, given how even Rias had realized that they did owe Kalawarner. Still, she wasn't about to turn it down. "Of course! In fact, we can put on a bit of a show for you, Lily. What do you say?"

"Well, besides me, anyway," Kiba interjected. "The only spells I know are combat related and I doubt Lily would be interested in that sort of show."

Lily's eyes began to glean eagerly, and she looked at Kiba. "Really! That sounds cool."

He blinked, and Harry laughed, kissing the top of his daughter's head. "My little girl is most definitely not a girly girl. You'd do best to remember that, although please don't let her actually hold any swords until she's at least twelve."

Getting the joke, Lily and Rias laughed, and Rias leaned down to buss the girl's cheek, winking at her. "Exactly. If there are any giant basilisks that need killing around here, leave it to the professional. And as for not being a tomboy, there are some things that girls just have to handle in their own way, right, Lily?

Lily nodded, winking back. "It's going to be interesting the next time someone tries to start rumors about me, for sure."

"Don't be afraid to ask for advice on that," Akeno said, smiling as she finished taking off her shoes and moved after the others into the interior of the house. "Both Rias and I could help you quite a bit to combat rumors. So, where do you put this show on?"

"Outside," Harry said, his other arm moving around Asia's shoulders almost automatically and bringing her along with them. "Come on, I'll show you how this goes." Asia flushed at that touch, and then smiled happily as she and the others sat down, and Harry stood in front of them, going into his regular spiel as he began his magic show.

He ended it with bringing out the pensieve and playing a memory of his playing Seeker for Gryffindor in one of the best games he'd ever played, which they all got a kick out of. There were a few sports like that among Devils, but none that were so freewheeling. There were midair races, some flying competitions, but nothing like Quidditch, though they had a ground based game that was called Conquers, which had some of the same accoutrements: numerous goals on either side, offensive and defensive players, and balls, though in that game it was more about taking out your opponents rather than scoring points.

As Harry handed off the show to Akeno, who willingly wanted to show off a bit, Harry sat next to his daughter on one side with Asia on his other and Koneko next to his daughter on her other side. The nekomata leaned over her, looking at Harry. "Question: can I move in?"

Harry looked over her at Rias, who had turned from Akeno, and nodded her head, indicating that Koneko had asked her about this before and that she agreed wholeheartedly with it, even if it technically put some distance between the girl and the rest of her peerage. The way Koneko had opened up since taking on the position of the Onee-san figure to Lily was a delight to Rias, and she hoped to eventually see her normal unresponsive façade crumble entirely. Some of that façade was real, of course, but certainly not all of it.

At Rias's nod, Harry smiled widely. "Well, I suppose I'm going to need a bigger house, not just a backyard. On the other hand.…" He held up his hands, wiggling his fingers. "Ma~gic!"

Rias joined in the laughter, and then they all turned back to Akeno's portion of the magic show. Then it was Kiba's turn, followed by Rias.

After that, Rias took Asia shopping while Harry roughhoused with Koneko and Lily, and Akeno began to examine the interior of the house, thinking about how to add new rooms as well as where to put a permanent teleportation array. Until it was in place, only Akeno and Rias would be able to teleport onto the property, using the larger array that permeated the entire town, now that they had been in Harry's home.

She and Rias had asked Harry about that before. He in turn had quickly acceded to the request, so long as there was some way of stopping other people from using it on their end, which was giving them issues.

Yes, wards could block teleportation, even via an array like the one Rias had set up around Kuoh. But to let some people through and create a way to block someone else, as if you were blocking a call on your phone? That was going to take some work. On the other hand, if Rias was able to figure out a way to do it, she could singlehandedly revolutionize the wards of Hell.

"Hmm…perhaps here would be good for the permanent teleportation array. Then, hmm, an expansion charm or the wizarding equivalent of a permanent type of said on Lily's room? Then we could divide it in two," Akeno murmured to herself, leaning over to the measure the ground of the small closet across from the bathroom on the first floor.

"Not a bad idea," Harry said from behind her, and Akeno smiled, twitching her rear just a bit as she looked over her shoulder.

"Ara, Harry-chan, you're not exactly catching me at the right angle. Or are you?" she teased.

Rolling his eyes, Harry moved forward, reaching around her rear to pull Akeno up by her stomach with one hand and moving her hair aside to kiss the back of her neck. "Hmm.… And what security are you going to put on this teleportation array of yours? You remember I wanted it to act like the floo network at home rather than an always open door."

Shuddering at Harry's touch, Akeno tried to concentrate on his question rather than his actions. "Ahh, nothing yet, but Rias-chan and I have been thinking about working on those defenses since you mentioned them. We're not ready yet to install such, but we think we should be in a few weeks."

"Heh, I would doubt that very much, considering I have an entirely different project I am going to force Rias and Sona to work on starting tomorrow," Harry replied, pulling Akeno away from the closet.

"Oh, you're going to force them, are you? Perhaps at whip point?" Akeno replied, pressing her body against Harry's side, her breasts pressing to either side of his arm.

Harry smiled at that but didn't reply instantly, simply leaning down and kissing Akeno before pulling back. "Actually, while I don't want to pull you away from your interior design work, that's an area I know I'm not very good at. But I do have a request."

Between every third word, Harry kissed Akeno on her lips, cheek, chin, and neck before biting at her ear lightly. "It's a very important request, and I want you to think about it very seriously."

Akeno, her eyes half-closed her body thrumming with the feelings Harry was giving her, murmured, "What is it, Harry?"

Harry suddenly pulled back, a wicked smirk on his face as he abruptly moved away. "Can I ask you to assign one of your little Oni to watching over Lily?"

Feeling the sudden lack of Harry's body against her own, Akeno opened her eyes fully once more, pouting. "Tease," she huffed, looking away and then back. The idea that Harry would tease her was fine. She liked teasing, though being teased in turn was a relatively novel experience for her. But she still had a bit of trouble really admitting to herself that Lily was more important to Harry than their relationship or even his relationship with Rias. She understood it intellectually but had yet to truly internalize it.

 _Still, after last night it is understandable. Even so, there is a slight problem with Harry's request._ "Harry-san, I would agree to that, but if you think that my little Oni are a real defense, then you are wrong. They are spies and messengers, nothing more."

"Ah, but I have some ideas about that, never fear," Harry replied, an evil grin on his face, sending a pleasant shiver through Akeno.

"Oh?" Akeno mused. "That does sound interesting, but let me ask you a question in turn." When Harry indicated she could, Akeno went on quietly. "You and Kalawarner. I understand from Rias that she was the woman you nearly took up with before bowing to your desires for Rias and myself in turn. I.…" She bit her lip, looking up at Harry with her heart in her eyes. "You aren't going to be, that is…"

"I told Kalawarner that there was nothing between us anymore. I'm also still having trouble with being both with you and Rias. I know you think it's normal, but to me it feels too much like two-timing," Harry said with a sigh. "That's about all I can say on that score. But, like I told Rias, I owe Kala for helping to save Lily last night."

Despite twitching slightly at the nickname, Akeno nodded. _Although, Rias and I are rather questioning only one side of the equation here, aren't we? We know Harry's intentions, but not Kalawarner's._ "That, that will do for now, Harry. Now, tell me about this idea you have for my precious Oni."

OOOOOOO

That evening Harry had a nice dinner with his daughter, Asia, and Koneko. He then spent an hour or so talking to Lily about his childhood, about how the Dursleys had attempted to beat the magic out of him. About how they felt he had to conform to their ideas of normality. He then made the point that many in the magical world had acted in much the same manner. "I've been saying this a lot lately, but being different is not a crime, is not something to be ashamed of, Lily. Rias was right: you and I, we're new, we're unique. That doesn't make us freaks, just trendsetters."

Lily laughed at that, and Harry went on to describe how he had started to fight back against those rumors in Hogwarts after his second year and how you could tell who was a real friend and who wasn't by how they reacted to rumors. He described how sometimes being aloof was the best way to deal with rumors, while other times trying to fight back was important too. "But Rias and Akeno will, no doubt, give you some advice there."

After putting Lily to bed he said goodnight to the two other girls. Asia still retained the guest room, and Koneko would be joining Lily in her bed after finishing up some math homework she had forgotten about until Rias reminded her before leaving.

With all the girls accounted for, Harry retreated to his own bed, but not to sleep. As he had told Rias he would, Harry wished to see if he could talk to the soul of Ddraig, the Great Welsh hidden within the Boosted Gear.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Harry set the Boosted Gear down in front of him, his hand hovering over it as he began to gather his will the ring appearing on his finger. Given that it was the physical representation of Manannán'spower over carrying the souls of the dead t to their eternal rest, Harry felt if would be a help in reaching out to the soul of the dragon. "Legilimens."

Thanks in part to his connection to the realm of death via the ring, it worked, and Harry soon found his mental avatar standing in some kind of mental realm. Underneath him was stone which looked like a mix between barely cooled magma and some kind of simple brown rock. It had the look of some ancient battlefield of some kind, scoured clear of life. However, rather than sky all around him, there was what looked like some kind of mosaic of different images, or memories, each memory caught in a single moment and then pasted against the wall. Some of the scenes were peaceful, some of them not. "Interesting."

" **This should be impossible, owner of Fragarach, yet here you are,"** said a deep rumbling voice to one side. **"I remember battling Manannán Mac Lir and those who he lent power to before, but to see one like you, wielding all his might, that is…I suppose one could say, a sign of the changing tides. Pity. Unless you have come to test your mettle against me, of course. That would be glorious!"**

Harry turned and found himself face to snout with a giant dragon. It was easily five times the size of even the largest dragon Harry had ever seen before. Its scales were a dull red color from snout to tail, which in turn was at least as long as the length of a Norwegian Ridgeback and was wrapped around its legs at the moment. Its wings lay to either side, rustling slightly at the moment as it shifted. It was so large that Harry felt that it could have bit him in half with little effort and possibly wouldn't even have to gulp him down, rather, just swallow him whole.

Harry wasn't afraid, though. He simply stepped back slightly so as to be looking up at the giant creature's eyes as he readied combat spells in his mind, just in case. "You would be Ddraig the Great Welsh, then? You certainly look the part."

Dragon let loose a rumble, though whether in amusement or irritation Harry couldn't tell until it barred its fangs at Harry in a most draconic growl. **"What do you want here, owner of Fragarach?"**

"How much of the outside world are you able to see from here? Do you know what's happened recently?" Harry asked, his body now tense, ready for action. _I wonder if Fragarach would be able to get through those scales?_

" **If by that you mean if I know I am separated from my current possible wielder, then yes, I do. I did feel that process, it was not pleasant,"** Ddraig replied, his voice a snarl now as claws larger than pikes gouged the rock beneath him. **"I then felt that Fallen bitch try to use my powers, the fool. Only by defeating my soul can anyone wield my powers unless I have been bound to their own."**

There was something in the way Ddraig said that sort of implied that he was not happy in his captivity, but Harry had no idea what to do with that information, so let it pass for now. But before he could ask anything else, Ddraig reared up, flapping his wings and sending a buffet of wind all around him. But Harry stood firm, staring up at the towering dragon as it roared. **"But tell me why are you here, Owner of Fragarach!? Have you come to defeat me or convince me to bond to your soul as I would my normal destined owner?"**

"I don't need it," Harry said simply and calmly. "I have no need or wish for your powers. But there is another who might. But the way you talk, you don't have any kind of connection to Issei?"

The massive red-scaled dragon simply shrugged, the action coming from both his wings and forearms and being rather more expressive than the same would have been in a human. And when he spoke his tone had gone back to his version of a conversational tone. **"I will wish to challenge any individual who wishes to use my power, as I would have Issei eventually, once he became strong enough to sense me. Not physically, rather their convictions. It's a pity; I feel he could have become something great. Though, it would've been very difficult to get anything combat-related through that 'oppai' loving head of his. But sometimes simpletons like that are the best: their one track minds can make them immensely powerful if given the right incentives."**

"I suppose," Harry said with a shrug. "Certainly doesn't describe me any longer, though." _Or Rias or anyone in her peerage._

" **Hence my saying that if you wish to use my powers, you would have to defeat me in combat,"** Ddraig replied dryly. **"It would be a glorious contest. But if you are just here to question me about my own preferences in terms of my wielder, then you have it: I prefer simple, combat oriented minds, people who have strong convictions and desires. I can sense that you have the last two, but not the first."**

"And if, say, we wanted your help for a specific battle? There are a number of people here who might attempt to wield you, but I doubt any of us would be as simple-minded as you could hope for," Harry replied.

" **Hmmm… It would depend on the battle, the opponent, and the reasons behind the battle. Although I have to warn you that my rival, Albion the White Dragon Emperor, will have felt my resurrection. Its wielder will feel compelled to come and search my own wielder out. I honestly have no idea what he, or them, rather, will think of this situation,"** Ddraig said, his tone somewhere between worried and interested. **"If he shows up, I will willingly bond with whoever has a desire to fight him, forgoing my normal test. Although I won't tell you anything about his powers; the way they are used varies from one wielder to another in any event."**

Harry nodded at that, and they both fell silent, wondering where to take the conversation. Then Harry asked, "Are you all right in here? I mean, is there anything you want, besides us destroying you and letting you rejoin wherever Boosted Gears go between users or to your next user entirely?"

"… **I've never actually contemplated that one,"** Ddraig replied with a shrug. **"I have no idea where we go, though it is an intriguing thought. But no, I don't need anything, although if you could come and talk to me or bring along one of the others that you think might eventually wield my powers so I can see if we are compatible, that would be a good idea."**

Harry chuckled, though he was looking at the dragon in some surprise. "You're remarkably laid back for a supposedly combat-happy, all powerful weapon of mass destruction."

" **Bah, I am thousands of years old, Owner of Fragarach, and I have learned to temper my passions in that time. And, to be frank, I think the human world is better without me and those like me rampaging across it. I do not feel regret for what I did when I had my own body, but nor do I have any wish to walk that path again,"** Ddraig rumbled.

"Understandable. I just wanted to make certain you really felt like that, rather than being simply resigned to your cage." Harry knew Ddraig was telling him the truth as he spoke. There was no way someone could lie to someone else when they were linked as Harry's spell had made them right now. Whatever feeling of discontent Ddraig felt wasn't because of his incarceration here, or, perhaps, not it in its entirety.

Ddraig shook his massive head, the move carrying down his long neck. **"No. The Christian God was right to seal myself and Albion as he did. We were destroying the Earth with our constant battles, and none but He was strong enough to stop us. And I will say that I rather enjoy being used by humans. Indeed, that is my other stipulation for any wielder: that he or she be human or, at least, a former human. Such small creatures, but given the means they can battle those that should be far stronger than they. There is something very pleasant in that image."**

"On that, at least, we are agreed," Harry said, barking a laugh. "For now, however, I will bid you farewell, Ddraig. And I'll see what I can do about stopping in occasionally."

Ddraig nodded regally, and Harry disappeared, finding himself back in his own body. Pulling out a phone, he dialed Rias's number. When she picked up, he began. "Well, Rias, I have some good news and some bad news.…"

 **End Chapter**

* * *

I know some people will be sad by how Issei was dealt with in this chapter, and indeed the whole idea of Ddraig remaining separate from him. However, to those people i must remind you that at this point in the story, Issei hasn't shown many of the good traits he might show later in canon, and he is still very much a teenage boy led by his base desires. Will that change, who knows? As for only a single pawn saving his life, this all happened a few months before canon and the Boosted Gear had been removed, so I felt that makes sense. Now, if he gets the Boosted Gear back, well if I go that route, some things will have to change, LOL.

As for the rest, while this chapter didn't cover much in terms of time, it covered quite a bit of events. The next chapter will be a step up in the passage of time. While events slow down in the first half, we have some more romance moments, Harry making moves to defend Lily and his now-extended family better and Koneko, Akeno and Kiba have time to shine as Loup arrives with a very interesting deal. After that, we see some more non-canon combat bits in the rest of the chapter as Rias and Sona decide that they want to search out problems rather than let them come to them at Kuoh.

As always, please review, and watch out later today for the poll for September to be uploaded.

if you want to have a larger say in what stories are updated per month check out my patty r on page and sign up. There you will have access to nine chapters of my Fairy Tail/Ranma crossover, Making Waves, several omake from Magic of the Force, a few one-shots, and of course a greater voice in the polls as well as how my stories go at times.


	8. Chapter 8

Not British or Japanese.

Needless to say FILFy was one of the two small stories that one in the small story poll, though this time it only came in Second place total with 988 votes, with 523 votes here. Stallion of the Line took first thanks to my patty r ons, 265 votes here, and a total of 1,161. A lot of people wanted it to be updated, and it will be at some point tonight - going to wait for the wire on it so hopefully I can upload a Michael-edited chapter.

I wish to give _Roanoak_ credit for the punishment meted out to the perverts in this chapter, and to _JKiteral_ for the use of a certain term in that section.

Warning, there is a lime in this chapter. If you want to skip it, look for the brackets and the second **{** will take you past it.

 **Regarding ATP:** I have not been in communication with Mordreek, RL kicked my ass, and it has been doing similarly to him, however going forward I will redo the outline for the chapter so there are less Asgardian centric sections. In that manner, I should be bale to get a chapter out next month, but I still cannot promise to do so just yet.

Thanks go to _Nad Destroyer_ for giving this a once over. However neither he nor I are very good at spotting small mistakes, of which there will therefore be many. I just can hope we have found the larger ones. I apologize for that, and hope they are small enough they don't effect your enjoyment of the chapter.

NOTE: the first version of this chapter still had some beta reader comments. I hope I have found them all, and hope this helps people enjoy the chapter.

 **Chapter 8: Getting Closer**

* * *

Despite the turmoil of the weekend, some things could not be avoided, and the fact that all of them but Asia had work or school was one of them. Against his own wishes Harry had to go to work and his daughter, with the resiliency of youth, wished to go to school. With that, and with his desire to see Sona and Rias later that day, Harry agreed, though not before calling and asking Akeno to drop off one of her little Oni to watch Lily. Of course, that led to another issue:

"No Lily, you can't play with the little guy while at school. I'm confident in my spellwork, but let's not push things," Harry said wearily, as Lily attempted to give him her best puppy-dog eyes attack, cradling the neon pink Oni against her cheek. Much, Harry was amused to note, to the grumble of many a 'Desu' from the little critter. Though he couldn't understand it, the tone certainly came through.

Translation: "Release me tiny red-haired person! I am a mighty ranger, not a plushy!"

While his daughter pouted and turned away, Harry looked over at Asia, who had insisted on helping that morning by cleaning up after breakfast. "Asia, I looked over your answers to the tests I gave you yesterday, and you did very well in reading and writing. You need a little work on your Japanese, especially your kanji, but that isn't unusual. Your math and science though, you'll need a few weeks of concentrated lessons there to catch up to your age group."

As Asia sighed sadly Harry went on quickly, pulling her into a sideways hug and ruffling her long blonde hair. "But that's okay because it will let you join at the start of the next semester. I'll leave you some math books to go over today. Beyond that, if you could look through those furniture magazines for things for your room that would be great. I'll conjure some temporary stuff up when I come home this evening, and this weekend we can go out to shop for more permanent furniture."

"Oh, you don't have to go to that trouble for me Potter-san," Asia replied, flushing under the hug. She didn't feel anything romantic towards Harry, or at least she didn't think so, but he was still a handsome man, and she had little history with such, and even less with hugs except from younger children or her fellow nuns.

"I don't have to, but I want to. Besides, conjuration is but the work of a moment, and I'm pretty wealthy, so eventually buying real furniture won't be an issue either. Just remember I don't want you out of the house without me or one of the others. Regardless of the fact Raynare and her group was rogue, we want to hide what happened to you from anyone looking for as long as possible," Harry said kindly.

After that, Harry dropped his daughter off at school like normal though not without a large pang of anxiety. He **really** didn't like the fact that the school didn't have any defensive wards around it. _But then again, that is one of the reasons why I'm going to school like normal._ That thought did not stop Harry from throwing up a few rough and dirty defensive spells, as he had previously done on the house where his daughter had been supposed to spend Saturday night. These however were much stronger. If anyone tried to enter the school grounds with intent to harm or even look for Lily, Harry would know, and they would stall the individual or individuals long enough for him to arrive and… deal with them appropriately.

 _That only leaves Lily vulnerable going from and to school for the day, and since she's not supposed to go anywhere, that isn't a concern. That and my little modifications to her portkey necklace._ Those modifications, which he had made after his discussion with Ddraig last night, made that necklace both unbreakable and Lily unable to remove it without his help. Like any other child she hadn't liked that, but Lily had understood the necessity.

Lily was also very interested to see Harry create a clock like the Weasley clock that Molly had in her home, which was something he had talked about during the 'Magic is Amazing' time of their day yesterday. Lily hadn't really enjoyed being in the Burrow or around Grandmother Molly most of the time: she liked to pinch Lily's cheeks - which Lily hated - she was far too certain in her opinions, and far too liable to simply order Lily around rather than play with her. But Lily had thought the clock was a nifty idea, and was eager to see the Potter version.

But Lily had also pushed to have Asia, Koneko, Harry, Rias, Akeno, even Kiba on it as well as Lily's own little clock-hand. _Of course she doesn't realize that the more people you add to the clock, the more difficult it is to get it to work properly. There's a reason that piece of furniture cost as much is the rest of the Weasley's possessions combined,_ Harry mused as he walked to school. _Still, creating it will be an interesting experiment._

He looked up as Tsubaki Shinra came down from a nearby rooftop, making her way quickly to him. "Shinra-san, good morning." He greeted her.

"Potter-sensei, good morning. I hear that you had a tumultuous weekend," Tsubaki said, speaking obliquely. She was also glancing back to the elementary school, curiosity plain on her face.

It was very evident to Harry that Tsubaki had been close enough to feel the magic he had used and wanted to ask about it. But just as obviously, something held her back, so Harry prodded, "You could say that. And you can ask me anything you want, I won't take offense."

"Unfortunately I cannot," Tsubaki replied ruefully. "My king has her pride, and I will not act against that or her known wishes on this manner." She glanced back at the school as they kept walking, then looked at Harry, a wry smile on her face. "No matter how much I want to, especially after this weekend."

A few minutes later they arrived at school, smiling and nodding to the students who were already there are, and then calmly got ready for the day. Throughout the rest of the day, Harry went about his job as usual. Nothing about his outward appearance showed what had occurred the past weekend. The only sign of those events occurred when Harry paused by Rias and Akeno's desk, letting slip a little note onto their desks one after the other. A similar note had already been dropped off in the room that Sona used for the student Council. The duplicated note read 'see me after school at around four in the occult research club's basement'.

That basement had already been used a time or two by Harry to give Rias and Akeno examples of some of his magical spells, and vice versa. Harry had come away with an immense amount of respect for the brute power of devil magic could contain, as well as for the versatility of some of the things that the Devils could do. For certain, their family based attack magics sounded incredible, which Harry understood after the few times he'd seen Rias's in action. Many demons could also use the equivalent of small scale charms easily, replacing cleaning charms and charms like Leviosa or Accio with simple gestures and magical telekinesis.

Their defensive magics however, were not as good, perhaps because of the ability of their offensive magic to overcome such. And while Harry had initially thought their wards were quite good, and certainly strong, he no longer felt that way after this weekend. This was something Harry was determined to correct in no uncertain terms.

First however, Harry left school to pick up Lily. He was unsurprised, and rather happy, that Koneko met him before he left the main school building. "Picking up the puppy?"

"Yep," Harry replied with a nod, and then smiled down at her. "I was hoping you'd come over and watch her with Asia for me?"

"Don't even need to ask," Koneko said, puffing herself up slightly. "My job as Onee-san after all."

Harry chuckled, and led the way out of the school to and through the town to Lily's elementary school. There they picked up Lily and Harry walked the two home, watching with a faint smile as the two girls talked and played around him, reaching out to lift Lily up in the air once and carry her kicking and wriggling when she attempted to use him as a shield from Koneko's tickle attack. They reached the house with no incident, and Harry spent about fifteen minutes talking to Asia, asking her how her day went, and if she was alright with being alone while the rest of the household was at school.

To his surprise, Asia had studied for some time, prayed of course, and actually done as Harry had asked: looked at furniture for herself. She hadn't really understood much about it, but had already settled on a style for herself, though Harry had to convince her that there was no need to limit herself in terms of money. However eventually he had to leave to meet up with Sona, Rias, and their Queens.

It was with some trepidation that Sona and Tsubaki joined Rias and Akeno on a walk towards the occult research clubs clubroom. "Is Harry still as angry as he was yesterday about our detection array not working?"

Rias shook her head, smiling at her friend. "Don't worry about his anger. He's not angry at us so much as he is angry at himself. He's angry that he missed the fact that Lily was having such difficulties, and that she had been the subject of verbal bullying back in Britain so much that it's stuck in her head. He and I are dealing with that aspect, and we've already overcome quite a bit of it. So he is turning his guilt towards making certain that she can't be physically threatened by anything supernatural ever again."

Akeno nodded slightly. "He took Koneko-chan with him to pick Lily up, and I assume Koneko-chan will stay with Lily at the Potter's home. Even if you set aside those remarkable wards, I for one would not want to try to get past Koneko-chan to harm Lily in any way. That girl is becoming quite protective of her 'little sister'."

"I know, isn't it fantastic?" Rias said with a smile, opening the door for her three friends and entering behind them.

"And it doesn't bother you that he's evidently taken over your own training area and basement?" Sona asked, frowning. "That is a rather large breech of etiquette." Indeed, if someone had just unilaterally taken over her peerage's training area or one of their other holdings, Sona would have reacted rather violently to it. _Well, unless it was Serafall-nee-sama. Then I'd simply moan, sigh and try to escape whatever she was planning._

"Since when have I cared about etiquette over friendship?" Rias asked, her tone making it clear that not only was this not an issue for her, she was uncertain why it ever would be.

As Akeno led the way down to the basement, Sona reflected that this statement said something, both about her friend, and her relationship with Harry Potter. _Is it really going to become that serious?_ Sona asked herself before shaking her head. _Of course it is. Rias isn't the type to casually date someone, regardless of our ages. But then… does she understand what it might mean, if she has a long term and possibly… fruitful… relationship with a human? Both to her family and to the politics of Hell? Has Rias thought this all the way through?_

The 32 Pillar clans were called that because of two things: one, there remained enough of each of those families to retain their political and magical power after the civil war that had occurred between the New Devil and the Old Satan faction. And two, their blood was pure demon. The clan heirs at the very least had married other demons entirely from their creation to now. This was important to both keep the line pure, and to make a nod to the Pureblood Demon faction, which was a large political bloc.

If Rias married Harry Potter, and Sona knew that was what her friend wanted, then either her parents would be forced to have another child, or the Gremory clan would lose their Pillar status. And demons were not nearly as fruitful as humans. It took a long time, sometimes centuries, for a demon couple to have children, hence why the pureblood demons were concerned about the number of turned demons that had been welcomed into their society. Sona knew that it had been seen as a minor miracle that Grayfia and Sirzechs to have Milicas after only twenty years or so of trying. The Gremory clan was known to be more fruitful than most, but even so, that had been amazing.

Sona felt that Rias's family would eventually agree to once it was proven that Harry was not only someone their daughter wanted, but also was powerful in his own right. Sona had been very serious when she called Harry Potter a demigod. Yet Rias's father at the very least would have issues with it, and it would be a long bumpy road to that acceptance. And even after that, she would face a lot of anger, even hate, from the Pureblood bloc, which the Gremory clan had heretofore been a part of.

Sona set those thoughts aside as Akeno opened the door to the basement. Inside, they found that Harry had conjured a long table into being, setting it into the center of the room. On top of that was a large but not very deep sandbox, the kind that people would use to practice runes in the world over. There were also several dozen books that Harry had dropped off before leaving to pick up Lily. Four were written in Japanese, ten or so in English, it was hard to tell given they were rather haphazardly piled on one another at the moment. Then there were three more that Rias had given him about devil magic. The title of one Sona recognized as covering her family's specialties of teleportation arrays and two others which dealt with the kind of spell network or 'bubble' that Rias and Sona maintained over the town.

Twitching slightly at the sight of that first book, Sona once more resolutely set those thoughts aside, moving into the room and sitting to one side of Harry as the other girls all sat down in turn.

When they all were sitting, Harry began to speak. "I have no doubt that Rias is already told you about what occurred this weekend. While the attack on my daughter is ultimately my responsibility, one aspect of what occurred this weekend lies a firmly on your shoulders. Knowing what kind of enemies there are out there now, I am not willing to trust my daughter's safety just walking around this town to defensive sensors that can be so easily bypassed. That was a mistake. I thought your 'sensory bubble'was relatively competent and decent at sensing magic. It is not. And we're going to correct that now."

Rias and Sona both nodded, having come to that same conclusion. Rias had even started to look at the defensive wards that Harry was used to, which she could sense quite a bit of after having been in his house numerous times.

"How do we go about this?" Sona asked, her voice actually tinged with a bit of eagerness now. Helping with this project would not only make their territory more defensible, but would also give her a glimmering into more of Harry's magical abilities.

"We're going to first take apart the spell that you have cast around the town," Harry replied calmly, "then we're going to talk about the defensive arrays that you already both know about, why they're not viable over that wide a territory, and see if we can find ways to make them so. Then we're going to incorporate as much of my knowledge of wards, both wizard and Onmyouji style into them as much as we can."

Tsubaki held up a hand, her other hand having filled, somewhat to her own surprise, with one of the books that Harry had brought along. "A point of order sensei, the magical detection bubble that my King and Gremory-sama put up initially was the work of several weeks of long term casting, slowly expanding it out from a central area while constantly feeding power into it and tying down new anchors. As such I doubt we will be able to change that original spell without the entire bubble… bursting I suppose I need to say, if we continue that metaphor. We will have to take it down and immediately raise new ones or else we might face interference from one ward, as you put it, to another."

"Unless…" she paused, thinking it through. While in no way an expert on wards or defensive magic, she knew the basic premise. "Unless we allow that one to remain in place as a kind of outer shell, perhaps? After all it does not interfere in the wards that both peerages have around their seats of power or your own house Potter-sensei. Or those spells you threw up this morning."

"That is one of many things we're going to be talking about Shinra-san," Harry replied politely. "However, this needs to be done, regardless of the difficulty. Seeing as I just finished my own education in a local laws and magic…"

It was Harry's turn to pause then, a wintry little sound as his lips twitched looking from Tsubaki to the others. "Actually, when you think about it, your sensor bubble **has** done some good. The Onmyouji haven't been able to sense any of my magic, which they should've been able to do, even if I wasn't using the focuses that they had placed tracer tags on. So was interfering with such detection a side effect of your own detection bobble? Or are the local wizards lying to themselves about how well they can sense magic being done in the Japanese islands? If so, that could be a danger."

"That is sort of off topic," Rias said with a frown "but I will say now that I believe that could indeed be the case. Either that, or…" She looked over at Sona then back to Harry. "As you know I went out on a Stray Devil hunt quite a ways away from our territory about a month and a half ago. My family and I both used by magics, and found and killed a Stray Devil who had been using her own style of magic to cover her presence. We saw no sign that the Onmyouji reacted able our types of magic. It could be the equivalent of some kind of sound that they can't hear. Or their ability to detect such is horrible. Or…"

"Or someone in the factions has suborned whichever governmental body is in charge of keeping track of such things. That could have interesting complications," Tsubaki mused, nothing in her tone suggesting that she had anything but a scientific interest in the answer despite the fact that she knew her family was an example of a group of isolationists, cut off but still technically part of that larger society. She and Akeno however did exchange a rather telling glance, nodding once before turning their attention back to the others.

"Exactly," Rias said with a nod before turning back to Harry, smirking at him. "I'm also reminded of an old saw that the best defense is a good offense, so I have been thinking about how to find and hunt down Stray Devil's or other such threats before they come upon our territory. That could be a good starting point."

"While I would prefer not to go down that road, after this past weekend's events I am forced to agree that we need to be more proactive," Sona said with a faint sigh. "Especially if the Khaos Brigade is hiding some of its people in Japan or elsewhere in Asia. None of the factions but we Devils have much of a territorial base in Asia. The Church has never made much inroads in most Asian countries, least of all Japan. The Fallen have mostly concentrated on the Middle East and China leaving the smaller countries alone. Singapore, Japan, North Korea and Taiwan, possibly even India would make for excellent bases of operation or simple recruitment, such as with the Youkai Association and its offshoots."

"That is an excellent idea, and one that we should probably talk about in greater detail," Harry said, making his own position plain as well as his a with both of them in his approving tone and smile towards Rias. "I might have some ideas of how to find such threats as well, including perhaps creating some connections within the Onmyodo government and trying to find out the answer to the question that sparked that idea. But for now, let's concentrate on what we can do on the defensive side of things."

"I like the idea Harry, but we all also have other projects we need to spend time on. I have my own education both at the school and magical, and my peerage's training. I can move that kind of thing around for the most part to clear say two hours most days, but not Tuesday at all. That's a day I've devoted to speaking with Gasper for a while now."

"Gasper, you mentioned him, erm, you're Bishop right? A vampire you said, whose Sacred Gear is too powerful and out of control to let him around other people?" Harry asked.

"Exactly." Akeno replied with a nod and a wicked smirk on her head. "That and he's a hikikomori, a shut-in who can't stand being around other people. He communicates somewhat well with Koneko-chan online, but that's about all. We've tried to convince him to communicate with us more often but it hasn't worked."

He's also…" Rias paused, and then shrugged. "I suppose you could call him gender-questionable?" At Harry's look of confusion Rias shrugged once more. "He um, he's a very pretty boy who doesn't really look very boyish at all and who generally likes to wear dresses. He's even very formal and kind, but he also still identities himself as a boy and has never evinced any desire to actually change genders or interest in boys himself, so gender-questionable."

"Fufufu" Akeno giggled. "Indeed, indeed, though I maintain Gasper-kun would make a most cute girl."

"Kiba-kun would probably gouge out his own eyes if you even suggested such a thing again," Rias said with a laugh of her own.

Sona and Tsubaki shook their heads at that, while Harry simply blinked, seemingly unable to picture such an individual in his mind. The image he came up with was a sort of cross between Draco Malfoy and a vampire Wearing one of Kuoh Academy's girl's uniforms.

He shuddered, and promptly forced the image out of his mind. "Let's, let's move on. I want this done, and it will take far less time with all of us involved as much as possible. But if you can only give three hours a day to it, that's fine."

"I will also bring in my own two Bishops. They are not as experienced in using magic as Tsubaki or myself, but they do have that potential, and at the least can spot check any runic arrays we right out." Sona said, jumping on the chance to get her Bishops some more training even peripherally connected to this new type of magic.

Harry nodded acceptance at that, and the four got to work. Most of the time that day was spent with Sona and Rias explaining the existing array and how they had created it, with Harry taking notes and asking questions based off his own magical background. It was clear even from that however that the reconstruction of the defensive spells around Kuoh would be a very long project, especially with all of the other demands on all of their time.

As they were leaving, Harry looked over at Akeno and Rias, moving his arms around Akeno's waist flirtatiously. "Would the two of you like to come over for dinner?"

"Ara, I'm afraid not Sensei~," Akeno said in her teasing tone of voice, leaning back and kissing him under the jaw. "I have several contracts I cannot ignore, and one of them is going to take up all of tonight and tomorrow as well."

"And I have to go have a meeting with my Onii-sama I'm sorry to say, for many reasons." Rias replied drolly, waiting on the other side of the table to fall into step with her friend and lover, pushing down a small flash of jealousy as she took Harry's hand in hers.

"Oh, and what will you tell him?" Harry asked quizzically, knowing that Rias wanted to keep their relationship a secret from her family for as long as possible.

"As much as I have to, and nothing I don't." Rias said in a tart tone.

As they were leaving however the trio paused at the entrance to the old school building, seeing that Sona and Tsubaki had been stopped by Saji Genshirou. Tsubaki had excused herself and walked off, moving to the main school building to let the two of them have some time to talk.

Saji looked as if he hadn't slept a wink, there were rings under his eyes and his normally immaculate appearance was somewhat rumpled, with only his hair looking cared for. Sona had in fact been rather worried about him, and had sent one of her youngest peerage members to watch him, even giving him food at lunchtime to help keep his energy up. It seemed to have helped, but only somewhat.

Now however Sona was wondering if that had been a good decision. "I, I'm sorry, but, what did you just say?" she asked, actually flushing slightly, something that had Rias smirking where she had pushed Akeno and Harry back into the old school building.

As they watched from hiding, Saji nodded seriously. "I, I've been interested in you, I mean, I've had a bit of a, well a crush on you for a while Sitri-sama. And I want to know more about being a Devil, so this is rather two birds with one stone. We, that is' I'm not asking that you become my girlfriend, only that we go on a date and get to know one another more before I agree to join your peerage."

"I, I suppose that is one way of getting to know one another." Sona said, secretly rather flattered. She felt she was rather plain in comparison to many of the girls in the school, especially Akeno and Rias. This was rather a nice little ego boost, if nothing else. "I won't lie to you Genshirou-san, I am not in fact interested in romance at this point in time. However… however, I will agree to this stipulation, if you do agree to at least seriously consider joining my peerage."

"Would you like me to pick you up at around seven this Friday?" Saji asked, to which Sona just nodded, feeling her heart go pitter-pater for a moment.

That feeling abruptly left her as she turned to see Rias and the others there. She scowled at them all, actually growling. "Not…one…word…"

"I didn't say anything. Not yet anyway." Rias said, while Akeno fufufued, before the two of them began to tease Sona unmercifully. "Does this mean the ice maiden, who stated she would never be interested in someone less intelligent than her, has thawed a bit?"

"Ara, I would think it something entirely different. Sona-sama is simply using the best way she can to control her newest peerage member~," Akeno teased. "Fufufu, I can just imagine having that young boy serving under you, mmm…"

"Right, I think that's my cue to leave," Harry muttered, and without another word apparated away, leaving the three girls alone.

But Rias couldn't tease her friend for very long, she had a meeting to get to after all. Indeed, within a bare forty minutes of leaving her best friend, Rias was down in hell, being greeted by her big brother in his own inimitable fashion.

"Rias-tan! Oh, you're alright, Onii-chan was so worried! You know I love you but meanie Grayfia-chan wouldn't left me come see you! Can you believe it?! Oh, I was soooo proud of you for the reports you sent me about those rogue Fallen!" Sirzechs Gremory, Maou Lucifer, King of Hell and reckoned a monster among monsters in terms of magical power said, her arms practically crushing Rias in a hug as he rubbed his cheek against hers.

 _Yes, I definitely overdid it with my message to him,_ Rias thought tiredly as she tried to get out of the grip without much success. "I'm fine Onii-sama, now if you could just let go!" Rias said, pushing and straining further. When that didn't work she tried to smack his head with hers as her voice rose. "I'm fine darn it now let go, baka-Onii-sama!"

"No, I won't let you go until you say you love me!" Sirzechs moaned, tightening his grip.

"Gah, fine, I love you!" Rias growled, somehow raising her knee until it smacked into her brother's thigh just close enough to earn her a blink. Then with a faint sigh she kissed him on the cheek before speaking directly into his ear, her voice rising in volume with every word. "Now let go or else I swear I'll tell Grayfia about your Collection of Sailor Moon figures! The ones you want to hand down to Milicas!"

Those figures were not the simple, toy-like ones that she and her brother had bonded over when she was young and into Sailor Moon. No, these were the adult, made for devils by devils sort, the next best thing to tiny sex dolls, complete with a few specialized spells on them. Sirzechs had bought them years ago, and had hoped eventually to talk Grayfia into some cosplay based off them, especially the one named Rei for some reason Rias didn't want to think too hard about. Rias knew about them because it had been her original figurines Sirzechs's set had been based off of.

Sirzechs let his little sister go at that, pouting at her, while Rias sighed and straightened her clothing, grateful she had insisted they meet alone in his office. This had been embarrassing enough, if anyone else had been there it would have been worse, particularly Grayfia, who Rias admitted she had some complicated feelings about. She somewhat respected the Strongest Queen for her strength, but the way she acted at times infuriated Rias for her complete commitment to the rules and laws of Devilkind.

"Mou, that was a low blow Rias-tan," Sirzechs said, before sitting down at a nearby chair, waving Rias into another one opposite. When he spoke next though, he became somewhat more serious. "So, give me a more in depth rundown on these Fallen you ran into."

Rias did so, narrowing her eyes and pointedly going on about how she and Sona hadn't been able to detect them or the excommunicated exorcists. "I think I know why we weren't told about how poorly our detection array would work, much like why we weren't told about our own aura's but even so Onii-sama the excommunicated exorcists' ability to get past it, and to use items to create magical effects with impunity, is something else!"

"I understand why you're angry at that Rias-tan, and I would have taught you about them if I had expected exorcists to be an issue," Sirzechs replied with a wince. "There aren't supposed to be that many excommunicated exorcists to be any appreciable threat, and the Church is the least likely of the Three Factions to restart open hostilities. The crisis of belief among humanity has garnered most of their attention and they have more trouble making up their losses than we do."

"…I'll accept that for now," Rias replied, then continued on. She made no mention of her relationship with Harry Potter, that would have been foolish in the extreme even if Sirzechs wasn't likely to have a fundamental objection to it, beyond the idea of any man being worthy of his sister, anyway. Instead she hinted at the idea that Harry had been involved in suborning Kalawarner, which was the truth, and that he had begun to teach Rias his style of magic.

"Truly?" Sirzechs said in surprise. "I hadn't thought of that when…"

He paused, and Rias filled in the blank, smiling at him and actually reaching across to pat his knee. "I know you hired him thinking he would become part of my peerage Onii-sama, and I'm grateful for it." _More grateful than I'll tell you now for certain._ "But I think you neglected to take into account Harry's priorities. Lily comes first and foremost, followed by everything else a very distant second and he doesn't go looking for fights anymore." _Well he does, just not in the same manner._ "He had no other desire or need to become a devil. Instead, he and I have agreed to an exchange of knowledge and information.

"Oh." Sirzechs frowned at that then shrugged. "I had hoped that with the power I could see growing within him, he would be amenable to being turned. But if not, then at least you were able to find a way to use his knowledge."

"Exactly," Rias replied, and then changed the subject before her older brother could ask further questions on that topic. "Have you come up with any more information on the Khaos Brigade? More specifically, are there any hints of further activity on their part in Japan?"

"Not yet. We've discovered attacks by that group against churches and Fallen bases elsewhere, but nothing so overt in Japan." Sirzechs said, shaking her head. "Though I have learned that there seems to be more Fallen activity in Japan that hasn't been accounted for."

"In that case, Sona-san and I will want any information on any sighting of such," Rias replied firmly. "Check them against whatever your contact among the Fallen is telling you, and anything that he or she doesn't immediately tell you is their people we can assume are either Khaos Brigade members or further rogue groups like the one we just had to deal with."

Sirzechs instantly understood why Rias was asking for this and he frowned, before asking hesitantly. "You do know that such a thing could cause further conflict."

"But on the other hand it might nip problems in the bud," Rias replied firmly. "Japan and other Asian countries are the most likely places for the Khaos Brigade to have bases, and the least to have strong Fallen or Church presences. Indeed, from what Sona and I already know, there is only four sanctified churches still in use in Japan, and only what, five, seven known Fallen territories? Assume a few more of both that they haven't let us learn about, but that still might leave some targets which no one is willing to claim."

"If we can take the fight to them, they will have less time and resources to make trouble that could in turn lead to a resumption of war between the parties, and therefore less ability to make trouble for us in our own territory like this group did." Her face hardened. "Raynare and her group came far too close to succeeding in gaining several powerful Sacred Gears from right under our noses. Khaos Brigade or not, we can't let that happen again."

Nodding his head, Sirzechs first wondered what his 'spy' in the Grigori would think about this, and if it indeed might make him actually act for once. But he doubted it, more likely he'd let Rias clean up his problems for them, only taking credit if he could after.

Setting that thought apart Sirzechs surreptitiously let a film of magic cover his eyes in such a way that Rias wouldn't notice before blinking it away, smiling in pleasure, if also somewhat in confusion. _Huh, isn't that interesting._

Their parents had put two spells on Rias before allowing her to move to earth as she had been begging for years to be allowed to do. The first spell had simply been to keep her from just running away, which had been a real concern for a time, in order to get out of her marriage to Riser. The other had been to make her somewhat lazier and more lackadaisical than she should be. It had been a subtle but irritating piece of work.

The first had been unusual, but given Rias's love of Japan and the human world in general, even Sirzechs had been concerned that her love of the human world would overcome her waning feelings of duty to their family. The other was actually normal: it was a test the 32 Pillars put on their children, to see if they could develop the will to break it. But what had not been usual was the fillip that her father had added to it: that she wouldn't be able to be proactive at all in terms of training herself.

The problem was Rias had a proclivity to the Power of Destruction that was astonishing if nowhere near Sirzechs's own. If she was free to train that power, it was feared she might find a way to overcome the Phenex family's ability to regenerate and simply kill Riser, which would cause a feud between their families regardless of why she did it. Since Rias had stated she would do so if she could, again no one could argue the necessity beyond the spell, not if they were in favor of the 'marriage' in the first place anyway.

But now both were gone. Somehow Rias had broken them both through sheer willpower which made Sirzechs happy, and wondering what his dear little sister was planning for Riser. He wouldn't ask: he had done all he could to help her already, she had to take the next step herself. But the fact she seemed able to take that step made him very happy. "Very well Rias-tan, I'll get you that information as quickly as I can. I just hope that when you use it, you're careful about how you go about it. After all, if you go after a tiger, sometimes you become the hunted instead of the hunter… "

Later that day, Sirzechs sighed as he sat down to dinner with the people he was so irritated with in terms of their treatment of his little sister, his parents. The two of them, his son Milicas and his wife Grayfia were having dinner together.

Or rather, the Gremory family was. Grayfia, much to Sirzechs both feigned and real annoyance, did not sit with them. "Come on Grayfia-chan, why don't you sit down and join us?"

Grayfia shook her head firmly, taking a place at the back of the hall with the other maids. "It would not be proper Sirzechs-sama."

"Mou, so cold," Sirzechs pouted, but then smirked as Grayfia sent a small smile towards their son, Milicas. Those little smiles were the only real emotional sign she would show in public. Grayfia was not a natural mothering type, smothering, cajoling, yes, but not mothering and rarely showed any kind emotion outside of their own house.

"So, what did Rias-chan want to talk to you about Sirzechs?" Zeoticus Gremory asked as his son sat down. He was an inch or so taller than his son, but just as fit looking, with a dark curly red beard and hair matching his children's. "I was surprised she didn't stop in to speak to me Venelana."

"Really?" Sirzechs asked his tone disingenuous but his eyes hard. "Are you really, given the way the last time you three talked went?"

Zeoticus had the good grace to twitch and look away at that, while Venelana sighed and shook her head. Being the only one there without red hair Venelana stood out somewhat. While she had handed down the Bael clan's Power of Destruction to both her children neither of them had gotten her brown hair. "My daughter is still sadly against the marriage we have contrived for her. It is understandable given her age, no one at that age likes being told what to do, but she will eventually get over it."

"So you say Mother. I rather believe she has reason to want out of marrying Riser Phenex. There are all those rumors after all, including several on how Riser treats his peerage…" Sirzechs said, once more hinting at what he knew as fact: that Riser routinely abused his peerage. That the peerage link would force them to enjoy it if he so wished made that fact no less horrible or damning in Sirzechs's eyes.

"Bah, rumors is all they are, no doubt started by his rivals in the Ratings game or someone jealous, possibly even jealous of his upcoming marriage to our little girl," Zeoticus said with a laugh. "You know as well as I do that any upcoming devil of a Noble family will have rumors sprout up around him like mushrooms."

"So you say Dad," Sirzechs said, only to scowl as Grayfia caught his eyes, glaring lightly. _Darn it I know Grayfia, stop glaring at me!_ He whined in his head, before growling in his mind. _Fucking politics, 'I can't be seen interfering in my own family's life beyond the Rating Game plan we've set up'? Can't use my resources to find out the truth beyond those rumors and force my parents to see it? I can't use my resources as a Maou to figure out what kind of an asshole Riser is? Fucking politics!_

"I do not doubt that some of the rumors about young Riser's lecherousness are true," Venelana said, smiling at her son. "And I do like how you are trying to watch out for your little sister. However, those excesses can be excused in a young man, especially one from such a vitally energetic family. I simply see it as a sign young Riser will need a firm female hand to control him. Rias can certainly supply that."

"Hah! All too true, though hopefully she won't take too many lessons in the means she uses to do so from young Himejima." Zeoticus guffawed.

"What are you talking about?" Milicas asked innocently, but with the timing of a true devil.

Wilting under the glare from his wife, Zeoticus tried to deflect this. "Oh nothing important grandson, just some adult type business. That and your Aunt Rias's upcoming nuptials."

While his mother admonished her husband for his lowbrow sense of humor and joined with him to redirect the young boy's attention, Sirzechs reflected that this was his thirtieth attempt to bring the rumors about Riser's attitude towards women to his parent's attention, and once more it had ended in a failure. Just as similar attempts to gently force Riser's parents into action in an effort to see if they could change his attitude had failed.

 _The only one that's listened is Ruval, the clan's heir. And as he's busy with his own life, what he can do about his younger brother is limited, especially since his parents are blind to it. What is that phrase? You can lead a camel to water but you can't make it drink? Regardless, at least Ruval took on their younger sister, Ravel, rather than let Riser do it._

Sirzechs rather liked that young man. Ruval was everything a Phenex should be, passionate, intelligent, combative, caring and above all fiercely loyal. _Honestly speaking if it had been him who Rias was engaged to I wouldn't have tried to help Rias nearly as much as I have been._ But he didn't spend much time at home being a professional Rating Game fighter, and was 31 years old, so there would still have been an issue with their disparate ages in Rias's point of view.

That brought Sirzechs mind to another topic: Harry Potter.

Harry Potter, The Man Who Conquered, a werewolf magician, who possessed the things the wizards called the Hallows, would have made a powerful Bishop for his younger sister. _But even if he doesn't join her peerage, ha has at least agreed to help train them. And I bet he could help Koneko and Akeno with their various issues which would be big help right there._

The magical realms so to speak, were not as separate as most thought. There were numerous spies on both sides, mostly in the Magicians guild. Many a wizard had a contract with a Fallen or Devil, though not so much the church, some who spied for their own people, while others spied on the Wizarding World for their contracted devils. _Which makes sense, given how the Church encouraged magic users to be_ burned at the stake. _Huh, now that I think about it the Angels might not realize wizards are still out there, or that their excesses hadn't really stopped the rise of the Wizarding World. Those notice-me-not arrays are no joke even to me and the other Maou. Still, I wonder if Rias-chan was able to get the powerful Sacred Gear user the Fallen were after to join her peerage?_

"Dad!" a voice shouted in his ear, breaking Sirzechs out of his rambling thoughts with a squawk of shock. He looked over at his son, who was pouting at him from where he sat on the other side of the long, heavy table. "I asked you a question."

"Sorry Milicas, my mind was bouncing like a bunch of rubber balls and I couldn't catch even a single one." Sirzechs replied with a smile, causing Milicas to laugh.

"I asked you if Rias-onee-sama brought down anything for me. I was hoping she'd found another gunpla." Milicas asked patiently.

Smirking over at his parents who were laughing at them both, Sirzechs shook his head. "Sorry son, but no, she didn't mention anything about that. Although, if you make me a list, maybe we can talk to your mother about getting you a few after you ace your next test on etiquette."

Sirzechs could feel the glare Grayfia was sending him, but damn it, what was he supposed to do? Milicas really spent too much time in the limelight being the perfect tiny noble, and Sirzechs took every opportunity to let him be a child again. Normally Rias could be counted on to do that too, but those times had become few and far between since she had finally been able to move out of Hell to the human world.

Later, a thought occurred to him, and as he walked next to his son to their own portion of the large mansion, he suddenly had a thought. "Milicas, you have a break coming up next month from etiquette school right?"

"Yep!" Milicas said with a smile. "I'm looking forward to it, though Mom hasn't planned anything for us yet."

"Hmm… well don't worry about that. I think instead of doing something with me and your mother, you can take a trip up to see your sister and get one or your Gunpla personally." Sirzechs mused. "Heck, maybe I can get some time off and come with you! Oooh, maybe we could all go to Tokyo Disney? Won't that be fun?"

"You're going to get in trouble Dad, again." Milicas replied with a giggle, fully aware of who wore the pants that relationship.

"Maybe, but it'll be worth it I think." Sirzechs said with a smile.

 **OOOOOOO**

Harry had teleported home that day to have dinner with Lily, Asia and Koneko and the four of them had a fun time watching a series of cartoons from America translated into Japanese. The next day went much the same. Harry met with Rias, Sona, Akeno and Tsubaki, in one of the classrooms this time. He had let it be known that he was helping them prepare for college, which was believed by the student body. With the principal he had hinted that they were all talking magic and that was enough for that worthy. This allowed them to talk and meet somewhat openly, which made the exchange of ideas go somewhat more fluidly, since they weren't at the stage where they would be righting up full arrays just yet.

That day however marked a far larger change. While Akeno was once more out on a contract and Rias meeting with Gasper, Harry walked home instead of teleporting because he wanted to stretch his legs after sitting for so long. And outside of his house, Harry found Kalawarner outside of his home, carrying several grocery bags. He looked at her, his head cocked to one side quizzically as a small frown played on his lips. "Kalawarner? Can I help you?"

"You already have in a lot of ways, but no not right now. Instead, I'm here to help you," She said with a smile, holding up the bags. They were heavy, so much so that most women would have had trouble lifting them but Kalawarner was not a human woman. "I thought that I could maybe come over and start making myself useful. That," she said going on in a quieter tone of voice, "And I want to talk to Asia. I want to apologize to her for the part I played in duping her, for the part I might have played in robbing her of life and her Sacred Gear if things had played out as Raynare wanted them to."

"And in this way you get closer to me," Harry said mildly, without any censure or sign of acceptance of that fact in his voice.

"That too, and the others," Kalawarner said with a smirk, absolutely no repentance or chagrin at being found out in her tone. "And Lily too." She shook her head with a sigh. "Those assholes attacking her that was so far beyond the pale even without everything else I would've had a major issue with that. I've always thought kids were truly precious, that their innocence needed to be protected. That's why I never went after married men. Unless they had already cheated with other women, of course."

Harry looked at her for a long moment, then slowly nodded, rolling his eyes internally at the last bit she had added on at the end there. But that in a nutshell sort of showed the issue he had with Kalawarner. She was trying to change, but she had hundreds of years of bad habits she was fighting. "All right, but you'll have to deal with me watching you in the kitchen. It's not that I don't trust you or think you're going to poison us or anything like that, but it is **my** kitchen after all."

"That's fine," Kalawarner said smiling once more. _Hell, watch all you want. Later on, once we're more comfortable around one another and the kids are out of the house that could be a nice segue into some fun…_

Not replying to that Harry led the way inside, pausing momentarily to touch Kalawarner on the forehead reading her temporarily into the wards of the house, then looking up as Koneko appeared, cocking her head thoughtfully to one side. That day, as the day before, Harry and Koneko had picked up Lily together, and he had gone home with them to speak to Asia before returning to school via apparition. It was clear to Harry at this point that would become a daily routine quickly.

"Kalawarner has decided she wants to cook for us tonight." Harry said, addressing the Nekomata. "Between you and me, I think Mittelt's mouth is sort of wearing on her," Harry said dryly.

"Well there is that," Kalawarner said with a wince. "Mittelt is perfectly happy with lazing about all day drawing up designs, but I prefer to be around people, and ones who don't curse and shout insults at their TV shows every other minute for preference. I swear she watches some of those dramas just to have a reason to shout about the characters. I mean we're… kind of friends, as much as we can be, but that really doesn't mean we like spending time together that much."

At that point Asia popped her head out from around the corner leading into the TV room behind Koneko, starting a little at the sight of Kalawarner there. "Oh, um, hello Kalawarner-san, um, are you doing well?"

"That was my question for you Asia." She glanced over at Harry, who led the way into the kitchen, gesturing Asia and Koneko to follow them as the discussion continued. "I take it Harry and possibly the Gremory girl told you about my part in what occurred this past weekend?"

Asia nodded smiling at the fallen, a smile full of warmth and genuine happiness. "They did, and I think that what you did was very brave, Kalawarner-san. It is not very easy to take that first step towards redemption after all."

"I don't think of it as redemption," Kalawarner said quietly as she began to pull out various food items from the bags. "I think of it as more expiation."

"Whatever you call it, doing good is still doing good," Asia replied stubbornly. "And whoever said that a Fallen could not find his or her way back to God?"

Kalawarner grunted in something approximating a response to that as Harry took a slight step back, looking at the two of them thoughtfully before watching as more items came out of the bags. "I hope you're all feeling a little adventuresome," Kalawarner said. "I was thinking of a traditional Greek meal to start with, then French maybe tomorrow."

"No frog's legs," Koneko said making an X in front of her body.

"That's a stereotype!" Kalawarner and Harry said as one, then looked at one another and laughed.

It turned out that evening that Kalawarner was an extremely good cook. "Though," Harry said dryly afterwards, "That's hardly surprising given how old you actually are."

He earned a smack on the shoulder from Kalawarner for that and a smack upside the head from Koneko as they intoned as one "Never mention a lady's age." In the background Asia also looked mortified, and Lily, his darling daughter, was nodding along. Female solidarity was a horrifying thing.

Later that night as the young trio were having fun playing a board game and after Kalawarner had left, Akeno and Rias came by to spend some time with Harry. Rias wanted to tell him about her meeting with her brother, and Akeno wanted to just spend time with Harry for a bit.

As Harry handed her a glass of wine, she sighed and took a sip, mumbling thanks. "Mah, I do rather like tea and tea ceremonies, but the people who come to them at times are most trying to deal with."

"Sorry about that Akeno-chan," Rias said, pulling her friend into a loose sideways hug. "But that is one of your best contracts; you gain more energy from that one contract than any three of your others."

At Harry's interrogative noise, Rias turned to him and explained, smiling thankfully as she too took a glass of wine. "The number of people who are part of a contract, or rather who are effected by it, impact the amount of life energy we can gain from the contract itself. Akeno-chan has a contract with the tea house manager, which in turn allows her to take a bit of life energy from all his employees, as well as everyone she personally serves tea to."

"Ah." Harry wasn't certain how the contracts worked really, but the idea of exchanging life energy into mana sounded believable. "But surely you don't get as much out of that as you would by just training?"

"Training is harder and takes longer, but yes, the payoff is more. There's also the mental aspect of training to consider, hence why I'm going to be pushing Kalawarner and Mittelt to train against the rest of us in as many different scenarios as I can." Rias replied then smirked a little. "Kalawarner actually said she wanted something to do today, so I figure she can come up with a few scenarios during the day, and we can maybe spend an hour or so every evening rotating the others in to train with the two of them after dinner. Although with all our other projects it is getting harder to schedule training for myself and Akeno going forward."

"Speaking of Kalawarner, I have been wondering Harry-san if you met anyone else who you felt was supernatural but didn't tell us about?" Akeno asked her tone rather mellow even if her words might not have sounded that way. "Your ability to read auras is after all still better than ours, and we never did ask you that question. But it would not be good to have only dealt with one group of foreign elements."

To Rias and Akeno's surprise, Harry nodded at that. "Yes actually. There was another woman who I saw once at a bar. I might have also seen her before when I was out with Kalawarner. She was a tall, purple-haired woman named Yubelluna."

The reaction to this revelation was far beyond what Harry had anticipated. Rias and Akeno both slammed their goblets of wine down and stood up shouting as one "WHAT?"

Koneko poked her head in from the TV room, her head cocked to one side, but Rias waved her off, staring intently at Harry. "Are you sure that was her name Harry? And that you met her here in Kuoh?"

"Yes, she told me her name herself, and yes, I met her in Kuoh. I think the first time I saw her was at a dance club downtown. The second was in a bar and she was taking the opportunity to… deaden the pain you might say." Harry replied, nodding to the two goblets and the wine they contained. "With stuff quite a bit stronger than that, I might add. I take it you recognize the name?"

"Yubelluna is the name of the Bomb Queen, **Riser's** Queen." Rias growled, beginning to pace around the kitchen. "Damn him, actually coming into our territory like that and not telling me or Sona! That is a major breach of etiquette, to say nothing of the issue between him and me! Damn it, this is not fair!"

"I do not think that either Riser or any of his peerage would be so boorish as to keep an eye on you Rias-sama," Akeno said formally. "I would instead assume they wanted to pressure you, but was not allowed to do so by your parents. It would be well within his personality to then want to blow off steam, hence why he would be in a dance club. And well…" Akeno grimaced, picking up her goblet and pouring the rest of the wine back into the bottle slowly. "If I had to deal with that man, I might well want to drown my troubles too."

Breathing in deeply Rias calmed down, and then followed her Queen's example, picking up her goblet and slowly pouring it back into the bottle. "You're right about that. Pity, I really have quite a bit of respect for that woman, she is powerful, loyal and intelligent from what I've seen and heard. She and the others don't deserve how Riser treats them all, and she's put up with it for the longest time of them all too. Though I still wonder why she was in our territory for that."

"Maybe you can ask her after you kick Riser's ass and force him to pull out of this engagement farce," Harry said mildly, his eyes flashing with fury at Riser and confidence in Rias in equal measure.

"A lovely thought," Rias said, leaning into his side and kissing his neck in thanks for the assurance.

Harry however turned the conversation in another direction. "Speaking of the future, the short term future in this case, I wanted to tell you that regardless of our relationship I won't be willing to go on dates for a while, not for a while." When both young women looked at him, Harry went on. "I trust my own wards, but I still don't want to leave Lily on her own for any length of time, especially since she still has a social life outside of Koneko. I'm not going to force her to stay home over the weekend or rush home every day after school, but that does not mean I'm willing to be all that far away either."

"Aw, the big papa wolf is going to lurk nearby then protecting his little Red?" Rias said with a laugh hugging him hard before backing away. "I sort of anticipated a reaction like that. But it just means we'll have to have some family style or stay at home dates for a while. And maybe we can still have dates, just somewhere near wherever Lily is. Plus, I'd wager that her friends wouldn't mind Koneko's inclusion into their group."

Akeno too seemed understanding. "Ara, I saw your priorities when you ran off and left me before our date officially ended sen~sei~, so do not worry about me," she said, putting a seductive lilt on the word sensei just as usual. "However, I will request a full blown, ritzy sort of date in the future."

Harry agreed to that request easily enough, but Rias looked at her friend closely. And later, after another hour of small talk and putting Lily to bed, Rias insisted the two of them walk home rather than teleport so the two of them could talk before reaching their home.

As they walked home the two young women were silent, walking arm in arm, a sight that would have set many a boy to blushing at the implications if nothing else. Eventually however Rias broke the silence. "Dating Harry not all you thought it would be?"

Akeno rolled her eyes. "I would hardly call a single date worth the word 'dating', although the emotions are there, I know that now." She sighed, shaking her head as she went on, her tone wistful. "But dating should be about whirlwind romance, dancing and making out every night!"

"Well, we might not be going dancing, but the making out bit we can do," Rias replied with a seductive smirk on her lips before she became serious. "But there's always Lily, and there will always be Lily."

Akeno sighed. "I like Lily quite a bit, but I do not like how I need to compete with her, and now Koneko and Asia." She turned and buried her face into the taller Rias's shoulder, not incidentally letting her larger chest press into Rias's as she mock-wailed. "I'm losing time with my boyfriend to a trio of younger girls, whatever will I do?!"

Rias laughed in amusement at that. "Well, that's what you should expect when you become involved with a single parent. As for Asia and Koneko, I think of that as just an extension of the issue with Lily." She then frowned at her friend pushing Akeno away from her lightly. "You need to get over that Akeno, if you want this relationship to become serious."

"Your idea of serious and mine are different, but I agree I need to work on that," Akeno said, smiling as the two of them resumed their walk home. A few moments later, Akeno asked hesitantly. "Speaking about the future, I, I was wondering if… I spoke once about… that is…"

She paused, trying to get her words to line up right in order to ask her King for help in the future to follow her dream of being a singer. But she didn't have to.

Instead Rias put an arm around her Queen's shoulder, holding her tightly. "Akeno, I never intended for you to give up your own dreams for the future when you became my Queen, or force you just to follow mine. If you still want to be a singer, go for it, I'll try and help you however I can."

"Th, thank you Rias-sama," Akeno said, leaning into the hug.

 **OOOOOOO**

Getting into bed that evening, Harry was happy at how his conversation with Akeno and Rias had gone, but wasn't so certain what to think about Kalawarner, not that this was anything unusual where the blue-haired woman was concerned. He was still having some problems with the whole multi-partner thing, but had bent on that point already for Akeno, who he had yet to build the kind of emotional rapport that he had with Rias.

 _But with Kalawarner, I had built a kind of connection before she tried to influence me. Now that she's expressed regret and really made up for that, I could see us getting together again, if not for Rias and Akeno even if I don't feel any attraction or passion to her now. And I won't let anything like that build up again unless Rias and Akeno both make certain that they would be alright with it. I think it will be far better if I concentrate on Rias, Akeno and above that making certain that Lily remains safe. I just hope that Kalawarner won't push for more than friendship._

Setting aside such thoughts for a moment, Harry decided to do something else he had decided to do since meeting Ddraig: getting the next best thing he could to real combat training in how to use his new powers. With that in mind, he moved over to the heavily warded box where he had placed the red gauntlet that was the Boosted Gear. Pulling it on, Harry concentrated, and once more the ring that was the visible expression of his new connection to the land between the living and the dead on his other hand.

The connection was even easier this time, and almost instantly Harry's astral projection found itself standing in the odd, blasted landscape that was the interior of the Sacred Gear. _Well at least this time I start out facing in the right direction,_ Harry thought, standing face to monstrous snout with Ddraig, the Great Welsh.

The giant dragon's long, sinuous neck reared upwards slightly as Ddraig cocked its head. **"And what do you want this time, Owner of Fragarach?"**

"First, can't you at least call me Potter? That way of addressing me makes it seem as if Fragarach is all you care about. While Fragarach is amazing, I can assure you that my abilities extend far beyond its use." Harry replied, scowling slightly.

" **Hah! Very well, Potter. What do you want?"** Ddraig said, mollifying his tone slightly.

"I want to train myself in my new powers and abilities, and wondered if we could have a spar," Harry replied honestly. "In return, I would be willing to see what I can do to let you sense or see what is going on in the outside world somehow. I understand that is actually somewhat easy once you are being worn, and I could perhaps think of a few spells to feed a TV signal or something similar into your gauntlet."

" **What do I look like, one of those coach potato creatures**? **"** Ddraig grumbled, as if the phrase was supposed to describe a separate species rather than lazy humans. **"Still, the idea does have some merit. And you mentioned the idea that there could be someone else fit to wield me. Very well, I will agree to this, if you let me meet some of these others. I will waive my initial desire for them to be humans or former humans for a time, though I will be harsher on them in terms of testing their willpower if that is not the case."**

The dragon suddenly stood up on its tree trunk legs, moving far faster than something its size should have been able to. **"For now, let us see what magical tricks,"** the dragon scoffed, looking as he wanted to spit, but couldn't, **"You have that make you think you can stand against the great Ddraig, Potter!"**

 **OOOOOOO**

Diodora Astaroth was not happy. "I'm sorry," he said, keeping his voice level, and obsequious with a certain amount of the difficulty. "But you don't recognize it?"

"The signal is blurred," his patron said, tossing the small magical device, which looked like a large crystal ovoid, Diodora had used to try to get a sense of what had occurred in that church in Kuoh back to him. "Could figure it out, but why?"

"I had discovered a powerful Sacred Gear user who is no longer affiliated with the church," Diodora said prevaricating quickly "and had hoped to woo her to our side. She possesses one of the most powerful healing Sacred Gears in existence, Twilight Healing. But the trail cut off abruptly in the church where I found those odd magical traces."

"Irrelevant, unimportant." The young seeming girl in a lolita dress in front of him said shaking her head. "Not important enough to waste time on. You will instead return to your spying duties. You're worth much more in that then in any kind of recruitment position."

Once more Diodora kept the scowl of his face and out of his voice with difficulty. "This is personally important to me milady, I would rather like some help in this, as well as…"

He stopped, as the girl will looked at him for the first time. The crushing weight of that gaze drove him to his knees, and the girl, Ophis theOuroboros Dragon, intoned simply. "Unimportant." Though whether she meant him, or his concerns about Argento, Diodora could not tell. "Return to spying on the Demons of Hell, or die. You have already too much information for me to let you go your own way."

Diodora let loose a convulsive nod, and the pressure receded. As he pushed himself to his feet though he asked, "could I at least ask others among the Khaos Brigade if they recognize it before I return home?"

"Acceptable," the little girl said with a sharp nod. "But do not take over long. We must have research on the dimensional gap, and breaking through. Your task is important."

Gritting his teeth at that, hating to be reminded of his far more powerful and dangerous cousin Ajuka and the fact he needed to think of a way to raid his labs, the young devil nodded once more. "Thank you for your largess," he said, able to keep his tone even with difficulty. "I will return to my task immediately."

Unfortunately, his further inquiries about the magical residue he had copied from the church where Asia had disappeared yielded little results until he asked the newest member of the Khaos Brigade. There though he ran into her protector.

"If it's just a question," said Arthur Pendragon, one wintry eyebrow raised behind his glasses, "I will allow you to ask my sister. But beware demon, I am here and I am watching you. Your utility to the Khaos Brigade will not stop me from cutting you in half if you look at her inappropriately, let alone do anything else. I know your reputation Diodora."

Smiling brightly at her protective older sibling, Le Fay Pendragon stepped around him, to look at the magical signature, touching the device briefly to get a sense of it rather than just the color. Such devices were not exactly rare, but not common either, being very expensive to create, and for something that was essentially only a one-shot item.

As she did, Diodora took a moment to give her quick once over. Le Fay was a cute blonde girl of around four feet eleven, possibly the same age as his darling Asia-chan, and with the same air of innocence about her, right down to the childlike sorceress outfit she wore, though her chest was a bit better if Diodora's expert estimation was accurate. _Oh how I would like to see your other faces my dear, to twist that innocence, to take it away…_

Diodora once more kept those thoughts off his face of course. He knew he couldn't face Arthur Pendragon in a fight of any sort, and wasn't even going to try, even for a prize like the younger blonde.

Pulling back, she looked at it thoughtfully then nodded slowly. "The green magical residue somehow feels familiar. I think it could be something I've seen before in the United Kingdom, but I can't tell you more than that right now. She looked up at Diodora hopefully. "I can contact my family though, go home for a visit and see what I can discover." Morgana looked back at her older brother teasingly. "After all, I'm not the one that stormed off in a huff and refuses to communicate with them."

Arthur sniffed, looking away. "All I care about is finding strong opponents; the family only cares about its appearance and lineage."

"And us!" Le Fay replied, poking him in the side. "Or else they wouldn't have ever let me go with you, let alone give you that sword of yours. Or let me tag along. What did mother say… oh yes 'let the two of them spread their wings, you're only young once after all'. Stop acting as if you ran away from home brother dear, no one really believes it."

"I did run away from home and I stole my sword from our family Le Fay, no matter what you say sister," Arthur replied tartly.

Diodora sighed. When the two of these got going on this topic apparently they could go on for quite a while. "Well in that case, I will thank you most profusely for doing so milady, and until then I will take my leave." With that he exited the room, wondering if the girl would really be able to help him or not.

After that, and despite his orders from Ophis, Diodora made a short trip into Kuoh, where he dropped off several of his familiars, which were giant transforming blood slugs, a deadly variant of the normal slug type which were as large as a man and could be made to be rather intelligent. The slugs quickly transformed into human shape, and he ordered, "Search and stay out of sight, never reveal yourselves but keep on the watch for Asia-chan. I will have her!"

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day, Rias came home with Harry. It was the last day Akeno would be busy with her contract and Rias hoped to spend a nice evening in with Harry just the two of them. She was still dealing with some small spurts of jealousy at times when Harry flirted with Akeno in front of her, and she knew her friend was having the same issue.

But when they entered the house they found Kalawarner already there, having been brought in under the wards by Lily and Asia. This was something Harry wasn't happy about, and he promptly removed their ability to connect to the wards in such a manner later that evening. He instead transferred it to Koneko, who he felt had better sense. He might have given the same power to Rias and Akeno, but they didn't live with him.

In this case though, it didn't turn into a problem. When Rias and Harry came in Kalawarner was teaching the three girls how to cook a bit as well as quizzing Asia on her Japanese kanji. This definitely needed some work, though the Italian native was so far along Harry didn't think that she would need the help of a full translation spell like he and Lily had used at first soon.

Looking at this scene Rias scowled, then over at Harry, who was standing across from her in the doorway to the kitchen observing. "And you're okay with this?"

"I told you, she helped protect Lily. That and her apology canceled out any of my anger towards how she attempted to manipulate me. She also seems to want to be around Asia, and I am fine with that." Harry replied, giving her a very direct look, which she understood.

"That wasn't what I was saying," Rias said with a frown taking his hand in hers and bringing it up to kiss one of his knuckles. "We've already talked about **that** , and I believe you when you say that she won't be able to come between us. I am a little jealous about the time she can spend here with you all, but that can be simply solved by making sure I spend every evening meal I can over here. Not exactly a hardship," she finished dryly before turning back to what she had originally been trying to say. "No, I meant are you fine with her using your kitchen? I certainly would not be okay with anyone but Akeno in mine."

"Then why don't you come over here and help rather than watch?" Kalawarner said over her shoulder, showing she had heard them despite their attempts to be quite before glancing at Koneko. "This one needs to learn how to chop things without destroying the chopping board."

"Not my fault," Koneko muttered. "Chopping board just weak." She resolutely did not look in Asia and Lily's direction when she said that, knowing somehow Lily was smirking at her while Asia would be pouting at Koneko for destroying the board before she got a turn to try to chop things.

With a shake of her head Rias revised her plans for the evening quickly, moving forward and gently taking the knife from Koneko's hands. ""How about we invite the rest of my peerage, including Mittelt, over as well, both tonight and tomorrow night I think, then Akeno can join us. But Mittelt needs to start to get to know the rest of my family on a more personal level, and that way we can also all share recipes."

Harry nodded at that and moved in to help as well, shooing Lily and Koneko out to finish the girl's homework for the night as he did. "I can agree to that, although if Mittelt tries to curse as much as she was doing on Sunday in front of my daughter, I will be forced to take steps."

This, like Harry and Koneko picking up Lily together, became a ritual throughout that first week and beyond. Kalawarner would make dinner for everyone, and everyone would come together at Harry's house, where he would be forced to expand the table to fit them all. She and Rias started to have some civil conversations about cooking. Her choices of food were interesting, and far more varied than Harry or Rias could handle. She and Rias and even Akeno after a time, had several actually pleasant conversation on that topic.

Harry and Rias watched Akeno and Kalawarner and Mittelt interact those first two weeks, fearful that one or the other would say something that would set Akeno off or vice versa, given Mittelt's acidic tongue. But nothing happened there. Akeno seemed willing to take them as individuals, though occasionally she and Mittelt simply started to trade barbs then curses over tiny things.

Rias was also pleased, as was Harry, by the way Kalawarner acted around Asia. She started to come over in the afternoons after checking in at the ORC clubroom to help Asia with her studying and teach the girl some cooking, which Asia, unlike Koneko and Lily, seemed to enjoy. Beyond that she did not try to get that close with Lily, but still treated her well, much like Akeno.

Asia, in turn, started to talk to Rias, putting aside that she, like the others, was a devil far more easily than Rias had feared. When she asked Asia about that one evening, Asia however simply smiled at her. "Goodness has nothing to do with race Rias-san. I can tell all of you are good people. That matters far more to me than the fact you do not follow the Lord, or are Devils. After all, the Lord said to love those who are different than yourself too."

To her personal astonishment, Mittelt was dragged along by Kalawarner to these events and was forced to start to actually both curb her tongue and get along with the devils that she'd spent several months hiding from. But if Kalawarner and Rias had bonded over cooking and how they both tended to act towards Lily and Asia, Rias and Mittelt bonded over fashion or rather the fashions of clothing in various anime shows.

This began the next night with Mittelt, instead of being dragged into the house by Kalawarner as she had the previous night, stomping in under her own power while looking around for Rias. She found Rias sitting with Lily going over some homework while Harry prepared the kitchen for that evening's meal, something that Kalawarner immediately moved to join in.

Mittelt however plopped herself down at the table pointing a finger across the table into Rias's face. "You Devils all have access to fantastic lawyers, right?"

Rias glanced up, then down at the finger pressing into her personal space, then back up until Mittelt got the hint and removed the offending appendage. While Lily giggled to one side, Rias nodded. "Yes we do. In fact, I think my family has contacts with several major law firms and not a few contracts too. Why?"

"Have you ever watched that anime called Rozen Maiden?" Mittelt asked, using her hands to bring attention to her clothing.

"Yes," Rias said slowly "I have. It's not one of my favorites, I think the premise is silly, and while the voice acting is decent, the battle sequences are boring at best. Why?"

"Those clothes, those are a perfect example of my style! This whole Gothic Lolita scene that I found here in Japan, it's all based on my designs! I've been using that style for centuries now, and now I find that anime and others with characters using it?! I should be getting royalties, and instead I am asked if I'm a cosplayer? I'm not a cosplayer I am a trendsetter! If anything those characters are cosplaying me!"

Rias looked at her, and then to Mittelt's chagrin and embarrassment simply began to laugh, shaking her head at and throwing her head back in gales of laughter.

Of course the two Fallen were not the only ones who were trying to fit in with the other locals. There was Asia to consider, but in her case, it was a much easier process. For one thing, she had no prior negative interactions to overcome with any of them.

For another, Asia fell utterly in love with living with the Potters. Hugs were everywhere,and they were **great**! Harry rubbed her head whenever she performed well on her daily lessons. He even hugged her every morning before leaving with Lily for school. Lily hugged and played with her constantly, and even Koneko occasionally rubbed her head against Asia's much like the nekomata she was.

Moreover, all of them respected her religion, even if they didn't partake in it. They never bothered her when she was at morning or evening prayers, with only Rias and the others asking if she could not mention 'the G-word' in their presence. Her lessons were proceeding apace, and Rias had even taken her to Kuoh Academy to see the campus. So all in all, despite this kind of life not being at all like the one she thought she would be living when she came to Japan, Asia went around the house with a broad smile on her face even when she was alone at home.

It got even better on the second Saturday since she had so haphazardly joined the Potter household. Arriving at home Harry found that Kalawarner hadn't arrived yet, though she had called and left a message which Koneko had written out on a piece of paper. Apparently there was some kind of major clothing sale going on. Rias had ordered the two fallen to go to it, picking up things for all of them including Asia, who didn't have enough underwear just yet for Rias's peace of mind, and Lily. The little redhead had outgrown quite a few of her things thanks to the growth spurt which was brought about by getting in touch with her werewolf side. And like with her shoes, Lily refused to just let her father resize them all the time. (This had actually caused a bit of a tantrum when Harry had brought it up).

Looking outside Harry saw, Koneko and Lily sitting facing Asia, as she took their hands, both of which looked a little bruised somehow. The reason of which was one of the small boulders that had been in the backyard. Said rock now looked rather broken, and Harry wondered what happened there. But then as he watched Asia's Sacred Gear appear and her magic heal the wounds, another thought occurred to Harry.

"Asia," he said, gaining all three young girls attention "Can you keep your Sacred Gear corporeal after you're done using it?"

"Of course," Asia said, smiling and ruffling Lily's hair. "You were a very good girl then, you didn't even whiner whimper once!"

Lily shrugged. "Wasn't that painful," she said bluffing a little, which all three of her listeners knew, their deadpan looks causing her to huff irritably.

Harry then returned his attention to Asia. "Tell me, has anyone ever tried to teach you any magical spells?"

"No, of course not," Asia replied with a shake of her head. "Most of the church believes that magic is a sign of the devil, and those that don't are exorcists, their organization within the church and those who have seen Sacred Gears in action like my own. None of whom are capable of using magic freely outside their weapons, tools, or Sacred Gears."

"Would you like to see if you could?" Harry asked, mock-innocently while Lily began to grin.

That question took Asia back for a moment, and she frowned pensively before nodding slowly. "I think I would like that…"

"Okay, so let's begin," Harry said, gesturing Asia to him. "I'll teach you a few simple spells at first, just to see if you do have a magical core thanks to your Sacred Gear. Keep Twilight Healing out for now, we'll check to see if you can use magic without it being visible in a bit." As Asia moved to stand in front of him, Harry went on. "Alright, this is a simple color changing spell. It was one of the earliest spells I learned at Hogwarts. I'll teach you the motions and the words now, and we'll take them away later."

An instant later, Lily was looking down at her shirt, which barely covered her taller and wider 'wolfie-body'. Both the shirt and her fur under it had been changed into a daisy yellow color. "Pretty…"

Asia stared in shock, then down at her fingers, which still contained the silver rings of Twilight Healing. "I, did I do that?"

Laughing quietly, Harry rubbed her head, smiling brightly. "Yep. Now, let's see if you can dispel it too."

The next disruption to Harry's life in Kuoh came the next day on Sunday. Rias and Harry took Asia and Lily had gone out for the evening to dinner and a movie, wanting to let Asia out of the house after what amounted to the world's most pleasant house arrest for the past two weeks.

None of the others could join them. Koneko had an ongoing contract; Kala and Mittelt were training with Kiba and Akeno though Akeno had tried to get free until she learned that Asia and Lily would be joining them. She wanted the first date where she, Rias and Harry were together on a single date to be just the three of them.

The meal went well as had the movie before it, a children's movie set in the Pokémon universe. Harry had yet to get into it, but that Lily and even Asia actually had started to enjoy it. The fact that it was full of cute little critters probably had something to do with that. Harry sat on one side of the booth, with one arm loosely around Lily's shoulders, trying to hold her still as she bounced up and down excitedly, while on the other side, Rias sat directly across from Harry along with Asia.

Eventually after the move the food came and went, Asia's change the subject, looking over to Rias. "By the way, I have yet to meet one of your peerage, is that correct? Koneko mentioned a Gasper-san, another younger boy?"

"They're the same as but yes." Rias said with a smile and a sad sigh. "Gasper-kun however is not nearly as outgoing; in fact he is rather introverted to put it bluntly." She instantly decided to not go into all of Gasper's other eccentricities just yet with either Asia or Lily.

"Do you think he and the other devils in the area would be angry about me staying here in your territory?" Asia asked, looking around hesitantly as she spoke, poking her fingers together in embarrassment. "I know that you share this town with another devil peerage, and I also know that Kiba doesn't really like me," she said sadly.

Rias shook her head, pulling the other girl into a light sideways hug before letting her go. "It's not that he doesn't like you Asia-chan, he doesn't have a problem with you specifically. Kiba has a problem with the church, though what that is, is his story to tell you if he wants to. For now, perhaps if you don't wear your nun's habit around him? You might notice a difference in his attitude with just that little change."

"Oh, I can do that," Asia said, blushing lightly as she looked over at Harry. "Potter-san," under Harry's sudden mock-glare she changed that address quickly, "Harry-san has bought me a lot of clothing actually. It's just getting used to the idea of wearing it that has been help holding me back."

"Wait," Lily said, sitting up abruptly and staring across at Rias. "You have another family member, who I haven't met? What's up with that?!" She said, waving her arms comically.

"Gasper-kun is very hard to describe," Rias said with a chuckle, reaching over to ruffle Lily's hair lightly. "As for introducing you, that probably would not go very well. He doesn't like being around other people, he doesn't even like communicating with **me** electronically a lot of the time. The only one who can get him to open up at all is Koneko, and all they talk about his video games, and even then almost always by text."

"Really?" Lily said interestedly. "Maybe I could talk to them by him about that too."

Rias shrugged, and pulled out her cell phone, handing it across the table. "You'll find his address in there. if you want to talk to him, simply text that your Lily Potter. And if you talk about videogames you're sure to get his attention."

"Your anime fixation doesn't spread to games?" Harry teased.

"Hardly," Rias said waving her hand. "I play strategy games, real-time strategy and turn-based. Gasper-kun he likes RPG's, and games like Pokémon or other collector games, time-wasters in other words."

Lily had looked up at her daddy in happiness of the idea for Pokémon game, but Harry shook his head quickly. "Oh, no you don't. I'm not about to buy any game that Rias calls a time-waster sort of game. Any game you play is going to have to pass through the parental approval test, okay?"

Sighing, Lily nodded knowing not to argue with her daddy when he got that tone in his voice.

Lily and Asia played with Rias phone for the rest of the meal, allowing Harry and Rias to talk quietly amongst themselves and, though neither of the other two could tell, to play a little bit of footsy under the table. Harry smirked as he noticed Rias his eyes slowly start to close as his foot, with his shoe taken off, began to play up the inside of her leg slowly pushing up her skirt as his toes started to move from her stocking to the skin of her thigh. _Yep, slacks are definitely an advantage in this kind of game._

Because he was busy with Rias, Harry wasn't paying attention to the exterior of the restaurant, though even if he had, he might have missed the small, officious-looking man staring in through the window of the family restaurant at them. He was a short man, just below normal high for a Japanese dressed in a somewhat decent but still somehow cheap suit, with swept back black hair, a receding hairline and glasses. He held a briefcase in one hand and had a cell phone in his other hand which he looked at periodically.

In other words, he was precisely the kind of individual who could disappear into any crowd in Japan without even a single person or individual noticing him, or in fact seeing him at all. After staring at them for a few seconds, specifically Asia, the man did just that, disappearing into a crowd of individuals heading down into a subway area and then out of sight of the restaurant.

Leaving the restaurant, the four of them made their way back to the Potter house with Rias having brought over several DVDs of the Pokémon TV series to watch. They sat down with a few simple fruit drinks with Rias and Harry sitting next to one another, his arm over her shoulder and Asia and Lily sitting on the other side, all of their feet up on the tabletop in front of them as they watched the show. Or rather the two youngsters watched the show along with Rias surprisingly while Harry had simply played with her hair, trying to keep control so he didn't ravish her mouth as he wanted to at the moment.

It was oddly moments like this that made him really appreciate the kind of woman Rias was, beyond her sex appeal or her devilish heritage. Domestic moments when she was around the kids, having fun, helping them with homework, just talking to them. Watching her help Rias perfect a few rumors to help defend herself at school had been a treat. The one time she and Kala made dinner without him also stood out: seeing both of them standing there in aprons had nearly unmanned him then and there.

Rias was funny, intelligent, sometimes childish, sometimes mature, somewhat ambitious, fiercely protective of those she loved, and a woman who had a lot of affection to give all around her. They'd had arguments of course, silly, small and important, but they had been arguments, not shouting matches but a discussion between equals, with both of them understanding the other had good points, and when they ended, there was no bad feelings involved. Indeed, they'd often ended their arguments with a short make out session. _Damn it, is it really so surprising that I think I'm falling for her for real?_

However Lily had noticed her Daddy's preoccupation and kept on glancing up at them, her eyes narrowed slightly. Looking up from his deep thoughts, Harry saw this and he looked at his daughter quizzically. She shrugged her shoulders, then as one of the episodes came to an end, asked "Daddy, are you dating Rias, or Akeno?"

Harry winced slightly at that. He knew this conversation was coming but that didn't mean he was looking forward to it. "I am dating them both sweetheart, in their culture that's seen as normal."

Lily frowned a little. "So does that mean we're part of their culture now too? Will I be expected to have multiple boyfriends?" She looked aghast at the very idea of having one, let alone more. "Boys are boring!"

Rias laughed at that, and then explained about why harems had become the norm among devil-kind. Lily listened intently, while Asia nodded along, understanding what Rias was saying, though she had no knowledge or background in anything remotely like this. Relationships in the church were forbidden of course, a person could not sully their body if she or he was dedicating their soul to God. But marriages outside the church were sacrosanct and had to be between one man and one woman. She brought this up as Rias finished, looking over at Harry. "Is that not the way it is with you, Harry-san?"

"Among wizards yes, most of the time it would be one man and one woman, or girl-girl and boy-boy, though those aren't talked about and in fact are looked down upon. It does make me feel a bit like a two-timer occasionally, but I'm getting over it," Harry replied, his tone going dry on the last few words.

"But would you not prefer to be…" Asia blushed, poking her fingers together. "Um, I don't mean to sound like I'm trying to judge you, but wouldn't it be better to be his one and only?"

"A part of me would like that," Rias said honestly, remembering that conversation with Harry and where it had gone. "But we'll see how it goes. None of us have made any promises to one another, not yet." She looked at Harry, who smiled back, still running his hand through her hair though he had stopped when Lily had broached her question. They might not have made any promises, but deep down, they both felt that was a matter of time.

Lily frowned thoughtfully, and then nodded slowly. "I get it. But… I don't have to call either of you Mum or anything do I? Even if you eventually, you know, marry Daddy? That would feel strange."

"I would prefer to just be Rias to you Lily-chan," Rias said with a chuckle reaching across Harry to poke her nose. Lily crossed her eyes, and Asia let out a giggle at the site. "Whatever you want to call me you can do."

Lily nodded thoughtfully. "Okay," she said and then abruptly turned her attention back to the show as the next episode began. Harry rolled his eyes at that, and leaned back again in the sofa. _Kids, their attention spans are amusingly useful at times._

Actually, Lily's thoughts were a little more complicated than she let on at that point even while she continued to watch the show. She liked Rias and Akeno; she even liked Kala, who she could tell was also interested in her Daddy thanks to her enhanced pack sense, though seemed to be willing to just be his friend for now. But she had seen some of the looks she gave him when Harry wasn't looking. Akeno had also definitely changed recently but she still didn't seem as comfortable around Lily or indeed the whole family atmosphere of the Potter's as Rias was. Further, Akeno didn't seem the type to do the whole parent thing.

 _But Rias pulled off the 'you can't even argue with me, so don't even try; tone of voice even before she and Daddy got together at that cool restaurant. How does she do that anyway? Well whatever_ , Lily concluded as the show's introduction song came to an end and ash and his friends began their adventures once more. _As long as daddies happy I don't care. Although,_ she thought, sending a final sideways glance around her dad to Rias, _I suppose having Rias as a Mum wouldn't be all that bad. Though I still wouldn't call her that._

Except for the odd question posed towards Rias about this or that Pokémon, the next twenty minutes went by in silence, until Harry asked "so, is there any progress with Issei?"

"I've had Akeno watching him with a few of her familiars, and Kala volunteered to watch him after dinner occasionally," Rias replied just as quietly, though their discussion was still picked up by Lily and Asia since they were so close. "Neither of them has detected any appreciable growth in magic or willpower. He seems to have matured slightly, he argues with the other two perverts about peeping and mutters about it being against the law, but that's the only difference from his previous personality. There is no sign that he remembers anything that occurred to him that night. I would've thought that he would have remembered it as a dream, perhaps to serve as a warning against his perversions but it hasn't happened."

"Then you'll be pleased to note that I don't think we'll have to hand Ddraig back to him to get any use out of the Boosted Gear. I've been fighting Ddraig in his mental plane every night to get a handle on my new abilities and thanks to this little one," Harry ruffled his daughter's hair. "He seems to have changed his mind on the type of people he'll let use him, and for what reason."

Rias's eyebrows rose. "What?" she asked, unsure what part of that statement she was questioning.

Lily laughed. "Well it went like this…"

 **Flashback:**

Asia having been in the one downstairs Lily had gone up to use her Daddy's bathroom. As she exited, she looked around his room. There hadn't been much of a change in here since the last time she had seen it of course, but there was one new thing that grabbed her attention: a smallish oak box, its top open, lying on the bed. Being a curious little girl, Lily moved over to it and looked inside only to gasp in wonder. She reached in and pulled out the large gauntlet. It was so large it would cover her from fist to shoulder, and it was all in red scale in gold and green. "Awesome!"

Looking furtively around, she then slid it over her hand, raising it above her head and shouting "I have the power!" before giggling.

" _ **What in all creation?"**_ said a voice.

Whirling around to stare around her, Lily growled, "Who said that!?"

" **This is… weird,"** said that the voice again its tone of someone musing, if the person was standing at the bottom of a very deep metal well. _**"Highly unusual in fact. But I suppose I have never been extracted from a user before. Perhaps that makes the physical version of my powers more, pliable perhaps, or easy to use?"**_

Understanding dawning, Lily looked down at the gauntlet her eyes widening further in glee. "You can talk!?"

" _ **I can talk into your head yes, so you should be happy that no one else is around to see you talking to your own forearm,"**_ said the voice, a dryer sort of rumble going through it. _**"I am Ddraig, the Great Welsh, and this is my Boosted Gear. But aren't you a little young to be looking for fights?"**_

"Daddy says never go looking for fights but prepare for them, so when they come to you you're ready," Lily said, and then pouted. "But yeah I'm a little young; I'm only going on eight after all. But hey," she said brightening up. "If you're one of those Sacred Gear things, does that mean if I use you I can be stronger?"

" **Yes."** Ddraig answered now sounding a little confused. _**"But you just said you were too young to fight."**_

"Not fight but I bet I could use you in some rough-and-tumble," Lily said excitedly. "Maybe today I'll actually beat Koneko!"

Running back outside, she found Koneko still there. She pointed at the older girl and then declared dramatically, "Today Koneko you are going down! For behold I have become Mighty Red!" She shouted, thrusting her gauntlet into the air where it shown in the sun.

Inside his mental plane, Ddraig slapped his tail over his face shaking his massive head.

Koneko turned away from where she had been quietly reading a graphic novel that Rias had bought her, setting it down and staring at first Lily, then the gauntlet on her arm. Then she said blandly "Mighty Red?"

Lily scowled, "Stop making fun of my naming sense miss 'Phoenix wolf'!"

"My name's descriptive and it's stuck. Yours just sucks," Koneko replied, her tone still bland.

"Grr…have at thee!" Lily shouted, racing forward.

Koneko dodged, then pounced, but found it quite a bit harder to bear Lily to the earth this time, even as Lily changed forms albeit with difficulty since it was well past the full moon. When she was fully changed Koneko's eyes widened in surprise as Lily lifted Koneko off her and tossed her away. Then it was Koneko's turn to be tackled to the ground, and the two girls rolled around in the grass, Lily yipping happily, while Koneko made happy sounding yowling noises.

Having been told the two of them were out there by Kala, who had again come over to cook dinner, Harry came upon them still wrestling over an hour later. Taking a single step out onto the unfinished patio Harry stopped and stared as he saw what was on Lily's arm. Then he smacked his forehead. _I forgot to lock the box! Darn it!_

Once the box was unlocked, no one but Harry would've been able to open it such was the protections he had cast on it, and there were numerous impervious and other protective spells on the box to keep it from being simply destroyed, which Harry routinely renewed. But as long as it was open, anyone who was able to get underneath the house's wards in the first place would have been able to find Ddraig there. It was designed that way because Harry thought that eventually he would come to an accord with Ddraig and would be able to allow other people to use the gauntlet rather than just himself.

"Lily, come here for a moment," he called softly.

Lily looked up, and then trundled over, shifting back into her human form much more easily than she had when she first got in touch with her puppy-side. "Yes Daddy?" she asked innocently.

Far too innocently for any parent to truly believe, really. "Give me the gauntlet. You know you're not supposed to go through my stuff Lily to take anything from my room."

Behind her, Koneko looked a little more ruffled than normal, but also happy. She came home over giving the shorter girl a hug from behind as she looked at Harry. "It's okay," she said. "It was fun, and got more fun over time. She was able to use Boost."

Having had how the Boosted Gear worked explained to him Harry just nodded, but still held out his hand towards Lily. "That's nice, but that isn't a toy."

The instant Harry had the gauntlet in hand Harry heard Ddraig's voice which refuted some of that. _**"Actually, that was kind of amusing. I've never been on the body of someone so young before. Her thoughts are way too flighty and uninformed for her to be a true user of my power, but I liked her spunk."**_

"Really?" Harry said aloud, staring down at the red gauntlet with surprise.

" _ **It's not something I'd want to do every day,"**_ Ddraig answered dryly, but it was an amusing little excursion. _**"And when I say I like your spunk I should've said I like yours too Potter. I've never been owned by a father before but you're urge to defend, I like that. So I'll make you an agreement. You or anyone else in your so-called family can call on me to defend yourselves from any real fight in the future. And if my opposite number shows up, I will willingly be wielded by you Potter. I think it would be interesting also in the future to be handed down to Lily. She is going to be something special, I can tell."**_

"I could've told you that even without letting her try to wear you Ddraig," Harry replied dryly, lifting Lily up and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Now why don't you to go inside and get ready for dinner okay? And Lily, I'll let you play with Ddraig here, but only once a week. However, you still need to be punished a bit for taking it from my room when you know you're not supposed to..."

 **End Flashback**

Rias blinked staring at Lily, and then at Harry. "First of all Mighty Red, no, just no. You should've called yourself the red Power Ranger if you want to go that route," she said at last, and then shook herself. "Er, I mean…" Harry and the others laughed, and Rias pouted at them all, trying to gather her thoughts. "That is astonishing, amazing! Do you think it'll extend to my peerage?"

"I have no idea yet," Harry said with a shrug. "But it is good news."

"It's amazing news!" Rias reiterated, flinging her arms up in the air. Then she smirked. "Although it would've been just as interesting to give Ddraig back to Issei if he had shown any growth on his own. Having a single to use a single pawn to get something like the Boosted Gear into my family? That would've been worth bragging about."

Pausing the video, Lily turned entirely to look at Rias. "I don't get that," she said honestly, her head cocked to one side. "I mean if Ddraig is so strong in his Boosted Gear, and you give him back to Issei, wouldn't that mean you would also have to force more pawns into him?"

"It doesn't work that way. Until a turned Devil reach a certain threshold where you can become an independent devil, turned Devils don't require more Peerage pieces to be added to the one already inside them to keep the connection between the king and the piece in question. Else I wouldn't be able to train or otherwise raise the power levels of myself or my family."

"But it would've cost more pieces if you had turned Issei with the Boosted Gear inside him?" Lily asked still looking a little perplexed.

"That's right," Rias said with a nod. "But once it was removed, Issei became almost normal. I say almost considering his activities," she said delicately.

Wrinkling her nose as she remembered who Issei was, Lily thought about it then smacked one fist into her other palm excitedly. "Oh I get it! It's like in Pokémon!"

"What?" Rias and Harry asked as one, looking at her in confusion.

"Well I mean Pokémon evolve right, and the larger, more evolved types are always more difficult to grab in the wild, you gotta have special balls and stuff for it. But if you raise your own Pokémon to where they evolve you can still command them, right?"

Thinking about it Harry slowly began to laugh, as Rias stared at the little girl, before she too began to giggle. "That, that is an amazingly appropriate way of explaining it," she said, still laughing. "Especially since, if the Boosted Gear had been fully awakened, and fully connected to Issei, it would've taken even more, than it would have if it was just inside him in the first place" she howled, reaching over to pull Lily across Harry's chest hugging her tightly. "Oh Lily, that is so perfect! We'll have to call Issei the, the Pervomon from now on!"

Harry's laughter at that was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. He looked over at the others, and Rias in particular. "Do you think Akeno was able to finish up that contract tonight?"

"I doubt it, those particular elderly gentlemen and women are true connoisseurs of tea, and would doubtless keep her there for as long as possible." Rias replied drolly. "Well, that and the men are somewhat genteel lechers. Besides, she would teleport into the backyard instead of using the door."

Moving to the door, Harry paused, feeling at the wards, and realized this was someone new, but not someone who meant him harm. This was a good thing, since while Harry had dealt with the last threat in the area in an oblique manner; he was more than willing to do with any new threat as directly as necessary.

He opened the door, and looked at Loup, in surprise. "Loup, what are you doing here my friend?"

Loup nodded. "Alpha, told you I'd be coming."

"You did, but I didn't think it would be this quick. Are you saying you've already transferred to one of the local colleges?"

"Yes. Also, came here to drop off some information, and an official letter to the two Devil heiresses in the area."

"A letter to me and Sona?" Rias said from behind Harry, "I presume from Yasaka-sama?"

"Yes," Loup said again, his unresponsive face breaking into a slight smile as he saw Lily behind Rias, poking her head around the doorframe quizzically.

"Hey Loup," The little girl said, darting forward and around Rias to take the giant werewolves' hand and leading him inside, gesturing to the sofa and Asia. "Come on in. This is Asia, she's staying with us now to, my other big sister Koneko isn't here tonight, she's got some kind of devil thingy did the two, we're watching Pokemon."

Loup nodded agreeably. "I like Bulbasaur," he said calmly, before stopping by the two other adults to hand over the two folders he had kept on his person at all times during the trip here, gesturing first one than the other. "Information on the possible Khaos Brigade members, and the offer of alliance from Yasaka-sama."

With that, his portion of that mission was done and he sat down at the sofa with Asia nodding politely to her. The former nun nodded back, looking a little awestruck at how large Loup seemed. Harry was of a size with him, but for some reason didn't loom as Loup seemed to.

Smiling at that scene, Harry was about to follow then in when Rias grabbed his arm with a surprisingly strong grip. "I," she said, her voice rather giddy and high-pitched tone as she stared at the folder, "I think that we need to talk to Sona about this right away."

About twenty minutes later, Sona looked up from reading the contract of alliance from Yasaka, her eyes flashing in something approaching glee as well as shock, though you had to know her very well to realize that. "This, this is **excellent**. If we can do this," she shook her head looking at them all. "My Onee-sama might be frivolous and childish and rarely if ever act her age or as her station should demand. But when she does, Serafall-nee-sama goes about her work with rare ability. Yet even she wasn't able to heal the rift between the Youkai Association's after the Nekomata Massacre."

At Harry's quizzical expression, Rias sighed. "Koneko-chan has told you about what her sister did correct? Well, what she might not have told you is that it sparked outrage and fear among the other demons. There were about four-hundred, perhaps more Nekomata living among the millions down in Hell at the time, most of them having been turned into demons. In response to Kuroka's actions, the demons overreacted horribly, and started a pogrom against them. After a bare week Koneko was the only one left alive in all of Hell, and that only because my brother interceded on her behalf and I promptly brought her into my family."

Harry twitched at that, his eyes hardening but Rias went on hurriedly. "All the Maou spoke out against it, even Ajuka Beelzebub and he's as interested in anything outside his lab as a rock would be. But it was a pure fear reaction, and they couldn't stop it in time."

"Beyond the moral question, which, it must be said the majority of demons wouldn't even consider, the diplomatic repercussions of that were extreme despite Serafall-nee-sama's best efforts, and relations between our peerages have been on the far side of cool ever since. This though, shows that is noticeably changing thanks to your efforts, Potter-sensei." Sona said, tapping the formal offer of alliance with a finger.

When Harry shrugged saying he had simply stepped in to protect a little girl running from people trying to hurt her, Sona rolled her eyes and waved him off, looking towards Loup. "I have to ask though, why you were trusted with this? I understand Sensei's side of things, but not yours."

The large werewolf was rather handsome in Sona's opinion. _And he's younger than Harry, but possibly not as intelligent, which is a pity._ Sona had played a few games of strategy with Harry, and while she had won a few times, mostly in long-term strategy games, or games wherein tactics had no place, she had still come away with quite a bit of respect for his mind. And that was one thing Sona was very firm about: any man she became involved in had to be intelligent, smarter than her at the very least.

That was why despite his joining her peerage she hadn't gone on a second date with Saji. That had been…nice, but looks aside, he wasn't quite what she was looking for in a potential boyfriend.

In reply to Sona's question, Loup shrugged. "My mom taught Yasaka magic when I was younger. When she died, Yasaka and her family took me in for a bit.

"Ahhh…" Harry said, nodding looking at him with one eyebrow raised. Loup shrugged, understanding what Harry was saying, and replied in his own way, that yes, that was why he had a crush on Yasaka. But it had just been a crush, and Loup had set it aside after the way Yasaka had so embarrassed the two werewolves.

That didn't mean he didn't know she was attractive, nor did it mean Yasaka could no longer get under his skin, but Loup had moved on. "Sort of like family," he finished with a shrug. "Babysat for Kunou several times."

"And you'll be moving in here with us?" Harry asked though he already knew the answer.

Loup shrugged. "That was the plan, although… you're more crowded than I thought." He nodded towards where Asia was sitting beside Lily, still watching Pokemon.

"We can still put you up here, although I'm afraid Kunou will have to bunk in with Lily. We just don't have enough rooms. I suppose I could use some permanent expansion runes, then separate a room modified that way into separate rooms, but it's not my priority right now." Harry assured the other werewolf.

Rias coughed delicately at that point to bring the two werewolves' attention back to her. "I think that we need to take this a little further," she said thoughtfully waving at the offer of alliance Sona still had under her hand. "It doesn't mention anything about information exchange for example, and I believe that Yasaka-sama might well like the kind of clock that you were speaking of earlier at dinner Harry."

"Clock?" Sona asked looking over at Rias in confusion. "What clock?"

When Harry described it, she sighed and nodded. "Yes, any mother would leap on that kind of thing." _Dammit! Another use of magic that is so different than anything I've heard of before as to be astonishing! Oh, I have no doubt that Ajuka-sama could create magical devices like that if anyone could make him pay attention to it for long enough._ "However, it's not the only thing we can add is it?" she went on, staring at Rias speculatively.

"Sona, that's a very long way," Rias said with a sigh, "Yes, it's possible I could set up a teleportation array there, from here to there certainly, but it would only be good for one way transportation. Remember that Yasaka can't travel."

"She can't travel for very long Harry said with a grin, "But her daughter can. If you can set up an array that can reach that far, especially one which can be defended from both ends like the one you're attempting to put in my home, that could be a major addition. Her daughter could be sent home to spend time with her mother every weekend, if not every night, and such a connection could also be a major defensive bonus."

That was quite a bit more of a connection than anyone else had contemplated with the Youkai Association even before relations had cooled and Sona smiled, happy that the other two had been willing to follow up her suggestions. "So," she said, tapping the file in front of her once more. "Shall we start rewriting this then? We'll have to walk Potter-sensei here through the formal parts of that, but we should be able to finish in a few days," she paused then, and went on more slowly. "However, I think we will also need to organize a formal meeting in Kyoto between our two peerages and Yasaka and her… court? Would that be an appropriate term?"

Loup shrugged. "Pretty much, changing team of advisers, about twelve of them normally."

"When is she expecting a response?" Harry asked.

"She'd like a response quickly, but she has prepared all the paperwork to push through Kunou's coming into Lily's school. Apparently Lily told Kunou the schools name," he added at as Harry frowned in confusion. "It was also her description of school that made Kunou interested in the idea in the first place."

"Make sense," Harry said with a nod. He frowned thoughtfully. "Though I'm not certain I can get a message to her that far away. If I still had Hed.." hi frown turned into a scowl before he went on. "If I still had Hedwig, I could send her, but even then with all the old magics still messing up magical means of communication over distances in this country even she might not have arrived. And the only other method of communication I have over that long a distance is via a special spell, but it's visible to non-magicals." He laughed then, looking over at Loup. "And I'd rather not try to Apparate there. "For one thing I'm not certain I could remember anyplace there well enough to do that, and for another I have no doubt that Yasaka's done some work on the anti-teleportation wards around that forest."

Loup snorted at that, which was answer enough. After that, Sona and Rias wondered about sending one of their familiars with the information. Sona's familiar was a large crane, and could travel that distance with ease, but it was susceptible to being flummoxed by wards, and Sona would have to ride its mind the entire way. Rias's was more capable but could never make that journey.

From where she had looked up as another episode of Pokemon ended, Asia coughed delicately. "Excuse me, but is there any reason why you can't simply call this Yasaka person?"

Sona, Rias and Harry looked at one another then turned deadpan gazes towards Loup, who coughed and looked away, a faint blush of embarrassment visible in his face. "Forgot," he muttered. "Yes, she's got one."

"All right, let's do this the technological way instead of the magical," Harry replied laughing quietly.

Scene break

"Excuse me but you have a call Mistress," said Yasaka's chief butler, carrying a phone towards her. "It is from a Harry Potter, do you wish to speak to him?"

"I do indeed," Yasaka said hiding her excitement with difficutly but well save for the movements of her tail. "Hello Harry-han I take it you Rias-han, and Sona-han got my missive?" she said, her Kyoto dialect coming over the phone clearly.

With Rias, Harry and Sona using speaker phone they all explained what they wanted and Yasaka nodded, all nine tails stiffening and her ears quivering with eagerness. "If you can make that kind of a magical device for me for my daughter Harry, I will be internally grateful," she said happily, leaning back and propping her legs up on her desk, not at all unintentionally kicking the paperwork she's been laboring over off. As for Sona's and Rias's additions to the treaty, I wholeheartedly agree with them too. In fact, I can make the formal meeting into a big deal here, use it as a rallying point, to show that we're doing what we can to strike back against the Khaos Brigade."

She thought for a moment, a light hum coming over the phone on the other end. "Hmmm… I think that it will take me about… five weeks or so, maybe six to set that up. Give me your phone number and I'll give you a heads up as to when I'll be ready for that, but I'll shoot for the end of December." She then smiled impishly, even though no one on the other side of the phone could see it of course. "But if you could come and pick up Kunou now Harry, that would be best I think. I already started the paperwork to have her be accepted at Lily's school, and I believe she'll be cleared to join Lily there in a week or less."

"Rather confident you would agree with your offer, weren't you?" Harry asked, amusement clear in his tone.

"Why wouldn't you?" Yasaka said with a laugh. "This is the best kind of deal: everyone wins, and there's no real need for any of us to make compromises. Although I do like the additions you're talking about. I want to look over the defenses of this teleportation network closely as well as the information exchange concept, to make certain that were equal partners in this. And…" she said grimly "That any of my…citizens I suppose, who go down to Hell will still retain the protections of our alliance, it won't be just a alliance against foreign threats. I still remember the Nekomata Massacre, Sitri."

"Agreed," Sona said quickly. "We agree with that, in fact, I can probably even get my sister to add her own agreement to it at a later date. You're not the only one who regrets that act, as you well know Yasaka-sama."

"And if you have the paperwork ready," Harry said, speaking up once more "I'll come by next weekend to pick Kunou up. I don't have work that day because it's a sports club only day. That means no gym classes, and I'm only an advisor to the occult research club rather than any of the sports clubs. That'll give Kunou Sunday to acclimatize to living with us here before school starts up on Monday."

Yasaka fought back a yip of happiness at this idea, hoping that Harry would come alone when he did. "That works very well Harry. I will see you then, and Sona, it'll be nice to see you again too eventually. I still remember the time you were brought as a baby to a meeting with your sister years before the Massacre."

"Do you have blackmail pictures on both of us?" Rias asked, her voice sounding horrified while Sona was sputtering in the background, turning into an interesting shade of rose in Harry's opinion.

"Now it wouldn't be very good blackmail if I told you about it, now would it? Yasaka said with a teasing lilt. She waited until he she heard the two younger girls groan before hanging up, leaning back in her chair and the laughing aloud. "Yes, progress!"

Scene break

The next weekend while Rias and Akeno watched Lily, Harry left early in the morning on a train to Kyoto, where upon arriving in at the same entrance he'd used before, Harry was led through the Youkai-only area of the city and then out into the forest quickly. He was met by Yasaka at the outer gate to her castle and the slightly-older looking blonde Kitsune smiled, pulling him into a tight hug, deliberately pressing her chest against his stomach before pulling away. In her normal Kitsune no Yoko body Yasaka was an inch or two shorter than Sona, who in turn was shorter than Akeno, let alone Rias. "Harry, great to see you."

Harry nodded, somewhat nonplussed by the greeting, while looking around thoughtfully. "You already repaired everything already, I see. I also felt the wards. They were much more powerful this time. Did you do any work on them besides powering them up?"

"Not much, not personally if that's what you mean. I provide the power, a few of my other family members, and in particular an ancient ward master provides the knowledge."

"Is there any chance I can meet with him?" Harry asked interestedly. "As part of our information exchange I mean."

"I'm afraid not," Yasaka said with a sigh. "Master Kush is a Ganesha, an elephant type Youkai from India. He is very old, crotchety and does **not** play well with strangers. Even if I was there to introduce the two of you, he would probably dismiss you out of hand, and he doesn't really like being questioned about his art very much. In fact, his latest apprentice left, and refuses to speak to Kush any longer. I've been trying to get him to return from India, but I haven't been having much luck."

"Ahh, that's unpleasant. But where is Kunou?" Harry muttered.

"She's in our room, finishing up some exercises I gave her on illusion magic, to make certain that she can keep her ears and tail from showing." Yasaka said, smiling and trying to fight the urges she was getting from being this close to Harry. Harry had an immense control of his aura, but it had expanded in power dramatically from what it had been somehow, and moreover it carried a certain… sexual charge almost, to her sense. _What in the world happened, and how can I get him to tell me about it without informing him his aura is affecting me? Hmm… best to play it off as more a humorous thing than anything more._

"I would've thought that she could do that already if you're so certain that you'll be able to send her to Lily's school," Harry said noncommittally.

"Oh, she can conceal them well enough," Yasaka said waving off Harry's concerns and her own thoughts. "I just want to make certain that she can do so when she is startled out of a nap or in other unusual circumstances. Simply concentrating on something else won't have them pop out; have no fear on that score."

"So," Yasaka went on, sidling up to Harry, pressing into his side before he could step away. "How is everything going with you and little Rias?"

"If you know the two of us are together, why are you trying to flirt with me?" Harry asked bluntly, shaking his head.

"You must be crazy!" Yasaka said with a laugh. "You might be in control of your aura Harry, but that doesn't mean I can't sense it! Power like that, is an aphrodisiac to many supernatural women all on its own. Added to that, you're handsome, and a loving father, successful, intelligent…why wouldn't I be interested?"

Harry looked down at her, one eyebrow raised. "And the fact that I am already in a relationship?" he said again.

Yasaka rolled her eyes, moving away slightly but taking Harry's hand in hers. "Why would that bother me again? I told you before" among my people, harems are more normal than monogamous relationships. Or did you think I was joking when I said I'd like to test both yours and Loup's endurance?"

She yipped in good humor, shaking her head. "I might see Loup more as a little brother, but that doesn't mean I'm blind to the fact that he's quite handsome in a stern muscly sort of way. Besides, it's not like I could even give you enough time to be your one and only," she said seriously. I can't move from Kyoto and you're not likely to uproot yourself, break off with Rias, and move you and Lily to here either. So I am more than willing to share. But we Youkai are just as long-lived as demons, and I rather like the idea of getting to know you more Harry Potter."

Harry sighed, but nodded. "I understand your point, but I don't know you very well yet, and as I said I'm already in a relationship. I also come from a human society, so this whole harem thing is still throwing me." More, it was throwing him that the women were pushing for it. Harry could understand a man who was in a relationship looking at another woman, even if he wasn't some kind of playboy flirt. But he couldn't understand why the women seemed to be willing to flirt with someone already in a relationship.

Yasaka yipped amusement again, but feeling the power and Harry, the size of his aura, she figured that his human thought process wouldn't last very long. _Hah, I'll bet it lasts precisely until the first time he and Rias sleep together, and he wears her out by drilling her into the mattress, Yasaka thought rather salaciously._ As a Kitsune no Yoko she was actually more susceptible to the auras of people than most, though she could recognize this and fight off the effect or ignore it entirely if she wished. Right now she didn't. And, could feel her body reacting, enjoying the sensation.

The two of them were interrupted by the sound of scampering little feet, and Kunou came around the corner, skidding to a halt as she stared at Harry. She then became a little shy, stepping back around the corner and looking around. "You, you didn't bring Lily-chan, Potter-san?"

"If you're going to be living with us Kunou, I think you should get used to the idea of just calling me Harry if that's alright. And as for Lily, I'm afraid not," Harry said with a chuckle, going to one knee and making a come hither motion with one hand. "She and Rias are planning to spend the day together, along with another girl named Akeno, who you'll meet soon enough."

 **OOOOOOO**

Indeed, at that very moment, Rias and Akeno were with Koneko, Lily and Asia in a massage salon. "Are you sure this is all right?" Asia said as she leaned back in her chair while an older woman began to paint her nail as another began to work shampoo her hair. "It feels a little too good to be… allowed I suppose."

"A little sinful you mean?" Akeno said with a laugh, luxuriating in a similar treatment nearby. "Darling, every girl deserves a little sin in their lives."

Nearby, Rias laughed along with the salon worker as they once more painted Lily's nails in a different color, although the woman doing it wondered why the pretty foreign girl called them claws of all things. "I don't know…" the little red had said, "Green is sort of okay I mean I like the color of my own eyes obviously, but green and red now, to Christmassy. "Ooh how about gold?"

"You can get gold on your figures only if you can answer this question. What did I just say earlier about how to spread rumors and combat them?" Rias asked.

"Laughing at them is good," Lily said by rote, "'punching is bad. Ignoring them is bad, countering them somehow is good. You can attack a girl's looks, but only secondhand, never to her face and keep it comical rather than personal. Find something about them that they are vain about, then poke fun at it, but again, always softly.'" She pouted. "I don't like subtle!"

"You are your father's daughter in that area," Rias said, leaning over to give Lily a little kiss on the forehead.

Lilly flushed, but was quite happy at that little bit of affection. Then she looked down at her fingers holding them up to Rias. "So, gold?"

"We'll do one in fold, see if it works first," Rias said with a laugh. "For now, how about we do something with your hair?"

Once more, none of the four girls noticed a nondescript man glancing in from outside, watching them for a moment before once more disappearing in the crowd.

 **OOOOOOO**

Back in Kyoto, Harry explained had just finished explaining what Lily was up to, and Kunou pouted. "Okay I can wait I guess. "Are we leaving now?" she said excitedly then pouted again, her mood shifting swiftly as was the way with young children at times. "I don't know I if I'm looking forward to the actual trip though. We were just about to eat after all."

"Sorry about that little one, but we can take the train back if you want. And if your mother has enough coloring books and other things to keep you occupied for that said train trip." Harry said, the last quite dryly, looking over at Yasaka. "It would give us a better chance to get to know one another."

"I'm a single-parent and have been so for four years Harry," Yasaka said loftily. "Of course I have enough of such things. And in fact I agree with my daughter, portkeys are not pleasant, especially on a full stomach. She looked over towards a nearby Kappa and asked "Could you go and prepare an assortment of such? And a book bag to carry them in." Turning back to Harry, she smiled coquettishly. "Besides, this way we can keep talking over lunch."

Harry nodded, and decided, _you know what, hell it. She wants to flirt; I can flirt back at least, although I'll have to tell Rias about it later. After all, she doesn't go around flirting with other boys -although wearing Kuoh Academy's uniform could be considered flirting with everyone around her - it's only fair that if I flirt with someone else I tell her about it._

The three of them sat down with Harry asking Kunou a few questions about what she expected out of school, what she had learned so far, and other things of that nature. From there he told her about Lily's adventures at school, warning her about how kids sometimes viewed newcomers, and about bullying and whether or not they should do something about it themselves, or come to their parents. Having missed the long-term damage whispered slurs had on his daughter, Harry was not about to let such a thing happen again. Kunou replied easily, then more excitedly about meeting other kids her age who wouldn't be introduced to her in an attempt to get close to her mother or were irritating or had egos. Yasaka interjected with some of her own stories as a young teen learning magic from Loup's mother, which was the closest she had to actual schooling rather than home tutoring.

The meal was simple for the most part, rice and fish in a tasty kind of seaweed wrap, with sticks of dango for a side. Throughout the meal, Harry and Yasaka had flirted, but she took it up a notch using the dango while Kunou started to tell Harry about her favorite bedtime story.

Winking at Harry, Yasaka took up one of these dango sticks, and slowly, sensuously fed it into her mouth, one dumpling at a time, her tongue licking out at each new dumpling until the entire stick was now in her mouth, half of it at least down her throat. Then she pulled the stick portion out, and chomped down on all of the dumplings at once, winking once more as she chewed.

Harry rolled his eyes hiding a slight blush and as Kunou paused for breath in her story-telling said, "That's a neat trick," as blandly as he could toward her mother. Two could play this game after all.

"Oh I imagine in that area I have quite a lot to teach you, and possibly Rias and whoever else you are involved with as well," Yasaka said with a smile.

"On the contrary," Harry said, smiling placidly. "I believe **I** could probably teach **you** something in that area. Or perhaps exceed any learned skill you have."

"Oh, how so?" Yasaka asked, her face showing a certain amount of dubiousness.

Harry smiled, and seemed to change the subject by asking, "What is your opinion on snakes?"

"They slither and they're ugly," Kunou said promptly, eager to just take part in the conversation. "But some of the snake-yokai are nice enough if you catch them while they're warm."

"Yes that does tend to carry over. Demon snakes and other reptilian-type demons tend to be very placid when it's cold out, and quite snappish if bothered. But what does that…"

"You know how snakes in the wild communicate?" Harry asked, interrupting Yasaka.

"They don't," Kunou said frowning. "They aren't smart enough, and they aren't um... communal... animals." She hesitated on the unfamiliar word but got it out correctly.

Yasaka cocked her head, trying to remember somethings that she had heard from demons who had previously lived in India. "Something about a snake language, a magical one," she murmured aloud.

"Exactly, yes. But they don't speak as you and I do. Instead they vibrate their tongues to make sounds. The magic simply transfers that into words that we can understand. There's long been a theory that it also gives the snakes some intelligence in order to let them answer, but how exactly would you try to figure that part out?" Harry said, already turning away from Yasaka to look at Kunou as he spoke.

Kunou thought that sounded pretty interesting, but asked what snakes would have to talk about. "I mean, the best spots to sunbathe? What the weather is like? What they ate last?" She wrinkled her little nose. "That doesn't sound very interesting to me."

"It isn't," Harry said with a smile, ignoring the massive blush Yasaka was sporting right now.

 _Holy hell! I want him even more now!_ Despite that, Yasaka was able to go along with the conversation. Being a parent was fantastic for teaching you how to multi-task. "If you want silly conversations between animals, try to listen to birds sometimes! It's always about my tree, my tree! Or my nest or something mindless like that. They sound pretty, but they are really quite airheaded."

"Well most bird heads are rather small," Harry said judiciously. "And not all of them are that's silly. I had a familiar name Hedwig and she was by far the brightest owl or perhaps even one of the brightest people I've ever met."

"That would be because of the familiar magic," Kunou said, looking over at her mother. "That's how it works right?"

"Youkai have familiars?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Sometimes," Yasaka said with a nod. "But tell us about Hedwig. I don't know of anyone who's had an owl familiar before. We normally use falcons, hawks and foxes in our clan. The last is rather cliche, but what can you do?"

That conversation segued into one about what it would be like to live with Harry, at least for a while before the teleportation network Rias would be installing between the Potter's home and Yasaka's mansion. Harry wanted to make sure though that it wouldn't interfere with the already existing ward structure, and that there could be some defenses on it to make certain that no one could travel between the two places that were weren't allowed to, much like the one Rias was already planning to put in between the Gremory peerage's house and the Potter's. That, Harry confided, was still giving Rias conniptions. There just isn't enough time in the day to work on all of the projects we want to be working on defense-wise."

Kunou waved that off. Like Lily had with her most recent escapade, Kunou had put her near-kidnapping well behind her, and was eager to learn more about living with Harry. "Will Loup live with us?"

"Loup, Koneko who you've already met, and a new girl around Koneko's age named Asia who we've taken in. You'll learn more about her when you meet her, but Asia's very nice, and is studying to so that she can go to school soon to. However, that means you're going to have to share a room. Do you mind that?"

Kunou smiled eagerly, her eyes going big and sparkling which caused Harry to laugh and he reached over to poke her forehead. "That's a spell I've seen before kiddo, and the real version is a lot better."

Kunou ignored that, smacking his hand away to his continue beaming up at him with those big soulful eyes. "Could, could we have bunk beds, pleaeeeasssee?"

Harry paused, cocking his head thoughtfully. "That actually is a good idea. Yes, we can definitely look into bunk beds. Perhaps creating a framed bunk bed, which will let Lily keep the bed she has, and then add the frame around it, with the other bed right over it? That's something I'll have to think about." In fact, Harry would have to talk to Akeno about that, since she seemed to more knowledgeable than Harry or the others when it came to furniture.

"Speaking of," Harry said suddenly, pulling out a small pouch, and then from within the pouch pulling out a large watch. "This is the watch I was telling you about. Kunou, can I have a single piece of your hair for a moment? I'm going to do some magic."

Kunou quickly scrambled out of her chair and raced around it to stand beside Harry's seat, until he reached down and plucked her up, setting her on the table next to him. He then held the watch out so that both she and her mother could see. After explaining Harry took the small hair Kunou picked out from her head, and let it hover over the clock for a moment, before looking at Kunou's mother. "As Kunou's mother, do I have your permission to do this?" he said formally.

Smiling at that bit of formality, Yasaka nodded and watched as Harry slowly lowered Kunou's hair toward the watch in his other hand. The watch's face glowed briefly, and the surface seemed to shimmer, absorbing the hair. Then the hair was gone and the clock, returned to the original face, only now there were words interspersed on it: Home, School, The Potter's, and Danger, with the last being in red colors. "Since I only had a week to work on it, and of course all of my other projects to keep going, it's a relatively simple one, but it works at least," Harry said handing it over to Yasaka, who happily wrapped it around her wrist.

"Thank you for this Harry," she said sweetly, leaning over the table to give him a peck on the lips. He backed away, although Yasaka could tell from his body language that he was attracted to her. It was only the fact that he was loyal to Rias, and his own reluctance to become involved with another woman that kept him from doing so. That actually made her more attractive in her eyes, not less.

"Can that bag of yours carry other things, even things that are technically larger than it?" When Harry nodded, Yasaka went on. "In that case Kunou, why don't you go get your bags and things. That way, you won't have any luggage."

The three of them walked to the trip train station through the forest and the Youkai-only area out into Kyoto proper, with Kunou's still asking questions a mile a minute both about Lily, and about going to school. As they walked, Yasaka looked down at her watch, and saw that it had indeed twisted away from home, and was slightly off it now between it and the Potters.

"It's not very accurate when you're traveling," Harry said apologetically. "There's nothing I can do about that."

"It's fine Harry, this is more than enough. I also have something for you, though it isn't anything as nice." She held up a folder, putting it in Harry's hand. "This is the information that Rias and Sona asked me for, information about churches that are no longer being used, areas where my people have reported seeing magic, and the names of people within the Onmyodo side of things. Your worry that someone there could be have been suborned Is possibly accurate I think given the number of places some of the magic my people have reported where it should have brought some physical response, but there wasn't one. I'd follow that up if I were you."

With a final kiss to her daughter's cheek and a tight hug, Yasaka bade them both farewell as they stepped onto the train, staying there as it pulled out of the station. Then she yipped like a fox again, ignoring the looks from those around her as she turned back towards home. _More progress, Hah!_

 **OOOOOOO**

It'd taken some time for Hermione and Padma to get back into the swing of things after coming back from India and Lavender's wedding. It had been a magnificent affair and a highly emotional one since Padma had not talked to either of her parents since her sexual orientation had come out. Ironically enough, it appeared as if her father had been all right with it but her mother had not been which baffled Hermione at first until she learned that the woman came from a part of India that was even more backwards than most of the Wizarding World in general.

Still, Hermione had finally been able to get away from the house and work for a day to head to Britain and see her old friend Tonks. Once in London it took her no time at all to find the small apartment that Tonks and her son lived in. _Though why they live in an apartment rather than one of the Black Estates I have no idea! I know Harry told them they could move in whenever they wanted. Too many bad memories I suppose. They had no problems living with Harry and Ginny occasionally, but I suppose Tonks simply wants to be independent. Silly girl._

Hermione paused before knocking, chuckling to herself. "I just called her silly girl when she's what, Seven years older than me? Not that she ever acts her age," Hermione defended herself, knocking on the door.

Edward (Teddy to his friends) Tonks answered the door, and Hermione smiled down at him. "Hello Teddy, how are you today?"

"I'm fine Hermione," he said with a smile, opening the door wider to let her in. "Are you here to see mum?"

"Indeed I am, I have news about Uncle Harry," she said, waggling her eyebrows and Ted's smiled happily.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her inside leading the way through the house towards the sitting room where they found Dora laid out on the couch, bits of a newspaper over her head, and a drink of something nearby. The sound of snores could be heard underneath the newspaper, which Hermione noted, was the page from the wanted ads.

"And how long has she been like this?" Hermione asked.

"She came home late last night," Teddy said with the innocence and directness of youth. "She was muttering something under her breath, but she muted herself when she saw me and then started ranting!" Teddy pulled at Hermione's hand and she leaned down so the twelve-year-old could whisper into her ear conspiratorially. "I think she was saying a lot of bad words. She didn't even wake up for breakfast, and I was able to have leftover pizza! It was so yummy."

"I have no doubt," Hermione said with a chuckle, ruffling his hair again, before turning and staring at Tonks.

Tonks wasn't a horrible mother, she didn't neglect Teddy and she made sure the boy had everything he needed in terms, clothes, food, that sort of thing. She even always made time for him as much as she could since she also worked, which Hermione always admired. But in terms of role models in Hermione's view Tonks left quite a bit to be desired. _And the less said about how she handled Teddy as a baby, the better,_ she thought now.

With Andromeda and her Theodore along with Remus some of the last casualties in the war against Voldemort, it fell on Tonk's friends to help her with her child. Harry had had to step in at that point, as had Molly, because as decent as Tonks would become with Teddy later, she had been utterly unable to deal with a baby. And occasionally she seemed to revert back to type. _Especially at moments where she's taken a recent negative jolt to the system._

With a sigh, Hermione reached into her purse and pulled out her wand, flicking it towards Tonks several times, enunciating "Wingardium Leviosa. The first one removed the drink, sending it flying through the air and into the nearby kitchen, where it landed with a bit of a crash into the sink. With Teddy giggling next to her, she then lifted the newspaper off her friend, and then created a glob of water right above Tonks's head via an Aguamenti and Leviosa chain. "Tonks," she said in a cool calm voice. "You have precisely 3 seconds to wake up, or deal with the consequences!"

Tonks twisted, raising one hand over her head, allowing Hermione to notice that her hair was now its normal black shade, which it apparently changed into when Tonks was asleep. "Go away," she muttered.

"Two," Hermione said, with Teddy now laughing aloud next-door as he continued to watch the show. "One." With that, she flicked her wand again, and sent the small glob of water down into Tonks's face.

Tonks gasped and sputtered, pushing upright, her wand coming out of its holster on her wrist and pointing at Hermione with lethal intent. "What, what the," But hearing the sound of her son laughing at her, she then brushed the water out of her face rather than attack, instead glaring at Hermione. What the heck was that for!?"

"I wanted to wake you up," Hermione said simply. It's pushing three in the afternoon after all. And this one said he had pizza for breakfast, so I rather doubt you have anything in your kitchen for lunch." She pulled out a small bottle holding it out. "I also come with a gift too."

Tonks twitched; looking away guiltily then reached forward and ruffled her son's hair, pulling him into an affectionate hug. Sorry about that Teddy, I'll order us in something right quick." As Teddy smiled up at her, Tonks then took the potion, swigging it down instantly and letting it get rid of her hangover.

"Or you could come with me back to my place," Hermione said with a shrug. "I remember you both like Indian food, and today's Padma's turn to cook."

"As long as it's not yours," Teddy said, again with the innocent straightforwardness of youth. "You're okay when you make soups and things like that, but if you make anything beyond sandwiches, they look and taste weird, or just plain burnt."

"Ouch!" Hermione muttered, sending a tiny stinging hex towards Teddy who dodged out of her line of sight with a laugh hopping over the couch and his mother. "But if you expect me to share Padma's lovely cooking with a dirty little boy like you, think again! You have to go and take a shower first."

"Alright!" Teddy said hopping out from behind the sofa and racing away. "Be right back!"

As Tonks's son left, she scratched her neck looking away sheepishly. "Thanks for that," she muttered at last, before turning back to look at Hermione. "But what brings you here?"

"I was going to tell you about how my trip to Harry's new place in Japan went actually," Hermione replied sitting down by Tonks's legs and crossing her legs as she leaned back staring at her older though so much more immature friend thoughtfully. _I wonder, is it because of her metamorphic powers that her mind simply did not grow to match her physical age?_ "Be glad it was me, and it wasn't Saturday yet," she said.

"Yeah," Tonks muttered, looking away again. "That would've been bad."

Molly Weasley came over to check up on her and Teddy every Saturday, mainly to continue cooking lessons for Tonks and because she had gotten into that habit when Teddy was a baby. Unlike Hermione however, she had no patience whatsoever for Tonks's relapses to how she was when she was simply single rather than single mother.

"But what caused this, might I ask?" Hermione asked.

Tonks huffed irritably, waving her hand expansively. "I was called on the carpet again for bringing in a perp without enough due process. I caught him casing out the house with a freaking magical spyglass, and all they were willing to slap on him was a fine for voyeurism! Stupid idiots. Then I kind of, sort of, mouthed off to my supervisor. He went for his wand, and I put him through a wall."

She sounded proud of that last and she probably should be, Hermione reflected, in a sick, twisted way. Tonks was many things, but one thing she was most certainly was a war hero. She was well respected for her physical abilities of all sorts, and was one of the fastest wand-drawers Hermione had ever seen. Indeed, if Teddy hadn't been laughing right next to her, Hermione would never even attempted to wake Tonks up as she had for fear of her own life. Hermione might have a far vaster spell repertoire then Tonks, but she didn't have her speed or sheer ruthlessness.

But what Tonks didn't have was a great respect for authority any longer. What little respect for authority Tonks might once have had disappeared during the war years, with good reason Hermione knew. But she had not regained it since save for in the person of Shacklebolt which caused quite a bit of friction completely understandably from both sides. "So you are suspended?"

When the other woman winced Hermione frowned. "Tonks, you were just suspended right?" she asked gently

"No," Tonks muttered. "This was my third warning Hermione." She confided. "This wasn't the first time I argued with a superior, or brought in a perp without due process."

"Ah," Hermione muttered, sinking into the sofa, looking a little stunned. "They, they fired you? They fired a war hero like you!"

"I don't think I gave them a choice 'mione," Tonks said. "You don't… well just look at the rest of the newspaper."

Hermione did so, not having noticed that the rest of the newspaper was actually on the small coffee table next to the large sofa. She picked it up, and there on the front line was 'Respected war hero goes crazy, public duel with superior' as the large headline, accompanied by moving pictures of course. "It was in public!?"

"Not really," Tonks said with a shrug. "But after I put him through the wall, the rest of the Auror Department certainly saw."

Hermione blinked then her eyes narrowed. "And exactly how many of them tried to stop you?"

"Six," Tonks said with a grin, "I put down five of them before the last one got smart and called in Shacklebolt. He talked me down from my little fit of rage."

"Who was the perpetrator?" Hermione said with a sigh.

"One of the Crabbe cousins," Tonks said, "one of those who would have joined the war if it went on for long enough. You know the type."

"I do indeed, but you can't profile like that," Hermione said, reaching out and taking her older friend's hand and squeezing it. "A lot of people in Britain, France, even Italy just want to move on Tonks. Most of them have learned and we have to be respectful of that and respectful of the law if we want them to be held to the same standards."

"I know! And I even know I sort of was wrong here, but dammit, that house had three little kids in it. And you know what kind of bastard his cousin and uncle were!" Tonks groaned.

"I know, and hopefully your finding him in something so small will scare him back to the straight and narrow. But your overreaction was indeed an overreaction, with a few dozen exclamation points added on the end," Hermione said with a sigh.

"Yep, I even released a statement saying that. That perhaps my mind is too clouded with the past yada, yada, and that the Auror department needs to look for the future, rather than to those of us who whose instincts are cast first and ask questions never. It always amazes me that Shacklebolt was able to move on with his life so quickly. But then again, he had already lived through one of the wars didn't he?"

Hermione shrugged. "I still have nightmares of the war; I don't think any of us who came through it came through with the same mindset as we entered it, not Shacklebolt, and not even Harry."

"Yeah you mentioned him earlier, what's up with the old boy?"

"That 'old boy' is my age remember! Younger even!" Hermione said with a laugh. "And if you're calling me old, I don't care how good you are with a wand I will call you out!"

Tonks laughed, but asked, "Seriously how is he doing? I saw him briefly right after the divorce avalanche got rolling down hill, then I had to do some undercover work down Worchester way, and I wasn't around when he left town. Teddy was, but he was being looked after by Molly at the time, and…"

"And Molly took her darling daughter's side of things. I could possibly say that was a good sign of loyalty there, but it should not have been an unequivocal thing. In any event, Harry is doing well. He is a teacher there of course, and has contacted with some of the local magicals, including whom I assume were examples of the local nonhuman magical community."

"What makes you say that?" Tonks asked her eyes narrowing at something in Hermione's voice.

"…The young woman in question is…well… she's drop-dead gorgeous," Hermione said with a shake of her head. "Think of Fleur with her for allure on Max, and then add a few inches to her bust line."

"So that was jealousy I detected!" Tonks said with a grin, leaning back and shifting her body slightly, her chest slowly expanding as she spoke. "Tell me when," she said with a laugh.

This went on for a bit longer than Tonks had anticipated and when Hermione rather jokingly said 'stop', she looked down at herself and whistled. "Wow! That **is** pretty good. How old is she? I mean I know fully grown women in their thirties who're this size, but I didn't think Harry was the type to go for the older woman."

"In fact it's quite the opposite. She is only pushing nineteen according to them, and the fact she's one of Harry's students. She does have a certain maturity," Hermione said, looking at Tonks as the Metamorph blinked in shock, her eyes going wider than should have been physically possible and her hair standing straight up in shock, going to orange and then red. "In fact I could say she's your exact opposite in that area."

Tonks responded appropriately to this by giving her the finger but seemed to calm down and Hermione went on. "But, I would say she's intelligent, mature, and very good with Lily, which is a big thing as you know."

Tonks nodded, understanding the point. Harry had wanted a family and been a doting father for Lily from practically the moment Ginny gave birth to her. Heck, he had almost been a surrogate father to Teddy too after Remus had died. "Sounds like a match made in heaven?" She said aloud, her tone making that a question.

"Perhaps, however I was wondering if you would like to give her the familial stamp of approval? After all, I could barely stay there more for more than twenty-four hours before having to leave again to get to the wedding."

At that Tonks laughed. "Are you sure you don't want to use me to make her miserable because you're jealous?" she asked, gesturing down to her chest again even as she began to shrink it back to its normal size, a Pert B pushing C-cup that was just above Hermione's.

"I'm positive," Hermione said with a half-smile. "I actually quite like the girl admittedly, given the way she turned all of my anger at the fact they are teacher and student aside. But, that doesn't mean that I think she's innocent. Indeed, there was something about her that was rather mysterious. And if you can embarrass Harry, Rias Gremory, that's her name and get to the bottom of that mystery that will be two birds with one Tonks-shaped stone."

Tonks chuckled, and then nodded as Teddy joined them. "I'll think about it, and maybe, maybe I'll even decide to follow Harry's example. There're too many old faces here, too many memories. Maybe a fresh start somewhere else is just what I need too."

Scene break

Thanks to Yasaka's planning the trip between Kyoto and Kuoh went by quickly. Not once was Kunou left bored, and she and Harry got to know one another as best they could while Harry told Kunou about Asia and Koneko while also telling her what he would expect of her: clean up after yourself, brush your teeth, don't go near strangers and of course, keep your grades up in school or prepare to lose privileges. Parenting wasn't all sweetness and light after all. Despite that warning though, Kunou was now looking forward to living with the Potter's, and for more than seeing Lily again.

Opening the door to his house, Harry sniffed once and could tell that everyone, including Kiba, was here. _Kiba must have been read into the wards by Koneko._ "Everyone, I'm back."

Rias and Lily moved out of the sitting room and that with Rias moving up to Harry in giving him a light kiss on the lips before moving Akeno now do the same as Rias knelt down to the young kitsune who had started to hide behind Harry's leg as everyone piled out of the various first floor rooms until she saw Lily and Loup. The sight of them stopped her motion. "Hello Kunou-chan, it's good to see you again.""

"You too Miss," Kunou said, holding her hand out seriously and shaking Rias like she should, though wondering why the girl was lips were twitching as she did.

She stood up, still holding Kunou's hand, leading her over to the rest, asking Harry who fell into step beside them. "I trust everything went well?"

"Very well actually. Yasaka handed over some more information about places where her people have noticed magic occurring without any attempt at a physical cover up from the locals. She gave me a few names to follow up on the Wizard world side of things too." Harr smiled thinly. "Although there were a few other things that happened I'll want to talk to you and Akeno about later."

Just then Lily raced down the stairs, leaping and bearing the young kitsune to the ground with an exuberant hug. "Kunou!"

Kunou was just as exuberantly hugging the red head to her even as they rolled around on the carpet. "Lily! You smell a little different, and you're stronger too!"

"Yep! A lot of stuff happened," Lily said, "Some good some of it bad." She shrugged, linking arms with Kunou before looking at her daddy. "Can we go play?"

"Of course honey, but let's go to your room first. As you know rooms are kind of scarce right now, so she'll be sharing a room with you." Lily's eyes widened at that, and he nodded. "In fact, she mentioned the idea of a bunk bed, and I thought that might be an interesting idea to follow up."

Lily's eyes gleamed at the very idea. "That sounds like fun!"

"Have you ever transfigured a bunk bed before Harry?" Akeno said, looking at him quizzically.

"No, and I wouldn't want to try with a bunkbed. Complex things like that can't really be transfigured correctly, especially if you want the pieces to come apart later. You have to transfigure each part, and then fit them all together rather than transfigure the entire thing it in one piece. Of course you could always put that off, use magic to separate it into pieces then. Now, will just look at the room for a bit, then I'll research bunk beds and see what kinds there are."

This segued into the two girls roughhousing on Lily's bed, with many a happy little growl and yip coming from them. Despite being in human or near human form, some things carried over, and even before she had gotten in touch consciously with her werewolf side lily had been a very rough and tumble sort of girl.

Rolling his eyes, Harry however got down to business, figuring out what kind of bunk bed could fit in that room without more expansion charms, and if such were needed how much work it would be. A permanent expansion array would not be too difficult, but one thing that such expanded areas could not do was lighting. For example, the wires in the wall would shift and expand, but the plugs coming out of the wall would not duplicate themselves. It wasn't much of a consideration, the lighting was good enough already that Harry wouldn't need any more plugs or anything similar.

"Harry," Rias said, coming up behind him and putting her arms around his waist as she looked over his shoulder at the room, "I understand that the two girls seem to think sharing a room will be fine, but are you sure that won't go away in time?"

"Maybe once they become teenagers, but I don't know."

"It's going to take a lot of time or money to set this up though," Rias said. "And time too. I still think that you would be better served simply moving to a larger house."

They had been having this argument for a while now almost since Koneko had moved in with Harry, along with a few others. None of them had been emotional affairs or shouting matches, instead they argued about the house, how to use their time, if Lily needed to spend more time on her studying, what magical project needed more priority, and a few others. Rias wanted to put more emphasis on training her peerage, but Harry wanted obviously to concentrate their work on the defensive side of things. They were simple differences of opinion, not real arguments, but both of them were actually happy they could talk their way through them.

Harry had won last that argument, but Rias was slowly wearing him down on the house thing. At this point it was the fact he still loved the small backyard with its pond and tree, as well as his own stubbornness that kept him arguing about it. After all, adding an entirely new bathroom was something his magic was ill suited for. _I wonder if I can find out what wards Hogwarts used for some of its plumbing?_

"The time might be an issue since I'll want to use talismans to make it permanent, those are easier to change the dimensions of the area affected rather than the runes of European Wizards." Harry said aloud, pushing his previous thought aside. "However the money's no object. I have quite a bit of money actually."

Rias paused, pulling away to look at him as something about that statement bothered her for some reason. "Really, is it working for you?"

"What do you mean working for me, how can money wok for me? It's just sitting there of course."

Rias frowned at that, shaking her head. "We'll come back to that topic later," she said definitively. "If you have as much money as you seem to be indicating you should put it to work. Now," she said briskly, "Let's see that attic. After all,eventually you might need room for Akeno and me too if we decide to move in with you, and then it will be even more crowded."

"If our relationship gets to that point, why do you think you'll have a separate room from mine?" Harry said, leaning down to kiss her.

Rias however laughed and backed away, gesturing Harry to show the way. "Oh, both of us at once Harry, every night? That's rather ambitious of you isn't it?"

"Heh," Harry said, though he still obeyed her request, moving away. "I don't know about that. After all, I was a just a werewolf, a species known for their endurance, and then I absorbed Manannán's powers and some of his abilities. 'Randy as a god' remember?"

To that, Rias now blushing almost as red as her hair, had no answer.

Scene break

Kunou went to school that Monday with Lily, coming home with exuberant stories about how she met so many people, and made a few friends already. Harry was not surprised by this of course. Despite her blondish hair, Kunou was very obviously of Japanese descent, and she was as bright and outgoing as Lily was. They were the kind of girls who would always be able to gather friends easily, as well as rivals.

With that though, Koneko, Mittelt and Kalawarner nearby, Harry felt safe enough to start dating. He began to plan a group date along the lines Akeno was hoping for but before he could finalize things, the trio's relationship suddenly took a large step forward.

That Friday Sona and Rias's peerage and Harry's household met up at the Occult Research Clubroom for a party. The defensive array's design and planning had finally been completed. All that was left would be to emplace it around the town and empower it, which would take all the magically inclined individuals a full day's worth of work, and would leave them drained even so. At the same time, Rias, who had taken a step away from this work, had finalized the changes she would need to make to her family's teleportation network in order to provide security to them. Because of these two breakthroughs, the two Kings and Harry all decided it was time for a party.

Putting a large tray of finger food, Harry smiled over at Rias and Kala, who had also been doing the cooking, as Akeno out had been handling the drinks: numerous types of tea, fruit drinks, and in one corner wine for the older members, a bottle specially selected from Rias's storehouse.

Sona smiled at them all as she led her peerage through the door. "We're right on time I see."

"It all looks wonderful, Potter-sensei," Tsubaki said, sitting down quickly next to her King, smiling brightly at Kiba, who returned the smile with a nod of his head gently sitting next to her taking her hand in his. The two of them hadn't much time together since work on the defensive wards started, which Tsubaki begrudged even though she had gotten close to Harry and snuck a few lessons on local magic from him under her King's nose.

The two of them would leave the party early for a date, where Tsubaki had promised to make up for it. Kiba wasn't certain what that pertain, and had earlier asked Harry for advice on it. Harry told him, "Don't push, don't let her feel uncomfortable, unless she's giving signs that you think mean that you need to do something of your own. In that event, be prepared for her to either shake her head or indicate you're doing something too quickly. All girls are different, but I get the impression that Tsubaki is one who would prefer to take things slow and romantic, judging from the reaction to that little performance I helped you put on. Remember that, and also remember to give her as much attention as she gives you, if you know what I mean."

Kiba had blushed at that, but nodded. "It would be rather rude not to."

"I always think so boyo," Harry said had said with a laugh ending the conversation with a slap to the younger man's shoulder.

Rias smiled at her friend, and then gestured to Kunou, Loup and Asia. "Ladies and gentlemen," she said, smiling at Loup, Harry and Saji who were very badly outnumbered by the large group of girls. "This is Loup, Harry and Kunou, a representative of and the daughter of the leader of the Yokai Association. Loup is here to go to college, while Kunou is here to go to school with young Lily, who befriended her during the escapade In Kyoko. And this is Asia who is studying to join her own peer group here at Kuoh academy. She'll be joining us in December," Rias said smiling at the young not who smiled brightly, looked around happily as everyone else greeted her warmly.

The three newcomers waved and Saji moved over to Asia, taking her hand bending over lightly to kiss the back of it. "Milady, your loveliness knows no bounds, just as many of the women around us; you will surely fit right in here."

"Ohoh," Harry muttered, glaring at the young blond boy while Asia flushed. "I see I'll have to watch you closely, won't I?"

Watching Rias leaned over to her friend. "I take it that you and Saji aren't dating?" After that first day, she hadn't really had time to tease her friend about her new family member.

"Not at all," Sona said, waving that off easily. "He's not my type, not quite intelligent enough, and certainly not loyal enough. Oh, he is loyal as part of my peerage, but he has roving eyes as you can see. And unlike you, I don't think I am emotionally capable of sharing."

"It's not as easy as I try to make it seem sometimes," Rias said, looking over to where Akeno was attempting to flirt with Harry though he had turned his attention away and was answering a question from one of Sona's family members, while Lilly Kunou and a few others are nearby, talking about games and drinking fruit juices. "I think both of us are dealing with a few issues of jealousy occasionally."

Later, as Harry turned away from that conversation with Kiba, Koneko, Kunou and Lily about training, and whether or not the two young girls should start to learn how to wield swords. Harry thought that going through the motions of such a thing was a good idea, though he wasn't about to put any kind of sharp object beyond a cooking knife in his daughter's hand, and even then not often. There was a reason why he had sent her away every time Kalawarner tried to teach her how to cook. Seeing Lily or even Kunou there (though Kunou didn't enjoy cooking) like that brought back memories of the times when he'd been forced into that role at that same age.

Looking around as Kiba moved over to join Tsubaki by the door Harry noticed that Mittelt was smirking at Rias, was blushing and glaring at her. Moving over, he sat down next to his girlfriend, noticing that nearby Akeno looked on, positively gleeful. Kalawarner's lips were twitching and she was smirking at Rias too. _What's this all about?_

Mittelt had been planning her revenge on Rias's laughing at her that first time they had talked about fashions in anime and she had said she should be getting paid royalties. That morning she had sprung it in the form of the first cosplay suits she had prepared, to show Rias she could do it. "I don't know what you're so unhappy about Ojou-sama," Mittelt said caustically, her face somehow trying to twist into a look of innocence, and failing utterly. "After all, I gave you what I wanted didn't I? Two cosplay outfits fit to order for you and Akeno."

"I asked you to give me cosplay outfits, not fetish outfits!" Rias growled back, her face reddening slightly.

"But those **are** cosplay outfits. You never specified what kind of cosplay outfit you wanted, and when I looked online, those suits were some of the most famous." Mittelt said, still trying to sound like she was her physical age and still failing miserably.

"What outfits are these?" Harry asked, sensing something funny or sexy, he wasn't certain which.

"Ara, there's a thought." Akeno said, jumping in, her eyes alight with amusement. "I vote that Harry take a look at us in those outfits, and we have him decide whether or not the suits are accurate."

Rias blinked, and then shared a look with Akeno before nodding. "That's a thought. Harry, would you mind officiating? We can even attempt to dress up as the characters in question."

For a second Kalawarner looked as if she was going to say something then visibly bit it back, leaning back and watching as Harry simply shrugged. "Sure, that sounds like fun, though I'll have to research this particular anime of yours before agreeing."

"Cool," Rias said, carefully, calmly. "We'll stop by later tonight then. As for the anime, its name is…"

Unfortunately for Harry, even after they left the party Kunou and Lily were still energetic, hopping around all around them, high on sugar. Koneko and Asia helped to keep them moving towards the Potter's home, but they were still bouncing around by the time they arrived, which Harry responded to by taking them out back. Illuminating the yard with a few floating lights, Harry played with the two girls, with Asia looking on and laughing as Harry tossed them around, even Koneko when she joined in. While as a Rook she had a lot of strength that hadn't made her any heavier, and Harry could match her strength or even exceed it if he really tried.

It was pushing elven by the time he had them tired out enough to head back inside, where he turned them over to Asia and Koneko for a bath. The bath on the first floor had been enlarged to allow several of the girls to use it at once, which came in handy now.

"Can I trust you two to get these two puppies into bed?" Harry asked Asia and Koneko.

Ignoring Kunou's whine of 'not a puppy but a kit', Koneko nodded while pulling off her shirt, uncaring of Harry seeing her in her undershirt. True to what she thought, Harry simply rubbed her head, causing her to purr, before winking at Asia. "Alright, I'll see you four tomorrow okay?"

"Hai!" Asia and Koneko said, while Lily and Kunou, both stripped down, passed them and raced into the bathing area. "Wait you two, have to wash first!" Koneko said, racing after them, with Asia following.

Chuckling Harry made his way up to his room in the attic, only to pause as the back door opened. Rias and Akeno stood there in trench-coats, tightly closed. "Oh, right. Sorry you two, I wasn't able to research the anime you wanted me to. The kids were too darn rambunctious, and we had to tire them out."

"That, that's fine Harry," Rias said moving forward and taking his hand, pulling him toward the trapdoor to the attic. "You can still see them now, that's…more important than if we actually look like the characters. After all, Akeno refuses to do anything to her hair, and Rei Ayanami has short blue hair. And I have a copy of the graphic novel with me anyway."

Realizing this was about more than simply seeing if the outfit Mittelt made matched the original, Harry nodded, reaching out to pull both girls into hugs before reaching up to pull down the trapdoor. Pulling it down, he ushered the girls up, one eyebrow rising as he noticed the leggings they were wearing looked to be skintight.

Up in his room Rias looked around for moment, smiling. The attic had been raised somewhat, but still showed the steeped ceiling, and Harry had placed several dozen pictures of his daughter around on bookshelves, along with numerous books. Among them were pictures of his friends, both new and old, including one Rias remembered that Lily had taken when she and Harry had started to meet in the morning. Akeno was there too, smiling into the camera as she turned from making tea in their clubroom, as was Asia, blushing as she and Koneko stood at the kitchen table, another picture Lily had taken.

There was even one of Kunou, which he had taken her first day at elementary school. "Did you send that one to Yasaka? I imagine she would love it." Rias asked, moving over to look at the pictures, and then the bed and the light set to one side. That too was an interesting affair, a long, burnished metal frame twisted this way and that, with a central paper covered light.

 **{Lime start}**

"I did, she said she loved it…" Harry's voice trailed off as Akeno decided to get things rolling, and stripped off her trench-coat.

His eyes widened as Akeno revealed what she was wearing underneath: a skintight white outfit, with black bits and lines on it that made it look like a it was made of some kind of formfitting armor. Around her wrist were built up as well, almost like handcuffs underneath the latex and two yellow bits, the suit including tight gloves of the same color. Portions of the front of the arms were black as well, and there was a red accent line around the tight neckline. There were also bits that looked reinforced underneath the chest area. Here and there were what looked like strange sockets at the shoulders and other parts.

Blushing Rias joined her friend, showing she wore a similar outfit, though hers was red instead of white. The black portions on the arm were the same, and the yellow bits on Akeno's suit were instead orange, and there was no red line around the neck.

But this was all beside the point in consideration to the main, important point: that both suits were so skintight, they looked more like body paint for the most part. _Bloody hell, I've seen both of them wear jeans that looked like they'd have to use machinery to get into them, but this is ridiculous!_

Akeno and Rias's chests were held up by the 'armor' underneath almost obscenely, each breast thrust forward like a separate treat waiting to be feasted on. The latex outfits were so tight both young women's nipples and areolae were visible, and their labia too. Rias, Harry knew from experience, had areolae a little larger than a British pound, but he could also tell that she was turned on now, her nipples sticking out mouth-wateringly. And down below, Harry could see the lips of her pussy. From what he could see, she had smaller lips than Ginny had, but that was about all.

Akeno had both larger breasts and nipples than Rias, Harry could see, with a slightly larger areola as well. Down below, Harry could see she had larger lips too, though not by much. She too was also aroused intensely right now, since her white suit showed this even more clearly than Rias's red suit. She was also slightly thinner in the thighs, but her rear was just a tiny bit larger too.

"We, we're supposed to be Rei and Asuka, two robot pilots from Evangelion. It's not an anime I'd recommend for Lily, but even so, um, you can see why I didn't think these suits were… well," Rias stammered, blushing hotly but feeling almost as turned on now as she had been on the date where Harry had gotten her off. This was one of her fantasies, although admittedly she would have liked Harry to have been dressed as Shinji too. _Later, we can try that kind of thing later._

"Yes… I can see that," Harry murmured, sitting down on the side of the bed. "Come here," he half-stated, half-ordered. Both girls did so, sitting down on either side of him, and he brought his hands up to first Rias's body, then Akeno's as he leaned in for a kiss. Akeno kissed him back ardently as Harry's hands played with Rias, his fingers sinking into her latex covered chest, kneading and caressing.

While Akeno was being seen to a second later, Rias began to unbuckle Harry's belt, pulling his shirt out, then undoing the buttons of his shirt, pushing it off. Opening her eyes Akeno saw this and grinned salaciously, her body beginning to thrum with lust, almost as much as she had felt 'taking care of herself' after Harry had dealt with the Perverted Trio months ago. "Mmm, such nice definition you have, sensei~!"

"Can't you just, mm, damn, can't you just call me Harry now?" Harry asked plaintively, kissing Rias and then Akeno between each word, one hand on Rias's chest, the other on Akeno's as the girls began to caress his chest and stomach.

Akeno's chest was just as responsive to Harry's touch as Rias, though larger by at least three centimeters. His fingers sank in deeper and his hand could not cover nearly as much of her breast as it could with Rias. Her nipples also poked just a little less than Rias's did.

For her part Rias was greatly enjoying this, feeling her body respond to Harry's touch like it had before. But she was also determined to not let Harry do all the work this time. Instead, even as she kissed Harry back as ardently as she possibly could, her fingers went down to Harry's pants, unbuttoning them.

At one point Harry might have objected to this about still going too fast. But that had been weeks ago, weeks spent flirting, getting to know one another and everything else couples were supposed to do. Further, he knew both these women were old enough to make their own decisions. However he did pull back enough to mutter, "Not going to go all the way tonight, not romantic enough."

While Akeno moaned disappointment, unable to create words while Harry's fingers started to play with her nipples through the latex, Rias just nodded. "The suits stay on of course, and they don't have easy access like that, Mittelt made it accurate in that."

Blinking, Harry found his thoughts bounced onto a side track for a moment. "Wait, these suits are that accurate? I am never letting my daughter see this anime!"

As he finished speaking, Rias pushed him to lie on his back pulling Harry's pants off. She then stared at what was revealed as Akeno, still moaning her own pleasure, looked down as well. "Mmmmm, Harry-sensei~, what have we here?"

Needless to say, Harry's 'little wand' was at full attention straining at his boxers, and it wasn't so little. Reaching forward, Akeno and Rias could both get a hand around the tent with room to spare both above and between. They could feel Harry's manhood through the thin cotton, hot and pulsing, and Akeno seemed to almost lose herself in desire, simply staring at it intently. But for a moment Rias could only say, "Thank goodness you're not a tighty-whitey man. I don't think I could have taken that."

Blinking, Harry laughed pulling Rias down into a kiss while Akeno giggled. While the other two kissed, their tongues dueling and lips making audible smacking noises and Rias started to make little breathy moaning noises, Akeno began to pump her hand up and down, bumping into Rias's and a forcing her to concentrate on that too.

Then it was Akeno's turn to lose concentration on the matter at hand as Harry sat up to take one of her latex clad nipples into his mouth, his other hand dipping down to trace Rias's rear. He tried to take as much of her breast into his mouth as he could first sucking, his tongue lathering at the latex. Harry didn't actually like the taste all that much, but could deal with it for now, since so much of the sensation he was causing seemed to travel through it to Akeno.

Turning to one side, Rias stared down at Harry's bulge, now threatening either to break through the fly or simply burst the cotton; Rias's lust-fuddled mind couldn't decide which was more likely. "Poor man, someone needs some relief…" she cooed, reaching forward now with both hands, pumping them up and down.

Akeno wasn't one to just idly let someone else take the lead though, and she started to rake her nails through first Harry's hair, then down his bare back. She pouted slightly as he left the breast he had been nibbling on only to sigh as he moved over to the other one, starting to play with it more forcefully, though still not quite enough for Akeno. She grabbed one of his hands and pushed it between her legs, then began to try and concentrate enough to concentrate on a low-key lightning spell.

It worked, but Harry growled, pulling away to give her a glare, his hands stilling and even pulling away. The pain had not heightened his pleasure. Instead, it had been a turn-off, reminding him of other, far less pleasant things. Akeno blanched, but then his look changed and he leaned up, kissing her on the lips again, his tongue plunging into her mouth as his fingers down below started to caress her cleft through the plug suit. She whimpered and he pulled back, muttering, "None of that."

With that Harry turned his attention on Rias, leaning down to kiss her while she kept her hands moving up and down his shaft over his boxers. Pouting Akeno joined in, one hand rubbing the top of his shaft, her fingers dipping slightly into the slit of his fly around the one button keeping it close, feeling his cock with her fingers, like steel under a thin, hot veneer of flesh.

Accepting Akeno's apology, Harry divided his attention once more, his hands diving between both ladies legs and beginning to trace their labia, now expanded by their arousal. Soon enough it became almost a race to see who would finish first.

Looking up from her work with Harry, Rias decided to help her friend along and reached over, her small hands almost disappearing into Akeno's breasts as she squeezed hard. Though a little startled, that pain accompanied by the pleasure Harry was causing made Akeno cum hard, almost as hard as she had on that long ago day. "AHHHHHH!" She shrieked, before falling forward half on and half off Harry's legs.

Her own climax coming, Rias moved her hands up and down Harry's shaft almost violently, finally causing it to hop out of the fly. Desperate to finish Harry off at the same time, Rias played with the now revealed portion of his cock, one hand playing with the head the other moving down the shaft rapidly. At the same time she twisted her upper body around enough to lean up and kiss Harry on the lips, her tongue out and questing before their lips even met.

The feel of her latex covered hands, the stimulation he had already endured and the kiss did it. Harry grunted as he came, firing off like a cannon blast covering her hand and actually lifting the hand playing with his cock's head with the power of the blast. At the same time his fingers clenched, digging into Rias where he had been playing with her labia, finding her clitoris almost accidentally and rubbing it enough to send her rocketing over the edge. Rias moaned aloud, not as loud as she had screamed before, but that was thanks to their liplock, and her body slumped against Harry.

Chuckling, Harry let his upper body fall back onto the bed, pulling Rias back with him even as they broke their liplock in order to breathe. "Um…What was I supposed to do about judging these suits again?" He asked, while one hand waved, lazily casting a specialized cleaning charm on Rias's hands and his lower body.

 **{Lime end}**

"Mmm, I wonder if we can just lay here for a bit?" Rias muttered. "Or…" she said with a faint smile, staring down at Harry's lower body, "Seeing as your 'broom' hasn't gone down, we could keep having fun…"

"Ooh, I am alllll for that," Akeno said, pushing herself up and turning around to join them, leaning into Harry's shoulder as Rias lay on his chest. She slipped one leg over Harry's legs, trapping his 'broom' in the small behind her knee. "There are so many things I want to try…"

However before they could continue, Harry pushed up lightly, staring down past the foot of the bed to the trapdoor beyond. "Bollocks."

Rias turned in the same direction, and saw the orange glow of a detection charm. "Oh, that's a good idea Harry. But can you tell who is beyond it?"

"No, but I'd bet one of the little ones," Harry said, pushing Rias off his chest and rolling away from Akeno, forcing her to give up her previous position with a pout. "Lily sometimes likes to come up and sleep with me."

Looking between the scrambling daddy and the trapdoor, Rias rolled her eyes and gestured over at her trenchcoat, pulling it on quickly while shaking her head, biting back giggles. _Oh that's just adorable! Heheh, I can so see that too. Harry really is a great father, isn't he?_

As she did, she noted that Akeno looked more affronted than amused, but it faded quickly. "I'll see what whoever it is wants, but if it's just that, maybe I can turn them back?" Rias asked rhetorically.

Opening the trapdoor, Rias looked down into the faces of Lily and Kunou looking up. Lily blinked then continued up the trapdoor's ladder, hugging Rias around the neck and head. Rias returned the hug but she didn't let Lily past her. "Hey Rias, sorry, we didn't know you were here with Daddy. We were comparing sleeping with a mom and a Daddy and decided Kunou needed to compare the two."

Lily had of course slept with both her parents at a time, but Kunou couldn't remember sleeping with her own father and Lily had never liked sleeping with both parents. Ginny was clingy like Lily, but also stole the blankets, which she had never liked.

"Hmm, well how about you come with me for a bit, we can have some chocolate milk and then you can both come up and see Harry then? We were helping him rearrange some things up here, and his bed needs to be remade first," Rias asked, gently pushing Lily back down the ladder. "And remember to whisper, Asia and Koneko are no doubt sleeping."

"Okay," both little girls whisper-shouted, racing down the ladder one after another and then away down the hallway.

Rias turned and winked at Harry. "I'll buy the two of you some time, but not too long," she warned, getting a wide smile from Akeno, and Harry both.

"You could stay you know, both of you could," Harry said, while Akeno immediately began to get his 'little wand' to stand at attention. "And you need to stop woman, or I'm not going to be responsible for what I do to you!"

"Ara, that sounds like fun," Akeno purred into his ear, causing Harry to growl.

"I'd like that, but I greatly prefer to sleep naked, and I'd rather do that with you alone the first time," Rias replied, stepping down backwards onto the ladder even as she looked at Harry and Akeno, some of her jealousy rearing its head.

It dissipated though as Harry looked up at her, his eyes smoldering. "Oh yes, that does sound like fun, but sleep would definitely not be occurring then, I'm not that under control."

Rias laughed, blowing him a kiss. "Well, you've got half an hour or so, so why don't you and Akeno do something about that?"

With that she turned and Harry did the same, pinning Akeno to his bed, grinding his arousal against her core as he kissed the living daylights out of her. Shaking her head as Akeno began to moan, Rias firmly pulled the trapdoor closed behind her and attempted to push her jealousy down again, then went to find Lily and Kunou before they could get into any further trouble.

Scene break

After that weekend, life shifted into a new routine. With the design phase done, and Sona and her peerage took over much of the work on the physical creation of the array, scouting out places for each disparate part to go and writing out the unimportant parts of the runic scheme. This freed Harry to work on his own projects in the house.

Within a few days Kunou and Lily's room was set up with their desired bunkbeds, and had also been placed on a primitive clock the like of which Harry had given Yasaka. Like that example, the watch Harry had only showed a few things, and Harry knew it was simply a prototype, but it was enough to give him a bit more peace of mind.

A talisman had been placed on the roof and the floor underneath the carpet enlarging it that way so that the room had the height of two rooms set one on the other. Instead of having Lily's be the one on the floor, Harry transfigured it into overhead sort of bed, which overlooked the dresser and Lily's small desk, with two large wooden rails set there and then nailed into the floor. In its place a bed for Kunou had been added to the room, twisted onto its side and then set against the far wall, the bed set up with a lot of large fluffy pillows. Harry knew the two girls would probably migrate from one bed to another instead of sleeping separately, so had made the beds different. With that done expanding the room enough to keep it homey while also putting in a second tiny desk and a small bookcase right over it was easy.

Further expansion talismans were then placed on every room, each one specifying a different size for each room, including the kitchen, the kitchen table, and the TV room. This made the house no longer seem as overcrowded, yet did nothing about the plumbing of the bathrooms, where there was still a bit of a traffic jam every day. And of course while Harry could copy his cooking utensils, he couldn't do the same to the sink or the electric appliances, which still made mealtimes somewhat crowded, since, somehow, Harry's house had become the destination for dinner for everyone (Luckily Rias paid for most of the food her peerage ate). Still, Harry was somewhat pleased with his progress.

After that, Harry began to spend an hour every other day working with Akeno and Rias, helping them in learning the Onmyouji and European magical styles. During these lessons Harry learned more about demon-based magic, some of which he learned he could do thanks to his now truly massive magical core. Akeno and Rias both proved to be able students, though Rias was slightly slower at picking up things than Akeno. But when teaching Asia in turn when she joined them, Rias proved to actually be a better teacher. Akeno was simply a prodigy when it came to Onmyodo-style offensive and defensive spells taking to them like a duck to water, all only being slightly slower to learn European-style spells. Yet it was Asia who was the first of them all to learn how to transfigure things, while Rias had been the first to find her mental state.

She came out of her meditation one day and blurted out, "Water?! I'm water?"

For a moment Akeno and Harry looked at one another then nodded as one. "That makes sense."

"No it doesn't," Rias said, stamping her foot as she stood up, looking a little irritable. "The Power of Destruction within me should have, that is, isn't that some kind of fire? I would've thought that would make much more sense!" Water sounded far too passive for her tastes.

"The elements you're closest to in terms of your magic don't have any connection to any previous physical or familial ability," Harry said shaking his head. "Whatever you might think, I can definitely see you as being closest to the element of water." Rias frowned at that, and he went on, reaching over to take her hand. "Caring, loving, something that everyone needs to survive, but when roused has a bottomless fury and a power to crush anything within its path. Doesn't that sound like you?"

Blushing heavily, Rias leaned in and kissed him lightly. "Flatterer."

Thanks to the local books on mediation, Akeno and Asia also quickly developed their minds to the point where they had discovered their elements. With that, Akeno and Rias began to control their auras to an extent that they no longer influenced anyone around them even slightly, while Asia started to manifest some magical control even when she didn't have her Sacred Gear physically present. Akeno's was wood: a power of movement, strength endurance and above all the ability to change and grow. Asia's was water, just Like Rias.

Lily and Koneko practiced every day with Lily's other form, with Kunou joining in the lessons easily, both proving an example of transforming quickly between human and her non-human form and a fellow play-pal. Lily had more issues the longer it became from the full moon for a time, but Harry helped her every night for thirty minutes after dinner, getting her to realize to how much stronger and faster she was even when not in her 'Phoenix Wolf' form (yes, Koneko's name had stuck, much to Harry's chagrin no one had come up with a better name yet), with Koneko handling her training in her alternate body. This always segued into more rough and tumble with Kunou and Koneko, as Lily grow grew ever more at home with her puppy side as she called it.

For her part Kunou was a fox kit, and like young fox's she loved playing just as much as puppies would, and really liked doing it with Harry too. Indeed, Kunou greatly enjoyed being surrounded by so many new friends within a few days of moving in. Life as Yasaka's daughter wasn't lonely per se, but Yasaka always had to consider how people could use getting close to Kunou in order to use that as a stepping stone to influence her in turn. And anyone who wasn't among that kind of type, other than Loup and a few older relatives, treated her as more a princess than the little girl.

Loup for his part fit in well at the college and even at home sometimes taking over Harry's duties to talk to Lily after dinner, though only very rarely. He instead volunteered to help teach Lily how to fight, having a first dan black belt in judo and actually in some foreign martial arts too, which he had learned when he was younger. He was not as outgoing as the rest of the household, but got along relatively well with Koneko, who shared in his stoic deadpan nature and Kiba, who liked simply to have another young man around.

He was a solid, stolid presence, and immediately volunteered his services when Harry complained once about wanting to create a larger backyard. Rias moved on this instantly, pushing Harry once more to move into a larger house somewhere. Seeing the state of his kitchen and having experienced the back end of the line for his own personal bathroom, Harry at last caved on the idea, since it really did make sense. But that would wait until the Christmas and New Year's break, which was now coming up quickly.

Beyond that, with Loup here and trusting that between him and Kalawarner watching the girls along with Koneko after school, they could handle anything that tried to threaten his daughter the romantic moments returned a bit more seriously now. Although they never quite reached the level of the night after the party, Harry attempted to make up for that with spontaneity…

Harry walked into the occult research clubroom after school. Rias was there, working on some of the paperwork she needed as part of her cover as club president. She looked up once and waved at him, before looking back down at her paperwork even as she asked, "I thought you'd be going to pick up Lily and Kunou already? We're not due to meet up with the others for our next discussion until four-thirty, right?"

"I decided to let Loup and Koneko pick them up today. Mondays she goes straight home anyway, none of her friends are ever free on Monday after school." Rias nodded at that still not looking up until she felt Harry standing right next to her. She looked up then, only for him to lean down abruptly and kissed her hard on the lips.

Her mouth opening in surprise Rias then began to squeak as Harry's tongue quickly took this opening, her hands grabbing at his, as his hands moved to her back, pulling her lightly out of the chair. The kiss lingered on for many moments with Rias hugging him hard, her hands on his rear as Harry's hands moved through her hair before pulling back slightly, winking at her. "I just thought I'd stop by and tell you how much I appreciate you, you know?"

Blushing brightly, Rias simply nodded her head, staring at Harry as he skipped backwards, winked at her again, and with a whistle exited the room. A moment later she slumped forward, hiding her still blushing face against the top of her desk. _Maou damn that man and what he's doing to me! Or maybe that should be Maou bless him for the same darn thing!_

Rias wasn't even a closet romantic, she was just a flat out, dyed in the wool romantic, despite the number of anime she watched with male leads who wouldn't know what the word meant if it smacked them upside the head. And in her opinion being in a relationship with Harry was possibly the best thing to ever happen to her, right up there with building up her peerage, her family. She knew she had changed, become stronger and more focused since meeting him, and was now eagerly waiting for the day Riser made his move, rather than dreading the same thing.

But as happy and thankful for that as she was, it was the other aspect of their interaction that made her truly happy to be with him. Despite being a Devil raised in a noble house and steeped in politics, at base Rias was a creature of love and affection, not just lust and desire, and Harry gave her that and vice versa, and not just physically. They talked far more than they did anything else. And to her, the way he was with Lily, Koneko, and now even Kunou was simply icing on the cake. It proved he would make a fantastic father when they got to that point, as she was becoming more certain they would in time.

"Still, all of that doesn't mean I'm going to take what he just did lying down," Rias said to the empty clubroom, a sensual smile on her face.

The next day, she went to find Harry at lunchtime, knowing that he would remain in the last classroom he was in to look at some of the essays he had given the freshmen class recently, getting a jump on the work. "You know you can't eat paperwork right?" she said, holding up a box lunch for him, while her other hand sent a spell toward the door, a spell to keep people from entering like a very detailed notice-me-not.

Harry smiled up at her then waved her to sit down, which Rias did but not at the desk he indicated, rather on the side of the teacher's desk, unwrapping the bento and dipping into it with a pair of chopsticks. She held it out to Harry, who chuckled and opened his mouth, letting her feed him for a moment. She stood there, waiting until he nodded in approval before leaning down abruptly and kissing him hard, just as hard as he had been they had yesterday. Within a second she was sitting on his lap, her legs around his body and chair, slowly grinding herself against him as she kissed him with an open mouth.

Eventually Harry pulled back, kissing down Rias's neck, loving the feel of her skin under his lips. Soon he found her pulse point to nibble at it, causing her to moan louder and to hump him even harder. "Is this a game now?" he murmured against her skin.

"A very fun one," she said, part laugh, part moan.

Harry sighed, but some of his senses returned, and he slowly lifted her off his waist, not bothering to hide the reaction his body had to her closeness. "But dangerous to play at school."

"True," Rias said, not fighting as he lifted her easily up back onto his desk. "But still fun."

Smiling at the sensual curve to her lips, Harry shook his head and reached for the box lunch. _God this woman!_

Akeno and Harry had moments too. There's were little more animalistic meetings then with Rias and Harry, with one or the other striving at first to dominate the kiss, with Harry always coming up on top, much to Akeno's chagrin. She was a bit of a switch in that area, but to be a real switch she needed her desire to dominate to be fed as well as her need to submit, and that wasn't happening. Nor, unfortunately for her, was Harry proving open to the idea of bringing in a bit of pain into their fun, as she learned with every interaction…

Akeno stayed behind as the other three left, moving around the table and lifting her own sandbox off it. "I'll help you clean up Potter-sensei."

"Why do you like calling me that?" Harry asked shaking his head as he looked over at her as he moved one of the large sandboxes into one of the corners.

"Because it adds a certain kinkiness to it," she said moving up behind him, hugging him tightly from behind and reaching up to nibble at his ear. "Don't you like it, Potter sensei?" she asked, then bit down on his ear, doing no real damage but causing some pain. He arched his back kissing a little, and turned, pushing her away lightly then grabbing at her rear, squeezing it hard.

"Kinky girl," he growled, though whether in approval or not was debatable.

"Yep," Akeno said happily, then leaned up to kissed him hard, biting his lip as hard as she could, trying to and succeeding in making him bleed for just an instant before the wound closed thanks to his werewolf side.

He pulled back again, wiping away at a bit of blood with a thumb even as his lip healed. "Control yourself," he muttered, swatting her rear from where he still held it.

"I told you I like pain sensei," she said happily, wiggling her rear. "Both giving and receiving."

"I can see that, but I'm not certain I'm so happy with either of those, and certainly the receiving."

"Oh, but Sensei~, Akeno said, believing Harry was just playing hard to get. "You're a werewolf. That means you can heal quickly from almost anything I do to you…"

Narrowing his eyes, Harry shook his head. "That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt in the first place."

With a smile Akeno reached up and kissed him, and despite the little argument, Harry couldn't stop his body from responding, arms going around her, the hand still on her pliable tushie squeezing as he did. And when she opened her mouth, Harry met her tongue with his own.

Another time Harry initiated the contact, coming up behind her as Akeno was alone in the clubroom, preparing some tea. Akeno turned as Harry entered, and the next moment she knew, she was being lifted up by her waist and sat on the small tea table, Harry pinning her there and dominating her so thoroughly, his tongue doing such amazing things in her mouth and his hands exploring her back and rear, that she nearly came just from that.

Yet before she could bring her scattered thoughts together enough to think about biting his tongue, or scratching his back, or any of the myriad Akeno she wanted to do to him in order to see him wince in pain, to give her pleasure in turn and send herself over the edge, Harry pulled away. "So, can I have some tea?" He asked in a husky tone, and it was all Akeno could do not to melt into a puddle. But no matter what she attempted, Harry wouldn't submit to her in turn.

And while he was okay with some spank and twist play, all the more extreme things Akeno wanted to try were shot down almost immediately, proving a turnoff to Harry. He had been through too much pain in his life, in his war against Riddle and before that at Hogwarts and with the Dursleys, to be willing to bring real pain into their courtship.

He had actually explained that to her, but Akeno just couldn't stop herself from attempting to get him to see the fun they could have with a bit of pain added to things. Nor was he at home with the idea of bondage. Why, the one time she got some shackles on him, Harry practically ran away. He was laughing, but he was still running away. Again, this was because of his experiences in the the war, but Akeno still held some hope to in some fashion try out some domination of her own out on Harry.

Despite Akeno's growing frustration, all the flirtatious moments showed the two young women that Harry was putting aside his concerns about their multi-girl relationship and in a way they were correct. Harry liked giving and receiving affection, but still seemed to instinctively prefer to flirt with one or the other rather than the two of them at once. This was the way they liked it too because both of them were still dealing with the odd moment of jealousy, which was doubly surprising really given the night in the Evangelion suits they had shared.

Rias talked to Harry about that at one point, as the two of them cleaned up after dinner. They had fallen into the habit of whoever didn't help make dinner had to help the cleanup.

"Akeno and I are not getting over our jealousies as well as I had hoped," she said shaking her head. "We don't feel it when it's not right in our faces I suppose you could say, but we do feel it. That night with the *ahem*, suits was an anomaly, despite our trying." Rias sighed a little. "We're getting over it slowly, and we're not letting it get in the way of her friendship which was my primary worry. But I think I was telling the truth when she and I talked a few weeks back, after you told us about not wanting to have any dates away from Lily for a while. She is still having problems with Harry the family man."

"I'm not going to compartmentalize," Harry said firmly. "It's not like I'm separate people, Harry the flirtatious boyfriend and Harry the father."

"You are a flirtatious **monster** of a boyfriend," Rias said with a laugh shaking her head, as she remembered what Akeno had told her. Having come to school early in order to help with one of the clubs that morning Akeno had found Harry already there. Akeno had initiated contact, pushing Harry's chair back and sitting on his lap before he could object and then trying to take his breath away via his tongue while humping him where he sat, giving Harry a raging hard on. But Harry had kissed her back so hard that her lips had bruised before they had to break off at people moving around outside the classroom.

Akeno had of course loved it, that little bit of pain adding to her pleasure. But she had been forced to cover her face with a light illusion to prevent it from showing. the fact they had almost been caught had thrilled her too, while Harry had not been as pleased.

"I love the fact that my family has grown too." She confided, looking around the doorway into the other room, smiling happily as she saw Koneko helping Kunou, while Lily stared at the TV screen, a bored expression on her face. The youngsters were supposed to watch and take notes from a children's show, but taking notes apparently killed Lily's fun in the show.

Harry joined her, and Rias winked up at him. "I hope everyone's doing their work in there! I have ice cream for good little girls." She said loud enough to be heard by the youngsters. That caused Harry to chuckle at his daughter quickly straightened up, staring hard at the screen, her hand moving once more.

"But Akeno is different in that area." Rias finished, turning back to Harry.

Harry nodded, leaning down to lightly buff Rias's cheek with a kiss knowing exactly how different the two of them were. Every time Rias interacted with Kunou, Lily, or Asia and Koneko, showed that she had a natural mothering instinct. They had talked about her desire for large family of course, and Harry well remembered how she had said she wanted to be a mother, and even now remembering it caused his body to react once more.

Rias felt that, and leaned back into him, taking his hand and putting them on her stomach before smirking up at him her eyes alight with both lust and something else, softer yet also deeper. Harry decided at that point that he was going to kiss her, and leaned down the small distance necessary to follow up on this most excellent thought. Rias's tongue flicked out, moistening her lips as she too leaned up toward him.

"I'm done!" Kunou shouted, flourishing her finished notes, with Koneko following after her, a small, warm smile on her face while behind them Lily scrambled to get her own work done. "What kind of ice cream do you have?" The Kitsune girl paused, staring as Harry and Rias stared at one another, then began to laugh. "What's so funny?"

Of course, there was also something else Harry had promised to help Rias with: training her peerage.

The day of the first full peerage training day started innocuously enough for the two groups in question, unless you included Issei among them since he was technically speaking a member of Rias's. But she had made no effort whatsoever to reach out to him. Akeno and Kalawarner had volunteered to watch him for any sign of growing magical control or willpower in the boy.

But despite weeks having gone by since Rias had told Harry about that the first time, neither had reported any sign of Issei's body producing more magical power now that he was a demon, despite the fact that his unnatural lust should have empowered him thanks to his Demonic origins. It looked for all the world like he had simply reverted back to normal. Yet he had matured at least slightly: he now had to be dragged to some of the Perverted Trio's escapades apparently, but that was all.

Harry hoped that today's punishment for the trio would be the final 'hint' Issei needed to get his life together and his lust under control. Harry had actually asked Mittelt, who had a vindictive streak, in particular for some help in coming up with new and interesting ways to punish the three perverts, and Mittelt had come up with a most interesting punishment. "Pain doesn't work, since if it did the girls would be able to police themselves. They're obviously not motivated by school, so that won't work. Sending them home only prolongs the problem not solve it. So you need to use humiliation. And there are so many ways you can humiliate someone…" The almost girlish Fallen Angel said trailing off with an evil little grin on her face.

That conversation led directly to this moment, with the three fools standing beside Harry after he had lobbied hard for Mittelt's idea. "All right boys, we've tried everything else, so now were going to try a little something called disruptive therapy. We will let the punishment fit the crime, and tie every act of perversion you do, with this…therapy." With that he let the three boys into one of the art. "Hello girls," he said smiling at the twelve girls inside, who were setting up a few drawing pads on easels around a central point.

"Hello Potter-sensei," one of them said moving over to him and bowing respectfully before smirking at the three younger boys. "Ah and here are the three lustful fools."

"They are indeed, I have… can't say it's honor with a straight face, say rather I have the dubious duty of introducing you twelve to the Perverted Trio."

"We already know who some of these are. Asuka Kiteno, Nomi Inejima and Momo Hieraij the hotties of the manga club." Motohama said, before going on to recite their three sizes quickly, while Issei also stared at the girls with a wide grin.

"Are we going to be models or something," Matsuda asked, while moving into a few muscleman poses. _Ha, I knew it! It was just a matter of time before the girls here understood my manliness!_

"Something like that," Harry replied. This startled Issei to look at him, and the brown haired boy was not encouraged by the evil grin on Harry's face and a shiver went down his spine as Harry went on. "But not just any kind of pose."

"Indeed, yes, we're having problems with one of our mangas, and we need a few poses to get them right," Asuka said, reaching behind her and pulling out a book.

It should have been a simple small book with a colorful, attention grabbing cover like any other doujin. But this book showed such evil on the cover that all three boys screamed. "Oh hell no!

"Such filth should not be written!"

"Burn it with fire!"

On the cover of this doujin was two boys staring into one another's eyes as one leaned in for a kiss with the other. It was a yaoi, or boy's love, doujin based on the popular anime Gundam Wing.

Suddenly realizing what was about to occur to and what they would be forced to do, Issei and Motohama turned, trying to bolt out the door, but Harry stood in their way, pushing them back gently but inexorably. "None of that now, you all put brought this on yourselves. And just remember, from now on every time even a hint comes to our ears of you doing perverted things, this will be your punishment from now on."

Harry took a single step back then closed the door behind him. "They're all yours girls!" With that he left, ignoring the screams and pleas from the boys.

Leaving the three their fate, Harry left to pick up his daughter and Kunou at school, dropping them off at home with Asia and Loup to watch them. Thumping Loup on the chest he nodded at the large man. "I'm going to bring up the wards to a higher footing while we're gone, but remember you're in charge here, okay?"

As Kunou and Lily rushed past toward the stairs Loup nodded stolidly. He had been approached by both Rias and Sona asking if he wanted to join their peerages but the young man had not replied yet, wanting to think about it first. The idea of having a magical core and being able to use magic like his mother, who had been an Onmyouji, appealed to him. But he wasn't certain he wanted to give up being simply a werewolf, and wasn't certain he wanted to be tied to either peerage just yet and all the extra stuff that entailed. "Good luck." The other werewolf let a small smile appear on his face. "Don't be too hard on them."

"That will entirely depend on how arrogant they are," Harry replied with a grin, before shouting goodbye to his daughter and Kunou, before leaving the house once more.

After that Harry went back to the academy and met up with Sona, Rias, and their peerages, in the occult research club's basement. Over the past few weeks, Harry, Rias and Akeno had been working on it after their lessons, creating permanent expansion runic arrays, strength enhancing charms, and even a permanent alternate dimension bubble embedded in the walls to create a larger, better version of the training center it had been. That last would allow them to use any magic or attack they wanted without fear of it escaping to do damage to the real world beyond.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Harry said with a faint smile. "Operation correct the perverts is underway, the kids are at home, and I am now yours for the rest of the evening until dinner. So what kind of training are we going to do?"

"We've decided it will be all of our peerages against you Harry," Rias said with a smile and a mild glare towards Sona. "Sona says that it should be as if we're trying to attack the position that you are defending, with time to setup and prepare for us," she said, ominously, still staring at Sona.

Sona ignored that, pushing her glasses up her nose. "I have a deep respect for your magical power, and your knowledge of magic Potter-sensei. But I have yet to see your offensive and defensive spells in action first hand. Nor has any of my peerage fought against someone who uses magic for more than physical enhancement. I felt that this would be a wake-up call. You will have fifteen minutes to set up before we attack."

"Oh, it's going to be that," Kiba muttered, shaking his head while Akeno had a small smile on her face, staring at Sona's peerage with a faint blush, already anticipating the pain they would be in soon enough.

Harry blinked, and then nodded. "It's your funeral but all right."

As the two peerages waited by the door, Harry moved into the rest of the basement, passing through the area which marked the edge of the alternate dimension bubble, the edge causing a faint shiver on Harry's skin. "Now then… what to do?"

With a faint smile on his face Harry quickly moved through the wide area, which now looked like a desert almost, one hand raised as he started to concentrate, creating a few illusions of trees and other foliage as he went. Harry's other hand reached into a pocket and began to pull out talismans, some already written out, and others blank at the moment. "Illusions for cover, talismans for trapping, element magic for long range, and European style magic for mid to short, no need to use Fragarach here. Hmm… they have Koneko, going to have to do something about that, my illusions aren't as good against smells." Unconsciously Harry began to whistle. "So many choices."

While Rias's peerage, even Mittelt, knew they were about to be 'corn-cobbed' as Kalawarner put it, Sona's were quietly confident. Or they were until they passed the dimension bubble's threshold. Then they gasped, staring.

Around twenty feet from where they stood, the desert image of the dimensional bubble ended abruptly at a wall of trees. Harry had created a massive illusion of a forest before them, spreading out in every direction. "Forbidden Forest," Koneko muttered, looking around in interest. "Harry has mentioned it."

"Yes he has. I wonder if he's been playing with the idea of golems, and other more advanced versions of transfiguration," Rias muttered, looking around. She knew that Sona's stated purpose was accurate enough, but Sona had also wanted to see more of what Harry had to offer. _Well Sona-chan, be careful what you wish for._

Shaking her head, Rias turned and gestured to her fliers. Sona did the same to her peerage and they instantly spread out, the two Kings moving forward in the center of a very decent formation. That formation was an escort formation however, not a skirmish line, and beyond the fliers, which consisted of Kala, Mittelt and Akeno, they had no scouts.

Rias however had a plan for that, which she put into place just as they were about to reach the forest edge. Her aura flaring around her in a crimson penumbra, Rias gestured forward, and a wide wave of crimson and black energy flashed out from her. The Power of Destruction hit the edge of the forest she had been facing toward and in a wide angle. But as she had expected, the trees there were illusions, and they remained after. But behind and through them other things were hit, she could see little flares here and there, and two somethings had time to let loose warbling wails.

"Very nice Rias," Sona said, moving in that direction. "Let's move, we have a safe direction to go in now."

"Right!" barked Tomoe, moving forward, her pink hair bouncing on her shoulders, a sword appearing in her hand from its sheathe at her side like it had teleported there. "Spread out, but beware your eyes and ears, attack anything that EEP!" Tomoe's voice ended in a startled shout as she fell into a pit of some kind, which had also been covered by the forest illusion. While her Knight-given speed didn't help her to leap clear, she instantly flared her demon wings, but they touched the edge of the pit, and talismans, barely seen in the dark of the pit, glowed.

"Hmm… as Potter-sensei would say, BuggeR!" The talismans went off, the same explosive array that Harry had used so effectively against the Fallen in the church. Enclosed in the small space of the pit, it was enough to take Tomoe out of action and she found herself in the normal basement of the ORC's building, not the dimensional bubble. "Well, at least that feature works…" Tomoe said with a scowl. "Being the first taken out however, that's kinda humiliating."

The rest of Sona's peerage now stared at the ground, but Sona simply shook her head and flared her own aura as Rias had. An instant later an intense amount of water appeared in her hand, flooding forward over the ground into the forest. The water found several more pits filling them in quickly and sometimes activating the talismans within. As she watched her power go to work, Sona shook her head. "He did all this in fifteen minutes?"

"Harry can be quite inventive when he wants to be," Rias replied ruefully, shaking her head as beasts of all types started to appear from beyond the 'safe zone' she and Sona had created. With a few gestures she conjured up a Protego on one hand, even as she started to launch thin pinprick sized streams of Power of Destruction at the oncoming beasts.

At the same time however, mist began to appear from all around them, so thick it was almost impossible to see through and attack spells finally began to flare from somewhere to their right, arcing up towards the three flyers, who dodged with varying degrees of skill. Seeing this, Rias shook her head. "This is not going to be fun."

Moments later Kiba slid behind a boulder just dodging what looked like a giant with a club. The boulder was real, he could feel it under his fingertips, and had seen it already stop an attack spell once already. "All right, so exactly, at what point, did we lose control here?" he gasped, hurling a sword like a spear up into the giant's face. It impacted, driving deep into the beast's skull, sending it stumbling back before it blinked and slowly started to fall to one side slowly, as if the conjured monster didn't understand it was dead just yet.

Rias crouched next to them, wincing a little as she looked down at her hands, which had taken a concussive blast of some kind. _Harry's attack spells might not pack a lot of punch in comparison to ours but that didn't mean they don't sting!_ She didn't respond to her Knight's words; too busy staring around them as she thought furiously.

However Tsubasa Yura, Sona's Rook, stared at Kiba. " **You** watched the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie?!"

"I've always thought of myself as a Leonardo fan," Kiba replied absentmindedly not sticking his head out as the cries of two more of Sona's peerage members echoed in the distance.

"I think we lost control the moment we entered the room and allowed Harry time to set up! He's using some of the same tricks he's describes to us, and some of the ones we've been working on all to deadly effect," Akeno said happily, her face somewhat flushed as one particularly loud scream echoed from out of the fog which had not gone away at all since it appeared. She had been driven to the earth moments ago by a monstrous steel dragon of some kind. How the two Fallen were faring was anyone's guess, though they had been better at dodging Harry's attack, and even his flying beast, than she had.

"That," Akeno said conversationally would be someone falling into another pit of despair I think, a rather amusing little trick."

"We lost Koneko before the fog fully enveloped us," Rias said, looking at her remaining peerage. "She stepped on some kind of sticking charm and then was taken out by Harry's direct attack spell."

Indeed, Koneko had joined Tomoe and the others in the regular basement several moments ago. She wasn't too sore about this as she had also found a bag of sweets waiting for them.

As Akeno dealt with another giant, enjoying the conjured monsters screams, Rias frowned thinking hard. "Harry targeted Koneko first, that must mean that her senses might have been able to pierce some of his illusions, smell especially. There are spells we can use to heighten our senses for short amounts of time. I think we need to use them. Further, I think we need to keep moving. We can't allow him to pin us down," Rias said with a shake of her head. "Especially since we haven't seen hide nor hair of the man himself!"

Kiba nodded, and came out from behind cover, his sword shifting into a massive sword with a wider blade than his body, using it like a shield as he moved forward.

The others followed him quickly, spreading out slightly but they were still within eyesight of one another, which given the fog meant they didn't spread out very much. So Rias heard one of Sona's bishops say aloud "That was how they got Saji, Sona-san and Ruruko. We bunched up, and then spend too much time trying to plan their way forward."

Elsewhere Harry whistled as he stared at where he had just been standing, having dodged at the last instant some sixth sense pushing him into motion. The Protego he had created, as well as another shield crystal Rias had given him, had both been shattered, the energy of them destroyed just like anything physical would have been by the beam of Rias's Power of Destruction and would have tagged him had he not dodged at the last instant. "Wow, okay, so can't block that with any kind of shield. Except maybe Fragarach, but I'm surely not going to check on that here!

Still, despite that, Harry knew he was winning this fight. The fog didn't just block the sight and even deaden sound, it was a spell he had come up with after absorbing the three Hallows. A specialty of Manannán Mac lir's which also told Harry vaguely where his opponents were. Couple that with the longer ranged element attacks of the Onmyodo school and his own illusions, he hadn't needed t come close after taking out Koneko. Now however, he sensed Rias and the other survivors forging forward, ignoring his illusions and taking out his conjured beasts even as they closed in on his own position. "Clever lady my Rias."

Shaking off that line of thought, Harry crouched, and began a few more spells, one after another before he apparated away.

Eventually Harry won, as Rias and everyone else knew he would. Rias and her makeshift group were never able to close the range enough to see him through the fog. Mittelt and Kalawarner's mobility gave him some conniptions, but their ability to help their teammates had been severely limited by the fog that filled the 'basement'. Rias and Akeno, with their recently learned skills in defensive magic, kept the others alive for a time, but not for long enough. Eventually they too fell to Harry's hit and run tactics and the fog.

"Well that was fun," Harry said with a smile as he stepped out of the dimensional pocket, staring all around him at the disgruntled figures of the two devil peerages. "I trust I've cured you of your peerage's overconfidence issues, Sona-san? And perhaps your own?"

"You have indeed Potter-sensei," Sona said with a faint smile, staring at Saji in particular who was looking rather appalled right now. He had not even had an opportunity to use his Sacred Gear's Absorption Line attack.

"Excellent! In that case, what shall we do next?"

Several more exercises went on, with the devils learning that it was a very bad thing to fight a wizard of Harry's strength unless you could somehow pin him in place. They did do that eventually, but even then Harry's werewolf strength and durability saw him able to survive and then reopen the range. So it was a very sore, bedraggled, and above all wiser set of young devils who left the building later that night. As they marched back to the main school building, Harry was surprised to see the Perverted Trio only then walking out of the building.

All three of them looked as if their vitality had been sucked out of them somehow. Motohama was walking like a zombie, while Matsuda was moving forward, his eyes far away, as if he had seen things that could not be unseen. Issei was stumbling, holding his stomach and glaring around him. With the devils dispersing, Harry moved in their direction, thinking to check on how they had taken their latest punishment.

"That, that was sooo not worth it," Issei muttered angrily. "We didn't even see any glorious oppai, we were just caught and then, and then, that, that…" he shuddered and fell silent.

"Yes, our plan to spy on the baseball club failed miserably, I have to admit. Who knew that they would be waiting for us like that?" Motohama said.

"Maybe if you hadn't been talking so loudly about it!" Issei shot back. "I, I think I'm done." He shook his head then went on, actually shouting as his arms spread wide, enveloping the school in his gesture. "We came to this school to get girlfriends, not just to look at oppai! And look at us now! This place might be a smorgasbord, but the food's so scared of us it runs away leaving us starving!"

"What can you do?" Matsuda asked, coming back to the here and now to stare at his fellow pervert. "The girls here are scared of manly men like us."

"Or they're just turned off by how, how much we act out, let our impulses control us!" Issei shouted back then he slumped. "I'm done guys. I can't go through another punishment like that, and I'm tired of girls running way when they see me coming. I'm done."

"What are you trying to say?" Motohama asked.

"I'm saying I, I want a girlfriend damn it! And if I have to, to learn to control myself in order to graduate from trying to spy on girls to see oppai to actually touching them, then so be it!" Issei shouted again.

"Hah!" his friends said as one, Motohama going on with a grin as he slung an arm over Issei's shoulder. "Come on Issei, you know that's never going to happen. I mean, Matsuda's got his sports ability, me I've got the smarts and neither of us could get a girl to give us the time of day. All you've had going for you is your unquenchable lusts, and no girl is ever going to be interested in that. No, you're stuck with us forever."

"He's right Issei, face it, you're always going to be Sticky Sock Mountain king," Matsuda said with a laugh. "Now come on, let's go and watch some porn. Hardcore bondage or chikan porn I think, just to get the taste out of what we just did out of our minds."

For a moment Issei's anger wavered, but then he shook his head. "No, not this time. I'm going home. And don't try to involve me in any spying shit again." With that he turned and left, his friends gazing after him in surprise.

"Huh, so maybe there's some hope for him after all," Harry said, nodding and turning away.

 **OOOOOOO**

However, this time of relative normalcy ended rather abruptly, first by Rias's brother getting back with the information about possible Khaos Brigade (or other rouge) bases which then correlated with the information from Yasaka. And second, Harry, felt that he was now ready to have the 'ritzy' kind of date Akeno had requested away from Lily. That, and the fact he was always in favor of killing two birds with one stone had him coming up with a date for all three of them down in Tokyo.

"So where are you going to take us first, sensei?" Akeno asked as she and Rias both stepped off of Harry's bike, the black haired girl making a point to hug Harry from behind one last time before doing so. Harry hadn't had to do much to let three people on the large bike, and had to admit, whatever problems he still had with Akeno, and there were a few of them to be sure, her body never ceased to be a turn on.

 _If only she would stop with the pain, with the masochism, and with the resentment towards Lily and the others. We're somewhat closer emotionally: I know her favorite color, her dream for the future, her past, and vice-versa. We've shared things together that I know she's never told anyone bar Rias. I am honored to know them, to help her get over her self-hate, her destructive loathing for her Fallen heritage and her hatred of them. She's a great conversationalist, has a wicked sense of humor, and can be a delight to be around._

 _But those points are still between us, and as time goes on, I can tell that those points and the jealousy she and Rias both still feel get to her occasionally, and unlike Rias, she feels jealous of my time, not just my affection. It's not as if I don't understand where she's coming from, a girl her age should be going out on dates, having fun as well as working hard, not having little moments with her significant other around the times he has to spend with his daughter and other kids he's looking after. Worse in a way, I know her reticence there is feeding my own unwillingness to get as close to her as I have Rias._

"Well, I have reservations for us at a restaurant near the Tokyo Tower for eight o'clock tonight." Harry said aloud, putting those thoughts to the side for the moment, extending his arm to both ladies. "So we have three hours to kill before that. "And I figured, we could take a walk on to the local Wizard side. I could show you around and we could also start investigating some of the names that Yasaka gave us."

"Excellent, both business and pleasure," Rias replied with a smile as he took his hand, while Akeno did the same, again making a point to brush her large breasts against Harry's side this time. He shuddered a little, and she shivered in response to the look in his eyes before she delicately stepped backwards, smirking up at him. Two could play the teasing game after all, and she was determined to get the better of Harry today.

"That does sound like a lot of fun actually," she said, smiling thinly. "So long as we don't read into any of my relatives."

"Oh, I rather think that would be quite a lot of fun," Harry said coldly, his fingers twitching. "For me, anyway. Not so much for them."

Akeno shivered at the tone and Harry's voice, and idly wished thought with some frustration _I wish he would turn some of that ruthlessness on me occasionally. Or let me do the same to him._ I knew pain wasn't one of his fetishes, but for sadism to actually be a turnoff? How was that even possible?

It had to be said that to Akeno this was indeed something impossible to consider. But right now, she pushed that thought to one side and simply smiled softly, bowing her head to Harry. "Thank you for the sentiment Harry." she said, addressing her by name that time.

"That's all they deserve." Rias said, growling angrily. "I would've done something about them when we met, if not for my older brother stopping me."

"Moving on, can either of you see if anyone's watching?"

"There are a few Harry," Rias said, waving her hands in their direction, casting one of those incredibly neat and quick mind alteration spells that the Devils and the other factions seemed to use so effortlessly. They didn't work on people who had defenses against him, but against non-magicals they worked far faster and with less effort than any spell Harry had.

Nodding his thanks, Harry tapped his finger down on his bike, which slowly began to shrink. The two girls watched, and then Rias asked "Why does it have to shrink so slowly?"

"Because there are so many separate parts in it and a lot of moving parts too, including gasoline of course. If you want a complex object like a bike to remain the same, in particular ones that already have spells cast on them you have to take it slowly." Harry replied.

"Makes sense," Rias said with a frown. Shrinking things like that was not something Devils could normally do, though she had heard of one devil clan that could shrink or grow themselves, or portions of their body. Most of those rumors were rather salacious so she took them with a grain of salt of course.

 _Although if it ever turns out to be true, I might commission some work for them,_ she thought, looking down her own chest and then over at Akeno's. There was one area where Rias was actually a little bit jealous of her friend, and that was in the realm of the chest. Though Akeno's chest was actually bigger than most adult women they both knew, if not all of them, so Rias knew she was not alone in that.

"Before we go, I think we need to do something about your hair Rias. It's lovely, but it will make you stand out. And your eyes unfortunately. Everyone in there will know I'm a foreigner and there will be many who know me personally, but the two of you should probably try to passes complete locals." Harry cautioned.

Pouting Rias nodded, and began to concentrate, covering her head and eyes with an illusion. Akeno of course did not have to. Despite her body's build, which was well above the Japanese norm, she looked far more Japanese than her best friend did. But even so, she too covered her eyes with a minor illusion since violet wasn't exactly normal either. Those illusions would not last; illusions cast on eyes rarely did for a few deeply magical reasons. But they would last for a few hours.

Harry led the two girls down the street towards a bookstore in the distance. The two girls drew the normal looks they always did, as did Harry from some of the women they passed. But there was no more than the usual looks at attractive people, there and gone, and all three of them were on the lookout for anyone who looked at them for too long, or were otherwise suspicious.

When they reached the bookstore, Harry held the door courteously for the two girls, who smiled at him and entered quickly, finding the bookstore both dusty and extremely full inside. There were books upon books upon rows of scrolls, entire bookcases were buried within books, and piles of books were set here and there.

So packed was it the owner of the shop, a small spare man seemingly disappeared among them. He coughed delicately to draw their attention, and smiled slightly at Harry. "Ah, Potter-san I have not seen you for some time. You passed our equivalent of, what are they called, NEWTS, and then stop coming by, so sad. Yet so normal too in this day and age."

"Mister Husskai," Harry said with a bow. "How are you doing today?"

"I am well, I take it you are here to enter Magical Row?"

"I am."

"And these two are…" the man hinted, looking at both Rias and Akeno.

"Local magicals whose magic have only recently begun to grow," Rias said without preamble, gesturing, and bringing one of the local books to her hand, before handing it to the man back a polite bow. "We both knew of magic before this, but only recently have we gotten strong enough to actually train with it."

The man bowed back, putting the book back delicately, stroking it's spine as if it was a living thing. "It is always nice to see a young person with some respect for the written word. Please, go through."

Harry led the way through the mountains and stacks of books, being very careful not to disturb any of them, something Rias and Akeno noticed, and copied, wondering what would happen if they didn't. At the back of the store out of the line of sight from the entrance, Harry tapped a series of books, or rather portions of books, creating the Japanese letters for one-three-five-two-four.

Suddenly there was a shifting, and one of the nearby walls of books suddenly began to collapse in on itself, creating an opening through into what should've been a back alley. However, what they saw was not a back alley, but a wide well-cobbled thoroughfare, the likes of which with wouldn't have been out of place in any town or village in the back of beyond somewhere.

That impression continued as they entered, and Rias had to bite on her lip to keep from squealing in delight as she looked around. "Oh by Maou," she said, gripping Harry's hand and squeezing it tightly "It looks like it was developed in the Meiji Restoration, and look! They're actually in yukata and geisha clothes, are those two Oni dressed as samurai!?"

Chuckling, Harry looped an arm around her shoulders and gently drew her forward, while Akeno looked around keenly as well, although she was also watching Rias, making little 'Fufufu' sounds behind one hand as she did. While most knew Rias as an anime otaku, she was also just as interested in Japanese culture, or what she saw as the original Japanese culture, rather than what had grown up since the Meiji Restoration. This slice of Tokyo, carved out of time almost and kept just the way it had been for centuries, at least on the surface, called out to her something fierce.

Harry chuckled, busing her cheek lightly. "Come back to us Rias," he said, causing her to smack his chest lightly, but also to kiss him on the lips.

Once Rias was back to normal, Harry pointed ahead of them. "The shopping districts are on the left, the governmental administration building is along the right and through a series of small twists and turns on that road that separates it from a small series of incident other things of that nature. That's also where they have their splice into Tokyo's power grid I understand. There is a lot more tech underneath the surface here than you might think, and they are always using as much tech with their magic as they can.

The two girls swiftly moved into the first store they saw, where they tried out a few locally made yukata and other formalwear. They spent nearly half an hour talking to the woman who manned the store about what kind of protections and other charms they could get on clothing, as well as the prices.

From there, they moved on to other places. Rias bought a small fox statue as a gift to Kunou, a paper umbrella that could grow to any size necessary to keep its owner and those nearby dry, and a few other things little knickknacks, which disappeared into the most expensive purchase that Rias bought, a bag of holding. Like Harry's pouch, it was nearly bottomless, but unlike his pouch it was made to look like a normal bookbag.

As they passed through a small park, where a few local wizards and even a few nonhumans could be seen sitting and taking their ease, Harry was a startled out of his amusement at Rias gushing about a samurai sword she bought as someone called his name. "Ah, Harry Potter. I had wondered why the divination scrolls said I should be here at this time today. Now the reason becomes somewhat clearer."

Harry turned in that direction and his eyes narrowed slightly as he recognized the man who was speaking. It was the Truthspotter, who Harry and Lily had met upon first entering Japan. Harry hasn't seen him since, despite spending some time in this area. But he had asked a few other people as he dropped off tests and such like about the man, and had found he was something of a bigwig in Onmyouji government, although not technically part of it. He was more of a troubleshooter if Harry understood correctly, and something of a magical sport as well, using what the locals would term hereditary magics, which were far beyond anything Harry had run into elsewhere.

Moving towards the other man until he was within comfortable conversation range, Harry bowed deeply, followed quickly by Rias and Akeno, before replying. "Truthspotter, I did not anticipate you being here today. And as for why you are, I'm afraid you will have to give me a little more information than that if you want my help to figure out why you are here in the first place."

"Do I?" The man said, not looking at Harry now, but the two young women beside him. "I rather doubt it considering your companions. They are devils, are they not?"

Harry quickly looked around, and the Truthspotter smiled gently despite his entire body being tense as he continued to stare at the two Devil women. "Do not take me for a fool Mister Potter, I already cast a slight notice me not around us, no one will come over here. Now, can you tell me why you have brought these two here?"

"You know who they are? Or rather what they are?" Harry asked, shrugging apologetically at Rias and Akeno.

"The Devils and the three so-called Factions are well known, at least among the highest echelons of the government," Iori Morimoto said, waving that off. "I came upon the secret quite accidentally, but perhaps inevitably." He seemed to calm slightly now as he realized how young looking these two were, but still turned a stern gaze on Harry. "Our stance is one of nonaggression, and non-confrontation towards the Three Factions. They do not break our laws and guard the secret of magic, and we leave them alone so long as they extend the same courtesy."

"What if they haven't been?" Harry asked softly.

"Explain," the older man said simply.

Rias took a step forward bowing again. "Truthspotter-san, I apologize but I do not know the importance of your title. However, if you are a member of the government here, perhaps talking to you like this is indeed precipitous. We are concerned in that we believe that someone in your magical detection network has been compromised. There have been reports of numerous magical event's, some of which we witnessed, that should really have garnered a response from you and yours, if you're detection system was at all good."

"If you are talking about your odd contracts… but you are not are you? The magical signal of contracts or taking of your chess pieces cannot be detected, though it has been seen on occasion," Iori said, frowning faintly as he leaned back sensing both the truth in their words and the concern there. "Nor are you talking about magic that occurs within a territory where one of your Factions has chosen to set up one of its small headquarters, or recruitment centers I suppose you could say. It is well-known that you can do something which flubs our detection system."

"Our concerns go beyond that I am afraid. We have maps of areas which may or may not contain rogues of one of the three Factions: excommunicated exorcists, Stray Devils, Fallen Angels who no longer wish to follow the commands of their Grigori and more. Most of those are in areas that are not officially under the control of one or the other Peerage, and should therefore have been spotted by your tracking system" Harry said shaking his head.

"You're telling me the truth, yet why is this such a worry? Magic is certainly not becoming known among the non-magical population, which is the primary concern for us. So long as that stays true, whatever petty little squabbles your Factions are having do not matter to us." Iori replied.

From that one sentence Harry and Akeno and Rias all realized that the Truthspotter was being somewhat condescending to them. He didn't seem to realize the true size of the Three Factions, and of course what followed from that was that he didn't understand the difference of power between Devils and Wizards of any magical school. Low tier Devils and their equivalent were close to wizards in terms of power, but there were far, far more powerful Devils than there were powerful wizards. Wizards though could work together and were, as Harry well knew at this point, far more versatile.

"Honored Elder, our concerns come from the fact that there is a cabal out there that is trying to please start a war between the three factions for reasons no one can understand just yet. As far as we know, the Khaos Brigade simply wants chaos. Surely you heard of the attack in Kyoto? I understand that the Yokai Association has regular contact with you." Rias went on, while Akeno stood silently behind and to one side of her as befitted a retainer.

"We do indeed," Iori said smiling slightly. "Although the fact that they had any direct contact with you was their own business. Again our policy is simple: you leave us alone we leave you alone, we all keep the secret of magic, and we all get along. Still, I have heard about the Khaos Brigade. And your fears in this are…"

"We fear that someone might have been suborned among the personnel you have manning the magical tracking system," Harry said bluntly. "If so, both the information and even the skills your Onmyouji have could be known to the Faction that are trying to cause trouble, and could in turn lead to them becoming stronger. And far more daring, so daring in fact, that the great secret of magic could get out."

Iori leaned forward, staring intently. There was a little something, some kind of magic Harry and the two devil women could very barely detect, and he asked softly "Do you truly think that could be the case?"

Harry nodded firmly. "From what we have read and what I personally saw the Khaos Brigade, care nothing for the secret of magic, they simply wants to shatter the peace of the world. Their reasons behind that are unclear, but they are a significant threat."

"We have numerous accounts of the Khaos Brigade acting out," Rias said, stepping up to join Harry once more and looking at the older man. "A few attempted to cause natural disasters in China, another group of a dozen attempted a takeover of North Korea, and there have been several other things of that nature. They were stopped in most of those examples but to great cost at times to the local magic-wielding groups, whatever groups those were. I think it is in the best interest of everyone that we do what we can to strike at their power base however we can."

The Truthspotter leaned back, rubbing at his eyes before looking up at them, the magic now gone but the intensity still there. "I have heard the truth in your words, and found no lies within them," He said formally, standing up. "If that is indeed the case, then we must see to this now. The secret of magic **must** be kept, and we Onmyouji must remain neutral."

In the main anyway the Truthspotter thought, having gotten a bit more of an impression between these three than the actual discussion would have entailed. One or two wizards going rogue was fine. A wizard remaining within the Onmyodo government, with all of the access that entailed to both information, was something else entirely.

"How can we get to the bottom of it right now?" Akeno asked respectfully, following her King and Harry's lead in this. Although hearing the condescending way the man had spoken of the Three Factions had made her want to tweak his nose a little. It had also gotten under Rias his nose quite a bit, but she was willing to stomach it for now.

"I cannot call in our Investigative team for this just yet, your words and your information would not be enough to stir them. However my word and my joining your investigation for the day will start the ball rolling. Once I find evidence that you are correct, that someone within our tracking system has been coerced or bribed into working for outsiders. That will be enough. They will not be able to lie to me, and we can get to the bottom of this." Iori replied grimly.

"You said something earlier about divination sticks telling you to be here today?" Harry said. "But you then talked as if you had no idea why."

"My wife is a diviner," the Truthspotter said with a faint smile. "She routinely divines our days to make certain that there is nothing momentous within them. Today, there was something interesting and necessary, that was all she could tell this meeting would entail."

"I have to think that is probably a good thing, that it wasn't a momentous event then," Harry said with a faint smile.

"Perhaps you have not heard the Chinese curse about living in interesting times, Harry Potter," Iori stated blandly. "May you live in interesting times has so many different meanings after all."

Harry said nothing to that and the man led the way through the town, passing into the forest around Mount Fuji, which was called Aokigahara. The three of them passed through several different layers of illusions as they quickly began to push deeper into the forest and Harry wondered if the forest had gotten its name for being a popular place to suicide before or after it became an Onmyouji holdout. _And if so, did they really kill so many people who came into the forest?_ That would not honestly sit well with Harry and he hoped not, but wasn't going to bring it up right now. They had larger fish to fry.

As they passed through a small portion of the woods, which should've been pine and bamboo, faded into non-existence, and they found themselves at the edge of a small clearing which held a tall tower. Thin, but nearly as tall as Tokyo Tower, it seemed constructed entirely of wood and paper and every inch of it covered in talismans.

"This is the heart of our detection system of all Honshu," the Truthspotter said smiling proudly. "It was the work of twenty years and thousands of Onmyouji combining their talents, skills and power. It is not perfect, as I have already said, but it is far better than most of the equivalent elsewhere in this world."

As the Truthspotter made forward, Harry took a slight step back so that he was between Akeno and Rias, whispering quietly. "Morimoto seems to think this might not come to an actual physical confrontation, I am not about to be so certain of that. But if trouble does happen, I think it would be best for all concerned if we stick to the spell I've been teaching the two of you all right? No extra magic. That way, you being Devils might not come out later if it becomes an issue."

"I don't like being hampered like that," Rias said, "but I'll follow your lead."

Akeno smiled and nodded not having as much of a problem with it as Rias. For offense, Rias still tended to lean on her Power of Destruction, and all the different new ways she could use it. Since the Power of Destruction was orders of magnitude more, well, destructive, than any spell Harry had ever come across, it wasn't exactly a real handicap. But its use might have made the issue more difficult to get to the bottom to in this case.

With that the three of them followed the Truthspotter towards the tower. He was met halfway there by a man who came out of the tower and bowed deeply to the Truthspotter. He was dressed as a traditional Japanese Onmyouji, with white robes from the neck down and long sleeves, with which he hid his hands as he bowed. "Truthspotter Morimoto-san, to what do we owe this honor?"

"A question has arisen, as to the efficacy of our tracking system. I will ask some questions of your workers, one and all." The Truthspotter said simply.

The man blinked, looked past Iori at the three others following him, but said nothing to them simply bowing deeply again to the Truthspotter. "In that case, please follow me."

The workspaces of the tower were on the first two floors, with the rest of the tower apparently being devoted to even more spells and enchanted items that created the tracking system. Within each room was a portion of Honshu, with two people watching and monitoring it at all times, the man they were now following explained to Iori. He seemed to ignore Harry and the others, not disrespectfully so much as simply believing that they were there as part of the Truthspotter's entourage.

Iori spoke to some of these people, who Harry likened to radar operators. At first he found nothing wrong, the people were pleasant, answered his question and showed no prevarication or anything else Iori might have taken as a sign they were lying to him.

But as Harry had feared, the third room in, things went wrong very abruptly.

There were two men in that room watching the southernmost segment of Honshu, but the moment their supervisor announced that a Truthspotter was here to question them, both men turned abruptly. The Truthspotter's eyes narrowed and he turned to look at the manager, but before he could say anything the two men shouted out's spells, their fingers moving even as their voices almost blurred together. "Dragon of Fire come to my aid!" "May metal rend and tear my foes!"

A Giant dragon of flame appeared, rushing towards the Truthspotter, while the other conjured up a wall of metal which shifted into thousands of needles that shot forward like bullets.

"Akeno deal with the fire dragon," Harry said as he reached forward with his own magic, using the same kind of spell the man had. But targeting the metal filings the man had conjured up taking control of them, melding them into one.

At the same time, Rias had jumped in front of the Truthspotter and the station manager, gesturing with one hand, and creating a Protego like Harry had taught them.

The now-melted portions of the filings shifted then roared back at the person who had sent them, as Akeno dealt with the fire dragon, by dousing it with her own water Dragon. But the steam that caused allowed one of the men to dive backwards, though his fellow was seared badly and fell to the ground screaming, his flesh nearly seared off his bones.

The surviving man did something to the wall, some kind of spell Harry couldn't see. The wall shattered and the man escaped out of it, floating down to the ground at another spell, a talisman flaring as he did.

"After him!" the Truthspotter shouted, "you will be rewarded."

Harry rolled his eyes at that, but was already in motion chasing after the man. He was after all a werewolf, and running away from him was stupid, frankly.

Outside though he had to dodge, as the man hadn't run very far. He had stopped in the middle of the clearing around the tower scowling back into the hole. "You will learn not to challenge a Shinra openly foreigner!" The man said causing Harry to jolt as he recognized the name.

"May the five points of the star seek out my foe! May the fire of my element burn all before me to ash! Awaken Lightning!" He gestured again, and from his sleeves came several dozen talisman which raced forward towards Harry, each one of them charged with a different spell.

Yet even as that occurred, the man gestured again. "Come forth and guard thy master beasts of bone and flesh!" Two more talisman rose from where they had been hidden along his legs, shifting into in the form of giant Oni, which began to charge forward.

Harry ducked out of the way as the talismans tried to form a circle around him, slicing into the closest with Fragarach as it appeared in his hand. He then gestured with his free hand, pointing at the man. The clan Shinra man tried to hastily create a shield, but since that simply made the fight power versus power Harry's cutting spell simply overpowered his shield, cutting through it and the man's arm sending him screaming to the Earth.

He was about to deal with both of the summoned Devils, when a flash of lightning caught all of the remaining talisman, and two shouted spells impacted the oni, throwing them backwards in tiny chunks, causing Harry to whistle. _While Rias doesn't have as good a control of those as she does the spell of Power of Destruction, there is no doubt that she has a certain flair for other offensive spells of all types._

The now one-armed man began to crawl away, but Akeno was on him, her hand already sparking with one of her lightning spells. "Ara, I do believe attacking me and my friends deserves some punishment!"

But Harry crossed the distance quickly, grabbing her wrist and shaking his head. "No," he whispered in her ear, clenching her wrist until the spell faded. She looked up at him irritably, her face flushed with emotions and some other things as well, but Harry ignored that gesturing down to the man. "The local wizards will need him available for questioning."

Turning from Akeno, Harry quickly stunned the man then cauterized the wound so he wouldn't bleed out. At the same time the Truthspotter and several workers began to repair the damage done to the tower, and clear away the remains of the two Oni and the other man.

"Thank you for this Harry Potter," Iori said later, his voice cold as he stared down at the man who had attacked him. "This act means there is something very nasty going on here, especially since these two come from the Shinra clan.

"Yes I heard that name; I think I've read it once?" Harry said, looking at the man with one eyebrow raised not hinting at the fact he actually new a exiled Shinra clan member: Sona's queen Tsubaki.

"You probably have. The issue is that that the Shinra clan, like all who practice Jugondo, is so isolationist, they rarely have any contact with anyone else. In fact, these two were under assumed names here. That speaks of forward planning, and that this Khaos Brigade might have turned the entire clan. That would be very bad indeed. However, with the information this one will give me, as well as whatever information we can discern from our own systems, I can safely say that the government will start… dealing with all of the places on your map, which the young… Rias, was it? Was so helpful in copying for us. Those that are not in territory known as official Devil, Fallen or Angel territories. It is going to be a very bad day for this Khaos Brigade tomorrow."

Rias chuckled at that, and bowing formally towards the man once more.

After that, and after Harry was forced to give an account to the local special investigators, the trio passed through the forest and back into the magical Wizard. Perhaps because they were all thinking that it had been a job well done they didn't notice a man crossing a street nearby only to stop and stare at Akeno now. Pulling out his cell phone he took a picture of Akeno from the side, stuffing his phone back in his pocket and turning away before any of the three noticed. _The outcast half-breed still lives, and dares to be here, among proper Onmyouji! This is an insult that cannot be born!_

Rias certainly didn't notice, smiling and walking with her hand in Harry's. "Well that was an excellent way to spend our time, but Morimoto-san said something that makes me think. If they are going to try and follow up on the places where magic or the supernatural has been seen outside official Faction territories, it falls on us to do those areas. At least, those areas we can. I think that when we get back to Kuoh, Sona and I are going to go over the information we have and decide if we can't join in tomorrow's fun."

"But after our date," Harry said firmly, to Akeno's firm nod of agreement. "No way am I going to let this take our attention from that!"

Rias blinked, then looked up at him and laughed, nodding her head in agreement.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

Woot! Okay, so this is the last mostly slow chapter we'll see. From here on out we will go from big event to big personal event to Riser. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and my world building and the plot as I go about revealing it.


	9. Chapter 9

**I don't draw and ain't British.**

I am sorry these chapters are coming out so late at night, I could not work on them at all until around ten tonight - had to watch the grandmother and am doing something for an upcoming family thing - preparing a video montage, which took a long time. I was also sick since last Thursday until Tuesday, which severely limited my writing ability, hence why there is no SW crossover chapter this month. Instead there will be a Patty on only gift, a Ranma/Lord Marksman and Vanadis crossover out tomorrow over there.

 **The poll results this month were:** Thanks in part to my own votes and those of some of my beta readers going toward it, Semblance of Hope won first place with 1453 votes total, despite a measly 111 here on fanfic. It gets no love, but at least I have some idea of why at this point: I don't pander to the normal RWBY fandom in how they see Ozpin, the RWBY quartet, and of course the Pyrrha/Jaune romance. FILFy teacher won second place once more, bringing in a total of 1307 votes with 480 votes coming in from fanfic.

In other news, I would like to ask for help to find a fic I read waaay back in late March. I can't remember the name of it, but I was desperate for DxD crossovers and it was a Naruto one (they are EVERYWHERE). Naruto was turned into a devil at the same time as Issei, but took it relatively well, and had come from his world, not born into the DxD. Later as they meet the Occult Research Club, he asks what a web browser history is, since Issei had implied he might have been attacked for it with his last dying breath. They obviously all make fun of it as Issei comments about what kind of porn he had seen. Since it didn't seem to be an OP Naruto it looked interesting, but I can't find it now for some reason.

 **Warning!** This is a huge chapter, not quite the largest I've created, but certainly up there. There is a reason for this. This story will not be up to be updated in November so that I can concentrate on _**ATP - I am shooting for a Thanksgiving Day update**_ \- and I wanted to get all of the little 'daily life' stuff finished in this chapter, so that from now on I can push forward with the man plot(s) of DxD. In a way, you could call this the final chapter of the first arc of this story. That isn't to day important stuff doesn't happen though…

Key: _Italics - thoughts and discussions on the Ddraig's mental plane._ **Bold - emphasis, and dragon-speak.** Underline - direct quotes from a song, and the written word

Warning there is a lemon in this chapter. As Always it is marked by brackets **{}**.

This has been beta-read by _Nad Destroyer_ and by _Michael_ in it's entirety **NOW**. Please join me in thanking him for making thie chapter better than it would have been without them.

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Enemies, Issues, Experiments, and a Very Merry Christmas Break**

Harry woke up the morning after his double date with Akeno and Rias somewhat groggily, though he was able to get up at his normal time despite that. Climbing down the base of the ladder leading up into the attic he paused as his nose detected the smell of someone already cooking. Heading down to the kitchen, Harry found Kala already there, her scent having been covered by the smell of the sausage she was currently preparing. She turned as he entered the kitchen, smiling slightly. "Did you have a nice date?"

Harry nodded, moving over to stand beside her, and grabbed a small sausage off the plate that she had already finished cooking, watching her closely out of the corner of his eyes for any sense of jealousy or anger or anything else, as he occasionally did. Yet Kala didn't show any of those emotions; she hadn't ever, as far as Harry could tell. At times there had been a sort of look of resigned acceptance on her face, but, for the most part, Kala seemed to have accepted the fact that he had basically friend-zoned her and instead devoted herself to other things.

Primarily, she helped Asia with her education, cooked for them all, and, for some odd reason, continued her pastime of editing 'romance' novels. Kala spent time with the other kids, but not as much as with Asia. Harry felt that Kala wanted to make up for what could've happened to the girl if Kala had stayed with Raynare by helping her as much as possible. Despite not taking the plunge and becoming a devil, it was safe to say that Kala was fitting in somewhat better than Mittelt, given the short Fallen's tongue, although Mittelt was making inroads into becoming just as much of an otaku as Rias was.

"It was good, if not for the bit of violence that preceded it," Harry replied after he finished chewing. He then went on, gesturing for her to move over so he could use part of the kitchen counter. "We'll be expecting a lot of company this morning,"

Kala pouted somewhat at that, but nodded and made way for him. "Violence?"

"I'd rather explain it all only once, if that's all right?" Harry demurred, then asked, "What did the kids get up to?"

"Oh my God, it was such a hustle last night." Kala rolled her eyes. "There was a positive battle royale over that game Koneko brought over. Eventually they agreed to take turns, and, surprisingly, team KA, or Kunou and Asia, won hands down. You should've seen Koneko's face when she and Lily lost; it was hilarious. Asia, of course, played a healer, and Kunou was a berserker. No one else had figured out that combination, and you can imagine it was quite devastating. According to Lily it was cheating, and decided to retaliate by starting a pillow fight. That little kitsune is viscous with a pillow in her hand," Kala ended with a laugh.

Harry chuckled. "I can imagine." That was his only real gripe about Koneko and her influence on Lily and, by extension, Kunou: she was most definitely a gamer girl and routinely brought games over to play, even on school nights, which had led to quite a few arguments between him and the little ones. Still, since he actually heard what Rias had said was Gasper's voice occasionally over Koneko's phone as they were playing, he was willing to give them time to play. After they finished their school work of course.

Harry laughed, and the two fell into a comfortable silence. As they moved around one another, Harry occasionally caught himself watching Kala's face, watching her in her concentration as she worked on expanding the breakfast's menu or tasted this dish or that. Since she had joined them, Kala had become caustic; sassy; intelligent; somewhat caring, given her relationship with Asia; an excellent cook; and a good conversationalist. All of that in a body that was quite literally rebuilt for sin after Kala fell. Even the long skirt and blouse combination she was wearing currently could not do much to hide that fact, and her face, framed by her long blue hair and highlighted by those yellow eyes, was beguiling.

 _There is some still some attraction there,_ Harry admitted to himself, _but there are so many problems with going that route, it's not even funny._ First of all, there was the problem that he was already in a relationship, and, whatever Rias and Akeno often said about harems being normal in their society, he couldn't see getting into a relationship with someone else when you were already in one being at all healthy for anyone concerned. On top of that, there were the issues that Harry and Akeno were already having, which both of them had basically tiptoed around yesterday.

Then there was Akeno. Even if Akeno was over most of her issues with the Fallen, she still clashed occasionally with Mittelt, and sometimes Kala got roped into it too. _Though at least the two of them seem to respect one another as true masters of their chosen art: one cooking, the other tea preparation._

Setting his own beliefs and Akeno and Rias's issues to one side, there was also Kala. Harry knew that Kala still held hopes of joining their relationship sometime in the future. However, he wasn't certain if that would be healthy for her, given Kala's past. Kala had told him that she had fallen because the man that she thought had loved her had instead simply lusted for her, which he had proven by going behind her back to bed another woman. Because of that, Harry did not think that she would be able to handle being one girl of many in a relationship. _No, best to remain as friends._

They were about halfway through finishing up breakfast when Harry heard the sounds of running feet and, with a nod towards Kala, moved away from the kitchen out into the hall. Harry smelled Kunou rushing down the second story hallway, and laughed as she ran along on all fours followed by leaping down the stairs and growling. "I am the mighty carnivore! Feed me meat and only meat! No vegetables ever!"

Harry caught the little blonde girl out of the air, holding her upside down for a moment as he gently shook her. "I don't know. You don't look all that mighty to me. Are you certain you just want meat? You'll never grow big without vegetables. Or sweets, either. But I suppose we'll have to take back all those little pancakes and Danishes, then; give them to someone else.…"

"No!" Kunou whined, wriggling in his grip as Harry began to tickle her, still holding her in the air with his other hand. "No! Little girls need their sugar too!"

Kunou's partner in crime quickly joined them, leaping down to try and attack her father playfully from the steps. "Gao! The great hunter pounces on her prey!"

"Great hunter, hmmm?" Harry grabbed her in turn with his other hand and tucked both kids underneath his arms like sacks of grain, carrying them into the kitchen despite their squirming. "What do you think; do we have anything to feed these little monsters?"

"Well, I'm sure we can find something," Kala said with a smile, reaching over to pat Kunou on the head and then moving to pat Lily, only to pull back as Lily mock-bit at her causing Kala to chuckle.

By the time the two kids had calmed down enough to be sat down at the kitchen table, Asia and Koneko had joined them, with Koneko somehow simply appearing at the dinner table, looking with wide eyes at the amount of food. Harry shook his head when she looked at him and said simply, "We're expecting guests."

"But first," Harry said, kneeling down next to Kunou, "I think it's time for you to call your mom, isn't it?" Every morning Kunou would call her mother, Yasaka, and spend some time talking with Yasaka, as would Harry. Yasaka liked to be kept apprised of everything going on in school and in her daughter's life, of course, and bitterly resented the fact that she couldn't, come to visi at least t, although she and Rias had talked at length about the idea of setting up a teleportation tunnel, so to speak, between Kyoto and Kuoh. That would, in turn, be one of the bases for the mutual defense alliance between Rias and Sona's houses and Yasaka's people.

Kunou nodded and pulled out her cell phone, handing it to Harry with one hand as she continued to chomp down on food with her other.

Chuckling, Harry set the cell phone to one side and took both of her hands in his. "Slowly, the food's not going to go away. And remember what I told you about manners?"

Kunou pouted but complied, seeing as manners had been drilled into her from a very young age by her mother. "It's not my fault I'm hungry in the morning; I'm a growing girl!"

"Be careful you don't grow this way!" he said, moving his hands to either side and tickling her again.

Moments later Rias and the others arrived, and Harry shook his head slightly, staring at both peerages as they filed into his house, Sona's bowing to him formally before heading excitedly into the kitchen, which had already been enlarged by Asia's activating some of the enlargement talismans set around the table. "Why exactly did you all choose my house for this meeting again?"

"It's because the food is far better here," Saji replied bluntly, smiling flirtatiously towards Kala and bowing over her hand as he accepted a plate from her. "No offense to everyone else, but, let's face it, Kalawarner-san is by far the best cook among us."

That was true even if it hurt Harry's pride just a bit, along with Rias and Akeno's. Kala was simply a better, more experienced cook than any of them, with a far wider repertoire. By this point she had Koneko and most of the other youngsters among both peerages eating out of the palm of her hand thanks to the sheer number of sweets they knew she could make. In contrast, Harry had not won himself any points with any of the girls when he put his foot down on the amount of those sweets she would make every week.

As the rest of the two peerages and the younger kids intermingled, Harry, Rias, Sona, Akeno, and Tsubaki removed themselves to the basement for some peace and quiet while they talked. Once they were all together, Harry and his two lovers explained what had occurred the day before, while Rias spread out the map of Japan they had once more updated with the information they had gotten from Onmyodo government. "…So they are going to be searching for anyone performing magic outside of known Devil, Fallen, and Church territories," Harry finished.

Carefully, while Tsubaki and Sona watched with interest, Rias placed a thin veneer of color over the map magically, showing the territories of the Three Factions within Japan according to Rias's brother. The Church was easily the least represented power, having only four tiny enclaves. The Fallen, according to Sirzechs, should have had only four too, if far larger holdings. Yet, according to the Onmyodo and the Youkai Association, they had five, a discrepancy all of them noticed instantly.

The Devils had twelve holdings, all of which were larger than the Fallen's holdings, each one marked by a more detailed symbol to denote the clan holding that territory. Yet, even so, at least two sightings of magic had occurred within their territory. "Two places where magic has been seen are in Devil territory, and two occur in that area," Rias said thoughtfully.

"Indeed. Two minor clans and one major clan," Sona said, smirking over at Rias as she pointed at the image over one of those, that of a giant claw done in orange in the center of an orange circle. "The Bael clan.…"

"Right." Rias rolled her eyes. "I'll pass on the information about that one, I think. Sairaorg will get a kick out of dealing with any such issue, believe me."

Harry reflected on that and then smiled. "Going from what you've told me about your cousin, I have no doubt he would. But that still leaves three we might want to follow up on."

"And I think we should," Sona said with a smile, pointing at one of them. "I will take this one. The Netari Clan and my own have some fiscal ties."

"A mixed team, I think, to take this one out," Rias said with a scowl at the one that was supposedly in Devil territory according to the Onmyodo and Yasaka, but which her brother had stated was not owned by them. "Rogue, secret operation, or not, that one is something of a discrepancy."

"However," Sona said thoughtfully. "I'm not willing to take our entire peerage on these missions, not until our own defensive working is set up, and we just haven't been able to devote the amount of time it would take to do that just yet." The work emplacing the array was done, so all that remained was to empower it. But that was at the least a full twenty-four hour job for all five of them: Harry, the two Kings, and the two Queens. And it would be incredibly debilitating for all of them, considering it amounted to basically pumping the array full of magic for that entire time.

"I'll be staying here too," Harry said.

The others looked at him in surprise save for Rias, who simply nodded, looking upstairs at a particularly loud giggle from someone near the doorway to the basement. "You want to watch Lily and the others. Perfectly understandable." Indeed, Rias found his protectiveness attractive.

At that point Loup spoke up from where he had followed them down, not having spoken before this. "I'll go too."

They all turned to him, and Harry cocked his head. "Why?"

"Want to figure out where I stack in terms of skill and strength against other devils and such," Loup grunted.

"All right," Sona said calmly. "How about, Tsubaki, Tomoe, and Garou-san take that one," she said, gesturing down at the point which was most probably a rogue devil area. "That will give them enough combat and magical skills to fight or retreat as need be."

"I would like some representation in that group as well," Rias said with a frown. "I'll send Kiba with that group, replacing Tomoe-san. But that still leaves them short an air assault portion. Indeed, none of us are very good in the air yet." Despite all of them having wings, even the natural born devils, Rias and Sona, didn't actually use them in combat very often, let alone well. That, of course, made Mittelt and Kalawarner worth even more than their Holy weapons.

"I can help with that. I'll provide some of my explosive talismans and my old Firebolt," Harry said.

"Then Akeno will come with me along with Mittelt, I think, and hit this one," Rias said, tapping a marker that denoted the area of one of the smaller clans.

"You realize they might raise a fuss?" Sona asked.

"They might, but if so, I can deal with it," Rias replied, her face turning grim. "In point of fact, I'll tear them a new one for not being able to police their own territory! Hopefully it won't be anything more than a few stray devils having banded together, like in the place Tsubaki will be examining, but we'll see."

"You won't be taking Koneko?" Sona asked in surprise.

Rias shook her head. "Koneko and I talked about it last night, and she said she'd prefer to stay here." She nudged Harry in the side lightly. "To be honest, I think she feels as if she's failed her Onee-chan position by not being there to protect Lily when she was in trouble. Until she gets a chance to do that, I think she'll want to stay close by. Besides, between our two groups, Sona's needs the most help in gaining combat experience." She then smiled brightly. "Besides, Lily and Kunou invited Koneko and Asia to a picnic party with some of their younger friends."

"I am not prepared to bring Saji or Ruruko on real combat missions," Sona said, pushing her glasses up her nose as she stared down at the map. "Saji is strong but lacks any kind of fighting instinct, and the less said about Ruruko the better in terms of her combat experience. I think I'll leave them behind along with Momo, leaving her in charge. I will then take Tomoe, Tsubasa, and Reya with me."

"And while we're gone, what will you be doing? Simply spending time with the kids? I get the impression parents and adults wouldn't be welcome at their little picnic," Rias teased with a smile as she looped one arm with Harry's while they followed the others up the stairs.

"I'll be down here working on a more advanced family clock while they're gone," Harry said in reply. "I've gathered all of the reagents and physical parts for the main clock and the watches for myself, Yasaka, and two more .

"One of which is for me, of course," Rias said with a smile, pinching his side lightly.

Harry understood her point, nodded equably, and then said, "The other will probably go to Loup, since, given the fact he's only taking three classes and each of them only meets once a week, he's got more free time than rest of us."

Loup turned to look at Harry and was about to nod when Harry went on, mock-glaring at him. "And yes, that was envy you hear, Loup."

The other werewolf smiled at that, while Rias frowned. "We need to think about that. I hate to say it, but I think school is taking up far too much of my time which could be better used in other pursuits." Though she had fought tooth and nail to come to the human world and become a normal student, she now was forced to admit that it was cutting into time she should be using to better her chances at remaining free from Riser.

"We'll think about that in the future too," Harry said with a nod.

At that point Akeno asked about the clock and what making it would entail. The two of them spent several minutes talking about the theory behind the clock before Rias decided that it was time for them all to go. She gave Harry a kiss on the lips, followed by Akeno, and the two of them then gathered up everyone else from outside and left.

At that point Koneko took charge of Lily and Kunou, shooing them up the stairs to get showered and changed. Kala and Asia talked quietly as they cleaned up after the meal. Harry joined them and at one point asked Kala was going to be doing today.

"Considering it's unlikely that all of us will come together again for a large meal, and the kids will certainly eat their fill at the picnic, I figure to have a nice afternoon and evening in. Maybe read a good book, if such a thing could exist which didn't have so many mistakes or insipid insults to the written language," Kala said dryly.

"Maybe you could find some if you tried to broaden your horizon beyond those bodice rippers of yours," Harry replied, nudging her in the side with his hip and then smiling at Asia, who had gone bright red at the mention of Kala's books. "Should I be worried about you being a bad influence on our precious little nun here?"

Kala shook her head with a smile, putting a companionable arm around Asia's shoulders. "Don't worry; I won't make you read them, Asia." She then whispered in the nun's ear, causing her blush to increase tremendously. "Not until you're ready, anyway.…"

"I, I um, I need to get ready for the picnic!" Asia squeaked, pulling away and racing for the steps up to her room so quickly she tripped as she left the kitchen.

The two of them finished cleaning up, and then Harry went down into the basement, where he stood for a moment staring as he began to count out the parts and different spells he would need to create the clock. Considering the fact that each name would need a different point me spell cast on magicless steel, the wood would need to be empowered, the reagents that needed to be added, and the layers upon layers of spells to denote the various places and, worse, emotional and physical states people could be in.… "This is going to be a long day," Harry reflected before metaphorically rolling up his sleeves and getting on with it.

 **OOOOOOO**

In a small but well-appointed throne room in his estate in hell, Diodora leaned back, his eyes wide and unseeing as he stared through the eyes of his Giant Slug familiars. One of them, in particular, had his attention as Sona, Rias, and the majority of their peerages boarded a subway. None of them even looked twice at the man sitting on a bench nearby who was attempting to reorganize a sheaf of papers which had obviously been knocked out of his hands a moment before. His look and general appearance simply allowed him to blend into the background, which was exactly how Diodora had designed it. _"Where are they going? Look closer!"_ he ordered mentally.

The slime-turned-man did so, seeing the different destinations they were all buying tickets for, and Diodora slowly began to smile. The nearest one of those was an hour and a half away. That would give him three hours to play with. _Excellent! I must have Asia! And with this opening, I will._

Part of Diodora's mind still niggled at one other issue, though: how Asia hid so routinely from his senses. The only time Diodora's slugs had caught a glimpse of her was when she was walking around town, and she was almost always guarded by devils and other supernatural beings even if she herself didn't give off the spiritual glow of a devil. Yet, where she stayed and spent most of her time, none of his slugs could figure out. They weren't suited for actually following anyone, but, even so, they should have seen a hint of where Asia was hiding. They hadn't, which was worrisome.

But really, where she had been hiding was immaterial. Whatever was going on, it was an opportunity for Diodora, and he was more than willing to jump on it, even if he didn't know everything that was going on.

 **OOOOOOO**

Rias, Akeno, and Mittelt arrived in an area in Kyushu where their information implied that the Khaos Brigade might have one of their bases, if the use of magic in the area was any indication. It was in an old temple dedicated to Amaterasu, but, even so, it was in territory claimed by the lesser Torgumada clan, as far as Rias knew, anyway. But this was not the case, or rather, the Torgumada clan did own it but her brother didn't know that that clan had developed strong ties to the Phenex clan. This caused a slight unintended consequence…

Sitting at a café, Yubelluna sipped at a double mocha Frappuccino, sighing luxuriantly. _Ahh, me, the things humans come up with! I wonder how many devils honestly understand how much we, how much the entire supernatural world, owes to humans. Food, clothing, fashion, TV, electronics, the list goes on and on! Oh, many have figured out magical means of producing electronic devices and so forth, but fashion? Food? In those areas we can only copy them. It is a very rare devil indeed who has been able to create originals in those realms without taking inspiration from humans._

She stretched, happily feeling the sun on the back of her neck and slightly bare shoulders, ignoring the few boys and men who were staring at her in awe. She ran one hand through her hair as she smiled, looking down at her coffee. Although calling it coffee was sort of like calling the River Nile big. Moments like this, when she had time to herself, were few and far between, and she wouldn't even have had this one if Riser hadn't been embroiled in an argument that afternoon with his older brother on who should have taken their younger sister into their peerage and had instead sent Yubelluna alone to check in with the Torgumada clan's members here in their territory on Earth.

Riser had argued that, as the younger of the two, it was his duty to help train her up, but that and even the modicum of affection Riser felt towards Ravel was not the real reason why he had wanted the younger girl in his peerage. Riser had wanted Ravel to complete his collection—adding a little sister figure to his peerage would have made Riser have at least one type of nearly every girl or cosplay outfit out there. _I don't honestly think he would have touched her or anything like that, but it was still a selfish desire on his part, whereas Ruval simply took Ravel on in order to train her up._ _Pity, I would've liked to have helped in that department. She does have, what do people in Japan call it? Her tsundere tendencies? But Ravel is a sweet girl for all that. But at least I got a free day out of it._

Stretching her arms above her head, she smiled indulgently as she heard a few moans from nearby men, wondering if any of them would have the courage to come up to talk to her. She rather doubted it, and it wasn't as if she would be able to encourage them to do so anyway, given the constraints placed on her by her being part of Riser's peerage/harem. Shaking that thought off, Yubelluna smiled, tapping one perfectly manicured finger against her currently purple-painted lips. _Now, what to do with the rest of my day?_

Her thoughts were derailed, however, when she saw a flash of crimson hair out of the corner of her eye, the kind of hair color that normally would be well beyond normal human hair coloring without some serious work. Idly turning in that direction, she recognized Rias Gremory and sat forward so abruptly she banged her knees on the table. _What the hell is_ _ **she**_ _doing here?!_

Pushing to her feet quickly, Yubelluna grabbed up her coffee and then hurried after the Gremory girl. As she followed Rias, she noted how grim she and the other girl who Yubelluna recognized as Akeno Himejima looked. _They both look as if they are ready for war? What the heck is going on here? Are they here to try and forcefully take this territory away from the Torgumada? No, it's too far away from Kuoh. But it could serve as a bolt-hole, maybe? And who is that other girl with them, the one with the interesting fashion sense?_

As they moved through the small town, Akeno murmured, "Rias-chan, I trust you've noticed?"

"That someone is following us? Yes, I did. We'll pull into an alleyway around this next corner and confront whoever it is. Hopefully it's just some young boys interested in our looks, but it could be one of the Torgumada clan who somehow spotted us, though I didn't think any of them would have recognized us," Rias replied, biting at her ahoge.

Mittelt snorted. "Seriously? You must be one of the most recognizable devil bit… girls there's ever been!" she corrected herself, rolling her eyes.

Akeno laughed at her King's pout at that, but the three of them still moved into a nearby alleyway, waiting until they sensed someone with magical energy coming around the bend, then they stepped out to confront whoever it was only for Akeno and Rias to stop and stare. "The Bomb Queen? What are you doing here!?" Rias gasped.

"That's my line, Gremory-sama," Yubelluna shot back, crossing her arms and staring down at the only slightly shorter and younger woman, hiding her surprise at being noticed with the ease of years of dissembling. Looking at Rias, Yubelluna could understand why her King was so obsessed with her. _That chest alone would do that, and, if you add in Himejima, its two for the price of one._ "What are…the two or three of you doing here?" She looked at the young, oddly dressed, blonde haired girl, frowning. "I don't recognize this one. Have you added to your peerage, Gremory-san?"

"Of course I have, but what are you doing here? This isn't Phenex territory," Rias asked, regaining her footing quickly.

"The local clan is allied with the Phenex, and I was sent here to follow up on a few contracts that they were unable to fulfill, but the Phenex clan could," Yubelluna replied.

"And take a day off?" Akeno asked dryly, gesturing down at Yubelluna's hand where she still held the coffee mug from earlier.

"Yes, actually," Yubelluna shot back sharply. "So imagine my surprise when my time off is ruined by seeing the three of you. You're not here to try to horn in on a fellow devil's territory, are you? That would mean indirect conflict with another Pillar clan."

Rias scowled indignantly. "No, of course not! We're here to remove a problem that they probably should've recognized."

"A problem? A that takes you and your Queen and whoever the blonde child is away from your own territory?" Yubelluna asked in surprise.

Rias explained about the Khaos Brigade and the fact that they, or at the very least other stray devils or rogue gallen, might have a staging ground in the area. Yubelluna scoffed at first, but Rias pulled out the map they had created of likely areas for this kind of thing, and the older woman stared at it thoughtfully.

"This is either a very elaborate hoax, or you're telling me the truth." Biting her lip, Yubelluna looked between Rias's grim face and the other two. "You know that as a temporary representative of the territory's owners, I can't let you just use magic willy-nilly on their property."

"Are any of them even around besides you?" Akeno asked quizzically, cocking her head to one side.

"No, but you know that's beside the point!" Yubelluna muttered, then sighed. "I'll have to go with you, I suppose."

Rias smiled. "Then we'll be happy to have you, but might I suggest you stick to long-range attacks if you can? If they get close enough to us, let Akeno and myself deal with them."

"Not this one?" Yubelluna asked, inwardly wondering about Rias's confidence. It sounded tested, for one thing, and much more certain then she would've anticipated from a woman so young, especially one facing what Rias was going to face in a few months. _But, then again, Rias has always sounded confident. It's just I find myself believing that confidence is warranted now for some reason._

"Mittelt will be supplying air cover for us," Rias supplied but didn't elaborate, instead turning away. "Now, come on; let's get going."

Soon enough after that they came in sight of the stairs leading up to the small temple they were here to investigate. There Rias quickly used one of the pre-prepared talismans to cover all of them with a Notice-Me-Not field, trusting that, as an item, it wouldn't trigger any alarms around the area and would also cover any further magic they performed from those with senses to notice it.

The temple was barely in sight at the top, but, even so, that was enough for Mittelt. She scoffed the instant she spotted it and shook her head. "That place is no longer holy to anything! And I can sense a few other Fallen there too." She looked over at Rias. "Are we positive this isn't a real 'secret' Fallen base? One that's, you know, allowed?"

"I don't know," Rias said thoughtfully. "But if it is a secret base, it's one my brother's contact didn't know about, and I got the impression that his contact was rather high up in the Grigori, possibly even Azazael himself. If it's just rogue Fallen, on the other hand, then that will be on the Governor General's head." She paused, thinking. "hmm, he could be using us to clean up his messes, taking out an unauthorized base."

Yubelluna nodded, her eyes narrowed in thought. "That would be rather like the reports and rumors I've heard of the man. He's lazy, but intelligently so, and is an expert at making use of the other people."

"I suppose since we're cleaning up the people who might want to start a war I can't complain overmuch, but if that is indeed the case, I'm going to punch him in the nose if I ever meet him," Rias muttered. "Akeno?"

Akeno began to mutter under her breath, using an Onmyodo spell, her fingers moving this way and that and then thrusting forward. Her eyes quickly changed, glowing light yellow as she stared towards the temple. "There are twenty-nine life sources within the temple area, Buchou," she said formally.

"How many Fallen did you sense, Mittelt?" Rias asked, her words now coming out crisp and certain even as she used another spell on herself, as did Yubelluna.

"Seven," Mittelt said promptly, pulling on a pair of black gloves that covered her hands up to her elbows, reflecting internally that at least this pair matched her Gothic Lolita outfit, unlike the pair she'd first worn after trying to use her Light Spear power after being turned into a devil. As a devil, her own Light Spear spell could hurt Mittelt if she tried to grasp it with her bare skin.

"They have a bounded field up, too," Rias said. "It starts a few steps below the temple proper, and I would assume it goes all around the temple itself. I can also see an aversion ward." The term 'bounded field' was used occasionally to describe the alternate dimension spell that Devils and others used to create tiny pocket dimensions which were based off small (normally, anyway) areas of the real world. Anything that happened in the pocket dimension would not be reflected in the real world, sort of, but not quite like the spells they had used to create the training area under the ORC's clubhouse.

"The aversion ward is geared towards non-magicals, though, so shouldn't stop us from getting closer. And we should probably keep the bounded field up to cover us," Yubelluna reported, working smoothly with the others despite not ever having worked with any of them before.

"Agreed. Mittelt, wait for us to launch the first attack, then take to the air," Rias said, already gathering her magical power in one hand. "I think that in this instance we shouldn't even try to talk to them. Shock and awe, ladies; let's do this!"

The fight that followed could hardly be called that. It was more of a rout, really. The instant they entered the bounded field, Rias destroyed the main temple area with a single blast of her Power of Destruction. As the Fallen and other rogues attempted to rally, Mittelt flew down, cackling madly, followed Yubelluna and Akeno who dealt with the few survivors.

As the last enemy went down, disintegrated by a small low-powered Power of Destruction spell, Yubelluna nodded approval. "This was a well-run assault," she said in congratulations to Rias. "I honestly didn't expect it from you," she went on, her eyes narrowing now as she wondered what this meant for the future.

One of the ways that Rias could get out of the upcoming nuptials with Riser was to challenge him to a Rating Game. Everyone knew that it would be down to that in the end, but everyone also knew that Riser's peerage had both experience and numbers on its side, as well as individual power in a few cases. It would be a farce, or so everyone assumed before this.

Now Yubelluna didn't feel that way at all. Both Rias and Akeno had shown new ways of using magic as well as individual skill that she had never heard they might possess. That and the inclusion of Mittelt, a Fallen Angel with Holy magic? That, right there, could be a threat, and a big one to everyone but Riser. Eventually, she knew that Riser would simply bear them all down, using his power of regeneration to simply wear them out until then, but, even so, she was much more worried about that fight now than she had been before.

"You've grown," she said simply, looking at Akeno and Rias. "A lot more than I ever anticipated you might and certainly far more than my master has."

"And will you tell him that?" Rias asked, her gaze intent and straightforward as her blue eyes captured Yubelluna's purple.

"It is my duty to do so," Yubelluna said, looking at her with a frown.

"But will you do so if I offer you a chance to be free?" Rias asked, stepping up to the other woman and taking her hands in her own. "To be free and not a slave without becoming a Rogue? I know how Riser treats you, how he treats all of you! I've even seen pictures of it, for Maous' sakes!"

Yubelluna's eyes widened at that, and then her eyes narrowed. "Your brother, I presume?"

"While Nii-sama can't exactly be seen as using his position as Maou to interfere beyond a certain degree, that hasn't stopped him from helping me any way he can," Rias acknowledged. "But, in this area it's actually just me listening to rumor and then using my own familiars to follow up on them to see if there was any truth to them. I could wish that my own parents believed my words about that, but they don't. Which will leave me to do something about Riser, personally. Now, answer my question," she said softly yet very determinedly. "If I can figure out a way to free you without you needing to go Rogue, would you do it?"

Inside, the portion of the spell which bound a devil's peerage to him and which also instilled a certain amount of loyalty within the lesser devils to the King started to fight at the very idea of not informing her King about a threat like this. But Yubelluna was strong enough to push it aside. She couldn't have done so if Riser was nearby, of course. But he wasn't even on Earth at the moment, and she nodded slowly, tears coming to her eyes unbidden. "I would be willing to give **everything** I am, to do **anything** to get away from him!"

Rias squeezed her hands tightly as Akeno and even Mittelt looked away, not wanting to see the woman in pain. Even Akeno, who rather liked to see people in pain, physical or emotional, found the cause of Yubelluna's pain distasteful. "Then stay silent. Akeno and I will clean up the mess here. You can put this as a feather in your cap: you came upon them and wiped them out from a distance. That should gain you some respect from Riser and from the clan who owns this territory. Simply do not tell him about us, our growth, or Mittelt's presence at all. And I will convince him in turn to put up a little…wager…on his side of things when it comes to it."

Yubelluna's eyes widened at that, but she understood what Rias meant and nodded her head. "I will do so, but do you really think you can beat Riser?" she asked tremulously. "His power of regeneration is amazing even among his own family."

"There are ways around it and ways to manipulate Riser into situations that work against him," Rias said calmly. "I've come up with dozens of scenarios to do both. All that remains is for him to prove his stupidity, and I think we both know that Riser can be relied upon to do that."

That caused Yubelluna to laugh somewhat wetly, and she nodded her head firmly. "Most definitely! All right, all, I will agree to that. I won't tell them anything about the three of you being here, but you better clean up your magical residue before you leave. And I don't know any spell that can do that."

"We do not know one either," Akeno said with a laugh. "But I do know ones that can muddy the issue too much. After we use those, you'll just have to cast another spell to create an explosion to cover the damage when the bounded field comes down."

"I'll prepare the usual gas leak memory charm, then," Yubelluna said dryly, already flying into the air and moving back down towards the town to do so.

 **OOOOOOO**

As Rias, Sona, Tsubaki, and their teams attacked their three targets, there were eighteen other battles going on throughout the Japanese islands. The Onmyodo government was pissed off in the extreme. They took neutrality very, **very** seriously and, just like every other wizarding government, treated the Statute as the next best thing to religious writ. The Onmyodo government never wanted to be in a war ever again, knowing all too well the cost of them, and, while they had only a limited understanding of the real balance of power between them and the Three Factions, they knew enough not to want to get involved in the cold war between them any further than they already had to.

To that end, teams of fifteen to thirty Shinsengumi, the name for Onmyodo police division, headed out to follow up on the rumors of magic going on throughout the country which didn't impinge on known Faction territory. They took losses, but, thanks to a series of precautions, they still won every fight.

That and the fact that most of the people they were attacking were grunts, rogue devils, excommunicated exorcists, and of course magicians (magic users who had made contracts with Devils) and scattered Sacred Gear users, though none of them had powers that were worth much. The Khaos Brigade lost quite a lot of its numbers then, having foolishly believed that bringing them together into Japan, where they knew they could suborn a few of the locals, would be a good idea in the long run.

That bit them on the rear now. They also lost several bases which they had been using to funnel food and other material to the secret base of the Khaos Brigade, which was situated on a small, supposedly uninhabitable island off the coast off Hokkaido's coast named Benten-jima. Again, that position had been chosen because none of the Factions were very strong in Japan, with the Devils being the only ones that had any real strength, and even that was new, coming about in the last seven years or so.

That wasn't to say that the wizards missions or the that every mission from Kuoh went off without a hitch. The problem for the devils came from the one target they were most certain about being just a routine rogue devil acting out.…

Sitting across from her boyfriend on the train, Tsubaki stared at Kiba, who was in turn looking out one of the windows beside him, his face set in a grimmer line than she had ever seen before. There was something obviously bothering the young man, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what it might be. As her fellow peerage members became involved in some kind of portable gaming device, she moved over to sit next to Kiba, taking his hand with his her own. He turned away from the scene to smile wanly at her. "What's wrong?" she asked softly.

"Nothing is wrong," he said. "Just looking forward to this mission, that's all."

The look she gave him spoke volumes, and he sighed. "I suppose I can't fool you, can I?"

"We've been together for a number of months now. I like to think I can read you quite well," Tsubaki said mildly. But there was nothing mild about the glare she was giving him now, and Kiba reflected that Tsubaki had certainly learned how to communicate nonverbally very well from her King. "What's wrong?" she asked again.

Kiba winced. "I…had wanted to go with Sitri-sama on the mission against the target labeled 'possible Fallen/Church secret base.' I have a…past with the Church. But Buchou, Harry-san, and Sitri-sama all vetoed it," he said, and then sighed again when she didn't stop giving him The Look. _My word, Harry was right when he said that look needed to be highlighted._ He hesitated several times but then went on. "I… Do you know, have you ever heard rumors about the Church's Holy Sword Project?"

Tsubaki's face paled, and she quickly wrapped an arm around his shoulders, squeezing hard. "You were involved with that? I'm so sorry; I didn't know!"

"No reason you should," he replied smoothly, shaking his head. "I am not exactly very open about it, after all. But, I have a major issue with the Church because of it. I am able to control myself around Asia simply because, well…"

"She's one of the sweetest things to ever walk the Earth," Tsubaki said with a smile. Despite some misgivings about the fact that Asia still believed in God and had made no hint that she wanted to join either peerage, Asia had still made a very positive impression on everyone concerned.

"Yes. That," Kiba replied with a smile before becoming more serious. "I have moved past quite a bit of my anger thanks to Harry. Yet I still blame the Church for what happened to my friends, for what happened to me. To hear about these excommunicated exorcists which might have taken up with the Khaos Brigade or with other strays like Raynare, well, it brought up bad memories, ones I wanted to excise."

He sighed. "Yet I can't say the leadership trio was wrong in saying I shouldn't be involved in it. And if it does come down to it being a real base, just not an official one, well, my inner demons might make me a liability to any diplomatic solution.

"I see," Tsubaki said with a nod. "But you won't fly off the handle if we run into ex-Church members?"

As Kiba looked at her in surprise, she went on calmly. "I am technically in charge of this mission, after all and we don't actually know who is using magic in this area, only that someone is. If we believe that the base is too strong or if there is something complicated going on, I will pull us out and simply observe rather than allow us to attack."

From his seat nearby, Loup grunted at that, and Tsubaki turned to glare at him. "That goes double for you as well, Loup," she said coldly. "If I believe that the enemy is too strong for us to fight, we will simply observe and then come back another time."

"That's a shame," said Tsubasa, the young, blue-haired girl tapping the long item bundled next to her which contained the Firebolt Harry had given them. "I'm anxious to see what this baby can do!"

"But those are my orders," Tsubaki said coolly.

"Ain't arguing, Tsubaki-chan!" Tsubasa said with an airy wave, causing Tsubaki to roll her eyes.

Kiba smiled as he leaned back while the others argued with Tsubaki, grateful that she had not pressed him into making that promise. _After all, if it turns out that these people are affiliated with the Church rather than rogue devils as we all think, I might not be able to keep it._

The group of five piled out of the subway at their target destination and made their way through the streets calmly, cloaking themselves slightly with the Devilic equivalent of a Notice-Me-Not as they slowly approached the area of the town in which they were interested. Soon Tsubaki halted their progress and sent her familiars, four swallows, up into the air, sending them forward as she stood in the shadows of an alleyway.

Following on their heels, Tsubasa took the Firebolt out and, after taking a moment to figure out how to control it, rocketed into the sky, disappearing high up in the air. From there she used a pair of binoculars to watch the four sparrows make their way towards the seemingly abandoned warehouse that was at the center of the area where there had been strange sightings and two people had gone missing.

"There are no defensive spells on the area beyond an aversion spell to keep nonmagicals away," Tsubaki said softly as she felt what her for familiars were feeling. "Nor any visible guards. It's evident that whoever is here either lacks manpower, thought, or felt that anonymity was the best defense. And Tsubasa is on the rooftop now. I'll send my swallows around the area to make certain."

On top of a nearby rooftop he had climbed while they waited around, Loup nodded, staring through his own binoculars at the far rooftop, seeing Tsubasa waving the broomstick above her head after having dismounted. "She's signaling an all clear," he grunted. "Let's go."

The remaining team members moved across the rooftops to the target destination, having quite a bit of difficulty making the last jump even with their enhanced physical abilities because the roofs on either side of the warehouse was in pieces, barely standing upright, and their footing was horrible. This area of the city was not so much rundown as almost abandoned. Tsubaki idly wondered if that preceded the installation of the powerful aversion spell or if it was because of it. Judging from the evidence around her, though, Tsubaki decided that it was more likely that the aversion spell had simply been the final straw which broke the camel's back.

As they joined Tsubasa, she made certain that they all understood they had to be quiet, gesturing down into the building. "I hear voices down there, some kind of chant, I think, and a lot of different conversations under it. Can't make any of them out."

Kiba's eyes narrowed in suspicion at that. The only faction that used chants in any way was the Church, and that was a sign that the people behind the magic in this area weren't what they had thought. He gestured to the locked maintenance hatch to one side. "Is there any chance you could get that open?"

"Not noiselessly. Most of its rusted," Tsubasa reported.

Tsubaki, however, scowled at her boyfriend. "We all know that chants are a sign of the Church rather than a rogue devil. Remember what I said, gentlemen, ladies. We are not here to do anything but observe if the enemy proves to be too strong."

"I understand, but we need to know more, surely? Unless your familiars can get in there and spy for us?" Kiba asked, seemingly calmly. But Loup didn't like the way his scent had changed and looked at the younger man closely, watching his reaction coolly.

Tsubaki hissed but shook her head. Tsubasa's familiar was a bear, and her own swallows were a little too obvious to use inside a building. And Kiba's own familiar was yet another bird. _Darn it, we should have thought about familiars too when we made up these teams!_

"Could we silence the area around it?" Tsubasa asked Tsubaki, breaking her out of her stasis.

"Good thinking. Let's create a bubble of silence and then simply cut our way down. Certainly you've got a sword that would be sharp enough for that?" Tsubaki teased her boyfriend in an effort to lighten the mood.

"I do indeed," he said with a smile, though it was a bit too eager. "Let's do this."

With Tsubaki creating the sphere of silence, Tsubasa made to help Loup lift the cut-away portion of the maintenance hatch out as it was being cut, not letting it fall inside and thus out of the bubble of silence. Eventually their way was clear, and Kiba leaped down first, landing lightly in the darkness below in what looked like a small storage room. He gestured up into the light coming in from the chopped away hatch, and the others followed, with Loup bringing up the rear.

Outside of the storage room they found themselves stepping out into what looked like a small walkway high above the floor of the warehouse. This segment of the warehouse was in deepest shadow, the windows all covered over, but down below they could see at least three dozen people moving around in a lighted area. Six of them were kneeling together to one side in a circle, their voices rising in holy benediction, while the others were moving around, either talking, eating, or moving small crates. A few of them even looked like simple scientists, setting up what looked like a laboratory in one corner, easily the most well-lit area in the warehouse. There were only seventeen of them or so, but the men opening up crates were setting up house and parts for at least three dozen more bunk-beds.

With Tsubaki still maintaining the cone of silence around them, the group retreated into the darkest corner they could find and observed everything as best they could. "Can we get close enough to overhear what they're saying with a spell?" Loup asked, his normal reticence gone now.

Tsubaki shook her head. "I'm not strong enough to divert that many people's attention from so close. We'll have to rely on our own ability to stay out of sight."

Loup nodded and, without another word, moved in and far more silently than anyone his size should've been able to. Kiba nodded and instantly moved after him, his sword having exchanged itself for a small, matte black dagger of some kind. The two girls blinked in surprise at the suddenness of the move before Tsubaki whispered, "Damn it. Tsubasa, stay here and wait with the Firebolt just in case. I'll move forward through the shadows to the left. We can at least cover those two idiots."

The two men got closer along another gangway and began to move forward, pausing here and there as Loup tested the floor of the gangway in front of them with Kiba putting his own feet down where the larger man did first. Eventually they paused about halfway towards the excommunicated exorcists with Loup shaking his head. He looked back at Loup and pointed down at the gangway, shaking his head to indicate it became weaker from there going forward. Without another word Kiba slowly knelt down and laid out on the planks, sticking his head over the edge. Loup nodded and simply crouched before shifting into his werewolf form.

This was the first time Kiba had seen Loup in his werewolf form, and it was a revelation. The man grew both in his shoulders and in height, his jaw and face changing dramatically into something approaching a wolf-like muzzle, but shorter, complete with fur sprouting everywhere. But the greatest difference was with his hands, his fingers elongating and the nails sharpening.

For all of that Loup crouched there in the dark calmly, staring down at their prey, his ears cocked visibly as he listened attentively. Kiba too tried to listen in, tried to hear anything over the drone of the ongoing chants from below, only to find it impossible. With that avenue of information closed, Kiba examined each group he saw down below, trying to push away the growing migraine the chanting was causing.

The six exorcists chanting below wore full plate armor, of all things. It covered them from head to toe and, worse, every inch of them was lined with Holy Scripture, with lines of cloth running from their shoulders down with further holy writ on them. At their sides sat short-hafted war hammers. They chanted with all the fervor of true believers, calling on the power of God for grace and for piety, in part of what looked to obviously be some kind of daily ritual.

Needless to say, this chant was acting on the devils like the sound of a dentist's drill would on normal humans. Worse, if the devils tried to attack, the chant would act like a curse, weakening them, slowing down their reaction times, and causing Devil powers to no longer work. And the fact the chant still worked for them was odd, something that Kiba realized only peripherally at the moment, since it implied they still believed in god.

Loup, on the other hand, wasn't affected at all. He would've been had the chant been something specifically against the beast or the inhuman, but, even then, not much, considering he had not been raised in the Christian faith. Chants like this and other things of similar nature wouldn't work on those who did not come from those religions, like holy crosses against vampires who had been Jewish or Buddhist.

 _Perhaps it is a good thing Loup-san didn't take my King's offer to turn him into a devil._ At the time Tsubaki had been rather philosophical about it, while Sona had been somewhat irritated. She had wanted to bring in a normal boy to offset Saji's rather over-the-top flirtations and had been impressed by Loup's natural abilities and his personality. But Loup wasn't one to jump into anything without thinking it through first.

Looking around slowly Kiba felt the other people in the warehouse were not nearly as dangerous feeling as the group of armored exorcists. There were the twelve scientist-like people in the corner, running tests on something he couldn't see in a large, green vat of some kind of liquid. They too looked like true believers, monks in their case, save that they wore scientists overalls to go with their tonsured heads and rosaries. But they didn't join in the chanting. The ones doing the moving and preparation all looked like excommunicated exorcists.

That was all he could tell by looking at them, so Kiba concentrated hard, trying to listen past the droning to hear any snippets of conversation going on from the others he could see down below. It was hard, his migraine growing, but he persevered.

"Why they sent the Hospitaller squad in first, I don't know," said one exorcist to another, twitching his head at the group of armored exorcists.

"They're the best when it comes to hunting down devils, moron. Put up with it for now. And remember not to say anything in front of them they can take badly. They're a touchy damn bunch, and, well.…"

"Yeah," said another voice, the three men seeming to understand what they were talking about without anything else needing to be said.

While Kiba was having such difficulties, Loup concentrated on trying to overhear the scientists. The murmur of their voices was barely discernible to Kiba, but Loup easily overheard them. "I wonder what the Father will think about all this. We've gathered so much data, and just from one of the three swords. With all three, perhaps we really can create artificial holy swords before our attack on the devils in Kuoh."

At that Loup ears twitched upright, like a dog on a scent, and he leaned forward just slightly, hoping to hear more.

"I just hope that the fallen can produce his army for this. The Father is taking a huge risk coming out like he plans to. Especially since the fallen was involved in the theft of our little tools over there."

"Tools!" said another voice, sounding a little manic as he moved over to the scientists, pushing them aside and reaching into the device they were using. He pulled out a sword, a longsword, its blade gleaming even in the dim light of the warehouse, with a short hilt and a guard that offered little protection yet climbed up the blade in a crisscross pattern. Ignoring their shouts of outrage he turned back to his fellows even as he disappeared. "Tools, you call it! This is the real deal! One of the Excalibur blades: Excalibur Transparency!"

At that near-shout Kiba nearly lost it, but, unbeknownst to him, Loup had moved back to his side. Before Kiba could do anything, Loup gripped his shoulder hard, hard enough for his bones to creak under the strength of the werewolf's grip as he pushed the younger man down onto the gangway. As Kiba slowly settled down, the werewolf leaned in close to whisper into Kiba's ear. "They mentioned something about a father and working with a fallen of some kind. The father might be coming here, possibly to inspect the base? He might be accompanied by more of their troops."

At that point the rusty gangway they were standing on began to creak alarmingly, the weight of two of them standing in the same area being too far much for the old piece of metal. It wasn't enough to make them think it was going to give way, but it was enough noise to draw attention from below. "What's up there? Someone shine a light!"

Cursing inwardly, both of them moved in different directions, crouching down as much as they could, but their sudden movement also made creaking noises, and more flashlights stabbed up at them.

Tsubaki and the others saw this happening, and she scowled. "That's torn it! Attack!" she shouted in a loud voice, carrying throughout the warehouse.

With that Tsubasa leaped into the air on the Firebolt, zooming forward to get above the group of exorcists below, and dropped several talismans, cackling madly and drawing the eyes of everyone in the place.

Many of the exorcists pulled out guns and began to fire on her, as did the monks. The monks though used fully automatic machine guns which they pulled out from their lab coats somehow. But they found their bullets arrested in midair, at least for a few seconds, by Tsubaki's magic.

Then the six Knights Hospitaller below began to roar out their chant in loud voices, sound amplifiers in their helmets activating to cause the music they were singing to reverberate throughout the entire warehouse. And immediately the curse of God came into effect. Tsubasa nearly fell off the Firebolt, grabbing desperately at the broom and wobbling in the air until she crashed into a girder. Tsubaki lost control of the spell she had used to stop the bullets, and they continued their journey upwards, one of them nearly smacking into Tsubasa's thigh and the rest impacting the roof and ricocheting for a bit. And Kiba groaned, his Sacred Gear-summoned sword falling out of his grip, his power suddenly leaving him as he slumped to his knees.

But Loup let out a howl. It, too, reverberated around the area, pushing back against the sound assault of the exorcists. Then he leaped down among them. _No choice but to fight now!_

"Begone, foul beast!" shouted one of them. "Back into this the pit that spawned thee!"

A warhammer whirled around towards where Loup's head would be when he landed. But he simply lifted his hand and smashed it to pieces, lashing out with a punch that caved in that warrior's chest plate, hurling him backwards.

The others all turned, bringing their own hammers to bear, and two of them got through, but neither were silver plated, and, while Loup's healing factor was nowhere near as good as Harry's, he was still a werewolf. If it wasn't silver, he could heal from anything physical, if not magical. He grunted under the impact but took them, reaching forward with both hands to grasp the heads of the hammers as they were pulled back, crushing and then hurling them into their owners who had abandoned them to his grip.

With three of their fellows incapacitated or dead, the two remaining split up, circling Loup even as they continued to advance.

But without three of their number, much of the power of their mantra had been lost, and Kiba leaped down, stabbing towards one of the shooters with a sword that looked more like a large spear than anything else. Four of the others, however, pulled out knives and moved towards Loup, shouting, "We'll take the beast; you take the Devils!" to their armored fellows. Since Kiba could tell their blades were silver, that made far too much sense to the Knight.

As Loup leaped towards one of armored Hospitaller, the other one turned aside, pulling a shield off his back and moving to engage Kiba. On the shield was embossed the holy cross, white with a gold outline, which told Kiba what order these armored fellows originally came from. "Avaunt, devil! Your end is nigh! The Holy Lord and His light go with me, and you shall not prevail against me!"

As the man progressed, he brought with him an aura that seemed to impact Kiba, and he fell back stumbling as his sword disappeared. "No devil's magic can fight the power of the True Faith!"

Kiba stumbled back again, then seemed to shrug and reached down to his pouch, pulling out the sword Harry had given him that morning from the mokeskin pouch Harry had let him borrow rather than simply creating one. "In that case, I suppose I'll just have to use something else."

With that he charged forward. An instant later, to the knight's astonishment, the Sword of Gryffindor carved straight through the haft of his warhammer and deep into his armored chest before being pulled out, twisting around to take another man's wrist off as he made to stab Kiba in the side.

A quick counter-blow sliced that man's head from his shoulders, and then the other three devils were there. Tsubasa had recovered enough to fly and swooped down to hurl down the last few talismans before simply flying down and smashing into and through some of the scientist-monks. Tsubaki, embarrassed by how her magic had been negated, began to launch long range magical assaults. Her shout of, "Wicked Cutting Tree!" launched dozens of wooden spheres with edges that made steel look weak to cut down nearly every scientist-monk there.

At the same moment Loup gasped, a sword blade cutting into his side. "Hah! Got you!"

Grunting, Loup went to his knee, staring around him as Kiba suddenly leaped up high, dodging an unseen foe, having somehow sensed it coming when even Loup's senses hadn't picked up the invisible exorcist. A wide area attack lashed out from Tsubaki, who was staying up on the remains of the walkway, but it hit nothing, and she cried out in shock as a bullet from an unseen gun impacted her shoulder, the pain of the blessed bullet hurling her to the side, cutting her magic off abruptly.

Tsubasa dodged wildly in midair as the remaining exorcists began to fire up at her. There weren't many, but one of them was still invisible, firing as he moved around, and, with Tsubaki down, they had lost a large portion of their ranged firepower. Kiba was busy dodging bullets, unable to close, and, as far as the exorcists knew, Loup was dying.

But while Excalibur Transparency was a magnificent weapon, it wasn't silver. And for werewolves, unless you got them in the brain or the heart (and even there, with Harry, you'd have to do both), it didn't matter. Loup crouched, one claw grasping at his bleeding side, gathering some blood even as his wound closed, then rolled to the side as the last armored Hospitaller tried to bring his warhammer down on the back of his head. The blow glanced off, and his return blow hurled the man back several feet, but he remained on his feet.

Sniffing as deeply as he could, Loup twisted and flung out his hand toward where he smelled a man where there didn't seem to be one. The blood hit, outlining the back and side of the exorcist using the holy blade, and the next instant a flung sword from Kiba slammed into the man's chest.

With him down, Kiba and Tsubasa closed with the last two remaining exorcists, Tsubasa coming down on them like a hawk. At the same time Loup turned to the armored knight, catching his warhammer. Even as he started to wrench the last armored knight's head off his shoulders, he shouted, "We want prisoners!"

This proved in vain, however. Only one of the scientist-monks was still in one piece after a few more seconds of combat, and he quickly bit down on something in his mouth before starting to shout at the top of his lungs. "You may have won today, devils, but your end is nigh. The true Son of God will, will, will see to your demise. The flames of war will burn you all to ash as well as those two weak to see to their holy duty!" With that he finally collapsed, his mouth foaming.

Tsubaki moved over quickly, trying to use what few healing spells she knew to keep him alive despite her shoulder burning like fire, but to no avail. Whatever poison he had taken had caused his heart to explode. The only way to bring him back would've been to bring him back as a devil, and none of them had the ability to do that. "Darn it!" Tsubaki snarled, her uninjured hand coming up to her shoulder. "We're nowhere closer than we were to figuring out what this base was for."

"Wouldn't say that," Loup said laconically, changing back into his normal body and moving gently around Tsubasa, reaching down to one of the men Kiba had killed and pulling out the holy sword the man had been using. Then Loup turned back to Kiba, moving and dropping the sword in front of him with one eyebrow raised at the intense expression on his face. "Holy Sword Project, right? Means you want to destroy this?"

His hands clenching on the hilt of the Sword of Gryffindor, Kiba looked down at the blade and then to the one in his hands, remembering the advice Harry had given him when they first began to be friends slowly shaking his head. "No, I don't think so. I think I'm over my anger at the actual swords, but you mentioned something else they were saying?"

Loup nodded and moved away, looking at the device the scientists had been using to analyze the sword, which Tsubaki was also examining. As she'd feared, it was dead, and she shook her head at Loup. He nodded back and then said, "This place, a temporary base. A gathering point and hiding spot before they moved to the main objective. In Kuoh."

Tsubaki's eyes widened behind her glasses, and she slowly nodded, a little disturbed by the fact that a Holy Sword, ostensibly stolen, was sent ahead of their real numbers. _Then again, if it was guarded by those Hospitallers, then it makes sense_. "So by attacking here we might well have halted their plans?"

"That might be the case," Kiba said, looking over at Loup.

He shrugged ignorance. "Said there would be others. This was just the best people. They called themselves, 'holy sword hopefuls.."

Kiba twitched again at that, glaring down at the men around him. "Now, that is a pity. If I had known that I would have attempted to…make their deaths far more agonizing," he said mildly, something that caused more than one shudder to go around the others.

"Wait a moment," Tsubaki said thoughtfully, looking at Loup. "You just said they were expecting other people here?"

Loup nodded, and Tsubaki smiled vindictively. "Kiba, how much can that pouch of yours carry?"

"As far as I know, there's no limit so long as we can fit whatever it is into the opening," Kiba replied. That bag had been something that Rias had bought in the Onmyouji section of Tokyo. She had bought one 'bookbag of holding' for herself and smaller carry-on pouches for the others of her peerage, a gift that had a very high upside to it.

"Good. Search for anything incriminating, interesting, or simply expensive. Tsubasa, you and Loup help him. Kiba and I are going to be a little busy. But first, Tsubasa, give me all of those talismans Harry-sensei gave you. I have a plan," Tsubaki said, a grim smile on her face.

 **OOOOOOO**.

At first Kunou and Lily were a little reluctant to invite the youngest two members of Sona's peerage to their picnic. After all, they had only met most of the Sitri group once before. But Ruruko seemed fun, at least. In Lily's opinion, Saji was a boy, enough said. Boys seemed to either be bullies, boring, or just not Daddy, the twins, Teddy, or Daddy. And yes, in Lily's mind, her father deserved a second mention in that list. Because of that opinion, Lily couldn't care less about them. She was still kind of undecided about Loup, but since he was a werewolf and had brought Kunou (her bestest friend **ever!** ) with him when he moved in, Lily was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Luckily for Lily and Kunou, Saji seemed more concerned with staying and flirting with Ruruko or Momo and attempting to flirt with Koneko and failing miserably. Koneko, in turn seemed happier having fun with the kids, who had brought several toys to play around with, happily donated by their various parents who were grateful for a day's off watching their own children. First they played a game of hacky-sack which, astonishingly, Asia had been incredibly good at, garnering many an admiring glance from some of the kids, though Lily suspected that Saji's approval of her skill was a little beyond what her second big sister's skills really deserved.

After that they had played Frisbee, and Koneko looked up from where she had been talking to Momo and paused, blinking. Seeing the Frisbee game going on, she burst out laughing, one of the very few times Lily had ever seen her do so. But given the fact that Kunou and Lily kept on racing after the Frisbee on all fours, despite both of them being in their human forms, this could be excused. And she kept laughing as the two girls and their friends all competed for the Frisbee until the other kids had to head home.

Lily growled at her as she dropped the Frisbee at Koneko's feet, having had to use almost all of her willpower not to pick it up with her mouth. "What're you laughing at, Koneko-nee?"

"Little puppies and kits acting their age," Koneko said, still smiling brightly at Lily both because she was in good spirits and because of the '-nee' bit there. "Though you can't seem to remember you're human," she teased. "Humans run only on their back legs, you know?"

Her eyes narrowing, Lily whipped out a magical cat toy from one of her jeans pockets, a fuzzy mouse that moved off on its own when she dropped it to the ground with a little squeak. It had been for Crookshanks at one point, but he hadn't liked it. Lily had wanted something to use if Koneko got a little too big for her britches, and she always carried it with her, just itching for an excuse to use it. Now she watched Koneko visibly stop herself from leaping on the toy, twitching in place before glaring at her. Lily glared right back, twitching her fingers this way and that and sending the cat toy skidding away.

Somehow feeling the tension, she was a Kitsune after all, Kunou moved over, hugging Lily from behind and poking her head out from one side of the slightly taller girl. "What's wrong?" she said innocently. "We're just having fun, right?"

Koneko and Lily slowly nodded, and Lily held out the toy's strings to Koneko, who took it and then held up the Frisbee before pausing, her somewhat limited magical senses tingling. She looked around and frowned. Most of the kids had left around forty minutes ago to head back home, escorted there by Momo, who had just returned, but that wasn't what had caught Koneko's attention. Instead it was the look on the silver-haired girl's face as she was staring around them that made Koneko tense. "Someone just set up a bounded field," she reported tersely.

At that Koneko immediately took charge, pushing Lily gently away and dropping the cat toy. "Defensive formation. Lily, Asia, and Kunou into the center, everyone else pointing outwards. Get ready to use that portkey of yours," she said to Lily.

Lily's eyes widened, nodding thoughtfully as she raised a hand to her necklace.

"None of that, now. We wouldn't want anyone to take any precipitous actions," said a male voice. A second later a young man, perhaps ninteen or twenty years old, walked down the path leading to the large grassy area the picnickers had been using. He had green hair and an aristocratic face with a slightly European cast to his features. His amber eyes were somewhat offsetting, as was the fact he was dressed in what looked like a king's costume from a play.

Yet, for all his good looks and his smile, Lily took one look at him and backed away quickly, her hand clasping around her necklace, not liking his eyes at all. Kunou too moved backward, frowning at the man.

"None of that," he said peaceably, holding up his hands. "I come in peace and all that. It's just that this is a conversation that we wouldn't want non-magical beings to overhear, that's all. My name is Diodora Astaroth, and I am here to speak to Asia if that is all right."

Momo hissed, pushing Ruruko and Koneko backwards with her hands as she bowed formally. "Lord Astaroth, we were not informed of your arrival in our territory. I'm sorry, but neither my King, Lady Sitri, nor Lady Gremory are here at the moment, so we cannot welcome you as your title demands."

For all her formal words, Momo was tense, with her mind going a mile a minute. _Did he have the area under observation? How?... Familiars! It must've been some kind of familiar, one who can morph into a human shape like Lady Rias's bats! We'll have to think about that in the future, add keeping such as that out to our defensive scheme, or did the others already think about that? Whatever, the problem is that he must know that they aren't here, so whatever his words, he's here to do something that he knows Lady Rias and Sona-sama would not approve of. And it's connected to Asia-chan!? Fuck! We need to get a word out to Potter-sensei._

"That's quite all right," Diodora said with a smile as he moved forward, seemingly uncaring of the fact that Lily and Kunou were now being pushed backwards behind everyone else and that Koneko was clenching and unclenching her fists, crouching very slightly on her legs in preparation to spring one way or the other. "My business has nothing to do with the Gremory or Sitri clans. I wish to talk to Asia Argento. And, since she hasn't been claimed by either of your peerages, this really has nothing to do with any of you."

"Don't talk about Asia as if she's some kind of prize!" Lily said, now getting a little angry, her hand dropping from her necklace as her anger overrode her flight instincts. She stepped forward, grabbing at Asia's hand and squeezing it. "She's got friends! We might not be one of your devil peerages, but…"

"Was I speaking to you, you filthy little half-breed?" Diodora asked, his tone matter-of-fact but also utterly dismissive, his eyebrow quirking as Koneko growled. "Really, you animals are overreacting. I'm just here to make an offer. What happens next is fully up to Asia."

"Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names will never hurt me again!" Lily growled, crouching down now as she slowly shifted into her werewolf form. Beside her Kunou took courage from her response and shifted into her own kitsune body, her one tail waving in the air as small lights started to glimmer along its length.

"Ano," Asia said, moving forward from the peerage. "Um, you look familiar, sir. Have we met before? How do you know about me?"

"To have been forgotten by such a fair maiden, that makes me rather sad. Do you not recognize me?" Diodora said, bowing floridly. "I was the young devil you healed so many months ago. You saved my life, dear lady, and I wish to simply repay the favor by making you a devil and the next best thing to immortal."

Asia tried to keep control of her temper, but the slurs the young man was tossing her friends' way made that battle almost impossible. "I don't think so," she said at last. "A wise man once said that you can tell a lot about a person by how he treats those they believe to be their inferiors. The way you're talking about Lily and Koneko tells me all too much about you. I do not think I want to be part of your peerage, nor I do think I want to see you again. I am not sad that I healed you—you were in danger of death, and healing those in need regardless of their race is why God granted me this power. But that does not mean that I wish to go with you."

"Now, if that is all," Asia went on, ignoring for once the wince her use of the word 'God' had given everyone around her save Lily and Kunou, "please leave us alone? We were having a lovely picnic day before you arrived."

"So sad, to be so rejected. Still, I will accept that rejection as being honest and coming from the heart. But I am afraid that I am not willing to accept simply being so. I did say everything was on your shoulders, and I meant it. What happens next is your own fault for not coming peaceably, my dear."

With a click of Diodora's fingers, a full peerage suddenly appeared from behind an illusion spell all around them. All but one were women, and all of those women were wearing what looked like sexualized versions of a nun's outfit. Asia was horrified at the sight, blushing furiously, but most of her horror wasn't because of the over-sexed version of her own favorite clothing. No, she recognized at least two of the girls, having seen them from afar during her time in Rome at the Vatican.

"So, please, hand Asia to me or,…" Diodora said, but he was interrupted.

"Absorption Line," Saji suddenly shouted, having hidden one hand behind his back as he summoned up his Sacred Gear. From the little, vaguely draconic-looking gauntlet, a thin line of what looked like rope made out of magic lashed out. This was Saji's first real attack with his Sacred Gear: Absorption Line. It was an attack which drained the target of its magic to various degrees. Slamming into Diodora with all the force of a whip, the attack drained some of his magic and sent the Astaroth clan heir stumbling backwards slightly as he began to feel his magical power being drained away.

At the same time his peerage rushed forward, and the battle was joined.

One of the women was a statuesque brunette with immensely long legs, legs that were shown off to an almost obscene level given the outfit she was wearing, a black latex version of a nun's outfit. She had two swords strapped to her thighs, and, as she charged forward, magic roared up one of her sword's edges while some kind of green energy did the same around the other. Her eyes swept across the defenders, and, when she looked at them, some kind of power, possibly a Sacred Gear of some kind, activated, and Koneko and the others found their movements slowed while the woman's own sped up in turn.

Another girl had short cropped hair and a nearly boyish figure. She also had painted tears on her face and dead eyes, and she leaped into the air and flew into the battle without even the use of her devil wings. Wrist guards appeared around her hands and forearm, and she began to fire down with what looked like energy blasts of some kind, green and yellow blasts that looked something like a large crossbow bolt. They struck, forcing the defenders to separate, and now many of them were freed from the brunette's power while Momo and Saji now felt its full power, like they had all been dipped in molasses.

Then the other devils attacked too. Many of them looked reluctant, almost broken, but others were almost manic in their attacks.

"Lily, go!" Koneko roared, slamming one fist forward into the face of one of them, then leaping towards an older woman who had seemingly made a beeline for Lily for some reason. "Get out of here!" she shouted at the two kids.

Unfortunately, Lily was a Potter, and one thing Potters did not do very well was run when their friends were in danger. Instead, Lily barked out, "Kunou, back away slowly with Asia between us! We'll tag team anyone who comes after us!"

The kitsune nodded grimly, the flare of pure magical power in her tail glowing even stronger, ready to fire. "Okay, but don't expect much from this!"

At the same time, the two Koneko had pegged as Rooks charged towards her and Ruruko. One of them was a massive mountain of a man, the only man in the peerage, wielding a weapon that looked like an oversized Indian sword and wearing something that made him look like a eunuch from a Middle-Eastern harem. The other was a woman who looked like an Amazon, almost, thanks to her size, the image completed with a set of bikini armor, sword, and shield, and Koneko snorted as she crouched, her knuckles creaking as she prepared to meet them. "Dragon Quest called; Female Warrior wants her outfit back."

"Who?" the woman barked back even as she brought her sword around.

Even though she was being slowed by the Queen's power, Koneko was still fast enough, thanks to her training, to keep up, and she brought up one fist, shouting out, "Boost!" as she did.

The Boosted Gear appeared around her arm, Harry having given it to her that morning prior to some training the two of them would've been doing this evening. Harry had wanted her to bond with Ddraig and, honestly, the Boosted Gear had asked to be let out of the house for a time. Harry hadn't thought that being part of what amounted to a mostly girls day out in the park was something that Ddraig would've found fun, but Ddraig's desire to be let out of the house for a bit paid dividends now.

" **Boost!"** roared the gauntlet, smashing into and shattering the woman's sword before Koneko's punch finished its assault by slamming into her chest and hurling her away with a cry of agony. Koneko then leaped up over the sword of the other opponent, flipping herself in the air, and coming down on one leg, lashing out with a kick, thankful for the martial arts training she had been getting from Loup recently. The kick caught the large male Rook in the side of knee, shattering it and dumping him to the ground before a pile-driving blow to the chin sent him flying backwards.

With that done, Koneko charged forwards towards the one she thought must be the Queen, who had just knocked down Momo with a magical blast and was now racing towards the threesome of Asia, Lily, and Kunou. Lily and Kunou were pulling Asia along while the older girl continued to look behind her, but had stopped as one of the Diodora's peerage had gotten in their way. That girl was now down, a look of surprise on her face as Lily had borne her to the earth, and a hard punch to the face had actually knocked the older woman out.

Even so, there were others closing in now, with several pinning Saji in place as Diodora took vengeance for his preemptive strike. An instant later a vicious magical blast threw Saji through a tree with a cry of pain. With that done, the Astaroth King turned his gaze on the others, and the three fleeing were slowed suddenly, the brunette Queen's power crashing down on them.

It would've gone poorly for all of them at that point if not for the fact that two other people had noticed the bounded field going up.

Kalawarner had been heading back to the Potter's house, hoping to show Harry some of the annotations she had made to a few of the romance novels. These came in two varieties, and she thought the ones where she basically trolled the plot would amuse him greatly, even if he wouldn't bother with the second variety, where she made corrections and changes to the lovemaking scenes. After hearing him talk about it that morning she knew that Harry would appreciate a laugh after working on the permanent family clock. Flying over the park she, of course, noticed the bounded field and entered it just as the fight turned against Koneko and the others. Seeing this, she instantly joined in.

"Holy Spear Barrage!" she roared, gesturing down with both of her hands, her wings flapping and flaring as spears of light that looked more like large pinions appeared all around her and then shot down towards the ground. Four of Diodora's peerage died under the barrage the holy spears slamming into and through them.

Under the cover of this, Lily grabbed at Asia, twisting around and pushing her away from Diodora as she shouted, "Now, Kunou!"

The little fox kit howled, "Foxfire!"

From her tail came a blast of blue light so bright it was like a small solar flare. Later in life this was the spell which was habitually the first attack spell kitsune learned, but Kunou was far too young to concentrate it enough to do actual damage. Even so, she could create it like this in the diffuse form. It seared the eyes of Diodora and the others attacking breaking the Queen's magical spell, and Asia and Lily were away, with Kunou moving after them as Lily turned to body check another pawn, bearing the nun-turned devil to the ground with a growl.

Behind them Koneko yowled in frustration more than anything else, watching as Lily simply forgot her portkey entirely. They'd had a chance just then to get all three of the noncombatants out of here, and Lily hadn't taken it! _I'm_ _going to give that girl a stern talking to!_

Rubbing at his stinging eyes, Diodora tried to intercept Asia and the others, only to be intercepted in turn by Kala. In her hands a long spear of Light magic flashed towards him from one side. But Diodora simply blocked it with a magic shield and then lashed out with a hard physical blow that sent her flying. However, Kala had gained Asia enough time to run away, disappearing around the corner of the park and out of the bounded field.

From a nearby bush, Issei stared at all this. He had been passing through the park hoping to see some good-looking girls and feeling somewhat sorry for himself. While he had started to break off ties from his two friends, he still hadn't figured out how to get girls to be interested in him and was still stained with the pervert label at school, which still made his life a kind of living hell. His parents had also found a large portion of his porn collection recently, and his mother had quite literally burned it in front of him, so he had no wish to go home.

As he was wondering what to do he had felt something, like a cold wind blowing down his spine, as well as some kind of pressure in his head as if he was getting a bad migraine. But for all that, he couldn't find anything to actually explain it, despite looking around everywhere.

He'd then spotted Koneko and the others and had moved in their direction only to pause as he realized that they were the only ones in sight at all. There should've been at least a few other people around the park on a Sunday like this. Feeling somewhat fearful, he had hidden in some bushes and watched as the green-haired pretty boy showed up. Issei didn't understand everything that was said, but it was clear that this guy was after the pretty foreign girl named Asia, who was some kind of ward of Harry Potter. No one was at all certain about their actual relationship, but she had been seen around town in the company of Harry and Lily often enough for rumors to begin. But, regardless, it was obvious that Asia didn't want to have anything to do with him.

When the man's soldiers, or whatever they were, appeared a moment after, Issei had nearly lost it, blood gushing from his nose as he stared at each of them in turn, avidly committing each of their bodies to his long term memory for later use. However, when the spells began to fly, that had broken Issei out of his momentary stasis, and he kept hiding for a time, watching.

But when Ruruko went down nearby, her leg nearly cut in half under her by some girl with a sword he leaped forward. Before the attacking girl could finish off Ruruko, he brought down a large cob of wood he'd found on the girl's back. The blow wasn't very hard, but it certainly disoriented the girl enough for Ruruko to retaliate with what looked like a tarot card, its edges so sharp it cut into the other girl's neck from one side to another.

The first girl dropped her sword, and Issei picked it up, looking around wildly. "Ruruko-chan, w, what's going on here!? My imagination isn't nearly at this good, and there aren't enough oppai around for this to be a dream."

While Ruruko blinked and then began to shiver at the pain of her wound, Koneko looked at him from where she had just dealt with the Queen, with help, admittedly, from Lily and Kunou. They had turned back to the fight when Asia had raced out of the bounded field, and the two little girls had distracted the Queen's gaze just enough for Koneko to close in and give her a Boosted shot which slammed into her back, shattering her spine. "Pervert."

With that one shot delivered, Koneko ignored the sight of Issei collapsing into a black mood. Right now there was something that needed to be said, and Koneko turned and glared down at Lily and Kunou. "Why didn't you use the portkey?!" she growled, her voice actually angry for the first time since Lily had met her.

"I couldn't just leave!" Lily said. "By the time I thought of it, I couldn't get to Kunou, and Asia was too far away."

Koneko growled at that, then slowly nodded, ruffling Lily's hair. "Grrr.… Heart is in right place, but not head. At your age, you should run, and you had the perfect opportunity to do so right after Kunou used her spell."

"Um, she's right, Lily. We should have run away," Kunou said tremulously, now looking a little shocky as she stared around them. Lily wasn't, for some reason, but, then again, Koneko knew this wasn't the first battlefield she had seen.

As lily wilted, Koneko nodded firmly. "Now, use portkey and head home! Tell Harry-sensei what is going on. I'm going after Kunou and the others. The rest of you finish up here!" Without even waiting for a reply, Koneko turned and dashed off, hitting the edge of the bounded field just as the last attacking enemy went down under a magical strike from Momo, who winced as she moved over to help Ruruko, feeling at her own side where a very nasty burn could be seen.

Issei was already kneeling beside her trying to staunch the flow of blood even as he wept about how Koneko had been so mean to him. The sight caused Momo to smile and she reached over to pat his head like a dog that had just done a trick. "We'll tell you later, Hyoudou-san. Suffice to say there is a lot more going on in this world than most people learn, and you might no longer have a choice about joining this new world."

 **OOOOOOO**

With Kalawarner always getting in his way, Diodora was unable to catch up to Asia at first as Kala continued to try and attack him, but she couldn't get through his defenses. There was just too much of a difference in power, and, as Asia stumbled right before reaching the front gate, Kala found herself smashed to one side as her blade shattered just as they came near the edge of the wards around the Potters' home. The magically infused blow caught Kala in the side, snapping some ribs as she was hurled away.

"Ah, this has cost me dearly, Asia-chan," Diodora said, a look of manic, barely controlled fury on his face. "You have cost me my entire peerage, I feel. But don't worry, you will most definitely pay me back for that."

Diodora leaned down to grab at Asia again, but she thrust her hand out, shouting, "Stupefy!" The attack spell slammed him away but didn't do anything more. That was enough though for her to turn, leaping through the gate onto the front walkway. She then gathered her legs under her and moved to help Kala up, desperate to get the wounded Fallen away from their tormentor.

The spell had hurt slightly but done nothing more than surprise Diodora and knock him off-balance, such was his Devil-given magical resistance. Now he snarled, so angry he couldn't even feel the magic in the air around him for a moment. "You bitch! You will learn your place soon enough!"

He reached for them, his anger so palpable he didn't even hear the sound of running feet for a moment, but he turned at the last second to grab at and redirect Koneko's blow. "Boost!"

" **Boost!"** the Gauntlet roared, and the blast of concentrated magic went over Diodora's shoulder. He brought his arm down to smash Koneko's elbow in a magically infused blow that shattered it despite her Rook-given durability, but, even as he did, Koneko twisted to bring her shoulder into his chest, thrusting forward and pushing him up off his feet, hurling them both into the wards around the Potter house. "You won't touch her!"

"You vile WRETCCCH!" Diodora shouted, only to begin to scream as the Potter wards came into effect.

Kala had been read into the wards by this point to what was called the 'friend of the family' level. This was why she had been able to enter them when Asia grabbed her and pulled her over the ward line. So long as someone else who had authority over the wards, which amounted to just Koneko and Harry at this point, was in the house, she could enter freely. Harry was in residence, so the wards didn't do anything to her.

In contrast, Koneko was the most trusted person behind Harry himself when it came to the wards. She was the only one so far who could read other people in and take the kids out from under them. She couldn't modify them, but she could bring them up to a wartime footing if she was inside the house.

On the other hand, Diodora was most definitely **not wanted**. Not only did he enter the warded area without permission, but he meant harm to someone who was read into them, in this case both Kalawarner and Asia, and who was now currently on the property. So they reacted as they were intended to in order to expel him, with extreme prejudice.

There was a feeling of pressure in the air like a massive storm, only more centralized, as the magic of the wards appeared a bright yellow, teal, and vibrant pink dome of energy. Then that magic concentrated around Diodora, more and more of it blasting into every inch of his body all at once. The effect was like he was doused in kerosene and set on fire while at the same time being hit by a Bombarda and a Lightning spell all at the same time.

Diodora was a powerful young devil, a true heir to one of the 32 Pillar Clans. Yet he could not stand up to the power of Harry's wards now, and he screamed as those wards did their work, horribly burning him from head to foot and hurling him off the front walkway and back out onto the street in a mass of blackened and burnt flesh.

Inside the house Harry had been nearly finished with his work with the clock when he felt the portkey from Lily and Kunou activate, bringing them through the wards. At that feeling he turned, dropping everything and raced up the stairs from the basement, cursing.

"Daddy, there's this man trying to take Asia away!" Lily shouted from where she and Kunou had sprawled after coming out of the portkey, with the younger Fox girl holding her stomach and whimpering.

"Don't worry, honey; I'll handle it," Harry said, ruffling her hair even as he shifted to race past, feeling the wards activate. Outside, he found Kala and Asia nearly at the door with Koneko sprawled near their edge. On the other side of the wards a body was smoldering, smoke rising from its form.

Yet, even as Harry reached Koneko, the wounds from the wards were being replaced. Not healed, but the skin beneath was simply being scabbed over, almost, by what looked like a tattoo of some kind. It looked like snake eating itself in a circle in uncounted repetitions of that symbol, covering every inch of his skin that Harry could see. Which, since the wards had flash-fried most of the attacker's clothing off, was quite a bit.

That, however was secondary. He looked at Koneko, her arm bent at an unnatural angle despite Ddraig on her forearm. He saw Kala holding her side, and he saw Asia's frightened face, adding them onto Kunou's earlier shivering look and his daughter's look of anger and coming to two simple conclusions. One, they had waited overlong to set up the defensive matrix, and two, this man, whatever or whoever it was, was going to die. _Still, best to at least have a name for the man who will soon be a corpse._

With that in mind, Harry asked coldly, "Who are you supposed to be?" cracking his neck as his fingers began to twitch. Pointing at Asia and Kala, he lifted them both up off the ground and gestured them back into the open doorway, before gesturing at Koneko too.

"No!" yowled Koneko, trying to fight the spell that was holding her in the air even as her arm hung limply. "Let me fight!"

"Later, luv," Harry said calmly, all too calmly to those who knew him. "I have no doubt there'll be other times. You've done enough for now."

With that he closed the door with finality behind her as he stepped forward out from underneath the wards deliberately, staring as Diodora pushed himself to his feet. "Now, I can't have that. Sectumsempra." The cutting curse lashed out, but, before it could hit, one of the spell tattoos on the man came alive, lashing out and smashing the spell to splinters as if it had been a physical thing. But the curse's splinters still cut into the odd draconic thing, lashing it to pieces and causing it to disappear, leaving a small spot of skin visible underneath for a second before it was replaced.

"I am Diodora Astaroth you, you filthy magician, and I will end you!" Diodora snarled, pushing to his feet as Harry analyzed what had just occurred. Diodora's face, too, was covered by the odd Ouroboros tattoo. Even his eyes seemed to have little tattoos etched into the iris, somehow, which told Harry this was some kind of spell rather than a mere living tattoo and possibly not even something the man controlled, either.

"I am Harry Potter, and you aren't the first one to say that kind of thing to me. Let's see if you've got the weight to back it up." With that Harry **moved**. Spell after spell lashed out from one hand even as he weaved a more serious local spell with his other, his fingers moving furiously. This was one spell he had not had the time or inclination to train with to get to the point where he didn't need to use gestures or words, and he finally shouted, "Let my enemies be held here by the grace of the Amaterasu: Web of Scattering Light!"

It was a more comprehensive anti-teleportation spell than anything his own people had ever come up with: it simply said no one could leave, period, which stopped any teleportation spell, not just the types the user knew about. But it was an active spell. There was no way to create a ward array quite like it, and it was very draining on most people's reserves. Normally the Onmyouji would have had to have several dozen people cast it as part of a group enchantment.

Harry didn't even feel it, and he continued to lash out, spell after spell hitting Diodora as he stumbled backwards.

But the tattoos protected the man, and he too began to lash out with spells, though his were unformed, simple blasts of Devilish magical power barely formed into attack spells. "You think a jumped up werewolf mage like you can stop a Pureblood devil like me!? When I am empowered further by my mistress!? I will kill you! I, Diodora Astaroth will kill you! Then I will rip those wards down and take Asia-chan and break her right here so the rest of these filthy half-breeds can watch!"

Harry's ire was already quite high, but if any of his old enemies had seen him just then, even the stupidest would've run away as light began to emanate from his eyes. "Thank you for making the stakes so clear," he said, his voice an odd alloy of what a glacier of magma could have sounded like if given voice, stepping forward even under the barrage of the other man spells.

Now, some of these took the form of snakes, many headed hydras, and dragon shaped attacks. All of them were made of pure magical energy, colored black and dark green, which implied that they were also curses to Harry's eyes. Yet while Diodora seemed to control his spells, the tattoos moved under their own power and seemed to have a mind of their own.

Twice Harry used spells which bounced off inanimate objects to attack Diodora from behind, only for a few snake tattoos to come alive and bat them aside. Even more interestingly, conjured attacks, hurled spears, metal, or transfigured items shattered against them, leaving the dragon tattoo things unharmed. Conjured water also didn't do anything, but lightning seemed to shock or paralyze them. This made Harry change his normal tactics somewhat as he continued to analyze his enemy's defenses.

Harry used his own cutting spells, blasting spells and other direct-type attack spells to destroy them as they came until one of them nearly got through. Then he cast a protective shield around himself and then cast another Bombarda spell at Diodora's feet that blinded him for an instant even as more of the attack spells hit his shield.

Following his earlier thoughts, Harry used the instant to sprint past Diodora then attack him from behind. Diodora didn't turn in time, but one of his tattoos moved to take the shot. _All right, so I do need to get through those tattoos rather than around them. His speed isn't anything to write home about and the power of his spells is nothing, about as powerful as Bellatrix or Macnair, but not Riddle. But those tattoos are something of an ultimate defense, still I did see that first one fade away before it was replaced, so if I can't get sneak attacks past them, then I have to simply overcome them._

With that thought, Harry changed his tactics again, shifting into his werewolf form. He kept attacking with one hand, but stopped defending himself, using his superior speed to dodge what he could and his insane healing ability to deal with anything he couldn't heal from. At the same time he started to create an area effect spell from the local magical school. It was ready, and he shouted, "Kaji! (fire)"

From all around where Harry had been moving, dozens of fire spears appeared and shot toward Diodora, only for Harry to add a bit more to it, creating an air spell to fan the flames. Diodora tried to cancel the fire or put it out, but he had no ability with element-type magic, and his own spells just went right through the flames suddenly all around and on him. He leaped into the air, but not before he lost a few more snake tattoos on his arms and legs.

"Good. So area of effect and my more powerful spells will work to get rid of those things." For a few minutes Harry and Diodora exchanged spells as Harry pushed Diodora this way and that. Diodora's spells hit Harry at times, but, while they hurt like blazes and started to burn some of his clothes away, Diodora couldn't conjure or transfigure things, so there was a sharp limit to how much he could hurt Harry.

Diodora, his ability to think severely impaired either by his anger or as a side effect of the tattoos' magic flooding his system, didn't seem to realize this. He kept on attacking with his magic as much as possible, blasting out spell after spell, the power of which was impressive, but nothing else.

In return, it was only the snake tattoos protecting him that kept Diodora in one piece. Indeed, without them, Harry's third or fourth spell would have killed Diodora despite his Devil-granted magical resistance. However, despite being an ultimate defense, they were still finite. Eventually they started to disappear, and Harry noticed this, while Diodora, still in a fugue, did not.

Harry doubled up on his attack spells then, using a spell chain to send several Bombarda, two lightning attacks, and then two Sectumsempra at Diodora. The first four wiped out several tattoos' worth of snakes; the next two caused a few to lose control, falling out of position. The first cutting spell sliced through a final snake, and then the last cutting spell impacted Diodora's forearm, slicing it off cleanly. Whatever magical resistance Diodora had was, again, no match for Harry's pure power. Diodora's arm fell to the ground, already starting to turn into black flames for some reason Harry didn't understand.

"GAHHH!" Even as Diodora screamed, his splattered blood changed into dozens of snakes, flashing toward Harry like so many bullets, while the blood flowing from his stump formed into a giant dragon figure. Harry, however, simply sprinted forward under the attack. Then, as another spell chain lashed out point blank, Fragarach was in his hands, stabbing forward. The ultimate weapon of the Irish pantheon went straight through the other devil, piercing him from one side to the other.

Yet, even so, Diodora grabbed Harry with both hands, a flash of Devil flame appearing in them and searing Harry in a blast of power, sending him backwards. But his healing factor was easily up to the task, and Harry came back on the attack remorselessly. At the same time, mist began to form all around them.

Soon Saji and Issei arrived, having had to carry the injured Ruruko and Momo. The four of them watched in awe as Harry simply, **brutally** , overwhelmed Diodora. A hammer fist of energy that looked like a giant fist made of a lightning bolt hit slammed Diodora from above, forcing many of the snakes to form up to block it, while another created what looked like a metal porcupine from the ground as Harry intoned a single word: "Kinzoku (metal)!"

With his control of the metal apparition, Harry sent it upwards, the metal points stabbing into Diodora from behind even as it was melted and torn away by the defensive tattoos. In reply, Diodora lashed out with the blood dragon that had appeared from his cut hand, seemingly stabbing Harry with it, the fangs ripping into Harry's side. "HAH! I got you that timEEGH.…"

Diodora's words cut off in a gasp as Harry smoothly stabbed him through the heart, appearing next to him. The original Harry Diodora thought he had hit had disappeared, proving it had been an illusion all along. Harry had, in that second before that blood creature attacked, created his illusion and covered himself with it so smoothly and so accurately that, even had Diodora been watching for it, he wouldn't have been able to seen the exchange occur. Then he had simply sidestepped, letting the mist all around them cover his presence like the physical representation of his old Invisibility cloak that it was and canceled the anti-teleportation spell to teleport forward himself, getting in closer before his illusion could fade. Then, with most of the tattoos now having disappeared, Harry had stabbed Diodora before he could react, the blade piercing right through Diodora's heart.

That black morass of magical energy dissipated with a silent roar, and Diodora gasped, suddenly falling forward as all his energy left him.

"Wh, what are you!" Diodora gasped, blood pouring from his mouth as the spell which had been sustaining him disappeared, taking with it all of his own magic, the blood spear emanating from his arm splashing down into a massive puddle at his feet. "Wh, why?! I only wanted what was mine! My plan, my pain, my need to make her fall, to make her join the other, to be mine, to corrupt, to twist, her innocence, mine!…"

"Asia was never yours!" Harry growled, but before he could say anything further, Koneko had stomped up, her arm and body healed from her wounds by Asia. She had come out of the house a few moments ago and simply watched the fun until now.

But instead of letting Diodora monologue and hopefully give up some information, she brought the Boosted Gear down on the man's face, shattering it and quite a lot of the road underneath. "Fuck you, pervert!"

Harry quickly held up a hand, creating a shield in front of the both of them to protect them from the bits of brain matter and skull. "A little bit of overkill," he said calmly, pulling out Fragarach from the corpse and watching as it slowly began to fade away. "But I suppose there is no such thing as overkill in a fight. However, you get to clean that up, and I expect the rest of you to make certain that no one witnessed this fight or recorded anything about it. At this time of day there shouldn't be anyone around, but, even so, we made a lot of noise just then."

 _And I am so glad that the detection bubble Rias and Sona set up has the exact opposite effect when it comes to the Onmyodo government's ability to track magic,_ he thought ruefully. They had discovered that in the weeks of work they put into the new defensive working, and it proved to be, basically, the only portion of the old spell they were going to reproduce in the new working. _The last thing we want is to use up any good will we've been able to build up with them by having such a flashy fight._

Koneko winced at that, then nodded. "It'll be good to practice repair and memory spells, I suppose. Akeno-sempai and Buchou always handle those."

From behind Koneko, Asia, who had just healed Ruruko and Momo in less than a second, fell to her knees, all of her adrenaline leaving her at once, and she began to sob, staring at where Diodora had been.

Harry at first thought Asia was weeping for the man in question, sad at any death, but she wasn't. "I, I was truly damned, then. I fell from God's grace because of a devil's plot! "

"No!" Lily shouted, rushing forward to hug her from one side as Kunou did the other while Harry changed back into his human form, quickly transfiguring some clothes as he heard more than one gasp from the girls of Sona's peerage and a groan from Saji and.… _Is that Hyoudou with them?_

Setting that mystery aside, Harry moved toward the trio of girls as his daughter continued to speak. "You thought you were doing the right thing! You saved someone that was hurt! How would that ever be a bad thing, whatever he was?"

"But, but even so, others might come after me," Asia murmured, looking around at them all, easily remembering how they had looked before she had healed them, how Diodora had been overwhelming them before Koneko smashed him into the wards, and then those utterly terrifying black Ouroboros tattoos. "I'll, I'll leave. I can't ask you all to keep protecting me like this!"

"You can, because that's what family is," Harry said. Asia and the others looked up at him as he knelt down in front of Asia, and he smiled, ruffling her long blonde hair. "I was going to wait tell you this, Asia, until the papers actually arrived, but wanted to ask you if you wanted to be adopted into my family before this. Nothing that has happened today makes me want to second-guess that. This will be your home, Asia, no matter what anyone else says or wants or tries to do, if you want it to be."

Asia gasped at that, staring up at Harry with shock in her eyes. "But, I, I'll be bringing so much trouble. Doing that, it would be as bad as, as spitting on your hospitality over the past few months."

Harry simply shook his head. "No, you won't. I've said it before to others around here, but I'll say it again: Just because you are a target does not mean you're in the wrong. Just because other people want to use you does not make you the cause of their greed or lusts. It is always about the abuser, never the abused," he said firmly, now putting his arms around Asia and pulling her into a gentle hug as he knelt in front of her. "I will never regret this offer. The only question you have to ask is, is this something you want?"

For a moment Asia just trembled in his arms, the memory of the fight and how the Church had so violently rejected her going through her mind. How she had been forced to fend for herself for a time before the Fallen had moved in, only to offer her false hope. How she had felt that she had found a place to belong here, only to have Diodora appear and try to tear it away. Then she looked around at the friends who had defended her, who still welcomed her, who wanted Asia to be part of their lives despite the trouble she caused, who wanted her to grow with them.

Then the dam broke, and, as she thanked God for this second chance, she threw her arm around Harry's waist and sobbed into his shoulder. "Yes, yes I want to be part of the family, please!"

Later, after Asia had stopped sobbing, Harry entered the house with her still clinging to his side before slowly disengaging, letting Lily and Kunou take her away to the bathroom to clean up. All three of them, and, indeed, all of the others seemed to need it. _Thankfully, Sona's group all have their own homes where they can go to get cleaned up._ With Asia being looked after and all of their wounds seen to by Asia earlier, Harry nowlooked at Koneko and asked simply, "What happened?"

Koneko replied as succinctly as she could, gesturing around to the others, and especially to Issei, who had rather shamefacedly come in with the two from Sona's peerage to explain their parts in the fight, but was staying by the doorway, Looking out of place and rather lost. When she was done, Harry patted her head for several minutes, gently running his fingers over her ears as they popped out, causing her to turn into a purring mess, pressing her head into his lower chest like the cat she so resembled. "You did good, Koneko. You did everything right, although we will need to work on communication. You should have been able to call the minute this Diodora fellow showed up."

"Electronics won't work under a bounded field, Professor," said Momo, shrugging her shoulders as she looked at Harry, trying to banish the sight she'd had of him after he transformed to his human form but before he had remembered that his clothing had been burnt away. "Once the bounded field went up, we had to either reach you magically, something none of us are able to do, or leave the bounded field and find you that way, which we couldn't until after the fight was finished."

"Understood, but we still should've thought of what to do in a situation like this before, if that is the case. I never heard that about bounded fields, which means we do, indeed, need to work on communication," Harry replied dryly.

Then he sighed, and gestured with the crook of his fingers, his face going stern as he gently pushed a mutely protesting Koneko away. "Lily, come here, please."

Asia and the two youngsters had returned quickly, having just had a quick wash rather than a bath. Now Asia was sitting with Ruruko in the sitting room, drinking some fruit juice as they unwound from the fight further. Lily and Kunou were sitting there too, sharing a few tangerines, having worked up something of an appetite and waiting for the talking to be done before they could eat. Kunou was still looking a little shaky, though Lily wasn't, having been through numerous similar experiences in her young life, though she'd never had to fight on her own like this before, unless she counted running away from the crazy ex-exorcists.

Yet at the tone in her father's tone, Lily gulped and slowly moved towards him. He took her into the kitchen and sat her down at the table, then knelt in front of her, looking at her in the face levelly. "Do you understand what you did wrong?" he asked softly.

"Nope," Lily said, crossing her arms defiantly. "I helped my friends. What's wrong with that?"

"You did. And there's a part of me that's very proud of that. The rest of me, however, is a little furious right now," Harry said honestly reaching forward to poke Lily gently right above her crossed arms. "Lily, you are going to be barely eight years old soon, despite how mature and tough you are for your age. That means you shouldn't have to fight!"

"But Daddy!" Lily began only to stop as Harry held up a finger.

"Ahh, I'm not finished." Lily pouted but fell silent, and Harry went on. "If you had left immediately, there's a chance that the portkey could have gotten you through the bounded field or whatever other spell Diodora had tossed up. The Devils don't seem to know how portkeys work unless they have experience with them, so there was every chance you could have gotten away easily. Then I could have arrived within a minute of your escape and completely stopped the fight from happening in the first place."

Lily pouted at that, but slowly nodded, conceding her father's point, if very, very reluctantly. "Lily.…" Harry sighed and reached forward, gathering his daughter into a hug as he stood up. "Lily, I am proud of you. You fought when you didn't have to, and you fought for the right reasons. But the fact is, you shouldn't have had to, and if you had thought things through, you wouldn't have, and our friends wouldn't have gotten hurt as they did. And you know it, too."

When he saw Lily's pout deepen, he leaned in, whispering intensely. "This isn't like it was for me in Hogwarts when no one was willing to fight, forcing me to look after myself, Lily. You have me, Koneko, and all of the other adults around here to fight for you. You shouldn't have to fight for yourself, not yet. Don't go rushing into that kind of thing, Lily. You have your entire childhood to look forward to. Don't try to grow up before you have to."

"Now," he said, letting her escape back into the sitting room as he moved to the cookie jar. "I don't think Asia has any kind of favorite food, but she can be the tiebreaker between the three of you. And Koneko,…" he said, turning to the entrance into the foyer. "I think you earned quite a few cookies today."

"I don't fight for cookies, but they do help things along," she said promptly, catching the cookies that Harry tossed through the doorway leading into the kitchen, the cookies having been propelled by a small spell.

"Pizza and ice cream!" Kunou shouted.

"Vote for it, and I'll call it in," Harry said with a sigh, waving them off. With many a laugh the two girls grabbed Koneko and the returned Momo and Ruruko—who had stepped out to head back home to shower—and pulled them into the sitting room, where they went into a powwow. Issei, not having been invited to join, stayed where he was, looking even more out of place

Hearing a chuckle, Harry looked over at Kala, who had returned from a quick shower at her apartment and now stood, propping up the entrance to the kitchen from the foyer with her shoulder. That this gave Issei a chance to perv on her rear was not lost on her, but the blue-haired fallen didn't even look in his direction as she asked, "All done remonstrating with her?"

Harry sighed and nodded. "I think the problem with being a Potter is that we're all too ready to step in and fight. And I don't think I've done her any favors in that area. Darn it."

"I hope you weren't too hard on her. She is, after all, young and impetuous," Kala said, looking over into the sitting room where the girls looked to be ready to come to blows about the idea of ordering pizza instead of katsudon as Koneko set up a few games, with Asia and Momo talking quietly to one side of the others.

"I just wish I could convince myself that this was the last time she'll try to fight when she should try to run back to me," Harry said with a sigh.

Kala looked at him closely, then asked, "Not going to get all depressed again about how you weren't around when she was in danger?"

"Considering I was working on something that would enable me to know when she is in danger again, no, I won't," Harry said with a scowl. "Besides, it has actually been a relatively calm few months since then. At one point, when we were talked into attending a conference in France, there were at least six attacks on myself and Lily in a span of three weeks." He smiled a little coldly. "They only stopped because Tonks and I ended up killing the vast majority of the people involved."

Kala nodded, having no need to ask who Tonks was. The 'scatter-brained if badass cousin' showed up rather prominently in many of Harry's stories of the war against Riddle and right before it. "What were they trying to kidnap her for?"

"To uses in a ritual against me and everyone who fought Riddle. They never seemed to have any other political agenda, if that was what you're wondering. They simply hated me for getting rid of Tommy boy, who they'd wanted to follow so they could lord it over the nonmagicals. Heh, as if they could have pulled that off even if I wasn't around. They would eventually have run into the Three Factions and gotten their asses handed to them. They were a truly stupid bunch, but stupid with magical powers, no empathy, and absolutely no sense of morals."

Kala winced. "Right. That is a nasty proposition."

"Heh, you're telling me." Shaking his head, Harry turned his attention to Issei at last, waving him in from the foyer. "Well, Hyoudou-kun, go on in and join the party. No need to stand on ceremony. But no questions just yet, if you please. Rias should be here this evening, and she should really be the one to explain all this to you."

At that Issei blinked in shock. "You, you call Gremory-sama 'Rias,' Potter-sensei?! And, and you have a ward like Asia, and Koneko-chan enjoyed you rubbing her head, and you're known to be friendly with both Himejima-sama and Shitori-sama, and then there's the blue-haired hottie! I'm so jealous; you've achieved my freaking dream!" Issei actually began to tear up at that, raising a forearm to wipe away his tears as he continued. "You probably play with those oppai.… Ah, I mean…no! Perverted thoughts out!" he suddenly shouted, smacking his forehead as the girls around him looked at him askance.

"And you were doing so well, too." Rolling his eyes, Harry gestured for Saji, who had just come out from the bathroom, to push the other young boy into his kitchen and asked calmly, "Do we have to call your parents or something? You'll probably be here for the rest of the day and well into the night."

"Ahh, I'll do it," Issei said, now looking kind of embarrassed. "I don't suppose I could use your phone?"

Harry nodded, gesturing over to where a phone was plugged into the wall. _Hmm, need to think about buying a cellphone for Lily. I'm not certain she won't abuse the privilege, but she really should have some way to contact me at need, though it wouldn't have helped today._ Since electronics didn't work in Hogwarts and other magically intense areas, Harry believed Momo when she said that the bounded field would have disrupted any attempt to call out of it.

Issei called home and told his parents he was going to stay in a new friend's house. The response was as he should have expected. "New friend! You're not just saying that because you're going to be over with your other perverted buddies, are you?" his father asked.

"No, dad. In fact, this is kind of the study session with Potter-sensei. I'm trying to bring my English grades up, and I've met a lot of other students that're trying to do the same. He's having us all over, although going to his house was kind of a sudden thing, or else he probably would've called you and told you about it himself," Issei lied easily. It wasn't the first time, after all, though this one was for a much better cause.

"So you're making friends! Friends who aren't perverts?"

"Yes, dad. Friends who aren't perverts, and a few of them are even girls!" Issei replied, wondering when his parents had begun to look down at him so. (Answer: for years; he was just noticing now.)

"Oh, honey!" his father said before Issei could hang up, shouting so loudly that Harry with his werewolf hearing could still hear. "Our son's becoming a normal teen!"

"Happy day," shouted a female voice in the background. "I'll prepare some red bean soup."

"I thought that was only for girls at a…certain point in their lives, shall we say?" Harry said with a smirk as Issei finally hung up.

"God, that was so embarrassing," Issei muttered, one hand on his face as he moved into the sitting area.

Since this area had been modified via talismans to enlarge itself at need, it still fit them all comfortably. Harry conjured up and then took possession of a second sofa, and Koneko quickly moved into his side from where she had been preparing a game. Looking up at him with soulful eyes, she practically sat on his lap, causing Issei and Saji look on jealously. "Head pats?"

Laughing, Harry began to gently stroke her hair. "Well, you certainly deserve it today."

Asia took over Harry's other side, asking hesitantly, "Um, is this all right…Father?"

"Call me whatever you feel most comfortable with, Asia," he said, smiling slightly as Lily and Kunou pulled out a large bean bag and sat directly in front of the TV screen, Kunou having finished moving on from the traumatic fight. After all, none of their friends were seriously hurt, and the bad guys had all lost, so, from their point of view, everything was right in the world.

"Just not Daddy," Harry went on with laugh. "From a girl your age, I think that would sound a little wrong."

Asia laughed too, even if she didn't understand the joke, while Koneko nodded seriously, and Saji and Issei both had blushes on their face and looks of relief in their eyes, too. Issei, however, looked around at them all and asked simply, "I know you said earlier you wanted to wait for Gremory-sama, but I would really, **really** like that explanation now, sir! I would really prefer to know what's going on now!"

Sighing, Harry looked over at the other devils, who all shrugged or just nodded in Issei's direction, Ruruko looking at him thoughtfully. "All right, kiddo. How to put this bluntly yet without overwhelming you?… We'll start with the obvious, I suppose. One, magic is real,…" Harry began.

 **OOOOOOO**

When they returned and had heard of the attack, Rias and Sona were utterly furious. Rias's rage was a hot, elemental thing, while Sona became colder by far. "We will have to add some means of stopping familiars from being able to get in and simply observe us in the future," Sona said, her eyes glinting dangerously. "Perhaps a means to make the owner of any familiar caught like that feel pain, or link the familiar to the owner and force them to feel its pain as we expel it."

Momo nodded immediately. "Yes, Mistress. I've already thought about that, and I think I've come up with a solution. Technically speaking, familiars acting in such a manner are acting upon the will of their masters, which means that there is indeed a **will** there to be spotted by intent based wards, correct? So it stands to reason that, if they do so, we can feel that intent through them, can't we, and have the defensive working expel them because of that?"

"That and some anti-animal wards. There are numerous wards designed to keep all manner of animals away. I think will work very well," Harry said with a nod and a wink towards the silver haired girl, who blushed slightly and looked away. "Working them into the existing structure shouldn't be too difficult."

Rias chuckled at that, her anger slowly leaching out of her and her aura disappearing, while Akeno still looked mildly furious that she had missed all the action. Looking at Asia, she smiled down at the girl, reaching forward and pulling her into a hug, the younger girl's head coming to rest on Rias's stomach, not her chest, thanks to the fact that she was sitting down with Harry and Koneko still, something Asia was quietly thankful for. "Asia, I want to reiterate what Harry has no doubt already told you. This was not your fault; it was this Diodora being an, an utter leech! He simply wanted you. That doesn't mean it was your fault, and you are still welcome in Sona's and my territory."

"Thank you, Rias-sempai," Asia said, hugging the older girl back. "Everyone has told me the same thing already, but it's still nice to hear."

"Good," Rias replied, stepping back and looking over at Sona. "But we still need to talk about this further."

Harry nodded and stood up, reluctantly moving away from the two girls who were still sitting by his side several hours later since Rias had arrived. "I think we should adjourn to the backyard, if that's alright with everyone."

Leaving most of Sona's peerage behind along with Loup and a few of the others, including Asia and Kiba but not Koneko, Harry led the others into the backyard. But Kiba stopped Harry as he was exiting, nodding down to his pouch. "Do you want the sword back?"

"Was it useful?" Harry asked interestedly. He hadn't heard any details yet, the fight which had occurred here in Kuoh having grabbed everyone's attention the instant they had heard about it. "And what about my old Firebolt and the talismans I gave you?"

From nearby, Loup grunted, and Kiba gave him a mock glare. "For most of us, yes they were very helpful. Loup was fine without them though."

Loup nodded at that, and then turned to Sona and Rias, addressing the fact that they had both offered to turn him into a devil. "Sorry, not going to be a devil. Too much hassle."

While Rias simply nodded and followed Harry outside, Sona sighed but nodded her head at that, falling into step with the far taller werewolf. "Entirely understandable from your perspective, I'm sure." Loup didn't have many desires. He wasn't greedy, he had no huge dream he wanted to achieve, and he had seen firsthand how Light Magic could impact their abilities. So it was logical, even if she didn't really like it.

Outside they found that Harry had created numerous small Bluebell fires around the area to give them some light, since it was now fully dark out. Sona took a moment to admire that as well as the various wards that kept other people from noticing or even having any interest in anything going on in the backyard of his house. They were subtle and quite powerful in their own way, though the power of the rest of the array made those more subtle wards pale in comparison.

However, she quickly turned her attention back to the main discussion as Harry conjured up some chairs for them all, with Kala coming up behind her, tapping the shorter Sona on the shoulder. "Wine?"

"Yes, thank you," Sona replied absentmindedly, and Kala went around, pouring drinks for everyone else before sitting down next to Harry on one side, while Rias and Akeno sat on his other. Rias smiled across at Issei who had followed them out. He had heard about how Rias had resurrected him and wanted to ask her some questions, but Rias unfortunately had other things she wanted to speak about before getting to that. "We'll get to you eventually, Issei-san, but unfortunately there is one point that we need to discuss before that, okay?"

Issei nodded, staring around him at all the exotic beauties and trying desperately to keep his thoughts to himself, but the contortions of his face made Akeno smile. "Ara, someone's hurting himself by keeping all those…thoughts…inside," she said with a laugh. "That's not healthy, you know, Hyoudou-kun."

Eventually it got to be too much, and Issei quickly turned to Harry, pointing at him. "Damn you! You really do have a harem, don't you?! All pretty boys should just die!"

Harry raised one eyebrow, then shook his head sadly. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Hyoudou-san. However, I feel I should remind you the you need to convince girls to have any interest in you in turn rather than just trying to grope or spy on them. A relationship is always a two-way street."

That made Issei wince and subside, and Harry smiled kindly. "Why don't you go inside and we'll call you when were ready to talk? The least we can do while were talking about serious things is let you have some fun."

Issei nodded at that, and he headed back inside rapidly.

"Did you tell him anything?" Rias asked.

"The barest outline: magic is real; devils, etc., are real; you saved his life and have been hoping that he'd show some growth before bringing him into your peerage proper," Harry replied.

"That last is true, as far as it goes," Rias said with a sigh, pulling at her ahoge. "But I still shouldn't have left him out in the cold like that. I should've brought him in regardless of his lack of ability with magic. He's still part of my peerage, part of my responsibility. If he hadn't gone into this blind, he could have been better prepared for it."

"Perhaps. But this way, he's built some independence and has shown a bit of willpower, too, to actually join in the fight despite the supernatural nature of it. At least two of your peerage, Sona, seem to be quite interested in him because of that."

Sona rolled her eyes. "That's nice, but we have more important things to deal with then Hyoudou-kun."

"I know. I was just acknowledging that I made a mistake there," Rias said primly, looking over at Harry and then at Koneko, who had rather reluctantly been pulled out of the ongoing party inside to join them. "What was the name he gave again?"

"Astaroth," Koneko and Momo replied as one.

Rias scowled, leaning back and looking over at Sona. "That's what I feared you said, but they are a Pillar clan! In fact, my Nii-sama's best friend is from that clan. In fact, if my memory isn't playing tricks, isn't Diodora the name of the clan heir?!"

"It is. They aren't part of the Pureblood faction and are supposed to be staunch believers in your brother's domestic policies of meritocracy. Indeed, they control the most popular training center for the promotion test to rise from low class to middle class devils, " Sona said with a frown of her own. "There are going to be some severe political repercussions there." She paused as the others waited for her to continue, and she did so, still thinking things through. "However, we might actually be saved by the fact that neither you nor I were here, and he was the aggressor."

"True," Rias said with a nod, watching in amusement as Harry fought back a grimace at the political talk, no matter how brief it was. The two of them had had several long discussions about that, the need to retain a public persona, and the phrase noblesse oblige, and she saw no reason to rehash them here. "That will turned a possible feud between our families into a diplomatic incident at the most."

"I think we need to do this officially," Sona said decisively. This was politics, and that was much more her area of expertise than Rias's. "Investigate everything, write up formal witness reports, and send it all off in triplicate to Beelzebub-sama, Lucifer-sama, Serafall-neesama, the head of the Astaroth clan, and then to our own families. Make it clear to everyone involved that this came at us out of the blue, that he was the aggressor, and that we are not going to demand any payment from the family. Diodora's loss of life along with the death of everyone in his peerage and therefore the loss of face to the clan now that it has to look for another heir will be enough."

"Actually, I have a question about that point," Harry interjected. "I understand that devils aren't very fertile, but this is an entire clan. Surely there are others the clan heads can choose to name their heirs. Why is it such a big deal?"

"Being a clan heir means much more than blood," Rias replied sadly, thinking about her cousin Sairaorg. "To be heir of a clan, you need to show that you have talent with the family magics. In this case, it would be a certain ability with blood-based spells. In the case of the Gremory Clan, it is teleportation arrays, in the case of the Bael clan, my mother's clan, the Power of Destruction. Gremory magic is based both on blood and on the ability to calculate internally the magic and distances involved, as well as some other things. Anyone can learn how to create an array, but Gremory arrays are better, more versatile, easier to use, etc. But even more interestingly, my father can teleport different parts of his body or create arrays so quickly he can use them in battle."

She smiled somewhat grimly. "I'm working on that part, myself, but it's why my position as Heir is so important. Milicas has shown no hint that he has that inherent ability yet, hence why he can't be named heir in my stead." Then she laughed. "If he had, it would have made my own position much more pleasant."

As Harry nodded, Rias turned back to what Sona had been saying, nodding firmly. "That's the best thing we can do for certain. Although, I think we might need more evidence, at least for Ajuka and our siblings."

Harry stood up, smiling blandly. "I'll go get my pensieve. I'd also like your opinions about the odd magic I saw him use."

As Harry was gone, Koneko described what portions she saw of the magic curse or whatever it was that helped Diodora survive for so long against Harry. But it wasn't much of a help: tattoos, after all, were well-known to be used to apply spells occasionally. Though being able to hide them underneath a layer of skin and then have the tattoos coming alive to protect the individual wearing them was something else.

After plunging into the pensieve for time, Rias came back, shaking her head. She didn't have any greater idea what that spell had been than Harry did, but she did know one thing for certain now. Pulling out her purse she flashed a credit card at Harry as well as a check book. "How much for that pensieve, Harry? It is simply too damn amazing not to have a copy for my own!"

Sona nodded agreement, also pulling out her own purse. "I have no doubt that Beelzebub-sama could come up with a Devilic version, but for now that device and what can be seen within it, as well as the fact that the memories can be tested for falsehood, will save quite a lot of trouble in the long run."

"I don't know what they sell for on the open market. I'll have to think about that one. I also only have the one, I'm afraid, though I can send a message to Hermione to find another one if she can. I was already going to have to contact her for something else anyway."

Rias nodded, leaned up, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Harry." Then she turned to Koneko, enveloping her in a hug. "And very well done, Koneko-chan. Like Harry said, I think you did just about everything you could. And you even used the Boosted Gear! That's amazing in itself!"

"Which, I think, takes us handily to Hyoudou," Harry interjected, smiling at the scene as Koneko leaned against her King's hug while Akeno offered her own congratulations.

Issei soon came back out, and Rias smiled politely at him. That was it, a polite smile. It was somewhat friendly, but not very, but combined with the fact that she was leaning back in one of Harry's conjured wooden chairs and had her legs crossed in front of her as she looked at him, it was enough to send his mind into an ecchi direction. "Issei-san, I understand that Harry and the others explained to you some of what this new world you are part of now entails, but I will give you a more detailed outline. But, before that, do you have any questions?"

"I have one major one and then a few just about, well, being a devil, I guess," Issei said, scratching at the back of his neck trying, and failing, to keep his eyes from wandering.

"I'll cover the ones about being a devil first, if that's all right?" Rias asked with a smile. "After all, as your King, it is my place to help you through this difficult time. I'm sorry I did not approach you sooner, but I honestly felt that allowing you to grow on your own, to maybe even just go back to your old life for a time, would be the better thing for you. That was my mistake, and I apologize for it."

Issei waved that off bashfully, while his mind went off course to a perverted idea of how Rias could make it up to him. The fact that this contorted his face in several interesting ways as a blush rose to his cheeks and a little bit of blood dripped from his nostrils was not lost on anyone, and Akeno chuckled throatily. "It seems as if someone is in need of some punishment~~."

Shuddering slightly as a chill went down his spine at those words, Issei came back to the here and now. "Ah, um right, my questions about being a devil, right. Potter-sensei said I don't eat souls or anything and I've seen my wings so I guess, well, I just want to know what the difference between a devil and a human really is?"

"You'll find that you're stronger and faster than most humans. On the emotional side of things, you will find yourself giving into your desires more often than a normal human would, your sins, pride, greed, gluttony, envy, lust - which in your case I assume would be the main one - sloth and wrath. They will be stronger in you, their influence on your actions stronger. But these can be overcome with a strong will or a simple desire not to give in."

Seeing that Issei just nodded, not understanding what that meant Rias went on. _After all, I doubt that Hyoudou-kun will be effected overmuch by that change, he already is a creature of lust._ "As a Devil you will have access to a magical core within you. It is a small one for now and will remains so unless you train it up, with which you will be able to use magic. We don't eat souls anymore to gain power, thank the Maous, heh, quite literally actually." She laughed, before moving on, seeing the joke had of course gone over Hyoudou's head. "You can instead enhance your magical power through two means: one constant training, and two, creating contracts with humans."

After she finished, Issei nodded slowly. "All right I understand that, but what's the point? What's the point of getting stronger? I mean, unless fights like this happen all the time or something?"

"Hopefully not," Harry, Rias and Sona all said as one, causing Akeno to giggle, and the three of them to look at one another. "Being attacked like this in our own territory should be something that is very rare indeed," Rias said looking away slightly somewhat embarrassed since that hadn't proven to be true up to this point, had it? _On the other hand, once our defensive working is finished that will indeed become the case._ "But I won't lie and say that our world is very peaceful. There is always the threat of conflict at the very least between the Three Factions for one thing, and of course there are rogue devils and other aberrations."

"The other reason to enhance your personal strength is to rise in Devil society. You will have more power over other people and yourself, more opportunities, money, wealth, a better place in society." Seeing Issei was losing interest, Rias sighed and then reluctantly played her trump card. _This feels rather manipulative, but I can't argue it will be effective given his perversions._ "And of course, you can also become powerful enough to split off from my family and form your own peerage."

"Which many a devil has turned into their own personal harem," Akeno said next to her. Just like her King, Akeno knew what would motivate Issei. "I understand that is something most men would find very interesting~," she said teasingly, her eyes twitching over towards Harry, who chuckled, but leaned back and continued to watch events silently.

"Sign me up!" Issei said swiftly, throwing an arm into the air like he was trying to answer a question in class. "Right there, **that** right there! Heck, you should've led with that! If I can create my own harem, then I'll become the strongest devil there's ever been! For the oppai!"

He shouted the last words like a warcry, causing Tsubaki and Sona to sigh. Akeno laughed aloud, her shoulders shaking and sending her breasts to jiggling in such a way that grabbed even Harry's attention for a moment while Rias's face started to twitch. "Well, that is nice," she said simply, gritting her teeth before smiling, "however, I have to inform you that if you're looking to add myself Akeno, we're both already in a relationship."

Staring between them Issei blushed, blood now pouring down from his nose and Akeno shook her head quickly, knowing precisely where his thoughts had gone. "Not with each other, but with a man. So do keep your lecherous thoughts to yourself Iss~ei-kun~." The teased, once more shifting enough to set her breasts to moving, giggling as Issei's eyes tracked the movement. Akeno decided she rather liked being back in the position of the sole teaser for some reason, and resolved to milk this for all it was worth.

Before Issei could recover from that, Harry leaned forward his emerald eyes grabbing Issei's like that of a gorgon. "And Asia and Koneko are my now my daughter and my surrogate daughter respectively, even if Koneko is also part of Rias's family," he said, smiling and subtly reaching down to squeeze her hand but not breaking his glare on Issei, his face set into the most forbidding look he could make it. "So if you even look at them cross-eyed, I will come down on you like a ton of rectangular building things."

That line, delivered with that face, caused everyone there who had read the Terry Pratchett books in his class - which was all of them at this point - to laugh.

Recovering first, Sona interjected her own thoughts on this matter. "For myself while I am not in a relationship with anyone, I have no desire to be in one either. My requirement for a perspective swain is simple however: you must beat me in a game of chess to prove you are my intellectual equal."

Issei winced at that, nodding and already mentally giving up on Sona. After all, not only did she have the best grades of anyone in the school, she was known as a champion Chess-master in their age group. Indeed, she had beaten chess masters twice her age in matches which had been actually publicized, or at least so the rumors said.

"All right, well, with all that I'm happy with being a devil." And he was. Anything that led him to his dream of a harem was good thing in his opinion even if he had to die to do it. Besides he didn't remember dying very well, so who cared? "But, what about why they were after me in the first place? Potter-sensei said I had some kind of secret power it me, but he didn't go into any detail."

"That would be because this is the secret power you had in you," Harry said softly, tapping the gauntlets still on Koneko's forearm. The Nekomata had been asked about the attack here in Kuoh by Sona and Rias about the odd Ouroboros tattoos she had seen but after that, she had been busy creating and sharing her memory of the fight falling silent after the discussion had turned away from that. "This is the Boosted Gear, Ddraig the Great Welsh and it's one of the most powerful Sacred Gears out there, a Sacred Gear created by God which can kill other gods."

"But," Harry went on looking up at Issei. "Before we could rescue you, it had already been extracted by Raynare and her bunch. None of us knew how to place it back into you and then Rias had to revive you as a devil before your spirit fully passed on. Yet because it had been extracted in such a manner, other people have been able to use it, myself, Koneko and even my daughter, though she only used it to roughhouse with Koneko."

"Roughhouse?"

"You saw my daughter transform into a werewolf didn't you?" Harry asked, as a ring appeared on his finger. The jewel on the gauntlet seemed to glow for a brief moment as his ring touched it.

"Oh yeah," Issei said with an internal shiver. While he wasn't into lolitas (they didn't have oppai) seeing a pretty little girl change into an oddly human-like werewolf creature had startled him out of his skin. "That makes sense I guess. So what you're saying is that even though it was mine originally, I can't use it now?" That hurt: knowing that he'd had that power, and now didn't, hurt since it could have helped him gain the harem he wanted.

"We don't know yet," Harry said with a smile. "It depends on Ddraig's opinion."

"Wait, you just said it was a tool. I mean, it's just a gauntlet, how can a gauntlet have an opinion?" Issei asked. "It's a very cool gauntlet, but still…"

" _ **Hey!"**_ Shouted the gauntlet, the words emanating from the gauntlet. _ **"I resent that remark, punk!"**_

Issei twitched backwards in his seat shouting "The gauntlet talked!" the others looked on in interest.

" _ **You're a quick one!"**_ the gauntlet replied with a chuckle. _**"And this was supposed to be my destined user this time around?"**_

"Apparently," Harry said with a cavalier shrug. "This whole Sacred Gear business seems far too random to my mind."

"Too true," Rias muttered shaking her head yet still staring at the Boosted Gear. "Still, I think it is fair that we at least let Issei try to bond with Ddraig."

Harry nodded agreement, and looked at Koneko, who nodded and slowly pulled the gauntlet offer hand. She held it out to the boy, with some reluctance it had to be said. The thing had been fun as heck to use and she was interested in the power it offered.

Tremulously, Issei took the thing in his hands, staring down at it. "All right, so I just put this on and use it then?"

" _ **Ha!"**_ Shouted the gauntlet. _**"No boy. You send your soul into the gauntlet to talk to me first. You must impress me before I let you wield my power.**_ _"_

Koneko had done that last weekend under Harry's guidance, and Ddraig had been impressed by her desire to defend her family and friends, although the matchup wasn't quite ideal. Koneko lacked a true killer's instincts, and was conflicted about her heritage to a degree that took away from her power. Harry was a better match but his style of combat wasn't one that lent itself to brute force like Ddraig was used to, so he understood that Harry would not be the best choice if Ddraig wanted to be used at all. And despite his confinement, Ddraig still enjoyed fighting.

There was also still the bit about the fact that he owned Fragarach, and had taken a lot of his magical strength from items which have been created from Manannán Mac Lir. That god was from a pantheon that Ddraig had clashed with numerous times back when he had his original body. Indeed, his body still bore some scars from those clashes.

Issei blinked. "Um, how do I do that?"

"Close your eyes and concentrate. Think of yourself as a sort of light globe like these," Harry said gesturing up and around at the Bluebell flames that were giving them all some light. "Then think about forcing that sense of self into the gauntlet."

Issei tried multiple times, but couldn't seem to get to it, and Rias sighed. "I don't think he has enough magical power yet, Harry. We'll have to build that up until he's capable of actually communicating with the gauntlet."

"Ara, I suppose I can help with that," Akeno said, to which Kala added her agreement. The Fallen had, like Koneko and even Tsubaki, not said much during the discussion, having little to add when they moved beyond the discussion about the battle here in Kuoh. Here though she did speak up. She still felt like she owed Issei something for the decent advice he had given her.

"Or I can help him now," Harry said with a sigh. With his ring on the large green orb of the Gauntlet, Harry's other free hand resting on Issei's forehead. "This might feel weird, but don't try to fight it." With that, Harry used his power over souls to reach out and almost drag Issei's into the gauntlet.

Harry appeared in Ddraig's realm, with Issei clinging to his hand before falling to his knees as they arrived, staring around them. The area hadn't changed much since Harry was here last, though a lot of the images in the air seemed to have been replaced by Issei's memories, most of which Harry made a point of not looking at after seeing a few out of the corner of his eye.

" **Hmmf, so he's really that scrawny, I was hoping that was just from my perspective as the gauntlet."** Ddraig grumbled, leaning his massive head down. **"Not much to look at, is he?"**

"Gahhh!" Issei shouted, before shaking his head. "Dragon! Oh! Um, right…wow, he's a lot bigger than I expected."

" **That's what she said,"** Ddraig replied dryly, causing Issei and Harry both to blink at him, Then Issei laughed while Harry smacked his forehead.

That joke seemed to bolster Issei, and he stood up, pointing dramatically at Ddraig. "Okay, listen up Ddraig! You were supposed to be my power and I figure that with that you and I should be able to get along so I can get my harem! So throw whatever test you want at me, I'll beat it!"

"Right, well I'll leave the two of you alone," Harry said with a bland, if twitching, smile. "I'm sure you've got lots to talk about."

Exiting the gauntlet he looked around at the others. "They're talking now. I suppose we'll have to see what happens, but if he can't use the Boosted Gear, how are you going to train him?"

"Pawns are supposed to be jacks of all trades pieces, okay at a lot of things, but not great at any. Still, skill can make up the difference there. I'll pay Loup to extend the lessons he has been giving Koneko to include Issei, and Kalawarner and Akeno have already they'll train Hyoudou-kun in magic. Beyond that, I think a month or so of taking on clients, as many old clients as we can hand off to him and a few days spent making his own as a base before switching entirely to training," Rias replied.

Harry nodded, but before he could say anything Issei's eyes flew open. He fell away from Harry's hand, shaking his head and growling while the gauntlet lit up once more. _**"Enough!"**_ The gauntlet bellowed. "There's nothing in that boy's head but this fixation with those large mammary glands you humans have." Ddraig's bellows paused and he went on in a more ruminative tone. _**"I've never understood the attraction of those. Now a fine tail on the other hand, that I could find attractive. Still, even setting his monkey fixation on udders aside, there was nothing about combat nothing about training in there, only perversion."**_

"How dare you! Oppai are a gift from the Gods, a blessing given to man for our viewing pleasure, not to mention everything else we can do with them! I refuse to listen to this blasphemy that tails of all things, **tails,** are more attractive!" Issei roared ,grabbing the gauntlet and shaking it, while Ddraig roared back.

The two of them were so loud that those inside the house heard him, and Saji began to nod along to some of Issei's points. But he still shook his head when Issei paused for breath, allowing Ddraig to get in a word edgewise. "Yes, oppais are important, but they're not the most important thing, the most important thing is…"

At that point Loup reached around the shorter man and put a large hand over his mouth. "Best say nothing," he said, gesturing around them to the girls who were all looking disgusted at what they were hearing.

Cocking an eyebrow Harry shook his head slowly while Akeno tittered and the others slowly moved their chairs backwards as he spoke loudly to be heard over the shouting. "So your objection isn't the fact that he's a pervert, but that his fixation is on something that you don't understand?"

" _ **Not just that!"**_ Ddraig said seriously, turning his attention away from Issei as Koneko grabbed the gauntlet from the pervert's hand and handed it back to Harry. When Harry took the gauntlet, Ddraig's voice appeared in his head rather than from out of the gauntlet. **"He is untried, he doesn't have much of an ability to concentrate, and frankly, I think the two of us are just not compatible any longer. I might deign to be wielded by him like this, like I have with Koneko and yourself Potter, but nothing more. Honestly, being that fixated on oppais, and not tails? What's the point?"**

Harry nodded slowly, replying in the same manner. _"All right I've discovered some new things here. You're a pervert, but for something different than oppai, and that this and your stance on training means you have having no compatibility with Issei any longer. I take it the way you spoke there that our way of using you limits your power?"_

" **Somewhat yes. My powers normally enhance the wearer's body to a certain degree, Each Boost have a somewhat permanent effect on their strength. As it is, once you remove my gauntlet from your arm, you revert to your former strength. I also have to ask you why, if you're so concerned about your daughter being attacked, why you haven't Blessed her yet."** Ddraig asked, sounding quizzically.

" _Blessing?"_ Harry asked, quizzically. _"What's that?"_

" **All gods or even demi-gods as you might be can bless people, places, things, giving of their own power in a way. I'm not certain who it actually works, but it is why heroes of old sometimes took on aspects and powers from their patron god."** Ddraig replied. **"Wait, you didn't know?"**

" _Of course I didn't know you, you perverted dragon, GRAH!"_ trying calm down, he asked, _"So, how do I use these Blessings? And how would it work?"_

" **How am I supposed to know?** _ **"**_ Ddraig grumped. **"I'm not a god, why would I know how your magic is supposed to work."**

With a frustrated scowl, Harry pulled the gauntlet off and let the ring disappear into his mental space once more, scowling and shaking his head. "Right, something new to research, if I can even find a starting point. Ugh, I'm going to set that to the side for now, let's head back inside, I think I need some wine, and that bottle's empty."

While Rias and the others looked at him quizzically before standing up in turn Koneko brushed past them all, heading inside first, but not stopping heading straight for the kitchen sink. "What's wrong Koneko?" Kiba asked looking up from where he had been sharpening the sword of Gryffindor.

"Need to wash my forearm," Koneko grumped. "Perverted gauntlet."

 **OOOOOOO**

Later, Issei found himself walking home with several of Sona's peerage as well as Kiba, something that displeased both of them, since Kiba would've preferred to spend some private time with his girlfriend on the way home. Sona remained behind to talk about what they had all learned along with her Queen, pulling her away from that pleasant pastime.

Sona was astonished, as was everyone else, that Rias had been able to suborn Yubelluna, but after getting over his own surprise, Harry pulled Rias into a sideways hug. "Good for you. I hope that you can free her and you can kick Riser's rear so hard if sticks even with his regeneration ability. But I think," he said, looking over at the others before his eyes fastened on Tsubaki, "Tsubaki, that your assault was actually the one that yielded the most information."

"A holy sword, the knowledge that it and one other were stolen from the Church, and the fact that someone unaffiliated, seemingly, from the Khaos Brigade is attempting to cause a war to erupt within the factions by attacking us here in Kuoh," Tsubaki said dryly. "Yes, I rather think our mission was important too."

She went on to describe how they had set up numerous bombs and other traps in the forward base, while Harry examined the holy sword thoughtfully. He could sense some kind of power in it, but it was very rarefied if it was there at all. He had wanted to keep it, but Rias and Sona both vetoed that idea, with Sona explaining how even Harry's possession of it might spark the war they were so afraid would restart, since he could be seen as an ally of theirs.

Instead, Sona would send it to her sister, who would pass it on to the Church. How that would be accomplished, she didn't say, despite Rias and Harry both asking for clarification. There were secrets and friendships there that it wasn't her place to talk about. She was also deeply concerned about the Hospitallers being involved, but was willing to pass that on as well and hope the Church could figure out if they had been dupes, or if the Church itself had someone inside wishing to bring about a new, open conflict with the other factions.

"Don't put any hope in that trap you planted with my remaining talismans actually springing," Harry said as the tale finished. "I'd lay odds that whoever this is will call ahead with some code phrases or whatnot and won't be caught out so easily."

"That was understood, but it was worth a try. We didn't find any other leads to any other bases or anything more about this 'Father' character," Tsubaki replied, scowling.

Harry nodded at that, wondering. _If they had gotten the names of any of the people they fought, I might have been able to question their spirits_. Like it had given him the ability to commune with Ddraig, Harry's ring, meant to embody the rat Manannán had used to ferry souls to the land of the dead, might well have given him the ability to pull their souls back from that land in order to get answers.

"That kind of preemptive strike might, in fact, have stopped their plans going forward. That and the Onmyouji attacks on their various other places may well cut into their numbers too much for them to attack us here as they wanted to," Rias mused.

"And we will all be working on the protection array tomorrow," Harry said firmly. "I want that up and running as soon as possible."

"How?" Sona asked simply. "The defense works need an entire twenty-four hours charge from all five of us, and none of us can be absent from school for that long."

"We could just take a few days off," Rias shot back, looking at her friend reproachfully.

"Certainly, all four of us plus Harry could take a day off. That wouldn't look suspicious to anyone, including the principal," Sona replied sarcastically. "Our friendship with Potter-sensei is well known, but taking days off at the same time he is, without any paperwork in advance or sign that we're sick? The rumors that would abound on that scarcely bear thinking about."

Harry was about to bark that he didn't care about rumors, but, at the look in Rias's face, he subsided. He might not care, but Rias and the others were still young women in high school. They needed to be aware of rumors, and Harry needed to realize that. _Plus, the principal is starting to become a mite suspicious of how much time Rias and I spend around one another, the wanker. Still, that doesn't mean we are without resources._ "Actually, I have a plan.…"

 **OOOOOOO**

"My Lord, I have a report from my trip to,…" Yubelluna said as she opened the door to Riser's private quarters, only to pause as what she was seeing. Inside was Riser's bedroom. This was a gigantic edifice, fully in keeping with the Riser's ego, with a bed that nearly filled the entire expanse from one side to another. Riser often boasted that it was big enough for his entire peerage and had to be, because he would be damned if he had to hop from bed to bed every night to seek satisfaction.

That was what he was doing right now. He was taking Ni from behind as he was making out furiously with Isabela while the others busied themselves rubbing their bodies against his or simply lay there, waiting for Riser to turn his attention on them.

None of them had even heard her interruption, thankfully, and, closing the door again, Yubelluna shuddered at the look of ecstasy on Isabela's face's, disgust rising from deep within her. She knew the youngest four pawns didn't enjoy what Riser did to them—and who could blame them, considering two of them were barely eleven! But the magic of the peerage, the magic that connected the Evil Pieces to the King's Piece made them enjoy it when he did, just as it did Yubelluna past a certain point.

The two Rooks and the Knight, Siris, though, they honestly loved him or, at least, seemed to act that way. Yubelluna wasn't prepared to bet on whether that love was real or was artificially created through the peerage bond to Riser simply because the three of them were closet masochists, who got off on how he treated them, and that that had segued into what they thought was love. Mihae, the Bishop, and the others she was uncertain about, save for the second Knight. Karlamine, Yubelluna knew, would hate Riser with every fiber of her being if the magic that bound her to him didn't make that impossible.

Still, Yubelluna had a report to make to someone in the Phenex clan and left Riser's wing to seek out his parents, finding them in the solar. This was a room filled with books and other odds and ends, including what looked like a globe of the world that dated back to the 1500s, an original treatise by the explorer Marco Polo, and, somewhat bizarrely to Yubelluna's tastes, a child-sized Nazi flag signed by Adolf Hitler himself.

Glancing over that last item Yubelluna shuddered slightly, thinking that for all the evils devils could do, humans could all too easily match them. But the idea that Hitler had been a client of the house of Phenex would probably have made far too much sense to too many people who knew the man and how many assassination attempts he had lived through. Thankfully, the buffoon had squandered his Phoenix tears and had indeed died by suicide, of all things, when the Soviets took Berlin.

Lord and Lady Phenex were going over some notebooks of some kind, but looked up as the statuesque Yubelluna entered. "Yes, Yubelluna? What is it?"

"Lady Phenex, Lord Phenex," she said, bowing formally. "Lord Riser assigned me to talk to the Torgumada Clan in their territory in Japan and to take a few contracts there that they had been forced to pass on to House Phenex due to lack of resources. I discovered something there, however, that was of such import that I felt it deserved a formal report."

Lord Phenex set aside the notebook he'd been working on and nodded slowly. "I can tell by your tone this is serious. Just tell us what you found."

"And was our son with you?" Lady Phenex asked. "That was supposed to be his job."

"I am afraid not, Lady Phenex," Yubelluna said regretfully, her voice and body language matching that emotion with the ease of long practice. "Lord Riser was busy trying to convince his older brother that he should take over Ravel-sama's training this afternoon and told me to go without him."

"AH yes, we did hear snippets of that argument," Lady Phenex said with a sigh, gesturing down to the pile of books in front of them. "Unfortunately, this has been keeping us busy."

Yubelluna nodded but had no interest in learning what 'this' was. The sheer number of books and the fact that all of them seemed to be handwritten notebooks implied that there was something large going on with some of the contracts of the family, and, as the Queen of Riser, who was merely second in line for the heirship, she had no need to know what.

"Indeed," Lord Phenex said with a sigh, looking down at the books as well, his face displaying some irritation, but with a glint of good humor underneath it. "The only time we've actually seen any of our children today was at breakfast, when we agreed to pressure Lord and Lady Gremory to allow Riser to actually start to woo Rias before her nineteenth birthday. It makes good sense; after all, they will be married, so there needs to be some kind of connection between them."

Yubelluna nodded, gritting her teeth and wondering if she could get word of that to Rias somehow. _Although I'm not certain she needs it,_ she thought, reflecting on the confident look and air that Rias had had when speaking about how she was going to deal with Riser. Now that she was near her King—indeed, she could feel his presence in his room wing of the mansion—those thoughts came far harder, but Yubelluna powered through, banishing them into the back of her mind as she began to explain what she had found.

"You say there were stray devils and fallen working together?"

"Yes, mistress," Yubelluna replied to Lady Phenex's question, which came immediately on the heels of her finishing her tale. "It was quite obvious the moment the battle began that I was seeing members of at least two different Factions there. They mentioned how I was picking a fight with the Khaos Brigade," she said distastefully, "as if that was supposed to mean something. But really, none of them were worth all that much. Even the strongest stray devil among them was barely up to taking a single one of my explosions. And the fallen were all killed in my initial assault. The shock of my attack did more than even my own powers," she admitted after a second. "But, even so, it was nothing even remotely close what I would call a real battle."

"Still, it is telling that this Khaos Brigade was able to open…a recruiting center? A base?"

"I would estimate that it was a recruiting center, Lord Phenex, and one that had only recently been opened. Before I destroyed all the physical evidence I tried to search for things like supplies, weapons, and other things to show that they had been in residence for a long time, but I did not see anything of that nature," Yubelluna replied.

"Very good, Yubelluna," Lord Phenex said with a growl in his voice, his large hands squeezing rhythmically on the side of his chair in thought. "We'll pass this on to the Maous. They need to know that this Khaos Brigade is recruiting strays, at the very least, even setting aside the idea that they were willing to try and set up such an operation within a devil clan's territory."

"But not one of the more powerful ones," his wife said thoughtfully. "Indeed, they chose the land of a very minor clan."

"True, yet it needs to be investigated anyway. And we will need to make certain our own territory is looked at very closely as well." Clan Phenex did not have many holdings in Japan save for a string of nightclubs, but they had quite a bit in Germany. Even after World War II there were still families and individuals there who had contracts with Clan Phenex. They also had holdings in America and one or two contracts in Canada, but that was a relatively recent thing and had been accomplished by the heir of the family, Ruval.

"But that is for us to deal with," Lord Phenex said, looking back at Yubelluna. "Well done, I can see why my son chose you as his Queen. You may go now."

Yubelluna nodded her head respectfully at that, then, when she was out in the hallway, she allowed her body to show the shudder that she had been feeling at those words of praise. _Oh, if only he had never done so; if only I hadn't been so eager to join the peerage of a Pillar clan member._

Heading back to Riser's wing of the mansion, she didn't see any of the other servants, and then found that the orgy was still going on. Shuddering in disgust, Yubelluna silently closed the door for a second time before moving into her own room, which was often left unused, given Riser's constant demands at night. _I might be punished for not joining in if Riser thinks of it, but even that would be better than taking part,_ she thought, pulling off her gown and getting changed into her night things.

Again, the thought of her—Rias with her confidence, her newfound abilities, and that young-seeming Fallen Angel she had—entered Yubelluna's mind, and she found herself smiling honestly for the first time in a while at the thought that maybe, just maybe, her life was going to change for the better sometime soon. _I can only hope,_ she thought, as she slipped into bed, falling asleep to dreams of freedom.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Oh, come on, Grayfia-chan! You have to let me go!" Sirzechs whined, waving the report Rias and Sona had submitted to him and to Serafall in one hand. "It says here that she was able to deal with Diodora despite not being there herself, but, even so, she needs her nii-sama! I want to congratulate her, if nothing else."

"No," Grayfia said sternly, smacking Sirzechs on the head with a paper fan that, nonetheless, struck like a cannon round, sending him stumbling forward. "You need to be here to deal with the aftermath of that event. You and Ajuka both need to meet with Lord Astaroth to discuss this and to show the memories of the attack, once Ajuka has come up with a means to read them," she finished, gesturing to a series of small glass containers to one side which contained Koneko Toujo and Momo Hanakai's memories of the battle against Diodora. "Leviathan-sama is busy dealing with something else, some diplomatic mission to the Church, and you know how lazy Asmodeus-sama is. **You** need to help handle this, before it becomes a major diplomatic incident!"

Sirzechs continued to whine, moving around Grayfia as if in an effort to get past her to the teleportation room. So busy was she in corralling her husband, Grayfia didn't notice Milicas sneaking in and snatching up one of the scrolls which would allow him to access the teleportation array to Earth.

As the young boy snuck back out, he saw his father wink at him over Grayfia's shoulder and giggled. _Mother might not have given me permission, but once the human holidays come around, I'll be free, and Dad says it's better to beg forgiveness than ask for permission!_

 **OOOOOOO**

Unfortunately for Harry and his wishes, Sona and Rias had duties most of that week they weren't willing to skip out of. Most of these included speaking with the principal about some long-standing contracts that the two of them were seeing to as part of their ongoing educations in their families' businesses. This was somewhat nerve wracking for Rias. The principal might be human and might not be a magical, but, for all of that, he would have spotted that something was wrong instantly if they had tried to get something by him.

That was without the fact that the principal was indeed growing suspicious about Harry and Rias. They had never been caught doing anything in public, but the rumors that the two of them were emotionally involved was almost as popular among the students as the one that had him with Akeno, though, in that case, they had nearly been caught a few times. Harry had finally had to tell them both that there would be no flirting on campus outside the ORC clubroom, and even there only if Harry had apparated in, so that no one knew he was there.

This, however, allowed Harry to not only spent some time with his daughter and Kunou but also to go over the entire array again with Tsubaki, the only one of the four devils who had any free time that week. Tsubaki had proven to have a very analytical and detail oriented mind, much like Sona but with somewhat better eyesight into runes. Between the two of them, and with the help of Momo and Asia, they modified the defense working to exclude any familiars within the area whose master or mistress had negative thoughts towards those under its aegis.

Moreover, this waiting period meshed well with Harry's own cover, because the one thing he had dreaded since taking up the teaching job had arrived: federally-mandated multiple-choice tests. Harry could change or replace every other test in the book, but there were three mandated tests the Japanese government demanded all schools use for assessment purposes. He visibly dragged his feet on the issue every day in classes, to the point where the kids, even the previously nervous freshmen, were just laughing at it, not one of them afraid or anxious about them anymore when he finally started to give them out on Thursday.

Since the government only mandated the week in which these tests could be given instead of the day, Harry was able to get away with that with the principal's approval. Harry's immersion theory of how to teach English might be nouveau in Japan, but it was certainly working. Now it only fell to the students to show the educational system that this was the case.

Then the day dawned, and Harry created his illusions.

"Good grief. It is almost **too** exact," Tsubaki said as she moved around the illusion of herself in the ORC clubhouse, staring at the illusion Harry had created of her thoughtfully. "If I,…that is, will you be able to change its clothing for gym class on Saturday if our last round of calculations proves the most accurate?" They had redone the arithmantic formulae for the upcoming ritual and had found that the amount of time they'd need to charge the defensive working had gone up, making for a total of thirty-one hours.

"I would have to redo the illusion at that point," Harry said with a shake of his head. "I know what you look like in that clothing, but I can't change the way the illusion looks once it's cast. But this illusion will move just like you do and will cover the body double entirely. That plus Rias's earbuds and my voice changing spells, and there we are."

"This is almost scary, Harry-sensei," she said, addressing him by his name alone for the first time. "Very scary."

Harry shrugged, not in unconcern, but in understanding. "The Tuatha Dé Danann were some of the best known gods and goddesses for illusions. The link between them and the fey were more like two sides of the coin rather than as two separate entities."

"That makes some sense, I suppose. Still, the lifelikeness of this is startling, Harry-sensei," Tsubaki said.

"Yet also very useful, don't forget that," Rias said with a smile, kissing Harry on the cheek as she moved past him. Her smile widened as she felt Harry's arm wrap itself around her waist for a brief second before letting go.

Akeno did the same, then looked at the illusion of herself thoughtfully, hefting her own chest experimentally as she stared at the model. "Mah, do I really look like that?"

"Yes," said every other woman there, causing Akeno to pout and look down at the illusion's chest before bouncing in place, the illusion doing the same across from her. Nearby, Saji and Issei both looked on with blushes on their faces as Harry closed his eyes, his whole body twitching for a second..

"Ahem. Anyway, ladies, let's go over the plan one last time, then we all need to be going," Harry said, regaining control of himself. He looked over at Koneko and Asia. "Do you know your part in the plan?"

"Nn," Koneko said, giving him a thumbs up. "Watch the kids, get them to school on Saturday, and then tire them out as much as possible both Friday and Saturday after school."

Later that day, none of the students noticed that anything was off about any of the five participants of the ritual. Covered in an illusion that made him look exactly like Harry, Loup moved around the classroom. When he spoke he sounded like Harry thanks to a another series of spells on his voice-box and a magical earpiece donated by Sona that carried Harry's words to him in turn. "All right, you all know what to do here, but I still have to tell you how to fill in the little dots. Please use your number two pencil; shade them as dark as possible and only in the dots themselves. You are free to write out any little notes or work you need to do to the side of the question booklet, but please keep your answer sheets as clear of such things as possible. Write your name and student ID number clearly at the top, one number per box and one character per box."

Many of the students in that first class giggled at Harry's drone, so unlike his normal tone when he was teaching, but that changed when he went on, his voice shifting back to normal. "None of you have a reason to be scared of this, and I know you'll do me proud. Now get to work!"

With that all the students of his first class that day nodded and turned to the test, starting to scribble their answers down as Harry returned to the front of the room and sat down at his desk, pulling out some paperwork. Actually, Harry had finished the paperwork the evening before. Loup was simply reading a magazine behind it. Harry had told him to get up every few minutes to walk around the classroom to make certain that the students weren't talking to one another and were keeping on task.

This was especially true since this was Friday, and that meant that Harry's class would have the Perverted Trio as well as Kiryuu later on. All of them would have to be watched to make certain that Matsuda didn't help the latter. Issei, however, when it came to it, simply nodded in his direction and bent to his work, looking more than a little terrified. Loup wondered what that was about, but decided not to question it or the fact that Akeno had been spending quite a bit of time this past week with Issei, getting him up to snuff on magic, magical theory, and, of course, helping him in his regular classes. Rias had told Issei that she expected everyone in her peerage to have at least a B average, and since Issei had been low C/high D before this, that was going to take some work, even in Harry's class.

No one noticed the five illusions, and the ritual they had started at dawn of that day continued without letup as Harry turned his attention away from Loup and what was occurring in the classroom to his own surroundings. And it was a Ritual with the capital needed. This was not a spell, a simple runic array, or even an enchantment. This was a pure mix of three distinct magical styles: the Onmyodo; European magic; and Devilic magic, which was called Ankhsera.

 _Although,_ Harry thought to himself, _we might not have been the first to mix all three of those together._ Currently he stood at the top of a communications tower, one of five points spread across the city. _After all, the entire Ritual is based on a pentagram, and that is a symbol that is used in all three magical styles. Or could all magic have originated from a single point? Certainly the pentagram was around long before the Norse runic language was developed, which is Europe's primary runic tongue thanks to its efficiency and durability. But it's not as old as Egyptian, and that style looks somewhat like Ankhsera, which Rias and the others told me is somewhat similar to that used by the Fallen. Perhaps there is something to that whole Tower of Babylon story._

There'd been some argument about which point they would each be assigned to, though Akeno and Harry's positions had never been question. The elements an individual was closest to mentally might not have much of an effect on their actual abilities, but it did have an effect on how one centered oneself and prepared, and, since the five of them were pumping magic into the array from these points, they were doing just that. This was why Harry was standing on top of the metal point high at the top of a large radio tower near the edge of town. Runes—here they were primarily Norse—had been etched into the metal, down along its length, and away, covered by illusions from the Onmyodo school so as to not interfere with the magic of the actual ritual itself.

Akeno stood on top of an old shrine, staring down at the shrine's environs, a small thin smile on her face as she continually began to pump magical power into the array. She wasn't feeling the drain yet, but they'd only been at this for four hours or so. Akeno knew she'd begin to feel it soon enough. _Although that will not be the first problem I run into. That dubious honor will go to my back when it starts to bother me about sitting in place for so long. We really should have thought about bringing along some chairs. Everyone thinks big breasts are so fantastic; they never think about how many back problems they give me._

Trying to take her thoughts off of that inevitable reality, Akeno looked around her once more. _I had wanted to move in here at one point when we first came to Kuoh. I thought that perhaps I could bring in more contracts working as a shrine maiden. Yet I am very glad that Rias talked me out of it. Looking at this place, I can just tell that living alone out here would not have been pleasant—far too much like the house I lived in with my mother._

She smiled as she saw a few more runes activated as she continually pumped power into the array, the light of them slowly moving outward as Akeno's magical powers continually drained into the working. The runes here had been etched into several scattered statues around the temple as well as along the grounds connecting them all, and slowly she could see the sporadic lights beginning to look more and more like a spider web of magic.

She smiled, however, as she saw the fox statue nearest the temple light up like a Christmas tree, glowing like one of those fancy shaped lightbulbs. _I wonder what young Kunou would think of that one._

That thought, however, brought Akeno back to an issue she had been thinking about on and off since this ritual had begun. After all, she didn't really have to truly concentrate all her mental faculties on this: once body and mind had settled into the routine, pumping out magic like this was relatively easy for any devil. Harry was probably having a tougher time of it, especially considering that he had to keep up the five separate illusions.

This left Akeno a lot of time to think about her and Harry's relationship. She had been thinking about this on and off, of course, but since the triangle date with Rias she had begun to think about it much more seriously, a process which had accelerated in the last week since Akeno had begun to teach Issei. _In many ways Harry is my ideal man, yet in others he is so far removed from what I want in a boyfriend it isn't even funny. The question is, are the pros enough to keep outweighing the cons?_

Elsewhere, Rias stood in the somewhat murky depths of a pond, the runic array embedded in the floor of the pond beginning to awaken due to her power. Given Sona's control of water, Sona and her peerage had been the ones to emplace these, but the array here was mostly European, the Norse runes able to withstand being emplaced into granite slabs much more easily than Onmyodo or Ankhsera runes.

Mittelt had found a full body dive suit for her along with a formfitting helmet. Devils could hold their breath for far longer than humans, but they still needed some air, and she was going to be down here for a very, **very** long time. Indeed, Rias found herself inordinately grateful for the added work of walking Kalawarner under Harry's illusion through the answers on the test as well as everything else she was doing throughout the day. At least listening to that gave her something to concentrate on other than the slow tug on her magic as she continued to funnel it through the wards around her.

Tsubaki too would have liked a little more of a distraction from her surroundings. She was standing on the point designated for earth in the array, though in her place there was no special significance with that. Her problem came with the fact that these runes and, in particular, the point of the star she was standing on top of, were on top of a rather…specialized shop. One which had a second story for viewing many of the videos it sold below. Through the rooftop she could hear some of those movies, and she had yet to stop blushing since her arrival. _Darn it! I wish there would have been some way to shift this point, but no, all the sides of the pentagram had to be equal!_ Around her, the Ankhsera glyphs activated slowly, taking her power a little more easily than the runes of the other two magical styles, and would covered in turn by talismans to hide the runes.

Sona, on the other hand, was having a much easier time of it. She stood on top of an apartment building, and, like her Queen's location withing ther array, there was no special significance to it. She and Rias had argued the point about where the two of them should go, but, in the end, after working it out with the Devilish equivalent of Arithmancy, it had been decided that it would be better for the ritual to have Rias, whose mental element was water, see to the water point in the pentagram.

Here, most of the enchantment was Onmyodo based. Around those runes, Ankhsera wards had been used to hide both sets. As always, a different runic language and array had been created to do that task, to make certain that they didn't interfere with one another. At around two in the afternoon, she smiled thinly as her body double, Momo, set her pencil down in Harry's test before standing and bowing with the rest of the class as Harry left the room, replaced by the mathematics teacher.

With that she fully turned her attention to something else, staring ahead of herself in her real body as she used her connection to her familiar to fill out some paperwork in the student council room. Only a crane could be so precise with its beak like this, and she would probably have to redo some of the signatures later on, but it would still save her time, and the payoff for getting this particular paperwork done was enough to make the strain on her mental faculties worth it.

Unfortunately for all involved, the final version of the equations they had worked out for how long it would take power the ritual proved to be less than accurate. The ritual wasn't fully finished twenty-four hours later as the sun rose on Saturday but now it was taking some concentration from Sona, Rias and their Queens to continue to pump energy into the array, exhaustion slowly taking hold. Once school was done their peerages helped immensely, with Kiba coming by both Akeno and Rias's ritual points. He dove into the water and helped Rias actually set up a waterproof portable DVD player in front of her, so she could have something to watch (anime, obviously, a One Piece arc). With Akeno, he brought her something to read and sat with her, talking for some time, joined later by Issei, though he didn't honestly understand all of that they were doing. Sona and Tsubaki got similar aid from their own peerage, and the ritual continued.

The ritual continued until all four of the devil girls were really feeling it, their magical cores slowly getting closer to empty. Even Harry was starting to feel it by this point, his mind straining to keep up the illusions until school ended, where upon he released them with a huff, causing Loup and the others he had covered with them to gasp as they suddenly noticed that they were back into their normal forms rather than the ones they had been wearing all day. Having met up with them all in the clubroom, Loup looked at the other doubles and nodded brusquely. "I will go check on Harry; you should check on everyone else."

Hours after that, the ritual finally ended. Harry and the others, separate but now in communication, could feel that the defensive workings' equivalent of a generator was full, and it was time to end it. "Ready?" Harry asked through his second set of com-beads. The girls all responded in the affirmative, though all of them sounded on the brink of collapse. With that Harry cut his palm with a silver dagger, wincing at the stab of intense pain this caused, but it was the only way to actually open a wound long enough for fresh blood to be absorbed into the ritual's array. He knelt down now, smearing his blood into the glowing runes around him one after another, his blood actually sizzling slightly.

The blood portion of the ceremony/ritual they had created was in itself a mix of the three different magical schools. Blood Magic was proscribed in Europe as being too Dark, but that was a massive falsehood. Blood forcefully taken was indeed a core part of many dark rituals, but blood freely given was another story. Harry had long hypothesized that the clue to how he had survived the Killing Curse as a baby could be found in that, in the willing sacrifice of his mother's blood, which both Riddle and Albus had hinted at, though the precise ritual was unknown. Blood was the basis of a lot of Devil works, and the local Onmyouji had their own brand of blood wards which required a symbolic sacrifice of liquid vitae.

"By the blood in my veins, I do claim this marked territory and defend it from those foreign to this land. With this word and sacrifice, let my awareness and my power flow. Scutum et conscientia, Majikku kara subete o sagashidashite mamoru (seek out and protect those within from magic)," Harry intoned. Elsewhere Rias and Sona did the same thing, though they spoke in the original Devil tongue rather than a mix of English, Latin, and Japanese as Harry had to. Tsubaki and Akeno intoned the words as Harry did, but as they were not 'rulers of the land' in terms of the ritual, they didn't sacrifice blood into it.

As the last words echoed over the com beads, the entire array lit up like a solar flare going off. For those who were involved in the ritual it looked as if a globe of magic, bright as the Aurora Borealis, had appeared in the air around and above Kuoh before settling down over the area and disappearing into the ground. The defensive array settled into place around the entire town, sliding over the previous detection bubble smoothly, so much so that only truly gifted magic users would've felt it at all. Indeed, for those within its environs the feeling was almost like a fresh, warm breeze flowing over them, a subtle, welcome heat in their minds.

That didn't really matter all that much for most, though, as, the instant the ritual was completed all four young women buckled, collapsing forward. Only Rias was able to retain her feet, and only did so because of the stand holding the portable DVD player. Even so, she was able to get up out of the water where she found Loup waiting for her, having been sent to check on her by Harry.

Harry, too, nearly collapsed, but quickly Fragarach was in his hand, changing into a tall staff which he used to prop himself upright. "Well," he wheezed. "That, that was…more than I expected. I wonder if we, for all the time we spent creating that working, really understand what we just did."

 **OOOOOOO**

As it happens, a foreign magic-user was attempting to enter the town as the ritual was completed. A large, yet very svelte, black cat leaped down from the truck she had been hiding in, escaping quickly out the door of the storehouse's loading area. Outside she looked around, willing her fur to not rise and not to hiss at nothing in particular as the feeling in the town hit her. _Nya, what in the heck…_

She looked up as she sensed a human coming towards her and turned to see a young boy who quickly leaned down, petting her. She could have gotten away, but let it occur. Such things always, of course, had occurred in this form, and she reveled in it. After all, she was a cat, and there was no cat who didn't like her fur petted appropriately. "Who's a good kitty; who is a good Kitty?" the boy said, ruffling her fur just the right way, then finding the collar the black cat wore, just as much camouflage as her current body was. "Are you lost, kitty?"

At that point the black cat meowed, butted her head against his hand, and then slinked off, entering a nearby alleyway. The boy, about twelve-years-old or so, hesitated but did not follow. A tiny spell sent into his mind made him stop and then forget he had even met the cat as she bounded into the darkness, hiding there for a moment as she concentrated once more on what the heck she was feeling. _What is that?! I come all this way to check on little Shirone, and I sense…what is this? Some kind of defensive work?_

After a moment the feeling of shifting spellwork ended, but the power that she had felt was now replaced by something worse. Something or someone was watching her, and she looked around wildly, wondering how the heck someone had snuck up on her. That should've been impossible, given her abilities.

But there was no one there. No one in the alleyway, no one on the rooftop above, no one hiding in the shadows. She would've sensed them whatever spells they were trying to use to hide their presence, that was part and parcel of being a sage. But, despite that, the feeling of being watched was intense.

Slowly the cat pulled back into a deep, dark alleyway and then shifted into her normal body, or, rather, her normal human form her ears and tail covered by an illusion. In this form the black cat was a beautiful, if rather short, young woman with a voluptuous figure. She had long black hair going down her back and hazel eyes with cat-like yellow pupils. She wore a black kimono tied by a yellow obi marked by a large set of golden beads.

Any devil would have been able to tell you who this was in an instant. After all, for a time she had been the most wanted criminal in all of Hell. This was Kuroka the nekoshou, who had gone insane and killed not only her King, but the rest of her peerage as she attempted to harness the power of Senjutsu, the energy of the world around her. She felt the odd watchful feeling get even worse, then, and scowled. _Something weird is going on here!_ Shuddering, the wanted criminal Kuroka swiftly changed back into her cat form, and the feeling of being observed faded back to where it had been. But there was also a feeling now of danger waiting for an excuse to happen to her, and she shuddered once more. _Right. Need to check in on Shirone and get the heck out of here! If whatever spell this is can see through my illusions and shape shifting, I do not want to be here for long._

Knowing the direction Kuoh Academy was in, Kuroka took to the rooftops, the little cat making leaps that should have been impossible for its small frame and moving far faster too. Since it felt like the hounds of hell were on her tail, Kuroka had no wish to wait around. It might prove deadly for her health.

Halfway to her original destination, Kuroka paused, staring at a splash of white hair in the distance. Moving in that direction, she found her little sister moving through the town with three other girls. One of them was a blonde-haired girl, who Kuroka could smell had some inherent magic in her. The redheaded little girl looked around eleven, although there was something a little younger about her face, so maybe it her body was just a little tall for her age? And then there was the little girl beside her, who was most definitely a fox kit.

 _What the heck is this? Isn't that young Kunou!?_ Kuroka had seen Kunou and Yasaka from afar at one point shortly after she had gone rogue in the first place. _What is she doing here? We should've made a much harder effort to renew our spy services in the Youkai Association._

Instead, Ophis had ordered the Brigade to find some other way to open a portal to the dimensional gap. She was not one to throw more money away on a plan that had failed and knew that, so long as Yasaka was on her guard, attempting to force her to work for the Brigade would cost them too dearly to be of any aid against Great Red.

Something else interested her about the scene, though, not just Kunou being here when she should have been kept under lock and key by her mother. What Kuroka was really interested in, though, was little Shirone, who was showing her emotions more openly and certainly with more happiness than Kuroka had ever seen in Koneko in the few times she had been able to check up on her. _I don't know what's going on here, but I like that, at least! Maybe little Shirone can break out of her shell enough to learn senjutsu._

Wanting to see more of this and wondering what had caused it, the black cat kept to the shadows in the trees and followed. But the feeling of being watched instantly began to build up quickly, and, within a block, Kuroka couldn't go on, backing away. Some of the feeling faded instantly with that, but the moment she attempted to retake the chase, the feeling came back, accompanied by something like static electricity building up all around her. _Okay, I can take a hint!_

Even that told her something, though. _So, whatever that is, it's defending them well. I guess I can allow that. For now, I am **so** out of here._

With that, she raced back the way she came, the feeling of being watched still with her. Eventually she was back to the same truck that she had taken into the town, and she hopped into it. She moved quickly through the boxes until she found a small corner, where she settled down for a few seconds before the truck started moving. _We might need to rethink how to spy on the Gremory and Sitri heirs after this._

 **OOOOOOO**

That night Kala and the others threw a party for the five magic users. All of them had felt the array go up—even Issei had felt a little shiver go down his spine at first before the feeling of the wards echoed within them. Kala and Mittelt had cooked like champions for them all, producing an almost five-star meal that everyone enjoyed, all save the five heroes of the day. All of them were just too exhausted to really get into the food.

Harry, in particular, was eating almost mechanically, his hands moving automatically and his eyes staring straight ahead. He hadn't even complimented Kala on the food as he normally would have, but she didn't take it personally. Magical exhaustion like that impacted the mind more than the body, after all, and Harry had been forced to sustain a series of illusions at the same time. So it was very clear that Harry's mind was no longer quite all there and why that was so.

Thankfully for Harry and the others though, Asia and Koneko had done exactly what Harry had ordered: they had tired out Kunou and Lily to the point where the terrible twosome was too tired to make trouble. This meant that the meal was much more sedate than it would have been otherwise, and everyone was able to take in enough food for them to be comfortable before repairing to the sitting room.

There Akeno promptly moved toward a large beanbag that Harry had bought a few days ago. It was one of Lily and Kunou's favorites, but Akeno claimed it now, flopping down into it face first, her eyes already closing. Rias made a beeline for one of the sofas, while a yawning Lily followed after along with Kunou as Asia put in an anime for them under Rias's request. They were going to finish Castle in the Sky, which Kunou hadn't seen until Rias had brought it over Thursday night, and they hadn't finished it since.

Sona and Tsubaki looked at one another, then Sona shook her head. "Harry-sensei, I'm afraid we're just too tired to get home, be it by a spell or feet. Could we rest here as well for the evening?"

Harry nodded tiredly towards another sofa. "You're welcome to bed down here for a few hours," he said with a sigh. "I personally am going to do that very same thing."

In point of fact, Harry was dreading the effort it would take to get up the stairs to the second floor, let alone the struggle it would be to climb the ladder into his own room. _I wonder if I can bed down in that little bed of Kunou's?_

Fitting action to thought, Harry did just that, waking up about forty minutes later, hungry once more and his head somewhat clearer. He headed downstairs and found that the remaining people had fallen asleep where he had left them. Sona and Tsubaki were curled up around one another on one sofa, with Sona being the big spoon in the arrangement, and Tsubaki was actually drooling. Her glasses were also askew, her hair undone and flowing everywhere. There was no sign of the rest of Sona's peerage, thankfully, or else Harry would have had trouble walking around their bodies.

Akeno, too, was stark out of it on the beanbag, a large heavy blanket pulled up around her. On the sofa Rias was cuddled up with Lily, snoring away peacefully. _So she snores. This is important information,_ he thought to himself with a quirk of his lips. Kunou was still awake, if barely, judging by how her eyes were straining to stay open as she watched the TV.

"We were just about to separate them," Kiba said in this soft voice, moving up behind Harry. Harry looked at him, and Kiba explained. "Koneko already left. She said someone else could take her bed tonight here. Asia is busy cleaning up the kitchen, and Kala and Mittelt are going around the town with a few of Sona's group, checking to see how far the feeling of the array went and to make certain that no one had seen anything, just in case."

"Smart thinking. Who thought that one up?" Harry asked.

"Me," Kiba said with a shrug. "It seemed obvious, when I thought about it, that the only real way we'd know if the cover spells worked was to have the working on at full power."

"Good point. As for the girls, if you think you can get one of them up into the kids room, you can put Tsubaki up on the topmost bunk, and Sona can take the lowermost."

Kiba smiled, patted Harry on the shoulder and moved around him, moving towards where Tsubaki lay. He gently extricated his girlfriend from her King's grip, lifting her into his arms as Loup came over to scoop Sona up into his arms. "I'll put Akeno up in Koneko's bed, then, after grabbing a bite to eat. She'll be sore if she sleeps the entire night in that beanbag."

By the time Harry came back from that little chore, the boys had finished, and both of them told him they were heading to bed too. Kiba would head home, and Loup up to his bed. Koneko would be sleeping back in her old room at the Gremory house tonight, allowing Asia to retain her room.

This left Harry alone to move over to where Kunou had watched the three men with bleary eyes as her movie had finally ended. "You know you could've just paused it," he whispered, reaching down and pulling her into his arms, letting her nuzzle against his neck and shoulder.

"Didn't want to," she mumbled. "Are you going to leave Rias and Lily-chan there?"

"I think so, yes. They look a little too peaceful for me to try to move," Harry said dryly. "Which means you get to sleep in my room with me tonight."

She smiled sleepily at that, an expression which widened as Harry bussed her cheek a little. "Now come on, let's get your teeth brushed, and we can all get back to bed."

Several hours later, Rias woke up just as Harry had, her stomach rumbling slightly at her. It wasn't often that Rias found herself waking up with clothing on, but, considering the fact that she remembered having gone to sleep in that same manner, she considered that a minor detail at the moment. Instead she concentrated on the feeling of a little body curled up against her side and the fact that her back and shoulders were hurting something fierce. She opened her eyes and looked around, finding herself still on the sofa that she had lain down on after dinner with Lily curled up next to her under a blanket that covered her to her chest.

She smiled down at the girl, then gently extricated herself, heading into the kitchen. There she found several sandwiches made up on the table under a preservation charm. She ate four of them with apple juice before heading back to the couch. She moved back over and found that Lily had woken up and was sitting up on the sofa, looking around blearily. "Do you want to head up to bed, Lily-chan?"

Shaking her head with a little grunt, Lily stood up and moved over to Rias, pushing her from behind until Rias, rather bemused, was back laying down on the sofa. Once there Lily lay down on top of Rias, her head pillowed against Rias's chest. Rias chuckled and made no protest as Lily whispered, "Comfy." Then Lily did something that startled her. She leaned up and kissed Rias on the cheek before nuzzling back down. "Goodnight, Rias."

Soon afterward Rias fell asleep again, too, but with a massive smile on her face.

The next morning Rias woke up to the sound of someone moving around nearby. Gently shifting her body around so she could let Lily down onto the sofa, she slipped out of the covers and headed into the kitchen, where she found Harry working on breakfast. He looked over at her with a faint smile. "Given how much Kala's taken over the cooking, I was actually quite surprised that she wasn't here already, but at least this gives me a chance to cook for myself for once."

Rias chuckled at that, moving over to join him. "What made you wake up so early, Harry? I would've thought you'd be as tired as the rest of us still are. And is Kunou still sleeping?"

"Kunou is up; she's talking to her mother in my room." Rias nodded at that, knowing that Yasaka and Kunou made a point of talking over the phone at least once a day. "As for me, my mind is still tired," Harry went on with a sigh, tapping the side of his head, "but my body isn't tired at all. It wants me to be up and about."

He paused for a moment, then went back to cooking as he continued. "Yasaka told me this morning that she has prepared a formal meeting for the twenty-first for the signing of the treaty between the two of your families, myself, and the Youkai Association. I understand that she and Sona have been talking, and it just kept getting a little more formal and in depth?"

"That's what I've heard too, though I was worried the meeting would be pushed back until after New Year's. The twenty-first? Well, I am free, certainly, and if Sona's been involved with the planning and the treaty itself, she'll be free too. Though I'm surprised. I would have thought she'd still be here," Rias mused, looking around.

"Oh, she is. Sona and Tsubaki are both upstairs asleep in the kids' room," Harry replied.

"Really? Remind me to go up there after we're done making breakfast. If I remember correctly, Sona's sleeping habits are almost as embarrassing as mine.

"Yes," Harry said, his tone taking on a deeper timber to it that caused a shiver to go up and down Rias's spine and then to…other places. "You mentioned you like sleeping naked. You didn't try to take off your clothing once asleep, though, for which I'm thankful."

Rias chuckled throatily. "Are you, or are you disappointed?" she said, dropping the vegetables she had been cleaning and moving around him to hug him from behind.

Harry rested one hand on where her arms went around his waist, and smiled over his shoulder at her. "A little of both, I suppose." With that, he moved in her grip until they were facing one another and then leaned down to kiss her. She returned the kiss, but both of them were so tired mentally that they couldn't really become excited enough to move beyond that.

After a moment the two of them pulled away and went back to cooking. "What else did Yasaka say?" Rias asked.

"Nothing much, though the two of us did flirt a bit while waiting for Kunou to finish brushing her teeth," Harry replied, looking at Rias thoughtfully out of the corner of his eye. "Are you sure you're all right with this?"

"There goes that human part of you again, Harry," Rias said with a low laugh. "I am…all right with sharing. So long as you didn't flirt with her first and the two of us can get along. I know I can't have you all to myself, and you know that she doesn't want to be the primary wife in this arrangement.

Indeed," Rias said thoughtfully as her hands moved automatically, cutting up one piece of vegetable after another as she prepared to create a breakfast omelet. "I feel somewhat less jealousy toward Yasaka than I do for Akeno, even at this point."

She saw the grimace on Harry's face at that and sighed, but didn't say anything. Neither Harry nor Akeno had come to her to ask for advice, and she felt that that was only fair. After all, while she had pushed Harry into trying to accept Akeno in the first place, their relationship was their own. All that mattered to her was that there was as little jealousy as possible between herself and Akeno and that they were happy with the way the relationship was going. She could tell that Akeno and Harry were slowly moving away from one another, but she wanted the two of them to solve it without her trying to come in and push them together again.

Harry eventually spoke up, though. "Akeno and I might not be working out, Rias. If we do break up, will you and she be alright?"

"If it isn't working out, just let it happen, one way or the other. As for Akeno and me, our friendship will survive whatever happens. That was one of the most important things to me all along, that our jealousy wouldn't push us apart. I don't know how it will go if you do break up, but she and I will, at the very least, be able to talk about it, whatever happens," Rias said. She then moved over to start cracking eggs, saying brusquely, "Now, since it's Sunday again, I think we should do your normal, monthly 'magic is awesome day' this evening, but I also want to take the girls over to Mittelt's this morning for a fitting for when we go to Kyoto. Beyond that, do you have anything you want to get done today, or can we all just take it easy?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Truthspotter Morimoto stood in front of two other men, kneeling across from them at a small table as they sipped their tea. One of the people he was currently sharing a table with was an elderly woman, rail thin with bags under her eyes, wrinkles, and stark gray hair. For all of that, she was very aware of her surroundings, and her movements were calm and smooth as she sipped the tea.

By her side sat an immensely obese man, yet with a very alert eyes set into his large, fat face as he read the report of the attacks on the Khaos Brigade aloud before picking up his tea again, waiting patiently as the Truthspotter and the woman took in what he had just reported. "Sixty-two dead, seven of whom we lost in the attack on what we thought was the Shinra mansion. Well below what could've been."

"Yes, but we lost over thirty in two missions. The others were spread out along all the others. Both of those missions happened in Hokkaido. Further, we found nothing at four other possible target points. It was obvious that they had some means of communicating," Iori said. He would normally not be part of what was a meeting of policy makers, but since he had played a role in discovering the problem and he was respected for his talents, he had been brought into this meeting despite technically being outside the governmental body.

"Indeed. They were warned of our attacks, but did not have enough time to do anything for the majority of their holdings," the fat man replied to the Truthspotter's points. "But despite that, or perhaps entirely because of that, the most concerning to me is the attack on the Shinra mansion. Not a single clan member was discovered there, and no papers, books scrolls, or anything else. The entire place had been scrubbed clean."

"The other two Jugondo clans are not in contact with them?" Iori asked.

"No. All three of them kept to themselves for the most part. Oh," the fat man waved his hand. "They had some intermarriages, of course, and they routinely sought outside marriages, but once an individual is part of any of those families, they disappear from the rest of society. Perhaps we should've looked at that aspect more closely. The Himejima clan has informed us that they are not in contact with the Shinra clan, but they are refusing to help in the search. The Miroku clan is willing to help, so long as we pay them."

"They are mercenaries," Iori said with some irritation in his tone, "but good ones for all that. And remember, they have ties with the Youkai Association—ties of blood, in some cases. They are the only one of the three that has gone that route since the old days."

"True, whereas the Himejima clan is blood purist, an aberration among our society that has made them even more isolationist then the other two, and the Shinra clan is the most militant of the three," the fat man said with a sigh. "But they are hiding behind their own Notice-Me-Not wards."

"Which," the woman interjected for the first time since Iori had sat down, "are almost as good as our own. We have amped up our defensive arrays, our memory-minders are hard at work covering up what little magic got out during the battles, and the secret of magic is still safe. Yet, while that is the most important thing, we **must** find the Shinra clan. Is there any way to track them? Any way to break the arrays that they were able to construct?

"Doubtful, Lady Tosa," the fourth man at the table said. He had remained so silent that Iori had almost forgotten his presence. He knelt to one side of the others, a full foot away from the table, his head down bowed toward the ground and his sword on the ground next to him. He also wore armor, this and his sword marking him as one of the Shinsengumi.

But the woman's question was directed at him, and he looked up from his bow, a small golden badge gleaming on one of his shoulders for a moment as he did. "The Shinra know as much as we do about how to create such wards, and it is without doubt that they have been planning this for some time. That house that we raided was **long** abandoned, my lords, Sir Truthspotter, and looked like it had not been lived in for years. If we are to find them, we need to figure out a way to track them, then triangulate the position of their hiding place from that."

"You're speaking of blood magic," the fat man said bluntly. "Use the blood of the two dead Shinra to track the others. That is blood magic, and that is illegal and immoral."

"Perhaps we need a second perspective on this," the Truthspotter posited delicately. "Bring in the foreigner, Potter-san, and have him work on this?"

"No," the fat man said with a sharp shake of his head.

"No," the thin woman said.

The glare the other man was giving the Truthspotter spoke volumes of his own opinion.

"But," the woman eventually conceded, "if it becomes apparent that the whatever their goal is, they are willing to break the Statute of Secrecy for it, then we will have no choice but to bring in Potter to try and help us find them. Until then, I think we need to lift the ban on blood magic in this one instance."

The fat man winced, glaring at her, and for a moment the room fell silent as the two more senior officials were locked into a battle of wills. Eventually the fat man slowly nodded. "So long as all propriety is considered, I will allow this. The Shinra clan represents a clear and present danger to our way of life and cannot be allowed to run free."

Iori coughed delicately. He wasn't uncomfortable being witness to this, given that he had access to anyone involved in the government at every level. "Forgive this humble one for speaking out, but I believe we need to think of some remuneration for Harry Potter and the two devils who accompanied him. Without their aid, we might have lost a station to the Shinra's machinations or, worse, would still have been blind to what was going on. Our neutrality would have been compromised irreparably."

All three of his listeners tensed at that, but it wasn't at the idea of paying back what was owed. No, it was the idea of their neutrality being broken in such a manner, or assumed to have been broken, at any rate. That would've caused no end of trouble, and they could well have been dragged into the ongoing conflict between the Three Factions. That was something no one who knew anything about any of the Three Factions wanted.

"Very well, you are correct. We will think of a suitable means of paying them back. Knowledge, perhaps, or some magical items?" the fat man replied, trying to downplay it even so.

"I will see to paying the younger Himejima back. She saved my life, and it is only right that I do so," Iori said formally.

The elderly woman nodded at that. "That only leaves the Gremory girl and Harry Potter himself." She thought for a moment, then smiled thinly. "I think I actually know precisely how to pay young Potter back. It can also be a test of his character at the same time, just in case the blood tracking does not work. Though it will take some time to set up. The Gremory girl is much easier to deal with."

"The New Year's is the time for gifts," Iori said with a smile, which the others returned.

 **OOOOOOO**

With the array in place, Harry could now spend more time with Lily and Kunou after school before meeting with Akeno, Asia, and Rias for their lessons.

Asia threw herself into her work even more than before, both learning what she needed to in order to go to school and magic. She wanted to make her new father proud and be ready to step into class in January after the Christmas break. The story they had decided to use would be that Harry had started to adopt Asia, a daughter of an old friend who had died in an accident. But the adoption paperwork had taken several months more because of the change of residence to Japan.

After that the three lovers would sometimes have time to hang out for a little while or simply head home to join the family. Yet it was now the girls who had a lot of demands on their time.

Rias spent some of her personal time preparing spell-enchanted jewels for future use, as well as working on creating the 'teleportation tunnel' that would be placed between Kuoh, the ORC clubhouse, and Yasaka's mansion in Kyoto. It was a massive undertaking, given the distance, the defensive spell-works on both sides it would have to bypass, and the fact that it had to be a permanent creation rather than a one-shot like a portkey, not to mention the security issues on the 'tunnel' itself.

The one-time Harry made a joke about portkeys being better, Rias very sweetly pointed those facts out, to which Harry had to concede, and then she mentioned how portkeys were not kind to their users. Then, still talking in her sweetest tone of voice, Rias threatened to tear off his man bits the next time he made a joke out of it. Since this tunnel was going to be one of the main things she, as the Gremory Heir, would be bringing to the finalized alliance with the Youkai Association, Rias had to make it as perfect as she could. Work on this cut into the time she could spend with her peerage and with Harry, though she still spent every dinner with Harry and his expanded family and every Sunday with her peerage, including Koneko, allowing Harry that time to spend with the two youngsters and Asia.

Akeno spent her time training with the rest of the peerage, in particular Mittelt and Kalawarner. The last was not aligned with Rias, but was with Harry, and, through him, Rias and her peerage. Akeno wanted to become as good a flyer as the two experienced Fallen, but it was slow going. She also trained with Issei, which eventually led to another issue after a few weeks.

During this time, alas, the elementary school that Lily and Kunou went to also ramped up their work. The end of one semester was behind them now, and they had moved on to another, which, of course, meant an entirely new set of Japanese kanji that they had to learn how to write, which made for more repetition, something that neither girl was at all happy about. Even with Harry and the others helping, it was simply a **lot** of repetitive homework sheets, and their other classes hadn't let up either.

If there was one thing that was pre-determined to get on Lily's nerves, it was being bored, especially with schoolwork. And Kunou still wasn't used to schoolwork, so the idea that it could be less than fun came as a severe shock. Thus it was that both girls threw temper tantrums, as young children sometimes do, over the next few weeks. At one point Rias and Kalawarner saw him dealing with one of these and came away impressed anew at how Harry handled being a single father.

Harry looked down at his crying daughter, ruffling her hair with one hand but saying nothing until she had raged herself out for a moment. Then he knelt down to her, looking into her eyes seriously. "Lily," he said calmly, "do you think you're the only one that has ever had to do work that they don't want to?" Lily frowned at that but didn't reply, and Harry went on. "All of your fellow students are doing the same thing. It's not just you."

Lily glared at him for that, but he simply raised an eyebrow and wagged a finger in her face. "None of that," he admonished. "I normally let you have your way in a lot of things, but remember what I said the first day you went to school back in England? That I expected to you to do your best, and I expected you to do your work? Do you know why?"

Lily's nose scrunched up at that, but, slowly, she nodded, the memory coming back to her. "Because there was a time you didn't. Because there was a time you didn't know things you should, you want me to know everything I can."

"Pretty much," Harry said with a nod. "It was a long time ago, so I can understand if the story has passed through your mind. It's so small after all he can only contain so many things," he teased, ruffling her hair.

She scowled and batted his hand away only to find her hand grabbed in his and pulled up into a hug. She tried to squirm away, but Harry held her firm and she sighed and allowed herself to be hugged out of her bad humor. "Now, you waited until we were home before you threw this temper tantrum, so I'm not going to punish you for it. But I expect you to do your work for the rest of the week without further fits. If you don't, there will be a loss of privileges and even timeout time, understood?"

Suitably chastened, Lily nodded her head and went back into the sitting area where Asia and Kunou were sitting down with their own work out on a small work desk there. Harry had bought that a few days after their initial shopping trip for Asia, and it had come in handy numerous times since.

Rias came over, hugging Harry from behind, poking her head around his shoulders and smiling as Lily picked up her thrown bookbag from where she had hurled it against the wall with as much force as a nearly eight-year-old werewolf could and joined the other two at their work. "That was impressive."

"There's more about fatherhood then the pats and hugs," Harry said loftily.

"No," Kala drawled from the kitchen where she had moved to restart dinner after coming out to watch the fireworks. "There's diapers when they're younger, temper tantrums, assassins, kidnapping attempts, and other daily threats. All the little things."

Kunou's temper tantrum was somewhat harder to deal with. She threw it as they were going home, tossing her bookbag away and growling angrily at Harry when he commented that the kids should do their homework as soon as they got home. She was angry and sad and feeling somewhat betrayed by the fact that school wasn't in fact all fun and games now, the workload finally a little bit beyond what she was prepared to do. She even tried to smack out at Harry.

But he dealt with it by picking her up despite her protests and little fists flailing on his head and shoulders and walked her home, where he put her on the stairs in a timeout, with a sticking charm on her rear to keep her there. Afterwards, after she had stopped whining and complaining, Harry sat her down at the dining table in the kitchen, kicked Kala and Asia out, and talked to Kunou quietly and calmly, explaining why it was bad to throw temper tantrums in public, why temper tantrums as a whole were bad, simply because they didn't do anything and because they didn't help anyone.

He finished up by calling Yasaka, telling her what it happened, why, and how he dealt with it. Then he handed the phone over to Kunou who then had to deal with her mother doing the same exact thing: explaining why temper tantrums are bad, how she was very proud about the work Kunou was doing but not proud about the temper tantrum, and why she should apologize to Harry.

Harry hugged her when she gave the apology and then prepared her favorite meal for dinner showing that he accepted her apology. After that he informed the two girls that if they kept their work up for the rest of the week, the three of them would go running, with the two girls deciding on where they went. Both girls were interested in this, since Harry hadn't had time to go running with Lily since Kunou had arrived, there just being too many demands on his time to spend an entire day running, which was what running really meant to werewolves. Exercising was one thing, rough-and-tumble another, but running through woods was just plain fun! Kunou, too, was very interested in it, missing the forests back home somewhat and having always liked running in her fox-form.

Not wanting to make it seem as if he was leaving her out, Harry asked Asia if she wanted to come with them, but the former nun shook her head. Asia had already made plans that day to go to a cooking competition with Kalawarner in the next district over. The two of them, Mittelt, and Tsubaki were making a day of it, Tsubaki being the one among Sona's peerage who did most of the cooking for them all. Asia had also decided that it was time to get some new bras and wanted other girls' opinions. Naturally, this was not something she was going to ask her new father about.

To Harry's surprise, Rias and Koneko were able to get free for that Sunday as well. The two of them showed up that morning for breakfast, joining the trio at the kitchen table. "I'm not going to change my plans for you, Rias," Harry warned even as he smiled at the redhead. The two of them had had a family style date just this past Friday to celebrate the end of Rias's problems with setting a security protocol on the teleportation network in Kuoh and to Hell. Now that that was done, she could add it into the spell she was working on to create the teleportation tunnel between Kuoh and Kyoto.

"Wouldn't dream of asking you, Harry," Rias said with a grin, waving over the two girls. "I've not yet gone running with you either, after all. It sounds like fun."

To her astonishment, Lily looked at her, then slowly allowed an evil looking smile to appear on her tiny face. "Sure," she said chirpily, something Rias immediately felt was suspect, "Why don't we take Rias along with us, and Koneko too!"

Chuckling dryly at his daughter's amusement, Harry nodded. "If you want to come with us, Rias, Koneko, I'll be happy to have you." When both girls nodded, he stood up, pushing his empty plate across to Lily. "In that case, Lily can clean up while I go and put a few spells on the bike and hitch up the sidecar."

Harry's happiness at Rias coming along on what he felt was a family outing took a decidedly erotic turn later that day after they had reached the park where they would be running. This was a national park, not one of the small city parks, and it had around forty miles of crisscrossing trails, all of which the kids were eagerly looking forward to explore. Lily led the other three off, still chattering excitedly as they pored over the map while heading into the girls' changing area. Harry entered the men's changing area, changing into a pair of shorts and a muscle T-shirt.

When he came out, it was all he could do not to stare. All of the girls wore exercise clothing. In the case of the younger trio, this was somewhat tight T-shirt, so as to not flap around as they ran, and yoga pants. The children's yoga pants were slightly baggy rather than formfitting, even in Koneko's case, though her teenage body still filled them out very well.

Rias, on the other hand…wore a tight cut off T-shirt which gave a tremendous view of her under-boob. Underneath it was clear that she had opted for a sports bra for the day, but there was only so much even one of those could do to hide the size of her chest. She wore yoga pants too, but hers were skin tight, hugging her curvaceous rear, wide hips, and thighs like a second skin.

Knowing precisely the effect she was having on the man, Rias smiled, winking at Harry. One thing that she had learned over the past few months as they dated was that Harry had a distinct preference towards skintight clothing rather than frilly things. She experimentally bounced on her the balls of her feet and watched Harry's eyes flash with lust before he turned away, his nearly inhuman self-control exerting itself again.

Chuckling, Rias stopped her teasing and moved over to lean down over the girls shoulders as the three of them decided on the first trail they would run.

"Do you think we can get away with changing forms, Daddy?" Lily asked, looking over at her father.

Harry nodded slowly. "Let's get about a mile in from the parking area, Lily, and, once we can tell there are no people around, I'll cover us all with a few Notice-Me-Not spells. Then we can all transform," he said, kneeling down and ruffling both of the little girls' hair, smiling as Kunou pressed her head into his palm, letting loose a little rumble of joy.

"That means you too, Koneko," he said, winking at the taller girl, who nodded. She was still not quite used to taking her nekomata form in front of other people like this, but she was getting there and enjoyed it quite a bit. Although, in her case, the added speed and endurance gained by the change wouldn't be as much as it would be for the two little ones.

For her part Rias frowned, suddenly wondering if maybe she had bitten off a bit more than she could chew here.

That quickly turned out to be the case three miles later. Kunou had transformed into her full fox form and raced along on all fours next to Koneko and Lily, who had both transformed. They leaped and gamboled through the forest, racing away from the more beaten paths quickly, with Koneko in the lead at Harry's request. She had nodded proudly at that and then had just taken off, her tail lashing behind her, showing the way. Lily, in her werewolf body now, raced after her, sometimes on all fours and sometimes just running flat out, faster than most humans or even many devils would've been able to move. Rias, to her dismay, quickly began to fall behind as did Harry, who took up the rear position as he normally would when in the woods, just in case Lily got hurt, though in this case he had three other people to watch out for. Despite still being in his human form, he kept pace easily, showing no sign of the strain Rias was feeling.

That was both because of his werewolf given endurance carrying over and because the view in front of him was simply tremendous. With every step, Rias's pert, yet soft looking behind danced in front of him as they moved through the words. Even as Rias began to forget entirely that Harry was there, simply concentrating on keeping up, Harry began to get more and more aroused. The one time Harry came even with Rias as he came around a tree, he saw her sweaty face and found that just as desirable as the rest of the view, while his eyes trailed south, watching her breasts bounce with every step she ran, though they didn't bounce as much as they should have. Even if she had been wearing the same bra Rias was, a human woman would have been bouncing to the point of being painful with a chest Rias's size, but as a devil, her body was simply better in nearly every way than a normal human's.

About an hour later, Koneko found a massive area of boulders leading up to a rock face, which she began to climb with all the agility and skill cat-girls were known for. The other two followed quickly, with Kunou transforming into her kitsune body. Rias waited at the bottom of the boulder area, scowling as she looked up at the top of the rock face.

"I could just fly up," she muttered, then Rias suddenly found herself turned around, and pressed against a tree. Harry's face filled her view for a second before he was kissing the living daylights out of her. Rias moaned in surprise and arousal, finding her body responding without any input from her brain. Then his hands were filled with her rear, picking her up and grinding the erection he'd been dealing with for the last few miles against her core.

"Do you know," he said, leaning back just far enough to whisper against her lips before claiming them again, pulling back once more after a few sordid seconds to finish his sentence. "What you are doing to me!? Dammit, I am only a man! I don't have limitless self-control, woman! If the kids weren't here.…"

Rias chuckled, filling in the blank there easily before she moaned. Her arms and legs went around Harry, humping back against him. However, her eyes were still open, and she looked over Harry's shoulder as he began to work at her neck and saw the kids still climbing up the rock face. "But they are here," she said regretfully, pushing him away lightly and gesturing over his shoulder.

Then she giggled, kissing him lightly before pulling back, that sexy little smirk Harry so loved on her face. "But I think we can safely count this as a point to me in our little teasing game, Harry. But we really can't do anything right now."

Their flirting game had continued to develop over time, as had Akeno and Harry's, if to a somewhat lesser extent, since the two of them had already heightened the level of play about as high as it could go outside the house. When they started keeping score, Harry couldn't quite say, but they had, and he couldn't argue that Rias had won this round. "I still say I'm handicapped by the fact that I can't use exercise clothing to flirt in gym class like you and Akeno can to me," Harry muttered before moving away, looking down at his erection, and sighing as he began to cast a spell over it to hide it from anyone looking. "But you're right: this was a point to you. Beware my response, milady."

With that slightly ominous note, Harry left her there, moving over to help push the kids up the rock face. Kunou, especially, needing some help now that they had reached the rock wall and were out of boulders.

Rias giggled, then, as he turned to her, she moved up towards him, stepping up into his clasped hands and then scrambling as he lifted her up. If she shuddered and let loose a breathy little moan as his face rubbed into, first, her chest, and then down into her stomach and further, only Koneko had enough awareness to realize what the smell was when Rias and then Harry joined them. She looked at the two of them with her eyes slightly narrowed, but turned away and led the kids off, with the two lovers following. The fact that she and the kids conspired to run Rias so ragged she collapsed and had to be carried back had absolutely nothing to do with her irritation at their activities, whatever Harry said later.

The very next day, Harry, in an effort to make up for the fact that Akeno had not been able to join them, took her out on a date to a French restaurant, knowing that she like that kind of thing. Rias made no effort to join them, simply kissing him on the cheek when she heard about it after school and telling him that she wanted to spend some time with Kiba to try to find a present for the three month anniversary of his and Tsubaki dating, and then spend the evening with Kunou, Mittelt, and the others at her place instead of at Harry's, which had a much bigger screen with which to watch a Patlabor marathon.

Rias was actually feeling a little guilty. She had sort of been neglecting her Knight for the last few months, though, given the fact that he had a girlfriend now, Kiba actually hadn't noticed. But she wanted to make up for it now.

Harry was surprised when Akeno came by to pick him up this time. She was dressed in a sequined gown which hugged her figure and showed off an incredible amount of décolletage and leg, making Harry's inner male sit up and pant. _But, then again,_ he thought to himself, _both of them can do that to me any time they want._

When he walked down the stairs towards her, he found Akeno already talking to Lily, who was preparing to go over to Rias's place for the evening. "You'll love it there," she said with a smile, ruffling the redhead's hair. "Our screen is quite a bit bigger than the one you have here, and, I think, and though this just might me saying it, Buchou's popcorn is little better than Harry-sensei's."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Lily said haughtily. Then she grinned over her shoulder at Harry, moving to the side. "You two have fun, now, and don't stay out too late," she admonished, waving a finger at them.

Both of them laughed, and Harry leaned down to kiss his daughter's cheek. "You have fun with Rias too, lovey. I'll see you when I get home, okay?"

Lily nodded and moved off to where Asia was about to activate the teleportation spell to take them to Rias and her group's home. The permanent array had been installed that very morning, with much of the same security features that Rias would later put on the teleportation tunnel between the academy and Kyoto. Harry had aided the process by agreeing to cover for her absence at school via an illusion, and, between a mask over the illusion's mouth and Akeno fielding anyone trying to interact with it, they had gotten away with the little scheme.

"You clean up very well," Akeno said with a smile. Harry was dressed in a good brown blazer over a black shirt and pants combo tonight and had even attempted to comb the infamous Potter hair for the night.

"And you are gorgeous tonight. But, then again, you could make a paper bag look good," Harry said, smiling as he kissed her lightly.

Akeno smiled back, then watched Harry and the others as they said their farewells before stepping outside with Harry, her wings flaring from her back. The one, more sickly-looking Fallen Angel wing still looked a little weak to Harry's eyes, but exercise and the fact that Akeno was no longer forcefully rejecting her Fallen heritage had allowed the wing to slowly come back to life. Certainly it allowed her to fly, and she was getting far better at that aspect now, which she showed to Harry by flying up into the air and waiting for him. That this allowed Harry to look up her skirt for a second was not lost on Harry, who chuckled at her games and climbed aboard his Firebolt. Harry had started to fly on his own with his magic, but he wasn't nearly as fast as he was on a broom yet.

The two of them flew together through the air towards the French restaurant where Harry had made their reservations, coming down into a small alleyway before making their way to the front of the restaurant. They moved inside arm in arm and were seated in a small alcove to one side of a large fish tank that filled one wall. Harry watched the fish for a time and smiled over the table at Akeno. "Since I was the one that found this restaurant in the first place, would you mind if I ordered for us?"

Akeno shook her head, and the two of them made small talk for a time as they waited for the waiter to come by. After they had ordered, Harry asked, "How does Issei's training go?"

"Very well, if somewhat slowly due to the starting point I had to work with," Akeno said with a chuckle, her perfect face showing a little flush at the memory of that training and how she got the best out of Issei, mainly through a certain method of inspiration and, of course, punishment in the form of her lightning magic and a whip. She had yet to have to use the whip, alas, but it was always available, and Issei's reaction to the threat was hilarious. "He is quite easy to motivate and seems determined."

"He still wants to build a harem, I suppose?" Harry asked dryly.

"Can you blame him?" Akeno said. "All humans are ruled by their desires. He's simply being honest. Not like you."

"I prefer to be in control of myself, thank you," Harry replied, his tone even dryer. "Besides, you know why I prefer to be in control of myself. I told you and Rias both about how I was when I was young: just willing to do enough to get by, no knowledge of the world I'd found myself plunged into, no control over my life."

"I understand that and even applaud it, but it has colored our relationship," Akeno replied. "With you it's always about being equal, never about allowing me in the driver's seat or even assuming it yourself." They had tried a few times to bring some domination and submission into their make out sessions. Harry had even allowed Akeno to tie his hands behind his back at one point as he sat on a chair in the occult research club's room. But it was like putting a bonnet on a lion: you knew the lion was still there; nothing had changed.

Harry was willing to try to play the submissive but simply couldn't act like one. There was none of the suspenseful tension, the reluctant arousal that Akeno was looking for. Instead it was simply a game to him, and a sense that he could break out of it at any time he wanted, which was, in fact, the case, only made it worse.

"If only you would allow me to bring in some handcuffs, maybe then your attempts at submission would become the real thing," she said teasingly.

"Akeno, I'm sorry, but there are just some things that don't turn me on. I can't change that. Add to that the fact that your lightning spells cause pain a little too much like the Cruciatus, and.…" Harry shook his head, sighing and Akeno nodded wry understanding.

He had told her and Rias about how once, during the war against Riddle, he had been captured and tortured by the man himself, only to be rescued later on by his friends. It'd been him or Ron that would have been captured at the time, and Harry had chosen to take one for his friend, hoping to rely on his werewolf given durability, which had in fact seen him through despite the fact that Riddle's use of silver torture weapons had left him with several scars. Akeno had even applauded his choice at the time. She might have been selfish in what she wanted in life and wanted to be in a relationship where her lover's priority was her and vice versa, but Akeno was also a loving friend and would have been willing to have given her life for a friend just as Harry had.

"I know, but your priorities are so.…" She waved her hand, trying to think of how to explain. "This is difficult," she said eventually, gesturing between them. "At times, it's perfect, when it's just you and me, out like this. Yet even tonight, you made me wait by the door for a few minutes while you helped get the kids ready to go over to Rias's and my home. I know I'm letting that the little things get to me, but that is sort of a small representation of a larger problem."

Harry sighed. "I know, and I can't change that. I've made concessions on this point already. I've made time for you when I could have spent it with Lily and the girls. In fact, up until a few weeks ago I hadn't really spent all that much time around Kunou since she had moved in. There were just too many demands on my time." Some of that, admittedly, was because Lily had been his priority thanks to the werewolf issue, but that was only part of what had weighed on Harry's time. He hadn't even been able to spend all that much time with Asia one on one, certainly not since telling her about his plans to adopt the young, blonde teen.

"I told you when we started dating that you had to be open to the idea that my family is my priority, Akeno, just like I had to accept, respect, and even help your plans for the future. We've talked numerous times about your dream, and I've even helped you with your songwriting." Not writing the songs, admittedly, but Harry had a decent ear for rhymes and tunes and made for a good sounding board.

"True, and you've been a great help. It's not about the future, it's about now that's bothering me, Harry," Akeno said with a faint sight. "I still feel constrained, almost trapped by your preconceived notions of what you want in a girlfriend. I'm not like Rias. I don't want kids, not yet, not soon, maybe not ever; I don't know. That thought is so far in the future I can't even think about it now. But I don't find it fun to have a date night including your children, I don't like minding my words or actions, I don't like not being able to tease, taunt, and let out my sadistic side in the little things I do. Whenever I'm with you and around them, I feel I have to act in a certain way, and I don't like it."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. If I've ever implied by word or look that you needed to curtail yourself, to become someone you aren't while around the kids, I apologize; it wasn't intentional. But as to time, I can't compromise any more than I already have," Harry said softly. "I'm sorry, but I can't. My family is my main concern, and I love spending time with them."

Akeno nodded. "Nor would I want you to. You've already met halfway with me to date me like this at all," she said gesturing around the restaurant with a faint, somewhat melancholy, smile. "But I've been thinking about this over the past few weeks ever since I started training with Issei."

Harry's eyebrows rose then as he made the connection. "Ever since you stepped in and were in control of everything. Ever since you started to…to get your jollies through his training? Not certain how to put it delicately."

"Ever since I had an outlet for my frustrated sadist side and realized how much I needed it," Akeno supplied, nodding, her eyes alight with delight. "How much I realized I missed being the one in control, the one teasing and taunting, not an equal but a superior. It's domination of a more subtle sort than we tried. It felt good to be in control, to cause fear and arousal and pain all in equal measure."

But she went on more seriously, her delight dimming somewhat. "But then, there is emotionally."

Harry winced. Both of them knew without talking about it that the two of them had not been as close emotionally as he and Rias had been before they started dating, which may have been a mistake. They had grown far closer since, but there was no doubt most of their affection towards one another was physical beyond a certain point. For Harry, he was leery about sharing more of his heart with someone who, by her own admission, liked to cause pain and didn't want to be part of a family. For Akeno, it was the fact that Harry couldn't make her his priority, wasn't open to her fetishes, and was, frankly, too large a personality for her to ever feel like she was in control.

The food arrived then, and both of them made a conscious effort to move back from their conversation, concentrating on the meal and smaller, less important topics. Yet, even so, Akeno's mind was still working on the issues facing them. It had come to the point where the problems in the relationship between them were always on her mind whenever they were together. That told her that there had to be some kind of change.

There were only two questions Akeno needed to really answer. The first was, what did she want, and could Harry provide it with the way he was now? After a moment, Akeno understood. She wasn't really looking for love, not like Rias, nor for a real long term relationship. She wanted to be selfish, wanted to be her lover's one and only, something Akeno realized she should have figured out before they began dating, because she could never have been that. She wanted to experiment, to let loose her inner Dom and Sadist and maybe vice-versa, but even domination wasn't one of Harry's fetishes. Having been a prisoner and a pawn in other's games, he had no desire to treat others like that.

The second question was, what did she feel towards Harry? _There is an intense attraction there, but it's mostly physical,_ Akeno admitted to herself. _There is friendship but…but no deeper affection, not enough to overcome all the other issues._

"Harry," she said at last as she finished her linguine, no teasing in her tone. "I.… In many ways you were what I needed when we became friends. You, you helped me through a lot of my inner devils, let me realize things about myself, accept things about myself that I needed to in order to grow as a person. But that was mostly done even before we became a real couple. That first date was really the final straw in many ways. And now, now you're not what I want in a boyfriend."

Slowly nodding, Harry agreed. He had long felt that their relationship had not been going anywhere, constrained by their different desires, needs ,and simply the time they could spare one another. Harry knew he felt affection towards Akeno, but that emotion had been there when they started dating; it hadn't deepened since. He was sad, and a part of Harry blamed himself for it, but he could understand and accept the end of their relationship, since what Akeno said was true for him as well: she wasn't really what he wanted in a girlfriend either.

"And the longer we try to make this work, the more we'll start to resent one another for making it so difficult." Harry reached over and took Akeno's hands in his, squeezing gently as he stared into her eyes. "Akeno, it was an honor and a privilege to help you as you say I did, to go out with you as I have. You are an incredible young woman: strong, intelligent, vivacious, and one hell of a flirt," he said with a wink, causing her to giggle. "Don't take the fact that our relationship failed as a mark against you, okay? It's just, we're both two very different people, and we don't have enough in common to overcome our differences."

Akeno laughed, shaking her head and for some reason feeling lighter than she had been a moment ago. "So we're finished?" At Harry's nod, she stood up, moved around the table, and leaned in, kissing Harry lightly before pulling back, but not before deliberately pressing her chest against his side. "Pity, we could have been fantastic,~" she said teasingly.

With a wry chuckle, Harry nodded agreement before reaching into his mokeskin pouch and pulling out a small package. "I was going to give this to you tonight, and I don't see our breaking up a reason to change that. Here."

Taking the box, Akeno moved back to her seat as she began to open it. Inside she found a pair of wireless headphones, the kind that stuck into your ears. "They are Bluetooth and magically change in a few ways," Harry explained when she looked up at him. "You can link up to the MP4 player at home from wherever you are in Kuoh, and they will mold to your ears if you hold your hands over them and say the word, 'Mold.' I took the idea from those headsets Rias acquired."

Next to the headphones was indeed an MP4 player, which Akeno curiously linked her new headphones to, sticking one of them in her ear, not bothering to mold them to her ear just yet. On the player were several songs that she and Harry had sung to during their first date, along with hundreds more that she didn't recognize from England and America. "Thank you, Harry. I'll treasure it," she said, an honest smile of happiness on her face despite the mental turmoil of the last few minutes.

The two of them continued their date, and Harry walked her home where they exchanged one final peck on the cheek before Harry bid Akeno goodbye, reminding her not to take their breakup personally. "It always takes two to tango, after all, and our problems came from both of us equally."

Inside, Akeno found Rias cleaning up after the party. She had already sent Asia and the others home, thinking it would have marked her as a poor host to accept any offers to help, though Asia had offered to. She looked up as Akeno came in, cocking her head in confusion before she caught the confused look on Akeno's face. "Akeno, what's wrong? I didn't expect you for another hour at best."

Akeno sighed and moved over to her friend, enveloping the taller girl in a hug and explaining what had happened. After that Rias ushered her into a chair and got out some of their ice cream, and the two shared the icy treat with lots of cinnamon and chocolate mixed in with the original rum raisin as they watched a romantic comedy and talked about the breakup, Harry, boys in general, and what this meant going forward. Thankfully, Akeno wasn't jealous of Rias in this. As she put it, "I'm the normal one here, like you once said. You're the sport, wanting to have a family so young." They were also two very different people, and, in the end, as Harry had said, Akeno and Harry didn't have enough in common to overcome the differences. Eventually they fell asleep there, leaning against one another on the sofa, still friends despite this change, which was the most important thing to them both.

 **OOOOOOO**

When he arrived at school on Monday, Harry was a little concerned about how Akeno would act, now that they had broken up. Would she retreat entirely behind her Yamato Nadeshiko mask or start to let out her inner sadist a bit too much out in the open? A part of him even wondered if she would be sad and distraught, though Harry knew that was not Akeno's way.

He needn't have worried. Akeno came to school wearing her headphones hidden under her hair and smiling. She went back to teasingly flirtatious during class and even aimed a few semi-sadistic taunts at both Harry and a few other boys, even two girls, leaving them all a blushing, stuttering mess. She still looked the Yamato Nadeshiko besides the headphones, but she also let out her real personality alongside that, and Harry was happy for her.

As Harry was reflecting on this and walking out of the main building, a voice called to him from down the nearby hallway to his left. It was Sona, and her voice was even more formal and stiff-sounding than it normally was in public. "Potter-sensei, may I speak with you for a moment?"

Somewhat nonplussed, Harry nodded. With work on the defensive working done, Sona and he had quickly drifted away from one another's company. Sona had all of her own magical training and her duties as head of the student council to do, and the two of them had never been as friendly, even then, as Harry and Rias had been before he became the ORC advisor. It was clear to him that she saw him as an interesting magical resource, but with reservations about making full use of it, for some reason, which Rias said was because of her own pride. He thought that was silly, especially since her Queen, just like Akeno, came from an Onmyouji family. But it seemed to make sense to her, and he wasn't going to insist she learn from him, especially since it gave him more time for everything else he was up to at the moment.

But he nodded and followed Sona towards the student council room. There he found the rest of her peerage present and raised an inquiring eyebrow. "Can I help you in some way, Sitri-san?"

"I want to pay to join the magic classes that you are conducting with Rias and Akeno," Sona said bluntly. "For myself, Tsubaki, and my two Bishops."

Harry held up a hand quickly. "Realize that whatever you're offering, I don't honestly have a lot of time to spend actually teaching the two of them. What little time I do spend doing so, I go over things that they are to have read on their own, help retrain them to cast spells silently, and I fight them occasionally in the training arena so they can use a spell learned in a book in a real combat setting and get used to what they can and cannot do."

"That is more than fine with us," Tsubaki said, stepping beside her King in a moment of solidarity that was unmistakable. "Both of us learn far better from simply reading on our own than we do in actual classrooms, Potter-sensei. And if we are allowed to join the training, that will do a far better job than simply rote learning."

Harry looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, nodding slowly as he remembered that the two wizards who had apparently joined the Khaos Brigade had come from Tsubaki's clan. The girl hadn't shown any response to that when they had told her, which had been somewhat telling, but he knew it had affected her. Hearing about some of the spells that those two had cast, Harry had seen the look of anger and resigned avarice in her eyes.

"All right, but you realize you don't actually have to pay me for this? You could've simply asked." Then he smiled. "And, before you ask, no it's not exactly altruism, because having you as an ally helps protect my family."

"It might not be altruism, but it is close enough to spit on it," Sona said dryly. "And you know that my peerage and myself have never been as close to you as Rias and her family have been, even from the beginning. No, this is something that had to be paid for. My pride would not allow me anything else."

"So Rias told me. I find it rather silly, but.…" Harry shrugged "There is a thin line between pride and dignity, and I think it's different for everyone. All right, how are you thinking of paying for it?"

"You have seen both Rias's and Akeno's familiars, as well as my own. What you do not know is that most of ours are on the low-end of the power scale. There are others out there that can be bonded with that can truly enhance an individual's combat abilities or help in other ways, if that is in your mind. What I have done is secure a date and time frame for my peerage here to take you and yours to the Familiar Forest. I had to say that you were our allies, which was why it took so long," Sona muttered to herself, shaking her head before going on. "There you and all of those in your household who wish to can search for your own familiars. I believe this opportunity, since most of the animals you find will be magical in nature, will pay for lesson. Don't you think?"

Harry slowly nodded, thinking about what he had been told about the familiars that Rias and Akeno and the others had. He had even seen Koneko and her little white cat, which had, of course, been a big hit with the girls. Asia had squealed about it for quite some time, enough to hurt his and Lily's ears slightly. "Yes, I believe it will. When shall we do this?"

"Tomorrow, after school," Sona said simply. "As I said, I had to secure a specific date and time."

Nodding, Harry held out his hand, and Sona shook it formally. "Then I believe we have a deal. I'll bring along copies of my magical books tomorrow, and you can start going through them whenever you wish."

Sona nodded back and, when Harry left, exchanged a grin with Tsubaki. "Most excellent!"

Later that evening, Harry explained to Lily and Kunou what they were being offered that evening after dinner, which Rias and the others had not been able to join for once. Akeno was again on her tea ceremony contract, and Rias had to take over the training for Issei, which she had done with alacrity. She hadn't spent nearly as much time with Issei as she normally would for a member of her family, but, given everything else she had been busy with, this was somewhat understandable. That had caused Harry some serious misgivings when he first heard about it, but since Rias and Akeno had never let jealousy get in the way of their relationship, he didn't think he had a leg to stand on there. He still voiced it, of course, but Rias had simply said, "Don't worry; he's so not my type!"

After Harry had explained everything, Koneko brought out her little white cat, Shirou, setting him on the table in front of her as she stroked his head with one finger. "Good Shirou."

Sitting next to her, Kunou leaned in, rubbing noses with the little kitten, while Lily looked on. "I prefer the little Oni," she said with a grin. She still had one of those watching her whenever she was at school, which Harry was immensely thankful towards Akeno for. "They're like squish toys only they can try to talk back to you."

Rolling his eyes, Harry said, "I take it you two are on board with this idea?" With her eyes gleaming like large jewels Asia's opinion hardly need to be said, and she was leaning against Koneko's other side as she stared down at the little cat, asking questions about it in a small, excited voice.

She looked up and shouted, " **Yes!** " along with the two little kids, and he laughed.

Later that night, Rias came by, looking tired. "Harry?"

"Welcome home," Harry said from the kitchen where he was just putting away some groceries. He stuck his head out into the foyer where Rias had put one half of the protected teleportation tunnel between the Potter house and the clubroom. He took one look at her and wordlessly poured her a glass of wine before escorting her to a sofa in the sitting room, where the kids were once more trying to finish off their homework. From the scowl apparent on the two girls' expressions, Rias could tell immediately that it was once more a repetitive writing homework sheet. Harry had warned that that was coming up.

"How did it go?" Harry whispered as he sat her down next to him on the sofa. Koneko and Asia were nearby as well, though they weren't doing homework. Instead, they were talking quietly, writing down some kind of list or other. Harry hadn't asked what that was, and, judging by the flushes that he spotted occasionally, he didn't want to know.

"It was trying. I had to be very hard on Issei occasionally to get him to concentrate on actual training rather than…you know," she said, gesturing down at her body. "It's funny, every time he looked at me I felt, not dirty so much as amused and then annoyed. But it just showed the difference between how you look at me and how he looks at me," Rias finished, leaning against his shoulder.

Harry nodded and put an arm around her shoulders, squeezing gently. After a few moments, she spoke up again, not looking at him. "You said welcome home earlier."

"I did," Harry said, kissing the top of her head. "Is it so surprising?"

"Not surprising, simply very gratifying, I suppose. It made me very happy, Harry," she said, nuzzling further against his shoulder.

The two of them talked about Sona and her offer, which Rias was very happy to hear that Harry had accepted. They talked for a time about Rias and her own experiences getting her familiar, but, for some reason, despite mentioning the man who had helped her, the Familiar Master, she didn't go into detail about him. Harry was a little worried about that to be honest, but decided to set it aside for now, simply enjoying the family atmosphere for a time.

The next day, after school, Harry picked up Lily and Kunou from their elementary school and then headed back to the Academy. There the three of them joined Asia, who had already arrived thanks to the teleportation tunnel. Loup was with her but would not be joining them. Harry had asked him whether or not he wanted a familiar, but the man had shrugged and shook his head. "Maybe some other time. I have no need for pets at the moment. Besides, I'm more of a plant guy."

Despite the fact that they could make him stronger, Loup wanted to concentrate on his own studies and training. Since he had found a martial arts master to train him to an even higher level a week ago, that made sense to Harry, but now he made certain that the offer to take Loup to get a familiar in the future would remain open.

Sona simply nodded. "Actually, it will be easier to get Loup into the Familiar Forest than it was for you and your daughter, Harry-san, given the alliance we're going to be signing with the Youkai Association that Loup is a part of. Just give me some heads-up on when you want to go, Garou-san," she said, nodding her head formally to the older boy.

The college student smiled at her, and Sona fought back a blush. Occasionally Loup had gotten that reaction from her, something about his stolid yet reasonably intelligent presence had gotten through her defenses. And, by the smile in his eyes, Loup seemed to know it. He took her hand and, when she made no move to resist, raised it to his lips, kissing it gently. "Thank you for the offer, milady," he said equally formally, then stepped back, moving to sit down in a chair to wait for the others to return.

Sona shook her head while, in the background, she heard Saji growling angrily, but put it out of her mind. The boy already had a few of her peerage members interested in him. Sona had known for a while now that she wanted to be in an exclusive relationship, and there was no chance that Saji would go for that now that he was a devil and didn't have to. She stepped backward and moved to activate the teleportation array set into the center of the student council room, which, she thought as she did so, was rather amusingly created by Rias and her father as part of the setup that allowed them to stay at the Academy.

The two of them had argued throughout the process, and then Rias had literally pushed her father through the teleportation array the moment it was finished. The look on the older man's face had been most amusing. _I wonder how they will react to everything that's occurred here? In particular, Rias and Harry-sensei's relationship._

However, when Sona activated the array it glowed blue with the power of her family's magic, since she herself had done the energizing portion of the set up for this part of the teleportation web. "Please step into the circle," she said, looking over at the young girls and smiling at them as they stood up. Tsubaki, Tsubasa, and Saji stepped forward to join them. "The rest of my peerage will remain here."

Nodding, Harry took Lily's hand with one of his own and Kunou's with the other before stepping forward, with Asia taking Lily's other hand.

The four of them walked into the circle with the five devils, and all nine of them disappeared from Earth for a time.

They reappeared in a special section of Hell called the Familiar Forest. They stood in a small glade in that forest, but Harry could feel the pressure of the trees all around them, heady with its sheer size. He and Lily immediately began sniffing, the scents of the forest filling their noses, and Harry took a step forward, looking around him thoughtfully. "This place, this is part of Hell?"

"Hell isn't what the name usually implies," said Tsubasa, looking at him quizzically. "Hasn't Gremory-san told you anything about this?"

"She told me about it, but seeing and, in our place, smelling," he said, waving a hand at the two youngest girls and himself, "is believing far more than simply hearing stories."

"This is no time for awe!" said an unknown male voice. "You're here to hunt familiars, right? Well, you better get started! Those familiars aren't going to catch themselves. Listen to me and you can't go wrong, I'll show you the strongest, from the greatest wyvern, to the sneakiest, the downtrodden magic squirrel! Is magic your game? A bugbear would do nicely! How about flight? A mighty Roc for you! I am the Familiar Master, and I've caught them all!"

They all turned, and Lily gasped, taking a step backwards, her eyes wide and her mouth gaping. Kunou also reacted poorly, quickly hiding behind Harry, grabbing one of his legs, and staring out around it at the odd looking young man in front of them.

Harry could understand the young girls' reticence. They had been into the Pokémon series for a while now, and they had both taken to nagging Harry about actually buying the games. Harry had put his foot down at that, saying that they were time wasters and that the two of them had more than enough other things to spend their time on. Luckily for him, he'd won the argument, if only because Koneko didn't have a copy of those games, finding collecting-type games stupid.

The man in front of them was dressed like the main character of the Pokémon series, Satoshi grown up wrongly. He had red shorts, a red bag on his back, and a red cap on his head, twisted backwards, with a blue-and-white shirt with some sort of little creature on it finishing the look. He was overweight and kind of bulging out of the clothing in places.

"That is one of the more disgusting things I've seen in the last few years," Harry said frankly. He looked over at Sona, who was looking at the man, who just nodded.

"This is the Familiar Master," Sona said, gesturing to the man. "He can help you decide on what animal you are best suited for and then show you the appropriate sections of the forest to look for them."

"I see," Harry said with a tight nod, his eyebrow twitching a little.

Lily, though, was shaking her head. "Oh my God, he has ruined Pokémon for me!"

Kunou nodded, making no effort to move from where she was hiding behind Harry.

Tsubaki simply nodded, understanding where the girls were coming from. The two Rooks, though, were grinning at their misfortune, having gone through much the same thing and thinking of it as something equivalent to a rite of passage.

Asia smiled, stepping forward. She was never one to judge people by their covers and so simply took the man at face value, given Sona words. "Hello," she said brightly. "I think that we all have a kind of an idea of what we would like already, so maybe you could tell us some more about the process of gaining a familiar?"

"Of course, dear lady!" the man said, stepping forward and holding out his hand to her. She shook it, but he then took hers and bowed over it as Loup had Sona's earlier, kissing the back of it. "For someone as beautiful as you, I could do everything!"

He stepped forward a little, invading Asia's personal space somewhat, but not enough that she would step back away just yet. Harry, however, began to growl a little, his fingers twitching.

"How you catch a familiar is simple," the Familiar Master said, gesturing around the forest while still retaining a hold of Asia's hand as he spoke in a near singsong. "As you move through the forest, keep an image of what you want in a familiar in your mind. Do you want something small, cute, and fluffy to cuddle up to, or do you want something powerful, able to help you in a fight? Keep that image in your head, and when you see a creature that matches that description, send out a magical pulse. It will be like a magical handshake, and it will tell the animal you're interested. If it is interested in you in turn, it will come to you. If not, it will go away, and I'm afraid your compatibility will have proven to be insufficient."

Asia tried to gently take her hand away, but found the Familiar Master holding it a little too tightly. "For you, lady, I think I would recommend something in between: a tiger of some kind or perhaps a wolf, soft and fluffy but also dangerous to help protect you and your precious virtue."

The way he said those words made Asia's smile falter entirely, and she tried again to pull her hand away, but Lily took the Familiar Master's attention, causing him to release her. She stepped forward, staring out around the forest. "You listed a lot of animals before. Can we really find a wyvern here? Or some kind of Roc?"

"Of course!" the Familiar Master said, giving her a thumbs up as he finally released Asia's hand. "For certain you can find any magical creature within this forest. Though you're a little young to be searching for a familiar, aren't you? Well, don't worry, ladies; I can see you right. Would either of you like to ride on my shoulders?"

Growling, Harry lashed out now that the closet pervert had let go of his adopted daughter's hand. A Stupefy caught the Familiar Master, throwing him backwards. He smacked into a tree on the other side of the clearing, and Harry quickly conjured up a series of ropes, pointing and directing as he did, tying up the man in as unpleasant a manner as possible.

By his side, Lily shuddered, stepping forward to take Asia's hand. "Right. The moment we get home all of my Pokémon stuff is going in the trash!" Kunou nodded agreement to that, even if it would mean she would have to replace her bedding.

Tsubaki pulled out a camera, taking pictures as she chuckled. "Mm, a pity you and Himejima-san are no longer together. If you were, I predict she would be very interested in your ability with rope."

Harry shook his head, amused at how quickly the news that he and Akeno were no longer together had spread through their little community. "She was the sort of person who would tie you up rather than be tied, I'm afraid."

Looking around the forest, Harry shrugged, transforming into his werewolf form, startling Sona and the others of her peerage. _Good grief, he's even taller now,_ Sona thought, staring up at the now even taller Harry, while Lily and Kunou both transformed too.

Kunou, however, was still clinging to Harry's leg and lifted her hands up pleadingly. "Carry me?"

Harry laughed and lifted her up into his arms and onto his shoulders, feeling her tail flapping against his shoulders as he did. "All right there, Kunou-chan?" he asked with a chuckle before looking over at Sona as Kunou nodded above his head. "Are you all going to stay here?"

"Yes. The more people you have to a party, the less likely the more intelligent animals are to come forward." Sona looked over at her Rook and Pawn.

Harry nodded and gestured to Lily. "Lily, why don't you lead us off? But stay in sight, okay?"

As Lily nodded, Asia moved to his side, smiling and taking the large werewolf by his hand, squeezing. "Thank you," she said, gesturing over to where the Familiar Master was tied up. "I do not like to say bad things about someone else, but he was giving me a very odd feeling."

"No worries, Asia," Harry said, rubbing her hair, while Lily swirled around in place, slowly coming to a stop and pointing in a random direction into the forest, which she promptly began to enter.

Kunou smiled, laying her head sideways on the soft fur of Harry's head as she looked around, though her thoughts were on the man she was currently using as transportation rather than the forest. Before Kunou moved in with Lily and her family she'd never spent much time around anyone who treated her quite like Harry did. Her own extended family was standoffish, formal at the best of times, and those of her own generation were resentful of the fact that she was the daughter of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. All the other men she interacted with were either servants or treated her very formally as 'befit her station,' except for Loup, and, while being friendly, he didn't treat her like this, like just another member of a family.

The young kitsune didn't really remember her dad other than the fact that he had a wide smile, a beard, and a deep rumbling sort of laugh that made her smile. In that, she was somewhat envious of Lily but couldn't imagine not having a mommy or the idea of not seeing her again as Lily did. But she **really** liked Harry, who was always willing to pat her on the head or hug her or cajole her into doing something, just like her Momma did. And, for some reason, being around him made her feel warm and protected. _Is this what having a daddy is like?_

Soon enough, however, she grew bored of deep thoughts and being a passenger and patted his head, indicating that she wanted down. Then she was running ahead, staying within sight along with Lily, but moving through the forest with her at a brisk pace, pointing this way and that as they spotted animal tracks or animals themselves. They hadn't seen anything truly magical yet outside of a few multicolored birds, which looked interesting, but weren't anything that two of them could see themselves bonded with.

Harry and Asia followed more sedately behind them as they moved deeper into the forest.

Elsewhere in the same forest, a giant animal began to stir, her enhanced magical senses telling her something. **"Interesting. Someone has come into my forest who bears the scent of The Thief on him. The magical signature is there!"** There was a deep sniffing sound, and the voice, female for all its depth, turned querulous. **"Though not so much physically, oddly enough. But still, it is enough for me to be curious."**

About an hour went by as the four of them trooped through the forest, treating it like they would a day in the park, but none of them saw an animal which grabbed their attention. All three of the girls had specific ideas of what they wanted, and Harry pointed out a few animals, but they all shook their heads. Occasionally one or the other would try to send out the magical pulse thing that the Familiar Master had mentioned, but no animals responded.

At one point, though, Lily paused and stared down at a track on the ground, kneeling and looking at it thoughtfully, sniffing the air. "It smells like a giant cat, but not quite," she said, looking over at Kunou.

"Really?" she said, sniffing at another track. "I think it smells more of a bird."

Harry came upon them at that point, and, hearing that, he began to smirk, reaching down to ruffle their heads and causing them both to look up at him, only now realizing that he and Asia had caught up to them. "Why can't it be both? After all, Lily, you and I both know of one animal to whom both of those scents might be attributed."

While she stumbled over the meaning of the word 'attributed,' Lily paused, thinking, then also began to smile up at her daddy. "Oh, that would be great! Which way do we go!?"

With his better trained nose, Harry leaned down, sniffing, and then pointed in the proper direction. "Follow me from now on, okay? These particular animals can be very dangerous."

The three girls followed, Asia and Kunou looking quizzical and the two original Potters almost giddy, with Lily practically skipping. "This is going to be awesome!" Lily said, repeating herself more than once as they moved through the woods.

They soon came upon a small rocky bluff, standing up out of the regular forest by a few meters, its cliff face going straight up. "Time to go climbing, girls," Harry said, gesturing to Lily to lead the way. Of the three she was easily the strongest, thanks to her werewolf body, and Harry wanted to bring up the rear.

Her vaguely wolf-like face split by a grin, Lily scrambled up the rock face, leaning down to help Kunou up a little until she could get up to where the handholds were more numerous. Below, Asia watched in surprise as Harry offered his back, but dutifully got on, and then was surprised anew as he simply climbed up after younger girls. He occasionally had to give one or another girl a boost upwards, but, for the most part, they were able to make it themselves.

As the top there was a giant nest perched on one half of the rocky plateau. In the nest lay an adult gryphon. It was truly a magnificent example of the breed. Its plumage was white, its fur golden, and its wings flapped about powerfully. Though there were scars on its pelt here and there, its head was unblemished, the eagle eyes intense as it stared at them. The gryphon looked at them intently, while numerous loud cheeping noises came from below it, and five little gryphon heads poked out from under their mother's bulk.

Harry whispered softly, "There are many animals in the world that are prideful creatures and are much more intelligent than you might think. The gryphon is one of them, and, like the hybrid hippogryphs I've met in the past, you need to show it deference and respect."

Asia gently got off his back and, with Harry leading all four of them, bowed from the waist.

The little ones all looked at them, and then their mother nodded her head once. Another scent hitting him, Harry turned quickly, looking over his shoulder as another gryphon floated through the air to land nearby on silent wings. At Harry's urging they all bowed once more before waiting for a response, and the patriarch waited a second before nodding his own head in return. But his eyes were hard as he stared at Harry, the werewolf form obviously being known to them. Looking down at the girls, Kunou was looking at them in awe, and Lily's eyes were sparkling. She looked up at her father and asked, "You think I can?"

"Go ahead, love. The only thing you can do is see if one of them wants to be your familiar now."

She nodded and stepped forward, bowing again as she did. The male lifted his wings back to a resting position and settled down, nodding his head to her once more, and she took several steps forward until she was almost to the nest. There Lily stopped, bowed again, and asked, "I would like to partner with one of your little ones, please? I want to form a familiar bond," she said, looking at them all. As she spoke, Lily gathered herself and, with an effort of will well beyond a normal nearly eight year old girl, sent out a magical pulse, the magic around her glowing briefly, green and white.

For a moment the gryphons simply looked back, then the mother looked down at its children, who still looked at Lily. Eventually one of them began to crawl up out of the nest, rolling out and falling onto its rear for a moment before righting itself, its wings getting away for a second before it could figure out how to fold them back again.

It was a little thing, about half the size Lily would be in her human body, with gray and brown-striped wings. It moved forward, and Lily got down on all fours, the two of them sniffing one another. Then it nodded, its beak opened, and a long tongue flicked out to lick her face as Lily in turn pulled the little creature up into a hug, turning to her father with a triumphant smile.

Harry bowed again formally to the two adults. "Thank you for this. I will make certain that your youngling is taken care of as best as I can."

They nodded back and remained watching the foursome as Harry used magic to get them back down to the ground. Asia blinked as she floated in the air, asking, "Harry-san, why did you not use magic on the way up?" She was uncertain about calling Harry father or any of its derivatives, even though that was indeed how she saw him. None of them seemed to quite fit.

"It's a sign of respect, once more, Asia," Harry answered with a smile, lifting the two girls into the air next to her and looking down at the gryphon as it looked at him and then Kunou before nuzzling back into Lily's chest. "Gryphons are magical creatures, and they can sense magic like other magical creatures. This was their territory, and, if we had used magic without first making their acquaintance, they would never have accepted Lily and might well have attacked us."

"How do you know that?" Asia asked curiously.

"I had a very thorough Care of Magical Creatures teacher, even if his idea of interesting beasties was a little crazy at times," Harry replied dryly as he set Kunou and Lily on their feet. The little gryphon cub hopped out of Lily's arms and walked next to her, looking around them with interest. It was obvious that this was the first time it had been let out of the nest, and Harry nodded to himself. _It would be a good idea to find other young familiars like this for the girls, so they can both grow in turn._

In contrast to how they had gone about finding the gryphon, Asia's familiar found them. Several minutes after they left the gryphons' territory, a small dragon creature about as long as Harry's forearm swooped out of the forest. Before Harry could do anything but try to grab at its tail, the little thing was wrapped around Asia's shoulders, nuzzling his head against her cheek. Asia squeaked, but then stilled and raised a hand, stroking the little creature's scales. "Oh, you're so pretty! What are you, little one?" she cooed.

"Some kind of small dragon," Harry said, looking at it thoughtfully, leaning down to do so. It turned, its eyes seeming to narrow, and an electric bolt shot out from its forehead towards Harry, who quickly conjured up a small magic shield to block it. "That was interesting," he said dryly. "A magic-using dragon, then."

"No, Raiter!" Asia said sternly, tapping the little dragon on its nose. "No fighting with Harry-san!"

"Raiter?" Harry asked, tilting his head.

Asia blushed, poking her fingers together. "Rai for lightning and ter for Potter," she said, a little embarrassed.

"I think that's a fine name," Harry said with a smile, ruffling her hair even as the dragon glared at him. "You might want to think about curbing its territorial tendencies, though. There aren't many of us boys around, but I can't say any of us would like to be shocked every time we come near you."

Harry paused, then smirked. "Wait, what am I saying? Let Raiter handle Saji and Issei's advances. That'll make me sleep a lot better at night."

Asia's blush renewed at that, having realized by now that both boys were not simply being nice to her, but were, in fact, trying to flirt with her. She wasn't certain how she felt about that, but could understand her new father's position.

Another hour went past as they continued to explore the forest. All of them were having a lot of fun, as Lily and her new familiar filled the air with different names and responses to said. The little gryphon was just as opinionated as Raiter was protective, shaking its head firmly whenever it didn't like a name.

"How about Titan, then," Lily said, flinging her hands up in the air. "That's a strong name, right?"

At that, the little creature paused then nodded its head firmly.

"Awesome!" Lily said pumping her fist in the air.

At that point Kunou was starting to be a little concerned that she wouldn't find a creature capable of becoming her familiar here. _Maybe they smell my fox scent and think I'm just another animal?_ she thought to herself. At Harry's urging she had begun to send out magical pulses every few minutes, but nothing had responded just yet.

However, just as she was about to start whimpering at being left out of the fun of getting a familiar, she paused as a small noise drew her attention to one side. As the others turned in that direction too, and before Harry could stop her, Kunou moved quickly, having heard what amounted to a small whimper. She knelt down, poking her head through a bush, only to find herself face-to-face with an odd-looking young puppy. It looked like a cross between a Chow Chow and a Akita, with the mane and face of a Chow Chow, but the body of an Akita. It had thick shoulders, the mane made it look almost like a lion, but not quite, and it had large poofy ears, drooped now as it whimpered.

Kunou's heart immediately went out to the little thing, and she held out her arms, pushing them through the bush. "Oh, are you lost?" she cooed, pulling it against herself. It struggled for a second, but then caught her scent and sniffed loudly before nuzzling into her chest, whimpering a little as its stomach began to growl at them.

Harry pulled out some beef jerky and handed it to Kunou, who started to pull it apart, holding the little pieces out to the animal in her arms.

As it ate, Harry knelt down nearby. The little creature looked up at him and the others, turning its nostrils towards them one after another before going back to eating without any further care. "Is it just me, or does that look like a third eye on its forehead there, hidden behind the folds?"

"It is!" Kunou said with a smile, rubbing the back of the creature who now rumbled at her contentedly, its tail beginning to wag as it licked her palm clean with an oddly forked tongue.

"It's a magical dog called a Bai Ze," Kunou explained. "I've seen pictures of them. They're really intelligent, able to talk to people in their minds once they grow up, even use illusions; they can even fly!"

The little puppy soon finished its food and then began to lick Kunou's face enthusiastically. In reply Kunou threw herself around it, instantly in love with the little puppy.

"Well then," Harry said, slapping his hands together. "I think you've all found your familiars now, so let's head back."

"You haven't, Daddy," Lily said. "Don't you want one?"

Harry winced a little, then shrugged. "If one had come to me, I wouldn't have turned it away, but it was more about the three of you then me." With that he turned them all away and began to lead the way back to the clearing, able to follow back along their trail through the woods easily, even if he couldn't remember the clearing well enough to apparate them there.

However, as they went, Harry became aware of a deep thrum in the air, then a sort of thumping sound.

Frowning, he gestured for the kids to a halt, staring into the forest around them. "What is this?"

A few heartbeats later he was able to place the sounds as the flapping of large wings and turned in the direction the sounds coming from, frowning deeply. "Kids, I want you both to go over with Asia. Head a little over that way and hide behind one of the trees," he ordered. "Something is coming, and we don't know if it's friendly or not."

Normally Harry would simply have ordered his daughter to use her emergency portkey. But, since they were in an alternate dimension right now, he wasn't certain it would work, considering its destination was back home. _Something else to think about for the future,_ Harry thought grimly.

Asia nodded and gently pushed the two younger girls along, while her new familiar unwound itself from around her shoulders, hovering in the air to one side as they moved into the hiding place, then hovering over their heads protectively. The gryphon and even the Bai Ze also scrambled to either side of their new partners, fur on end.

The flapping of the wing grew louder and louder, soon accompanied by the sound of wind being propelled through the trees. But, even so, Harry was not prepared for the sight of the animal creating the noise as it slowly floated down to land in the forest ahead of them, knocking trees aside as if they were toothpicks.

It was a dragon, but this one was on a scale with Ddraig in his mental plane. Its scales were multicolored, and its head was larger slightly than Ddraig's, though that might be because of the number of spikes jutting out. Its wings were massive, its body looked like it was built along much the same lines as Ddraig, though with slightly larger back legs, and its tail had what looked like plumage on the tip, a riot of colors like those found on a peacock.

Its head reared back on its long neck as it stared down at Harry, scowling. **"You,"** it bellowed, causing Harry to be thankful that the creature was actually intelligent enough to form words. He did not want to fight this thing with the kids so close. Or at all, if Harry was honest. He would if he had to, but talking was just as good in his opinion.

 **"You!"** The voice boomed again, and this time Harry decided it sounded female. " **You smell like the thief! And so does someone else here.…"**

"I'm sorry, who is this thief you speak of, Miss?…" Harry asked, trailing off, making the term a question.

The dragon glared down at him, but then Raiter zoomed into the air, growling angrily. It seemed to talk to the large dragon, who turned its head in the direction it had come from, seeing the three girls hiding in the woods there as easily as an eagle would a fat mouse. Unlike with an eagle and a mouse, though, the dragon was not a creature of pure instinct and knew what it was seeing. **"Here for familiars? I suppose I should, at least, respect that, and I'm not here for the children. But you, you smell of Ddraig! Where is he? Is he bound to you in this life? If so, bring it out!"**

"No. My name is Harry Potter, and Ddraig isn't bound to me, as you put it," Harry said. "But I do have access to him in a way. But I won't give you any more information if you're going to make demands and threats like that, and even without the courtesy of telling me your name."

The dragon leaned down to glare at Harry from right in front of him. But eventually she nodded, and the giant dragon slowly started to shrink, a flash of green and red energy encompassing her body as she did.

Soon enough it stood no larger than a horse. It was still dangerous, like a giant bomb waiting to go off, but not as intimidating. "This will make it easier to converse, I suppose," the female dragon said thoughtfully. "As for my name, I am Tiamat! Do you know of me, werewolf?"

Harry slowly nodded, having heard that name before from a list of mythical dragons he'd read after learning about Ddraig's existence. "It is an honor to meet you, Tiamat."

 **"Hmmf, the honor is all yours, werewolf. But now that the pleasantries have been seen to, let us get back to more important things,"** Tiamat said haughtily. **"I said I was not here for the youngsters, and I meant it, though one of them also seems to smell of Ddraig. But you will tell me what I want to know! Where is the thief!?"**

Harry explained the unusual circumstances which had placed Ddraig in his current predicament and how both he and his daughter had occasionally worn the gauntlet, getting to know the spirit within.

The chromatic dragon stared at Harry, then slowly started to laugh, its laughter a booming noise even in its smaller form. **"Ddraig, no longer even soul-bonded to his prison, but still caged and used as a tool! That is irony in its purest form, especially for a thief."**

"He seems to be enjoying himself," Harry said with a shrug, but then asked quizzically, "Why do you call him a thief, though? That surely doesn't match any of our interactions, even if the old fellow is kind of forgetful about some things."

"What would you call an individual who first wooed you, then stole your treasures away, only to have them be destroyed in battle?" Tiamat growled.

Harry winced. "Ah, a mix of a woman scorned and the dragon's ire roused, that's pretty bad," he said judiciously. "Your anger is perfectly justified in that case."

 **"Of course it is,"** Tiamat said with a chuckle. Then she frowned at him, sniffing the air. **"You both smell of Ddraig, its scent wafting to me as only a dragon's scent can to another dragon. But you also smell of ancient Light magic, a very odd combination of blood, poison, and moon-based magic. That is beyond bizarre, Harry Potter."**

Harry shrugged and conjured up a chair for himself, leaning back as he gestured the others forward, excitement welling up inside him at this odd opportunity. "Well, I suppose I can give you a brief summary of how my various oddities came to be. But it will have to be very brief, or we'll be here for a week."

Resting back on her haunches, Tiamat nodded. **"It's been a long time since I conversed with anyone other than the four Maou, who occasionally drop by to speak to me. This should be interesting."**

Tiamat listened intently, hearing about how Harry had fought a basilisk, surprisingly rather awed. The poison of those creatures was such that even a dragon would not care to tangle with one unless it had to, and certainly would never do so while underground. That poison also became deadlier over time. Harry's interaction with a phoenix was again interesting.

Afterwards, she looked over at the three children—counting Asia as a child too, though few humans would have—and then nodded thoughtfully. **"So you came here for familiars. Very well, your story was fascinating enough to interest me more, Harry Potter. I will make you a deal. I will become your familiar, but we will not have the normal Familiar/Master relationship, so get that thought out of your head."**

She glared at him, but Harry simply nodded, and she went on, her pride appeased. **"We will instead create a contract like that between a mage and a king. Both of us will be able to call upon each other's magic. I will gain some knowledge of your spells, and you, with training, will gain access to some of mine. Mostly element based magic, but there are a few spells I can give you access to that have been long forgotten by most. But,"** she said, leaning forward to glare at Harry from a few inches away. **"I want Ddraig! He owes me! Give me access to him. That is my price."**

Harry nodded thoughtfully, understanding what kind of deal the Dragon Goddess was offering him. "I can try to get you in touch with his spirit inside the gauntlet when we return, though I would prefer you not to try to destroy the gauntlet itself. Ddraig has become something of a friend, and I would not like to see his soul or his physical form damaged beyond repair. And I'm afraid even your current size is a bit large for me to think about taking you back."

 **"I can shrink myself farther, although it is unpleasant being even this small,"** Tiamat said with a shrug. **"Do we have an agreement?"**

"I agree," Harry said formally, holding his hand out, which the dragon carefully shook with one of her claws.

Back at the glade where they had teleported into the Familiar Forest, Sona looked up as she heard noises in the forest coming towards them. It wasn't the first time they had heard such, of course, and Saji and Tsubasa had gotten some practice in fighting a few of the beasts that had shown up. Many of them seemed to want to take a bite out of the Familiar Master. Whether because he was tied up and helpless or for more personal reasons, Sona wasn't willing to contemplate. She left that to Tsubaki and Tsubasa.

She turned in that direction, as did everyone else, only to slowly gawk as they saw Lily leading the others out of the forest. The little gryphon at Lily's side was fascinating and an amazing catch, but the little Bai Ze was startling. The dragon around Asia's shoulders was equally surprising and gratifying. It showed the potential the future of any alliance between House Potter and the Youkai Association could give her family.

The sight of the small dragon, which could only be Tiamat, winging its way over their heads? That was enough to make even Sona's legendary self-control, created over years of dealing with her sister, to snap, and she gaped in shock, growing a little faint as she stared from it to the other animals and then back to Tiamat and Harry Potter. _Oh, by the Maou, thank you, Rias, for dragging me into this friendship. I'm going to have to do something very nice for my friend in the future._

"Um, why is my gauntlet telling me to run away?" Saji asked hesitantly, staring down at his Sacred Gear.

"Because it knows trouble when it sees it?" Tsubasa asked in wry amusement.

Once introductions were finished, Sona teleported them all back to the student council room. Loup looked up from where he had been reading a textbook, standing up only for his eyes to widen as he stared at the animals. Then he shook himself and asked, "So, successful, were we?"

Harry chuckled at that, and then looked at Sona and Tiamat in turn. "So, how do we do this?"

Sona walked them through the familiar binding ritual, and each of them performed it in turn. Afterward all of the animals changed into immaterial forms, as was part of the familiar bonding ritual. After all, you couldn't always have your familiars with you physically, but they could follow along like this, able to be summoned forth at need.

With Sona accompanying them, ostensibly to inform Rias how it went but really to watch the meeting between Ddraig and Tiamat, Harry headed home. He found Kala and Rias in the kitchen, preparing dinner, and, after announcing himself, moved in that direction with the girls following. Immediately after the door closed behind him, both Kunou and Lily called for their familiars, holding the young creatures in their arms and showing them off proudly for everyone.

Raiter had not gone astral like the others, and now stood proudly on Asia's shoulder. Thankfully, the little chromatic dragon didn't have problems with girls and made no move to try and spark any of them, though Loup had an issue at first.

"This is amazing," Rias said honestly, reaching down to slowly run her fingers through the Bai Ze's mane-like fur and nodding her head to the little gryphon. The only other gryphon she knew for a fact had been made into a familiar belonged to Grayfia, and that was saying something.

Though Rias didn't like how it was staring at her ahoge for a moment, there. _Hmm, might want to keep my distance from Titan's beak for bit, at least until he's trained not to bite without his lady's say-so._ "But you didn't find one for yourself?"

"I did, but it came with some conditions."

"Oh dear," Akeno said, placing one hand on the side of her face as she stared at Harry, very deadpan. "Why do I get the impression that this is another way your life has taken an unusual turn, Harry-kun?"

"Because you understand my luck?" Harry asked with a smirk, winking at her.

Watching her Queen chuckle at that, Rias reflected that the two of them seemed to have moved on from their aborted attempt at dating very well. It wasn't that they didn't have regrets, Rias could see that, but more like they both realized they were better as friends rather than lovers. "What do you mean, Harry?"

With a small smirk of mischievousness on his face, Harry contacted Tiamat, who abruptly came out of her invisibility field, standing on all four legs behind him, her head moving around the room to lock eyes with the people all around her. "Allow me to introduce Tiamat, a dragon goddess. She and I have come to an agreement of sorts, even if it isn't the original familiar bond. However.…"

 **"However, my price has yet to be met, Harry Potter. I can smell the thief here even stronger than it was on you. So pay my price now, or I will simply take it!"** Tiamat said, cutting Harry off impatiently.

While everyone else was still gawking, Harry retrieved the gauntlet from Koneko, who had been training with the Boosted Gear that evening. Then he lay it on the sofa in front of Tiamat, who leaned forward, sniffing it. Even though no one was wearing it, the jewel of the gauntlet began to glow immediately in response to Tiamat's proximity. " **This is indeed Ddraig, the Great Welsh. Yet how his spirit was trapped within, I cannot say. How can I talk to him?"**

"I think I can help with that. Put one of your claws to the gauntlet." Harry concentrated for a moment, his ring appearing on a finger as he channeled the power over spirits again. He placed the ring onto the jewel even as Tiamat began to channel her spirit into the gauntlet, needing no further instruction. Soon after, Harry reached out and in some fashion helped the process along.

Harry and Tiamat appeared in a very different plane than the one Harry was used to seeing. Half of it looked as it had whenever Harry had visited with Ddraig here. The other half looked much like the Familiar Forest, only with several giant volcanoes in the distance, dormant, but rumbling. The sky was a bank of nearly impenetrable fog, which Harry supposed was in connection to this plane.

 **"Hello, Ddraig,"** Tiamat said, stepping forward almost delicately, her head weaving this way and that and glaring as the great red stood up, looking worried. **"You're looking well enough. Being trapped here seems to suit you."**

The two dragons began to circle one another, Ddraig's eyes visibly roving over Tiamat's body as he began to move to match Tiamat's movements. **"Hello, Tiamat. You're looking as striking as ever.** **Are you still sore about your lost items? Why do you blame me for that when it was Albion searching for a fight that destroyed them?"**

 **"Oh, I don't know, perhaps because of how you stole them from me! You wooed me, seduced me into thinking we could mate, then stole them away in the night!"** Tiamat snarled, her mouth gaping open as a pilot light appeared within. **"How dare you at as if it was nothing, as if it was Albion's fault, when the theft was yours?"**

At that sight Harry decided to get the hell out of Dodge. In here there was no way anyone could do any permanent damage to one another, which he knew from long experience. If Tiamat wanted to wale on Ddraig for a bit, that was no skin off his back.

He returned to his mortal body, swiftly looking around at the others thoughtfully, but making no move to remove his ring hand from where it was resting on the gauntlet underneath Tiamat's claws. "I think they flirted for a bit and then started to fight. I could not tell you if they were trying to kill one another or…other stuff," he said, looking over at the girls, who were busily showing the two animals around the house but were close enough at that point to overhear him. Harry idly hoped that the two of them could be house trained and, moreover, would understand the need for that, given how intelligent they were. _I'm going to have to give those two a lecture about how a pet is a big responsibility, won't I?_

"I think that might be a very thin line with dragons," Rias mused. "It certainly matches how much violence there was between them all when they roamed the earth, though I'm no expert on draconic mating rituals, obviously."

It was indeed a thin line, and when Tiamat eventually came back from her out of body experience she was practically purring like a giant cat, her large eyes half-lidded and her tail twitching lazily. **"Oh my word, yes, that was most pleasant. I acknowledge that payment has been given for our contract, Harry Potter. Just don't call me too often when you don't need me for combat, however. Being this small is rather like being a size sixty and trying to wear a size six would be for a human female."**

"Good, so how do we do this?" Harry asked.

A bonding between equals like that between Harry and Tiamat was somewhat different than a normal familiar bonding. Unlike the others, she could choose not to respond, and her body didn't go entirely immaterial, simply invisible, disappearing from anyone's senses, but still there. Further, while for a normal familiar the ceremony was simply about touching their animals and reciting a spell that shared their magical essences with the familiar's partner, Harry had to mix in some of his blood to create a contract between himself and Tiamat as the two clasped hand to claw, Tiamat doing the same.

Further, both of them gained a visible sign of the contract between them. Tiamat's shoulder turned green, like Harry's eyes, marked with a circle of black, within which was the image of a sword which flowed into the image of a fog bank of some kind. Harry, in turn, gained a tattoo on his upper arm. In his case, the crest was of a dragon in a circle, the tail of the dragon like the odd crest that marked Tiamat's own tail. The whole crest changed colors whenever Harry moved.

After that, Tiamat disappeared without another word, somewhat exhausted from her exertions. Surprisingly, Harry could tell both how she disappeared and feel where she had vanished to. Somehow she had teleported straight back to the Familiar Forest, using her bond with Harry to get past the wards around his house and to use the Gremory/Sitri teleportation array to cross the dimensions in the same breath. _Interesting._

"I am going to head in to talk to Ddraig, just to make certain that he's still alive in there," Harry said, the ring once more appearing on his finger as he tapped the gauntlet.

This time all the changes to the mental plane were gone, but there was one big exception. Every other time when Harry appeared, Ddraig would be looming over him. Now, Ddraig slumped, his scales almost gray, and he could barely move his head to looked up at Harry. However, there was something else, almost a grin on the dragon's face. That combination could only have one reason, and Harry chuckled. "Tired you out, did she?"

 **"You are a bastard, Harry Potter,"** the dragon said almost admiringly. "An utter and complete bastard! Why the hell did you agree to bring her here!?"

"You are complaining far too much for a man who just got laid." For a moment, Harry led some of his own frustrations in that area show on his face. Just because he wanted to take things slowly didn't mean he didn't have urges, after all. "As for bringing her here, it was necessary to seal our pact."

At that, Ddraig subsided. **"Yes, well, we were able to bring our discussion to a successful conclusion,"** he muttered.

"In other words yes, you did get laid," Harry said, his momentary frustration at his own predicament going away for a moment. "Well done. Do I have to figure out a way to, you know, bring her around for the draconic version of conjugal visits, or what?"

 **"Not if you want me to able to do anything else!"** Ddraig replied, looking horrified at the idea, which caused Harry to laugh even as he disappeared _. **"Bastard!"**_

 **OOOOOOO**

Hermione blinked, staring at the letter from Harry and bringing up her hand to squeeze the bridge of her nose. "Padma, dear, when did Tonks say she was heading to Japan?"

"Um, sometime in December. She wanted to be there for Christmas. The twenty-third or twenty-fourth, I think," Padma replied, looking up from where she had been reading a cookbook. "You know how Tonks is about plans. Although, unlike us, she's going the magical way, so she doesn't have to be a slave to the plane companies or whatever you call them."

"First class or numerous portkeys and MACUSA and their irritating probes, which would you prefer to deal with?" Hermione retorted. When Padma remained silent, Hermione gestured her over to read the message from Harry. "Well, apparently Harry wants us to send him a book on blood adoption. He's adopting a former nun, of all things, and anything we can find on 'anything that sounds like Blessings.'"

Padma blinked and read the note over her lover's shoulder, wondering what the heck that was supposed to mean. "Well, I suppose I can contact Parvati. She can search around India's magical quarter for us, though honestly, that sounds off. 'Magic that could have come from a god or anything that is attributed to a god'—weird. What in the world could Harry have run into to wonder about that?"

"It's nothing life-threatening, or else he'd sound much more harried and less confused. I would presume that he just wants to follow up on something or other." She smirked then and pointed to the most important part of the letter. "But look. He says, 'Feel free to use up to two hundred galleons!" Now that could buy a lot of books, don't you think?"

"Yes, but I think we should check the Black family library and my family's connections first," Padma said repressively. "Harry certainly didn't include that note with the intent of giving you a bookgasm."

"If he didn't, then he shouldn't have included it at all," Hermione replied with a huff.

 **OOOOOOO**

Over the next two weeks, Harry and Koneko walked Asia, Lily and Kunou through how to care for their young familiars, while Loup set up little areas in the backyard for them: a tiny climbing tree for Titan, a nest in a tree for Raiter, and a kennel for the little Bai Ze, who Kunou had decided to name Okuri-Inu. It was a big responsibility, but the girls, with Asia helping the youngsters, took to it well enough. Going to school without them, though, was hard, and talking the two little ones out of bragging about their new pets at all was even harder.

And as the kids bonded with their familiars, life continued for the rest of the extended community. At the same time, everyone could tell that the dynamic of the group had changed. Akeno was no longer dating Harry and spent more time training Issei in magic. Yet at the same time she seemed more comfortable with the kids, now embracing her image as the teasing older girl figure without feeling like she needed to try and be more to fit in with the group.

Finally the day came when school let out for Christmas break, and the three groups, the Gremory and Sitri peerages and Harry's family, prepared for their trip to Kyoto.

Harry and Rias picked up Lily and Kunou from school. Both kids were in fantastic spirits, and both of them rushed over to Rias rather than Harry for once, pulling at the tall girl's hands until she knelt down in front of them and pulling out the tests they'd just gotten back. "Do you remember our bet, Rias?" Lily asked, grinning widely, a sign that should have made Harry rather worried.

"I remember it," Rias said with a nod and a smile. "And this is very well done. One hundred percent for both of you." Given this was a kanji writing test, that was very impressive. Kunou had hated writing kanji since the first time she'd had to do so in school, and Lily had loathed them too for many reasons.

Staring down at the two girls, Rias sighed but nodded, then winked at them both, standing upright and moving to Harry's side. "All right, a bet's a bet. however, before we get to that, I think Harry needs to take a picture of your test and send it to Yasaka, Kunou-chan. Why don't you both hold up your tests in front of you and give Harry a big smile while he gets out his cell phone?"

Shrugging, Harry nodded and obeyed the suggestion, kneeling down in front of the two girls, pulling out his cell phone, and holding it up to his face as Rias took a single step back and to the side so that she was directly behind him. The two girls grinned, holding up their tests and beaming at Harry as he took the picture. But as he did, he felt something settle over his head and heard Rias whisper, "Sorry about this."

As whatever it was settled into place, Harry felt a spell wash over him, coming from Rias. At first he thought about throwing it off, but, looking down at the little munchkins staring up at him gleefully, he realized that he had just been pranked somehow, but that it seemed to have been in a good cause. With that in mind, he stood up, looking back over his shoulder at Rias, but when he opened his mouth, an entirely different voice came out, and his words certainly weren't what he'd wanted to say. "Ooooh ahhh, yeaaah…"

Everyone in the elementary school's playground area stopped and stared at Harry as, with a black Afro on his head, he began to sing the same song that he and Rias had danced to on their first date. Rolling his eyes, Harry decided to just go with it, reaching out to grab Rias and dance around with her even as he sang the entire song start to finish. The two girls bounced around on either side of Harry, whirling and twirling to the dance with the noise of their giggles rising, almost louder than the song.

As they did, Rias whispered into his ear about the spell. "Sorry, but I thought the kids needed some motivation to give this last test their all, and they both decided they wanted to see you in an afro. They are kind of funny looking after all, and Lily said she'd found the music video to 'Flyers' and thought it was one of the funniest things she'd ever seen. So…well, I wanted to give them a little present if they did well enough, and.…"

She trailed off, looking at Harry closely to see if he was all right with this, and he winked at her, still dancing with her while the kids gamboled around them. The spell ended as the song did, and Harry laughed, once more in control of his voice. He looked down at his grinning daughter and then to Rias in his arms. "Oh, I do love you, Rias!" he said, leaning down to kiss her, forgetting for a moment the fact they were in public, let alone in front of a lot of people who knew that Rias was his student.

Rias's eyes widened at that, but she kissed him back just as joyfully before pulling back and, trying to ignore the afro still stuck on his head, said simply, "I love you too." Then she remembered where they were and stared all around them at the shocked expressions and the numerous cell phones people had brought out to take pictures of the singing Potter. "Darn it! Now I'm going to have to erase everyone's memories about this."

She sighed and held up a few fingers, concentrating and sending out a spell that caused everyone who had been looking at them in the last five minutes to still, their minds going blank. Then she erased the last five minutes from everyone's mind there besides the two kids, Harry, and herself. Sighing, Rias went around making certain that none of the cell phones had uploaded any pictures to the Internet, erasing the pictures as she went. But not before collecting a few for herself: those pictures would be a tremendous start to a scrap book, after all.

Meanwhile, Harry knelt down in front of the two girls, looking at them as he pulled off the afro, squishing it gently between his hands. "And was there some purpose to that?"

Lily scuffed her feet. "Well, that date that you and Rias took me on was really fun! So when Kunou and I were having trouble, Rias decided to give us some incentive."

"And you decided you wanted to see me an afro?" Rias had told Harry that a few minutes ago, but he wanted to hear it from the kids too.

"Kunou wanted to see you dance," she said, throwing an arm around her suddenly shy friend. "I wanted to see you in an afro. It's even funnier in person than it is in the videos," she said with a giggle.

"Anyone who has ever seen an afro could tell you that one, I think," Harry said with a laugh. "Although now I know a way to punish you for your next temper tantrum," he said with a gleam in his eye as he picked Kunou up and set her on his shoulders. He took Lily's hand and moved to join Rias, who had finished her work. "The next time you throw a temper tantrum, **you'll** have to go through an entire day with an afro."

Lily winced, and Rias shook her head, moving beside Harry and covering them with a slight Notice-Me-Not, linking hands with him as they walked down the streets. "That would be far too cruel, Harry."

The quartet walked sedately to the Potters' house, where Rias had to leave them. Rias had a small meeting to get to with Sona, after which the two of them would bring the defensive working to a higher level of watchfulness along with Harry. After that, she was going to spend the entire evening and night talking to Gasper through his doorway. That way he wouldn't feel bad about being left behind when the others went to Kyoto with her tomorrow.

However, right now, those thoughts were not prevalent in Rias's mind. Instead she was looking down at the hand she was holding, the large, calloused, altogether masculine hand clasping hers not tightly, but tenderly, gently, those eyes looking down at her, eyes of emerald that she could get lost in. _Drowning, that's a good way to describe falling in love._

 _Lost,_ Harry thought as he looked down at her, staring into those blue eyes that he had become lost in, the mind behind them he had come to treasure, the smile that he had so come to love. He leaned down, kissing her first on the cheek and then whispering into her ear, "I meant what I said earlier, Rias. I do love you." With that he kissed her hard on the lips, pulling her into a hug.

As they pulled back for air, Rias whispered, "I love you too." Then it was her turn to pull him down into a kiss.

They were unconcerned about the two girls giggling and watching them until Lily patted her stomach as it gave a little rumble. With more important matters to see to, Lily took her daddy's hand, tugging at him slightly. "Come on, Daddy! I'm hungry, and it's been a long time since lunch!"

"And growing girls, of course, need their food," Harry said with a chuckle, pulling away from Rias and looking at her tenderly. "Do you have time to come in before your meting?"

Rias shook her head, smiling at the kids and Harry. "No, Sona and I have a lot of little things we need to get to tonight, and you know it, Harry. I'll see you all tomorrow for the trip. And, maybe after the formal ceremony, the two of us can have some…time together?" she asked, giving the last words a particular little accent to give them added meaning.

As he nodded, something in Harry's eyes not only said he understood that meaning but also sent a pleasant shiver through Rias's body, the loving kisses they'd shared and that look working to get her body to respond. "I think I'd enjoy that." Then a wicked smile came to Harry's face, and he touched her lips with his fingers. "And I'll make certain you enjoy it too. In fact, I'm certain of it."

That caused Rias to blush hotly, understanding exactly what he was implying, and Harry laughed before turning away, taking the two girls' arms again and leading them inside. "See you tomorrow, Rias, but I do believe that is a point to me," he said over his shoulder.

"Yes," Rias said with a shake of her head, "Yes, see you tomorrow, Harry." _Darn it, he's right. That was a point to him. Still, wait until he sees me in the dress that Mittelt has designed. Then we'll see who's ahead in our game._

Inside, thankfully, Harry found Kala already cooking, talking to Asia about the upcoming trip and places to see in Kyoto. She had promised the girl that she would show her around, having been in the ancient capital a few times before, especially during the early Edo period. Koneko was also there, with Kalawarner helping her to learn how to control her chopping better so that she didn't destroy the cutting board in her efforts.

Kala looked up as Harry entered the kitchen, the two girls racing ahead into the sitting area, tossing their book bags, and shouting, "Freedom!" in one voice. "I take it the kids had a good day?"

"Yes," Harry said absently, leaning against the door jamb, flipping open his phone, and sending the picture he had taken earlier to Yasaka with the comment, 'I think we can safely assume that your daughter has settled in nicely into the elementary school. Not just because of her grades, but because she felt courageous enough to link her test score to a prank she wanted to see Rias play on me.'

Yasaka replied with, 'Oh, tell me more,' and Harry resignedly did so while also fielding questions from Kala. She would be staying over tonight to help with the kids in the morning, since Koneko and Asia weren't packed yet either. Asia had never had enough clothing to even warrant owning luggage, and Koneko had never needed to before.

He spent about an hour talking with Yasaka via text as well as helping prepare dinner. Then, after dinner, he shooed the kids upstairs to start packing for tomorrow. That this included Asia and Koneko greatly amused him.

But the next day, despite all of his best efforts the night before, Kunou was still running around like a chicken with its head cut off. She was grabbing up bits of homework, drawings, and a few projects she had made in the nearly two and a half months since she had moved in with Lily and the others. "I want to take everything!" she shouted, trying to grab at a picture that had fallen behind the dresser, growling irritably at it. "I want to show Momma everything!"

Harry chuckled, ruffled her hair with one hand, and gripped the side of the wardrobe with the other, pulling it away from the wall easily. Lily quickly moved in, reaching over Kunou and picking up her picture and several other things before turning and putting them in her book bag, which had been loaned to them by Rias: it was the same bag of holding in the shape of a bookbag she had bought in the Magical Row.

Kalawarner looked up from where she had just finished stuffing the last of the clothing into a bag for the two kids. Somehow, during the night, Lily and Kunou had woken up and thought it was a good idea to go through their clothing and rearrange things, then stuff it all inside again. The fact that this had removed the two dresses Mittelt had created, which had wound up stuffed underneath one of the beds, was not lost on her. "And we're ready here, despite the fact that someone here wanted to hide their pretty dresses," she said, glaring ominously at the two girls.

The young Potter growled, while Kunou simply shrugged philosophically at that, although of course she wouldn't have used that word. "We have to dress up sometimes," she said to Lily, "and this is one of them. I told you we'd be found out."

Lily huffed. "Traitor." She had **not** liked the etiquette classes and other things that Rias had been teaching her, on and off. But since even her father had said she had to go through with it for this event, she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere.

When Loup, Koneko, and Asia joined them, Koneko holding both the girls' bags under one arm, Harry held up a finger and then began to count through a list of things, with all of the girls nodding appropriately as Loup watched stoically. Asia squeaked at one point and ran back into the bathroom to grab her shampoo, but, other than that, they were all set.

The Potter household plus Kala left soon afterward, with Harry locking the door and then raising the wards to a wartime footing before heading off with the others. As they did, Kala looked around her as she felt something in the air. It was like a warm sunbeam right behind her, or perhaps a sort of eager, crackling feeling in her mind. "Is that the spell?"

"The defensive ritual? I don't know if we can really call it a defensive ward any longer, given how much we put into it, but yeah, that it in the air. We brought it up to a high level of alert last night.

"Make sense since we're all leaving, I suppose, though our not being here also removes the most important targets of any attack," she said with a nod. "Will you all be able to feel it if it collapses due to an attack while we're away?" Kala only had the vaguest idea of how strong the defensive working was at this point, but she knew there were a lot of beings out there who routinely could tear such things down.

"Oh, yes," Harry said with a nod. "Even in Kyoto I think we'll feel it as if we just got hit in the head with a warhammer."

"It hurts," Loup said laconically. "Being hit like that, I mean."

Harry laughed, thumping the other werewolf on the shoulder, and the younger man smirked at him, pushing his shoulder playfully.

Soon they met up with Rias, Sona, and their peerages at the train. Sona and Rias had rented an entire train car for them, though, given the size of their party, this was a necessity rather than a luxury. Thanks to that and further examples of prior planning, the train ride was uneventful, with Rias, Harry, and Kala dealing with the two younger kids, and Asia gleefully taking part in a board game with the friends she had made among Sona's peerage, along with Issei and the others.

For his part, Issei honestly didn't know where to put his eyes. This wasn't the first time he been around either peerage, but being surrounded by such beauties with only three other boys to share it with? This was almost like the Academy in miniature, then raised to the next level, since not a single girl here could be called anything less than beautiful, if in very different ways. There had been no change in his specific fetish, however, and as such he found his eyes straying a few times to Akeno, Kalawarner, and Rias in particular. Their oppai, those magnificent, bouncy, full oppai, calling out to him.

The one time that he let his eyes linger a little too long on Rias, a growl from Harry, who was sitting nearby on the other side of Lily and Kunou from Rias as they helped the two kids read a Magic School Bus book, caused him to shiver and turn away rapidly. "Dammit! Stupid sensei, hogging such wonderful oppai!" ge grumbled under his breath.

By this point he had learned that Harry and Rias were dating, and, indeed, that Harry had been dating both Rias and Akeno before he and Akeno broke up. He liked to imagine that his own manly presence had caused Akeno to have seconds thoughts, and, in a way, he was correct. It just wasn't for the reason he thought.

"Oh, did you see something you like~?" said a teasing voice into his ear, causing him to blanch and turn to see Akeno sitting behind him, leaning over his chair. Her breasts pressed into the back of it as she did so, and she smirked wickedly at him. "So bold Is~se~i, staring at a taken woman's chest."

"I didn't, I mean, they're just so, erm, I mean, but,…" he stuttered, and Saji reached over and patted him on the shoulder. The two of them had actually become something like friends, despite the fact that Saji hadn't had much respect for Issei at first. However, the lengths to which Issei went to train himself, to improve his magical reserves under Akeno's direction, impressed Saji. Issei would never be an in your face powerhouse without access to the Boosted Gear. But after having built up his reserves to the point that he could train with it, Issei had proven to be quite adept at magical manipulation.

He had even come up with seven spells of his own by this point, which was something of a rite of passage for Devils and another difference between devil and human style magic. Devils could create spells to do whatever they wished, given time and thought, without the trouble humans had to go through to do the same thing. Humans had access to far more spells that did a lot more than most devils used magic to do, but, at its base, devil magic was based off imagination and will, while the human method was based on will and knowledge.

Akeno continued to tease Issei until Ruruko stopped her, smacking her on the arm and pulling Issei away. "Don't listen to the sadist, Issei-kun. Although she is right; you shouldn't be looking at Rias like that."

"I think it's romantic," said Momo, whispering a little as she looked over to Harry and Rias, who had now shifted from reading with the two girls to playing a board game with them. Asia, who had finished her own game, moved over to join them, followed by Ruruko.

Rias laughed, cackling madly as she pointed at the two little girls. "You think you can beat me at monopoly! Prepare yourselves for disappointment!"

"Bring it on!" Lily shouted back. "My little chariot will beat your thimble any day!"

Issei and the others, listening to this, laughed before turning back to their own conversations.

After arriving at their hotel and putting their clothes away, Harry took Kunou, Lily, and Koneko immediately into the Youkai Association's territory. There he was quickly ushered through and into the forest, where he immediately transformed into his werewolf form, followed by Lily, Koneko, and Kunou, the latter two shifting into the natural bodies.

Orienting himself, Harry pointed down one of the paths leading deeper into the woods. "That way to the palace," he said, looking down at Kunou and ruffling her long tufted fox-ears tenderly, causing her eyes to close in bliss. Head pats really were the best, and Harry was just as good as her mother was in finding those soft spots. "Why don't you lead us off, Kunou?"

Kunou nodded and raced ahead, calling out, "Okuri-Inu!" and her familiar appeared. "Come on, Okuri; let's run!" The Bai Ze puppy yipped and raced after his owner, panting happily, while behind them Lily did the same. Titan didn't like to run for running's sake, but it was good training for him.

With the two animals racing or sometimes flying beside them, the two girls raced out ahead of the older Koneko and Harry, who kept them in sight with ease. About halfway to their destination, though, a large fox with yellow-white fur and nine tails flapping wildly behind her came out of the woods in front of them. Yipping happily, Yasaka changed into her natural body, whereupon she ran to her daughter, picking her up and squeezing her tightly. "Kunou-chan!"

Yasaka had not liked being away from her daughter **at all**. Talking on the phone had been nice, and talking with Harry, sharing stories every morning and sometimes in the evening as well, had been good too, bringing them closer. But talking to Kunou like that had not been a substitute for actually being with her daughter in person.

Holding her now, Yasaka could tell that Kunou was a picture of good health and happiness, which was deeply reassuring. _Still, I am seriously looking forward to a time when I can simply teleport from Kyoto to Kuoh to see her whenever I want._

For now she simply yipped happily, squeezing her daughter and rubbing a cheek against her hair, as she smiled at Harry. "Thank you for watching out for my daughter," she said, bowing from the waist formally, then winking at him as this displayed quite a bit of cleavage, given that she was wearing simple exercise togs. "I knew she was all right, but I was sort of afraid she would have acted like a brat at some point and forced you to take action, especially with that prank she talked Rias-han into."

Harry laughed as Kunou pouted, "I was a good girl!"

"Most of the time," Harry said with a nod, ruffling her hair again and then looking down at Lily with a wink before turning to Yasaka again, pulling her attention away from Okuri-Inu. "I have something for you," he said, holding out a new watch.

Yasaka took it, staring down at its face, which now had eleven labels on it. These were home, school, Potters', playing, studying, afraid, angry, happy, asleep, and in danger. The last one took up two spots on the watch, the background beneath them being painted red as well. The area around afraid was orange.

"I've tested it as much as possible when they were at school and other places. I wanted to make certain that it didn't give me a false reading if they were taking tests or were angry or frustrated at something normal in class. It worked very well," Harry reported.

"Thank you", Yasaka whispered. Setting Kunou down, she removed her old watch, replacing it with the new one and smiling. "Thank you very much, Harry." With that she ruffled her daughter's hair and gestured back the way she came. "Come on. We've made some changes to the castle, and I want to hear everything about going to school and the attacking dragons. And," she said, looking over at Koneko, "there are a few people here that I think you should talk to, Koneko-chan, hence my asking Harry-han to come with you when he dropped Kunou-chan off. They are other nekomata like yourself, and I think talking to them could be enlightening."

The girl blinked, then slowly nodded at that, her tail twitching slightly behind her. "That would be nice."

Harry held up Kunou's luggage. "We bought Kunou a new dress for tonight's occasion, if that's all right?"

"Perfectly fine. In fact, if you brought Koneko's along as well, I think that would be a good idea. I think the discussion she's going to have with her fellow nekomata is going to be a long one." Koneko cocked her head at that but shrugged and followed the others.

Harry looked at Yasaka quizzically. "What is that all about?"

"It is the first sign of my proving that my own side of this alliance will be fruitful for everyone involved. Koneko isn't just a nekomata, she is nekoshou," Yasaka said.

"Yes, I've heard, though I don't understand the difference," Harry interjected.

"The difference is, nekoshou can use what is known as Senjutsu, the energy of the world around us, to power their magic and physical abilities," Yasaka explained as she fell into step beside Harry, watching Koneko move forward to herd the youngsters and their animals ahead of them.

The sight of the Bai Ze at her daughter's side brought a smile to Yasaka's face, understanding what it implied. Access to the Familiar Forest would be a major force multiplier for her people. Many of them used familiars now, but none were magical in nature, able to help them in a fight. The fact that her young daughter was able to bond with such a potentially powerful animal would also show those who were still skeptical about the alliance concept that there was a lot to be offered by the devils, if they were careful about it.

But Yasaka's tone was serious as she went on. "According to the official story of what happened to her sister, Kuroka went insane when she tried to use Senjutsu, but that's so much shit, I think. I don't know for certain, but if she did, then she was probably self-taught. The nekomata will first tell Koneko that there's no hard feelings about the pogrom Kuroka's actions caused and then will introduce her to their leader, who is another nekoshou. It will be up to her if she will learn Senjutsu at that point."

Harry nodded thoughtfully, wondering how Koneko would take that, but unless she came to them for advice, he wasn't going to push. Koneko very much liked living with Lily and him but also liked her independence, and the topic of her sister was still a very touchy one for Koneko, even though she had hinted a time or two about what had happened there.

For his part, Harry also had questions. He wasn't certain he believed the party line at all about what happened with Kuroka. But, even if he didn't, there was no way he would ever forgive someone who left a family member behind as Kuroka had.

The two parents talked quietly for a while as Kunou chattered away happily at Koneko and Lily, gesturing down this or that path as they passed and telling them about interesting places in the woods. She wanted to show them a waterfall in particular, and Harry had to promise her that, yes, they would stop by there sometime tomorrow after all the official stuff was over. Sona, Rias, and he had agreed to make this four day trip. This would allow them to both build connections and, of course, to explore the ancient capital.

When they reached the castle, Yasaka allowed Lily and Kunou to run inside before introducing Koneko to several nekomata, including an elderly grandmother type and a fit, older man around Harry's age, who nodded at her and held out his hand. Koneko looked at Harry and at his reassuring smile, smiled in turn, and moved towards them before being gently led away.

This left Harry and Yasaka alone, and Yasaka wasted no time in hugging herself against Harry, her arms going around him tightly. "So,…" she said with a chuckle, leading him into the castle, "What was it like, really, living with two little girls instead of one. Oh, no, wait, I'm sorry, it's two little girls, two older girls, and Loup-han, isn't it? All in one little house too."

"You're not the first one to point that out to me," Harry said with a chuckle of his own. "Rias and I, however, have come up with a solution that we'll start to put into motion when we get back."

"You and Rias-han, hmm? Since when did that become serious enough for her to have a say in what happened inside your household?" she teased.

Harry simply smiled, and Yasaka nodded, nuzzling into his side. She stood at five feet five inches, so Harry was a good bit taller than her. Indeed, even Rias was six inches taller than she was, not that Yasaka cared at all about that. "I take it there's been a development there?"

"Yes," Harry said, but he didn't go into any details, making Yasaka pout slightly. "Seriously, Harry-han, thank you for watching out for my daughter. It would not have been safe here. Even with the attack she had to endure from that Diodora-aho, she was much safer with you, given how I was busy digging out people who don't agree with my peace first policies. There was a lot of trouble here, and it meant a lot to me, knowing she was safe," she said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek.

But Harry had turned, and she wound up kissing him on the lips. To Yasaka's surprise, though, Harry didn't pull back, simply holding the kiss, not deepening it but not retreating either. "Now that was surprising," she murmured, a wicked little smirk on her face as she raised a hand to push her blonde hair out of her eyes, her long foxlike ears and tails all twitching in humor. "Was there any reason for that?"

"Well, Rias and I talked a few times, and, while I can't say it still doesn't bother me about being the center of this harem thing, I'm not going to say that it isn't pleasant flirting with you. If something more develops, then we'll take it as it comes," Harry said with a faint sigh, though his eyes were shining with good humor and more than a bit of desire.

Yasaka nodded, moving away a bit to look at him thoughtfully. "Being the center bothers you more than the multi-relationship part of the arrangement?"

"Exactly. I don't really care overmuch any more about dating multiple women, but it is the fact that I am the center of these disparate relationships that bother me. I suppose you could call me a chivalrous feminist. I think that men and women should be equal," Harry replied seriously, then he smiled and winked at her. "But it wouldn't be gentlemanly not to respond to your advances, would it?"

Yasaka barked out a kitsune style laugh at that, kissing him on the cheek accurately this time. "All too true. I'll talk with Rias while you're here, of course, and you as well. Remember what I said, Harry, all those weeks ago: I'm not interested in being, and, indeed, I really can't be your primary lover. But I am **very** interested in you. Talking with you over the phone these last few months has definitely solidified that.

Harry nodded and watched her face with interest as Yasaka visibly shifted her mind onto some other things, her ears slowly lowering as a small frown appeared on her face accompanied by a wrinkle on her brow between her rounded eyebrows. "Did Rias-han discover anything more about this Diodora person who attacked?"

"He had an obsession with nuns and making them fall. There didn't seem to be anything else about his attack. He simply thought that Asia was his, and we all vehemently disagreed with that statement," Harry replied. Rias had found that out within a day of her and Sona submitting a report on the odd attack.

"Nothing about my daughter, nothing political?" Yasaka asked, worrying at her lip.

"Nothing," Harry said with a shrug. "We're a little worried about the spell that was on him that made him so hard to take care of, but we haven't received any information from Rias's brother or Sona's sister on that."

Yasaka barked amusement again, her seriousness fading once more. "Be glad you haven't. Both of those devils are hardcore imouto-otakus. I don't honestly know which would be more embarrassing, but it would be close. Still, tell me more about the kids and the elementary school. There's been no hint of bullying or my daughter running into issues in class?"

The two of them talked about the kids for about an hour before Harry picked up Lily from where she and Kunou had been exploring in the woods, having escaped the castle somehow without any of the servants noticing. But neither of them could fool Harry's nose. He could have found Lily on a wet rainy night in a storm even without the use of magic, which he didn't bother using this time.

The two of them headed back to the hotel, where they met up with Rias and the others, who had been sightseeing with Loup playing reluctant tour guide, with Sona beside him, asking questions of the stoic werewolf. The two Potters joined them quickly, with Lily explaining to Rias about the forest and what she had seen. "You should go and see this big waterfall! It's so cool, and it's got silkies in the water, and they were so nice once they saw Kunou!"

Harry watched the others, and when Lily fell silent, racing ahead to talk to Asia and Mittelt, leaned toward Rias, whispering, "Is it just me, or could there be something going on between Sona and Loup?"

"I think they're both interested in one another, but Sona doesn't want to be with anyone who isn't smarter than her. That pride of hers again," Rias replied with a huff. "And Loup doesn't want to be a devil, which is another issue. So they're both kind of being held back from doing more than flirting a time or two. Although, I think they could be good for one another."

"Like you and I are?" Harry asked, taking her hand in his. They were in an entirely different city, and, with Rias wearing a normal skirt and blouse combo rather than the uniform of Kuoh Academy and Harry wearing equally informal clothing, they could get away with that kind of thing in public without even a low-powered Notice-Me-Not.

Which felt quite good, Rias thought, squeezing Harry's hand back and leaning into his side, whereupon he pulled his hand away from hers and looped his arm around her shoulders as they followed the others. "No," she said, leaning into him. "I don't think they have enough in common to be a permanent item like you and I hope to be. But I think they could have a lot of fun together."

Harry nodded and said, "Speaking of fun, do you think that after the ceremony tonight you and I could have some time for a date just on our own? It's been a while since we had a romantic type date."

"Since that day with Akeno, actually, and yes," Rias said with a smile. "I think that would be a **fantastic** idea."

"I'll make us a reservation, then," Harry said with a smile, then said, "I told Yasaka about what we've talked about, by the way."

Rias nodded. "That's fine. Like I said, I don't honestly feel jealousy towards Yasaka, and if she does become involved with you, I will be fine with that."

"Really?" Harry asked, still uncertain about that aspect of things.

"Really," Rias said with a warm laugh at how concerned he was about her feelings.

That evening the two peerages and Harry's family dressed up before making their way through the hotel, ignoring the looks they were getting from many of the other hotel guests and workers. Not, Harry reflected, that those looks weren't warranted.

Sona was in a formal Chinese dress called a hanfu, done in dark blue and marked with a design of aqua at the opening, bottom, and sleeves. It showed off her spare, trim frame without revealing anything and fell to just below her knees, the blue of it contrasting with her hair and bringing out the paleness of her skin. She had a necklace of pearls and a bracelet of beaten gold around one wrist along with a hairclip with the image of her family's crest on it. Her peerage was similarly garbed, the only difference being in their jewelry. Saji wore the male version, called a shenyi, but without the outer heavy layer. Yasaka had told them to wear formal garb that was easy to move in, for some reason, and this was what Sona and Mittelt, who had created all their clothes, thought of as a compromise.

In contrast, Rias and her family were a little more varied in how they were dressed. Rias wore a formal European dress in black and red. It covered her from head to toe with a tight neckline and what looked like a corset ensemble, bringing attention to her chest but not showing any of it, coupled with a frilly skirt that came to just below her knees. This she could actually dance in, something she had tested, figuring that that was in the cards for her and Harry later. The arms and shoulders were relatively simple in design, marked only by some stitched designs corresponding with her Family's crest. Her hair was done differently, her normal ahoge having been tamed, her luxuriant red hair falling like a crimson waterfall down her back. She wore no jewelry, like her friend, other than a pair of earrings, small gold ones.

Akeno wore a white dress—which set off her black hair magnificently—with a plunging neckline that was just this side of indecent, but that was simply because of her body shape rather than the dress itself. Mittelt wore her normal Gothic style dress, but this time done up in red with a longer skirt, no neckline to speak of, and her shoulders covered. Koneko also wore a dress, black in her case, a somewhat form fitting Cheongsam. Her dress was shorter than the others, coming down to just above her knees, leaving her with a full range of movement.

Kiba wore a black blazer, white shirt, and black dress pants. Issei wore a similar tuxedo in dusty brown with khaki pants and a red tie. All of them also wore sashes of white around their waists with the image of the Gremory clan sigil on them, a crimson rose on a black background surrounded by a red circle.

Slightly more dressed up then the two younger men, Harry was in a formal tuxedo, and Rias had to admit that he cleaned up very well. In the center of his neck was an emerald stud marked by the symbol of a lightning bolt etched into the emerald, matching the mark on his forehead. Harry had decided that this would be the formal mark of the Potters going forward. Lily and Asia both wore the same glyph on necklaces around their throats, but otherwise were like night and day.

Asia was dressed in a simple white gown that looked like a very formal version of a nun's habit, its very simplicity making her stand out. Her necklace, done in silver, stood out on her modest chest, and her long blonde hair was done in an intricate braid down her back. Lily was dressed in a miniature version of Rias's skirt, coupled with a slightly less form fitting blouse, also done in black, with stripes of yellow as accents. Her necklace, which was a ritzier version of her normal one, was gold and hung free on the outside of her dress. Her hair was done up in a neat little bun.

Alone in not wearing a mark of clan or family, Kalawarner stood by Asia. She wore a somewhat formfitting businesswoman's suit which was quite simple save for the fact that it was the shortest dress there. Her blue hair was swept back, now, from her face, and she wore earrings and matching bracelets from a collection the others, save Mittelt, didn't even know she had.

Outside, instead of having to walk into the Youkai Association area and then into the woods, they found a limousine with a man dressed in a butler's outfit, bowing to them as they exited the hotel. "Ladies and gentlemen, Lady Yasaka sends her compliments, and we are supposed to take you directly to the mansion."

In the lead of their combined troupe, Rias nodded to the man. "Thank you, but I do hope that your limousine has enough room for us all."

"It does my lady, trust me," he said dryly.

Rias nodded and entered, reaching back to help Lily in, the little girl grumbling at the fact that she had to wear at a formal dress. The young redhead hated it. She hated how it restricted her movement, and she complained that it itched, but all the adults were convinced that that was just a childish attempt to get out of wearing it. Even Harry didn't believe her and kept on saying how cute she looked.

The limo was both larger on the inside and, once they were all onboard, performed a feat Harry hadn't seen since the last time he had been on the Knight Bus. It accelerated into traffic, somehow stretching and squeezing through other cars, through back alleys, and then even trees. It zoomed through the Youkai Association's forest until it came to a juddering halt in the palace's courtyard.

"Ooh wee!" Lily yelled, throwing her arms up in the air. "Can we do that again?"

"Maybe some other time, lovey," Harry said with a smile, while more than a few of the devils were looking queasy. "Now, up you get."

With Rias, Harry, and Sona in the lead, the large group was led through the palace into a section Harry hadn't seen before, then further into the meeting hall. There they found a crowd of Youkai. Both sides of the room were lined with Youkai of all types and races. At the far end Yasaka stood with her extended family and her advisers behind her. Among them were Kunou and Loup, with Kunou's Bai Ze familiar sitting on its haunches next to her. As the Kuoh delegation entered, music began in the background: formal and stilted wind and string instruments for the most part. In the center of the room was a large pillar on which was a formal scroll and a long quill with a black feather.

Yasaka was dressed in a traditional Miko outfi, over which was a magnificent white coat, so white it practically shimmered, held closed by a red ribbon and a golden crown, the outfit doing nothing to take away from her curves or her beauty, though only a hint of her cleavage could be seen. On top of her hair, which was tied in a ponytail that reached all the way down to her legs, she wore a small, golden crown inset with a single, perfect pearl. The gold of her crown merged with the light blonde of her hair, which in turn segued into the white and yellow of her nine tails behind her.

Altogether, Harry decided she looked incredibly beautiful, while Rias nodded her head in recognition, keeping a slight pout off her face with difficulty. She had actually wanted to dress up in something similar, being very much a Japanophile, but Mittelt had talked her out of it. It would've been awkward, the diminutive Pawn had said, if they were both dressed in the same style.

Under the direction of two servants, Harry and his family along with Kalawarner moved toward the front of their side of the room. Rias and her family were moved to one side of Harry's, while Sona was directed to stand on his other side, a few feet separating each peerage from his family.

With a small smile on her face, Yasaka stepped forward, one hand rising, and the music halted immediately. "We are gathered here to sign an accord between the Youkai Association in my name as Kyuubi no Kitsune and the clan of Gremory in the form of its Heir Rias Gremory, clan Sitri in the form of its heir, Sona Sitri, and House Potter in the form of its head of house, Harry Potter. The rights and responsibilities of all those involved are known to many of us here, but not all. This is a formal full alliance between our people and clans. Our people," she said, turning to all of the Youkai to either side, "will receive access to both Kuoh and the Academy, and to Hell beyond. We will have all the rights of a citizen of Hell and the defense of the Gremory and Sitri clans." She turned back and looked at Harry, Rias, and Sona. "Do you agree to this?"

"I, Rias of clan Gremory, do vow that this is the case. We will protect and defend you as we would our own," Rias said formally. All four of them had discussed the wording for this moment and knew what they had to do and say.

"I, Harry of the house of Potter, do vow that this is the case. I will protect and defend any who need it as if they were my own. I also formally agree to take the apprenticeship of Kunou, daughter of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I will train and defend her as if she was my own."

That caused quite a bit of noise from the crowd of Youkai from either side. The idea of a kitsune, with the inherent magical potential one of those had, apprenticed to a foreign magical was one thing. Apprenticed to Harry Potter, The Man Who Conquered, that was an entirely different story. Even here Harry's fame preceded him somewhat.

While everyone involved knew that Kunou's staying with Harry and his family was more about being friends with Lily and wanting to go to school, this bit of public claptrap would make it seem as if there was more going on between them. And, when it came to it, Harry would indeed teach Kunou as much magic as he could, as he would with Lily when they showed they had enough control of their magic.

"I, Sona of clan Sitri, do vow that this is the case," Sona said just as formally as her friend. "We will protect and defend you as we would our own. We, in turn," Sona went on, taking over the ceremony smoothly, "will have access to the Youkai Association, be it for magical resources or training purposes, and your members will defend us in turn. Do you agree with this?"

"I, Yasaka, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, do swear this," Yasaka said. As she spoke, her nine tales flared behind her in a cascade of magic, a light show that few there had seen before.

Rias stepped forward in turn. "For my part, the house of Gremory will create a teleportation tunnel between the Youkai Association here in Kyoto and Kuoh Academy. You will be able to freely use it to come and go. We will use it to be able to call upon one another for defense and eventually for trade. Do you agree that I should do this and that it is a just payment for the alliance?" she asked, looking at Yasaka as murmurs began again.

That kind of magic was beyond anyone there. Creating a permanent teleportation structure between such geographically disparate locations? Moreover, it served as a potent sign that they would indeed have access to Hell and, specifically, all of the magical merchandise and other things that could be found there, the Familiar Forest being one of them. They would have to go through formal channels and set up times and even probably purchase access to it, but they would have that access. And, since Lily, Asia, and Kunou had their familiars next to them, it served as a potent sign of what they would gain.

Yasaka nodded her head, moving forward to clasp arms with Rias. "I do swear and formally read Rias of the house of Gremory into the wards of the Association, so that she may perform this working."

Once she was read into the wards, the faint feeling that all of them had been dealing with since coming into the forest, a sort of tingling feeling against their skin, dissipated for Rias. She took a quick single step backward, winked at Yasaka, who smiled back, and then raised her arms. Magic began to flare around her, her aura coming out entirely and then beginning to drip from her fingers down to the ground in something that looked almost like a liquid, where under her directions it began to create a circle, filling with sigils as the onlookers watched.

Closing her eyes, Rias concentrated as she reached out to the feeling of where she could sense the Academy, so far away, and the portion of the tunnel she had already prepared there, grimacing, a bead of sweet appearing on her forehead. Reaching that far away while also creating the portion of the array where she was standing was like trying to write up an essay in Japanese with a magnifying glass while you had to balance the reflected light off hundreds of tiny mirrors. Even if you had already put the paper down on your table and written your name there, that didn't really help all that much beyond giving you a target. It was utterly exhausting, mentally and magically.

 _I would never have been able to do something like this at the beginning of the school year, if I had even thought to do it over such a distance._ Rias frowned at that, wondering suddenly about a certain feeling she'd had occasionally when she had taken her peerage out past Kuoh's limits those first few times. _Could something have been done to me to keep me in Kuoh, some spell that I was able to overcome? That makes a little too much sense, if I'm honest._

Shaking that thought off as she could feel the enchantment slowly starting to get away from her, Rias bore down, and slowly but surely, as the rest of them watched, she completed the spell. The circle of Ankhsera sigils, centered around the glyph of the house of Gremory, spread until it covered half the floor, causing the other people there to move backwards, and then, slowly, Rias lowered her hands, the spell finishing and her magic aura cutting off with an almost visible snap. She did not, however, allow herself to stumble, opening her eyes, bowing, and through sheer force of will keeping herself from keeling over. "It is done. Would someone like to test it?"

Loup and two other people from the Youkai Association took a step forward, obviously having been chosen for this beforehand. Rias explained how Yasaka could open the doorway for them, and she did so, holding her hand over the center glyph. There was a flash of magic as the three of them stepped from one portion of the circle into another, inner portion, and they were gone only to come back an instant later.

"It works!" shouted one of the three, a giant bull Minotaur of a man, thrusting his fist into the air. "It works! And we could even go from the clubroom there down into Hell! We appeared in a small house somewhere."

"That is a house on the edge of Gremory territory where it abuts the territory of House Sitri," Rias said, looking over to her friend as she stepped back to where she had been standing. The looks of concern and pride she saw on her family's faces and that of Harry and his family warmed her heart.

Sona nodded and came forward. "If you wish to go anywhere from there, you will be met outside by a few of my family's servants, who will arrange transportation."

Eventually that would include servants from house Gremory too, but Rias wanted to keep this alliance on the down low for now. She wanted to drop it as a bombshell when the inevitable occurred and Riser tried to push things forward.

There were some shouts and even a few cheers now as Yasaka moved forward, lifting up the quill and holding it up to where the three other signers could see it. "Then all that is left is citing the formal contract. This is a blood quill. It is a magical item that will drain some of the signers' blood out to bind our magics into this alliance. This is the last chance any of us will have to back out from this. Is there anyone who wishes to at this time?"

For a moment the hall fell silent, tension ratcheting up. After all, there was a big difference between putting your spells or money on the line and then then putting your life there. Everyone there knew that if someone broke the agreement or even just ignored it, their magic would demand compensation, up to and including taking their lives.

Seeing that item, Harry winced inside, having had an issue with one of them when he was younger. Umbridge had tried to force him to use one, and the next instant he had thrown her out of the hall into a wall and then dragged her to see the headmaster. They'd had a bit of a confrontation about that, but, with the blood quill in his hand, the ministry had not been able to do anything. There had also been a few times where people had tried to force him to use them to bind his magic to this or that agreement.

But, for all of that, Harry stepped forward resolutely, holding out his hand. "I'll go first, if no one objects."

There were more mutters at that, but they were all approving ones, and more than one member of the Youkai Association actually nodded their heads towards Harry in a formal sign of respect. Yasaka simply smiled and handed the quill over, allowing her fingers to linger on his for a moment before pulling away and stepping to one side. "I will go next, then."

"And I third," Rias said stepping forward followed immediately by Sona, having beaten her friend out only by a mere second. The two of them moved to flank Harry, and together all three of them read through the agreement before they all signed, one after another, wincing slightly at the twinge of pain as their blood was extracted and added into the scroll. After they had finished signing, the four of them held their hands over the document and formally intoned, "We accept and bind ourselves to this alliance!"

The parchment glowed and then split itself into four copies, the copies hovering in front of the individuals who had signed them, and Yasaka smiled, grabbing her own. "With this, this ceremony is finished!" she shouted, turning to her people. "Now, we **party**!"

Immediately the Youkai roared in delight, and the music stepped up as dozens of Youkai moved out from the walls into the center of the room, dancing to the music. Other Youkai came in from the doorways to either side of the hall, pushing along carts of food. The change of atmosphere was so abrupt and sudden it took many of the devils by surprise, but Harry simply laughed and turned, bowing to Lily with a flourish. "Can I have the honor of this dance, my lady?"

Lily curtsied, giggling at her daddy's overacting. "I would love it, dear sir." She had to stand on his feet as they danced around to the first semi-formal dance, but she still had a lot of fun.

Then it was Kunou's turn. Having just danced with her mother, she found herself in Harry's arms, being whirled around as the music picked up. She laughed joyfully, flinging her arms around his neck. "Faster, Harry, faster!"

To one side Harry could see Koneko dancing with several other nekomata, their dances a sign of agility and body control than most couldn't match save for a few monkey Youkai, who quickly joined them in a riotous romp that looked half tango, half break dancing. Asia, Ruruko, Saji, and Issei were also dancing together. Issei seemed to be looking elsewhere, but was on his best behavior, a series of threats from Kiba, Loup, Harry, and Rias having warned him what would happen if he acted out here in no uncertain terms.

Akeno, too, was enjoying the night and the attention of several men at first. But soon after one of the people who were playing instruments began to sing, she quickly became the center of attention for the entire party. The moment the song ended, Akeno strode out of the crowd of dancers, pointing at the singing girl, a female Kappa, dramatically. "You think you can sing? Watch and learn," she said haughtily, throwing her hair back over her shoulders as she began to sing No Roots, dancing at the same time, attracting even more attention from the male side of the audience, and enjoying every moment of it. She loved to show off like this and then shut people down. And if they got too pushy.… Akeno shivered, hoping that someone really did try something. Punishing them would be the perfect cap to her night.

Harry danced with Yasaka after Kunou, then Sona of all people before handing her over to Loup, getting a furiously blushing glare from the girl as he did. Then he moved to the side, watching Asia and Kalawarner dance together. He also watched several other members of Sona's peerage dancing nearby. Mittelt, of all people, was also dancing away, all of her designs having proven to be a big hit.

While Harry was watching all this with a smile, Rias and Yasaka found themselves standing next to one another while Lily and Kunou argued with a few other kids about something from an anime that even Rias hadn't seen, it being aimed at a much younger audience. "How is it?" Yasaka said, leaning in and shouting into the other woman's ear.

"How is what?"

"Being with Harry," Yasaka elaborated.

"It's wonderful," Rias said honestly. "Going out with him has been a dream."

"And you would truly not be unhappy if I pressed my own suit? He seems amenable and said you were, but I wanted to make certain," Yasaka replied.

"I am all right with it," Rias said with a nod. "I've come to know and respect you through our discussions, and I know you share Harry's and my love of family."

"That is important for certain, but there is something else we need to talk about. Harry has mentioned how he wants us all to be equals to you as well, correct?" Rias nodded at that. "That means we must care for one another as well. Which means well…something like this," Yasaka said, smirking as she leaned in to kiss Rias on the lips briefly before pulling back.

Rias blushed, staring at her in shock for a few seconds and then around at the crowd, but no one seemed to have noticed. Turning back to Yasaka, she slowly nodded. "Um, we'll have to talk about that," she said, watching as Harry and Kunou danced again, saying something to one another as Kunou danced while standing on Harry's feet. "Um, I can't say I'm totally against it, but I've never, that is.…"

"Just think about it, Rias-han. After all, there might be a time when we're both sharing his bed, and it wouldn't do for him to be doing all the work," Yasaka said, her lips twisting into a vulpine grin.

Rias blushed again, then laughed, shaking her head and throwing her magnificent mane of red hair this way and that. "There is absolutely no chance of that, trust me."

Yasaka chuckled too, and then turned away as Kunou raced up to her to ask her a question.

Harry and Kala were dancing now through a slow song, talking quietly. They had, of course, talked about a lot of things over the past few months, their friendship becoming quite a lot firmer than their previous quasi-relationship had been. Kala could have pushed things now but knew it would be a bad idea. Akeno still had a few issues with her fallen heritage, and even attempting to replace her in their relationship would be a very bad idea for the larger group dynamic. There was also the fact that, despite not having an outlet for her lust, Kalawarner was actually happy with the way things were and was terrified of ruining it. She had found a place for herself here that didn't involve using her body or obeying orders. She had found redemption of a sort in teaching Asia what she knew about magic, cooking, and languages, and had found a home with her new friends. All of that allowed Kalawarner to push down her Lust, the sin which had caused her to fall losing its power over her.

After the dance was over, Harry let her go, and Kalawarner moved toward Momo, joining a line of limbo dancers, of all things. Harry watched her head off, wondering how that would go for a moment before turning away his eyes and finding Rias through the crowd. She had just finished speaking to the kids, and Harry moved in that direction only to be interrupted by Lily. "Daddy, can I sleep over with Kunou tonight?"

"Why would that be any different than the two of you sharing a room at home, Lily?" Harry asked quizzically.

Lily huffed, rolling her eyes as if Harry had questioned the most obvious thing in the world. "Silly Daddy! That's at home; this is here. It's that simple."

"I'll think about it, Lily," Harry said, looking up at Rias. "What do you think, Rias? Should we let Lily stay here rather than the hotel room? And Koneko and Asia, I presume?"

Lily nodded, missing entirely the double meaning in Harry's question and the look in his eyes as he looked at Rias. She felt herself flushing under that gaze but still nodding her head, pasting a thoughtful look on her face. "Well, she was quite good throughout the ceremony, so I think she has indeed earned a treat. Besides, we don't have anything planned tomorrow until after lunch, so Kunou can show everyone else around the forest if they want to."

As Lily cheered and waved Asia over to join them, Rias looked back at Harry and held out her hand. He took it and turned to bow towards Yasaka. "The party and, indeed, your hospitality have been amazing, but Rias and I wished to have a date night tonight, and we really should be going if we're going to meet the reservation I set up."

"You two have fun," Yasaka said with a wink. "I'll tell the others where you've gone." Then she frowned, looking over at Akeno, who was singing her fourth song in a row to a crowd of onlookers.

"Don't worry about Akeno's reaction," Rias said with a smile towards her friend. Akeno caught her eye through the crowd and waved, then turned back to start up another song. "She's actually quite happier single and able to tease and flirt to her heart's content." _Although I do dread the questions she'll no doubt ask me later._

Nodding at that, Yasaka smiled and wished them well again before walking them to the door. Harry and Rias left the mansion and then walked sedately through the forest, lit up as it was with numerous Foxfire lights for them as they moved through it, exiting into the Youkai Association's area of the city and then out into the city proper. They kept talking quietly, simply basking in one another's presence. If Rias leaned against Harry a little too much, exhausted from her earlier magical exertion and the party afterwards, Harry didn't care, putting an arm around her shoulders as they continued on their way.

The restaurant Harry had chosen was a theme restaurant like the one they had gone to with Lily for their first date, but it wasn't an anime theme. Instead it was based on the swinging sixties, with music that harkened back to that age and a dance floor to one side of the actual sitting area. Rias laughed aloud as she entered, seeing that, and turned in Harry's arms to give him a kiss. Harry had chosen this restaurant before they knew about the after party they had just left, but he knew that Rias loved to dance. "Although, we are little overdressed, aren't we?"

"Bah!" Harry replied, waving that off. "Let the plebeians talk, my dear. It's pure envy. They could only dream of looking as good as you."

They were led to the table and promptly ordered a bottle of wine and some appetizers, Rias having worked up quite an appetite earlier. Then they settled in to talk, at first about Lily, Kunou, and the etiquette lessons Rias had forced the two girls to start taking from her. These weren't tough, but were kind of tedious. Yet Rias was adamant the girls learn how to move and act in high society, and Harry too.

Harry had been against it at first, it harkened back to the British Wizarding world and how he had always been an outsider there. There was also an aspect of himself that still wanted to be 'just Harry'. It was this kind of mindset he'd had in his first year at Hogwarts, the part of him that wanted to blend in and just be normal rather than extraordinary.

But Rias had, instead of simply getting angry or yelling at him for not trying, explained. She told Harry what Devil high society was like, how it could benefit his family, how it could harm them if ignored, and what doors it could open for Harry, Lily, and even Kunou. She had ended the argument, if it could be called that, by saying that the way Harry and his daughter acted would reflect on how they were treated by the real powers in the society he had joined by getting involved with her. That in the future they would no doubt be part of that high society, like it or not, and they had to know the ropes.

After the food arrived, however, the talk turned away from the kids to the future. Rias explained some of her plans for the future in terms of how she wanted to run the family, her plans for her peerage, and other things of that nature. Harry, in turn, explained how he wanted the future to go. How he would like to remain a teacher and get Lily and Asia through college while researching more about magic and mixing the three styles of magic he had learned. The defensive scheme's power and breadth of ability proved that combining the three disparate schools could produce some amazing results in larger workings.

As they began to finish the food, the talk turned to flirting. Harry worked his leg up Rias's inner leg under her skirt. Rias played with her hair and licked her lips every time she took a bite. The looks in their eyes slowly changed from joking and laughing to lustful and loving.

They were nearly finished eating and were wondering if they should try to finish the wine bottle when a British rock band called The Struts began to play. Harry grinned and stood up, holding out his hands to Rias. "Do you know this tune, Rias?"

"I think I do, yes!" Rias said with a laugh, allowing Harry to pull her onto the dance floor.

As they did, with Harry holding Rias close, to her utter astonishment Harry began to sing. "Your eyes follow like a spotlight, two eyes like the sun.…" Rias pulled back in surprise, but Harry didn't let her go. "Go ahead keep your distance from me, soon you're going to come."

Blushing, Rias giggled and began to sing back, having hard this song before. Her voice wasn't nearly as good as Akeno's, but it had its own rough, scratchy charm in Harry's opinion. "When you flick your hair like you don't care and you're asking where I'm from.…"

"That game that you're running baby, you've already won," Harry replied, dipping her and then twirling her out to the furthest extent of one arm, their hands clasping before he pulled her back. "I need to know, know, know what do you need, need, need? What do you like, like, like? Because I'm going to be it tonight!" Harry and Rias sang together.

They split off for a second, still facing one another as they danced, Rias swaying her hips magnetically as he simply moved his body from side to side rhythmically, concentrating on singing. Unlike this morning where Rias's spell had given him the voice of the singer from Flyers, his voice was his own, and it was all over the place. Despite that, the words were heartfelt as he stared into Rias's eyes, emerald on topaz. "You could be cool, you could be shy, say what you want, say what you like, 'Cause ooh, your body talks, your body talks. Ooh, ooh your body talks. You could pretend you don't want it now, but I read the signs from your head to your toes! Yeah you don't need to say a word 'cause Ooh, ooh your body talks!"

At the next line the female singer took over as did Rias, raising a hand to Harry's lips, touching them and pushing him back, the two moving step for step as Harry's hands fell to her waist. "Your lips are a conversation, that face is a song. If it's my imagination, stop me if I'm wrong. I need to know, know, know. What do you need, need, need? What do you like, like, like? Because I'm going to be it tonight!" she sang, the last word a promise as she found herself once more pulled against Harry as they twirled around.

They both sang the last chorus together, holding one another closer and closer as they twirled in place, their smiles becoming tender and loving even as their voices dropped to a whisper. "You could be cool, you could be shy. Say what you want, say what you like. 'Cause ooh, your body talks, your body talks. Ooh, ooh your body talks. You could pretend you don't want it now. But I read the signs from your head to your toes. Yeah you don't need to say a word, 'cause, ooh, ooh, your body talks!"

As the chorus repeated, Rias and Harry leaned together, kissing and making the rest of the world disappear for a few seconds until the song came to a close. As they parted, Harry whispered, "I love you, Rias."

"I love you too, Harry. Now…take me back to our hotel," Rias murmured, her heart in her eyes and the meaning of those words very, very clear.

 **{Lemon start}**

Harry smiled that gentle, loving smile again and kissed her one last time before pulling her towards the exit, ignoring the cheering from a few onlookers. The two moved down the streets, stopping occasionally to kiss, their kisses becoming more and more ardent as they got to the hotel. They powerwalked side by side through the hotel's entrance area, laughing as they reached the elevator. They had to stop for a moment as a few other people got on with them, but the instant they all left, the two lovers were all over one another again, Rias's lips finding the pulse point on Harry's neck while Harry licked and nibbled at her ear, nearly causing her legs to collapse out from under her. The dinging of the elevator at their floor stopped them for a moment, though they paused twice more along the hall to kiss almost frantically.

Somehow they were able to get the door to Harry's room open, then Rias was leaning in, kissing him hard and pushing him back against the wall of the small entryway area, pressing her entire body against his. Harry groaned into her mouth, opening his mouth and thrusting his tongue out, meeting her own as it attempted to enter his mouth and kissing her hard as his arms went around her, his hands down to her rear and lifting her up. As her legs went around him, Harry moved them backwards until her back slammed hard enough to cause a thump against the wall of the small entryway. Harry ground against her and pushed away slightly to nip at her collarbone over the dress she wore, pulling the dress away slightly to get at the skin underneath and reveling in its silky smooth texture.

"This isn't quite the kind of setting I would've chosen," he said as he pulled back, one hand lifting from her rear to search for the dress's zipper under her hair. "But I suppose we could just teleport from here back home, couldn't we?"

"No, we'd have to head back to the mansion," Rias moaned, her hands falling from where they had gripped Harry's shoulders for a moment to thump against the wall, as Harry had found her left collarbone, one of her most sensitive spots. Then she growled, grabbing the back of Harry's head and pulling him away from her neck to glare down into his eyes. "Enough stalling, Harry Potter! **Love me!** "

"Rrrr, your wish is my command, milady," Harry growled in return, pulling her away from the wall and turning so that the two of them were facing deeper into the hotel room. With Rias still clinging to him with her legs and now peppering his face with kisses, he moved them over to the bed where he gently laid her down.

Harry then stood back, undoing the emerald stud around his neck, putting it in a pocket, and then pulling off his tuxedo and shirt. At the same time Rias reached behind herself and unzipped her dress, pulling it forward and off, revealing the fact that she had worn a skintight red bra underneath. Reaching down, she undid her skirt and kicked out of it, her breasts jiggling slightly, her hips and then her thin waist coming into view as her legs kicked in the air for a moment before sending the skirt flying to land on the TV and hang there.

When she pulled her bra off, Rias fully arrested Harry's attention for a moment as he simply gawked at her body and, in particular, at her breasts. Despite their size, they jiggled only slightly as she pulled off her bra, once more showing the inhuman amount of perkiness they had. Her large pink nipples were already hard, calling to Harry's mouth to suckle on them. Those breasts, which he had felt before, both skin to skin and through various types of clothing, still had the ability to stop all his higher brain functions. Harry might not have been obsessed, but he certainly had a fetish.

It was only with a shake of his head that Harry was able to stop himself from diving on her right then. Pulling off his pants, Harry threw them to the side and then slowly removed his underwear, standing for the first time entirely naked in front of Rias.

Now it was her turn to pause in the process of pulling off her panties, which had already been marked a little by her wetness. Rias took in his body from top to bottom, noting once more the number of muscles he showed, the thinness of his waist, and the six-pack, the sight bringing a smile to her lips. Then her eyes traveled further down to rest on the growing erection Harry was sporting, and she couldn't stop herself from licking her lips hungrily. Something inside her, the same thing that had been so affected by the earlier kissing, was ignited further by the sight of him so naked and ready for her.

Rias blinked, however, as Harry reached down and cupped his own crotch for a moment, his hand glowing blue as he cast a spell, the blue of the spell transferring itself into his privates causing him to shiver and his balls to glow a bright blue along with a thin band around the base of his penis. "What was that?" she asked quizzically.

"That was Caeruleum Sphaera spell. It kills the sperm within my balls and will continue to do so for forty-eight hours," Harry said wryly, still shivering. "It's not exactly pleasant, but it's the best birth control spell I know. Ginny asked me to learn it after Lily was born."

Rias blinked, then snorted. Her snort turned into a snicker and then full blown laughter. Rias threw her head back, smacking the bed to one side of her with a hand as the other propped her upper body up. "Blue Balls? The spell is called Blue Balls?! I wonder what came first, there, the spell or the phrase!?"

Rolling his eyes, Harry sat next to her, but when she didn't seem able to stop laughing, he decided to add to it and began to tickle her. Rias twitched away, then growled and tackled him backwards onto the bed. "You of all people shouldn't try to start a tickle contest!"

Sitting on his thighs she began to tickle him, only to find herself rolled to the side as Harry wrapped his arms around her. She then found herself pulled up into a kiss which took her breath away and reignited her excitement. She found her lower lips, slick with her juices, rubbing hard against Harry's shaft. But the feel of that and the feel of her bare breasts pressing into Harry's hard chest reminded Rias of something she had wanted to try before they moved on to the end game. She slowly pulled away from Harry even as he sat up, following her, moving them both to the side of the bed until he was sitting on the side with Rias in his lap, Then she pulled away further, shifting downwards.

The feel of her hard nipples rubbing against his muscles caused her to gasp, her mouth open as she stopped, just rubbing them there for a second before pushing Harry's hands away when he attempted to pull her back up into a kiss. Instead she resumed her journey backwards and down until she knelt on the ground between his legs, looking up at him. Reaching forward, her hand grabbed his shaft, slowly working up and down its length while staring at it in marvel.

Harry's cock was at least seven and a half inches, maybe a little more—Rias having no idea how to measure such things—but it was thick. Very thick. Thicker than any of the toys she had seen in Akeno's room the few times she'd been in there; perhaps a few centimeters smaller in diameter than a water bottle. Rias could get her hand around it, but with a little difficulty. His head was a little larger and slightly more purplish in hue, filled with blood as it was right now. The shaft pulsed with blood, a few veins standing out on it starkly.

"You don't have to do that, you know," Harry said, understanding what she intended.

"Why ever wouldn't I?" Rias asked. "After all.…" She paused, moving forward and actually licking at the underside of his cock for a moment. "How _*lick*_ can I know if I _*lick*_ like doing something if I _*lick*_ don't try it first?" she mumbled, her tongue moving up and down the shaft, finding the scent of it a bit intoxicating.

Harry shrugged, keeping his eyes from rolling back with difficulty. It had been a very long time, after all, since he'd had anything more than the handjob Rias and Akeno had given him during the incident with the plugsuits. Even later that very night he hadn't been able to get off again before the kids had returned, though he had gotten Akeno off again.

"I tried to get Ginny interested in it, but while she loved me going down on her, she didn't really enjoy the reverse. She'd have to cast a spell on me to make me taste better, she said, even after I changed my diet and found a spell to do just that. She just was very rarely interested in doing it on her own initiative."

"Well, I am **not** Ginny," Rias said tartly, glaring up at him and gripping his shaft just a bit too hard, her devil strength helping her there. "And I'll thank you for not comparing me to someone who'd cheat on her husband and was all right with not having a good relationship with her daughter again, Harry Potter!"

"Duly noted!" Harry said, holding up his free hand in peace before lowering it to gently move it through Rias's hair, playing with her hair and then her ears for a moment before kneading her skull in such a way that she began to moan. "I just wanted to make certain that you were doing this of your own volition rather than trying to impress me or something."

Rias shook her head, not saying that Yasaka had mentioned specifically how she had flirted with Harry about this very topic during their conversation earlier that evening. She hadn't told Rias what Harry had replied with, though, which was rather telling, Rias thought. But that was for later, as was the fact that Harry kept himself a little too tightly in control at times.

Returning to the task at hand, Rias slowly licked up and down Harry's shaft for a moment, getting used to the taste, which was somewhat meaty, almost heady, but not unpleasant at all, sending a tingle down her body. Then Rias moved her mouth up to the top of his shaft, her mouth opening fully as she engulfed his cock's head. Her tongue licked at it as best she could, swallowing some of his pre-cum, and found the taste all right. Not fantastic, but certainly all right. It felt like a bit of thick cream to her, which was okay too. Concentrating, Rias moved forward, taking more of his cock into her mouth, but found she could only get barely two inches past the head before she began to choke.

Harry released her head at once, and Rias pulled back, looking up at her man and shaking her head. "That wasn't you, that was me. I suppose this kind of thing takes practice."

"I suppose so," Harry said, a growl in his tone and some of his teeth showing. "But since the only practice you'll ever get is with me, I'm fine with that."

Rias laughed, licking at his head again even as she pushed his legs a little further apart and moved up further into his lap. "Was that a proposal, Harry?"

"No, Rias, that was a promise," Harry said softly, his hand tugging lightly at her hair, arresting her movement and forcing her to stare up into his eyes so she could see the sincerity there. "I told you I love you, and unless you fall out of love with me, to my mind that means this: between us, it's forever."

She nodded wordless agreement, small tears of joy appearing at her eyes for a moment as Harry went on. "But when I propose to you, I will endeavor to make it as romantic as possible." He then smirked perhaps the sexiest smirk she had ever seen on him. "Not when you're kneeling between my legs, trying to take my cock into your mouth."

Rias shivered at that, blushing hotly, but she found she actually liked the dirty talk and resolve to reply in like kind as she moved further up until his cock was slapping against her chest. Capturing his cock between her breasts, Rias smirked up at Harry, moving her breasts up and down. "You compared me to Ginny earlier, but could she do this? Could that shrew who left you and Lily do this to your cock!?" she asked, trying out more dirty talk and once more finding she liked saying it as much as she liked hearing it.

Harry shuddered then shook his head. The feel of Rias's breasts was simply amazing. They were like slightly firm marshmallows or soft pillows of silk, but warm and undulating and altogether amazing. Even so, Harry kept control of his tongue and replied as best he could. "No, she definitely didn't have your chest. Then again, I don't think I could name five women who do! Your breasts are as magnificent as the rest of you, after all."

"Oooh, that was nice, Harry," she cooed. "Both dirty and romantic at the same time!"

Harry, however, refused to just be a passive lover. He sat up, hunching forward so that he didn't have to use a hand to prop his upper body up, and reached down, grabbing at Rias's breasts and playing with her nipples as she continued to work them up and down his shaft, staring down into her eyes all the while. "And what about you? Do you like this?"

"It's different," Rias said, moaning and throwing her head back as Harry tweaked her nipple. He kissed her on the lips before pulling back. "But I could get to like it, I think. After all, while I might have had a vibrator, I certainly never did this with it!"

"Again, the only practice you'll ever get with me, so I'm fine with that," Harry said with a laugh. He leaned down to kiss her again before pulling back, concentrating on the motion of his hands on her breasts, not messing with her rhythm, simply playing with them as much as possible.

For a moment there were no further words spoken. The sound of Rias's breasts up and down Harry's shaft—a "shlick, shlick" noise—resounded through the hotel room, further arousing both of them as Rias's body responded to the pheromones Harry was giving off now. Her panties were almost drenched by this point, her juices dripping through them. But she didn't look away from Harry's eyes as she continued to work his shaft.

How long she kept at it, she didn't know, but it was actually starting to hurt a little. Thankfully Harry eventually began to feel it seriously. "Rias, I'm close," he said, his voice a cross between a growl and a moan.

With that Rias plunged down, breaking eye contact for a moment as she wrapped her lips around his head. She ignored the faint pain from the friction between her breasts and moved her breasts even more forcefully up and down Harry's cock, her eyes rolling back slightly to look back up at him.

That sight was so amazingly dirty and beyond anything he'd felt before with anyone, Harry couldn't stop himself from coming even faster than he'd thought. Throwing his head back, Harry's hands left her breasts to touch his shaft right below her lips, pushing his fingers between her breasts and her mouth to do it. His fingers glowed briefly, but then before Rias could ask, Harry came.

Rias gasped, then moaned in shock and lust as Harry came into her mouth, spurt after large, thick spurt of cum filling her mouth. She eventually had to move away, unable to swallow as he continued to come, covering her face. Rias swallowed, then grimaced, blinking and shaking her head. "Oranges?!" she asked incredulously as Harry gently reached down to her face, wiping away his cum.

"That was the spell I just cast. After all, it would be kind of rude after you went to all that work to reward you with something nasty tasting," Harry said with a chuckle and a relieved sigh.

Rias laughed and moved up his body kissing his stomach and then his pecs as she went, only to find herself grabbed from around the middle and twisted until she was flung down onto the bed. As Rias giggled and bounced slightly on the bed, Harry moved down her body, kissing her jaw and then her neck and collarbone, reveling in the taste, the texture, the pulse of her body under his touch. "My turn," he whispered throatily.

Kissing further down, he lavished attention on her sternum followed by the top of her breasts, his hands kneading and fondling, first her breasts, then her sides, before he wound his way downwards, torturing her with how slowly he was moving as Rias's fingers wound through his hair, anticipation adding to her already intense arousal.

When Harry finally clamped down on her nipple, Rias gasped, her fingers clawing into his head while he licked and suckled. But he didn't stop there. After lavishing loving attention on both her nipples, Harry pulled away from her grip easily and moved downwards again, kissing her taut stomach, licking, nipping, even leaving a hickey there before moving down again until he was face to face with her panties.

Red like her bra, they were now stained with her juices, and Harry slowly peeled them off, lifting her legs up into the air to do it. When he threw her panties away, they landed somewhere near the entryway with a noticeably damp plopping sound, which caused her to blush in embarrassment.

"Don't," Harry intoned, kissing up her leg from the heel. "You've nothing to be ashamed of, believe me." Kissing both legs and then her thighs, Harry gently parted them to look directly at the treasure between them.

Rias's pussy was marked by a closely trimmed thatch of red hair, slightly darker than the hair on her head and much finer. Her cleft, glistening now, was marked by tiny, engorged lips to either side of her open, nearly pulsing slit. At the top of her pussy was a small, glistening nub of flesh, which Harry let his nail gently touch, causing Rias to buck up off the bed. Smiling at that, he leaned in, licking and kissing.

"AHHH! Harry, oh Maou, oh, right there, Haarrry!" Rias moaned. She wanted to say something sexy to continue their dirty talk from earlier, but the sensations she was feeling were just too much.

Even as Rias bucked and twitched, Harry held her down by gripping her thighs, grinning as he continued to work. First he rubbed his fingers up either side, touching her pussy's lips lightly, then he ran his tongue down the center of her cleft—not penetrating, simply tasting—then around and up. Another lick on her clit caused Rias to cry out. Then Harry plunged a single finger into her followed by his tongue.

He alternated between finger and tongue for a few moments while his other hand held Rias down, then pulled his finger out, getting a breathy, "No!" from Rias, only to start using his Parseltongue ability. His tongue began to vibrate as he sang the song from earlier, stabbing his tongue deep into Rias's pussy at the end of every word.

That pushed Rias over the edge with a vengeance. "AHHHHHHH!" Rias screamed as she came, her juices spurting out from her pussy, a sight Harry had never even read about before, covering his face and even some of his chest before soaking the sheets of the bed under them.

As Rias's legs let go of their grip around his head, Harry pulled back and turned, moving to the edge of the bed in order to get up and find a dishcloth. Rias's juices were tasty, but he figured she wouldn't like the taste and opted to wipe them off.

But before he could do more than sit on the side of the bed, Rias twisted around and crawled into his lap, kissing Harry hard on the lips as she ground her pussy, now drenched from her orgasm, against his cock, which had never gone down from his earlier state of arousal. Rias looked him in the eyes as she moved up his shaft, balancing herself there for a moment with her legs, trembling though they still were from aftershocks.

Then, with their eyes still, Rias leaned down and kissed him again before lowering her body down onto his shaft. She grimaced, but forced her body down entirely, squealing a little into Harry's mouth at the pain. Harry quickly pulled back in surprise, his hands quickly moving to hold her still as he said, "I thought you said you had played with a toy?"

"I did!" Rias said through gritted teeth, whittling away the pain. "But, well…that blood is supposed to be important, if you see what I mean."

"To whoever marries you? Proof that you are unsullied?" Harry said in disgust. "Dammit, your people and mine, so backwards at times!"

"Exactly," Rias muttered, then giggled. "You know, I was so into this and loving every moment of it that that aspect didn't even cross my mind until right now. Even if I somehow am unable to force Riser into a Rating Game or a duel, I doubt he would be interested in marrying a woman who was dirtied by another man.

"Luckily, I'm not going to have to count on that," she said, her giggle becoming a dark sort of chuckle before she became serious, leaning her forehead against Harry's. "No, this had nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with the future or even my family. This is about us, a sign that I want to spend my future with you, Harry Potter! Now and forever, lover, like you said."

"Now and forever," Harry repeated, then added, "my love," before leaning forward and kissing her hard, his hands moving up and down her back, one hand eventually moving down to rest on her rear, squeezing. He held her still like that, kissing the living daylights out of her as she slowly got used to his girth inside of her and the pain subsided. When she slowly nodded while still kissing him, Harry released his grip on her rear, and she began to move up and down, slowly at first, then with more vigor.

Harry let her control the movements for a few moments, then raised his hips as she lowered hers, causing her to moan aloud. "Oh Maou! That felt good! More!"

"As the lady wishes!" Harry said with a laugh, leaning down to take a nipple into his mouth and nibbling at it gently. His other arm went around her waist, moving her even harder against him as his hips began to piston up and down, thrusting his cock into her.

The sensations were too new, too overwhelming, and Rias couldn't handle it for long, throwing her head back and literally screaming as she came again, her juices bursting out of her once more in a geyser, soaking Harry's lower body and the sheets underneath them.

As she clamped down on his shaft, Harry grunted, holding off his own orgasm with difficulty. But Rias seemed to take this as a personal insult, and her movements became even harder, now grinding her hips from side to side and around in a circular motion as best she could, forcing Harry to come a few moments later.

With the Blue Balls spell in place, Harry had no reason to pull out, and he slammed up into her one last time before he came, causing Rias to come again at the feel of the hot liquid bursting within her. She could actually feel his cock moving with each spurt, each jet hitting her deeper, filling her to bursting.

"Bloody cheeky minx!" he rumbled, his hips still lifting up and down slowly.

Rias laughed throatily, then yelped as Harry twisted them around until she was laying down, Harry's cock still within her as he propped himself up above her, looking down. Rias's face was sweaty, her hair plastered to her face to the side of her face, her neck, and her forehead. Her breasts were glistening with sweat and heaved under him, calling to his hands, and he did not deny them, playing with them with one hand gently as he slowly moved within her, some of their mixed juices leaking out with every move.

"Gah,…" Harry moaned. "Fuck, you're so tight, and wet, and soo…good.… Bloody hell, that's the only word to describe it."

Rias moaned too, raising her hips and grinning wickedly up at him. Despite her sweaty appearance, she wasn't tired at all and wanted to revel in this sensation as much as she could. "You're not done, are you, Harry?" In response he growled and thrust harder into her, his hand moving to tweak her nipple. "Mmm, I didn't think so," she said, laughing at him even as she moaned the words. "Come on, Harry; give it to me!"

They stayed in that position for a while. Harry worked his hips against hers, generally letting her rest her body despite her attitude, exchanging tender kisses and heated lip-locks occasionally. Then, sensing Rias had recovered, Harry grabbed one of her legs, pulling back from the kiss and looping her leg over one shoulder, twisting her body as he began to hammer into Rias even harder.

Rias began to moan with every word out of her mouth, gripping his arm with one hand and the bed with the other, her nails digging in slightly, but, thankfully, they weren't sharpened, else they would've had some explaining to do or repair spells to use at some point. She came again in that position, her body quaking and shaking and her breasts heaving to and fro.

Harry let her rest for a few minutes, but then, when Rias had recovered sufficiently, she moved to take charge again. Pulling Harry down into a kiss, she locked her hips around his waist and rolled them both to the side until she was on top of him. Pushing herself upright, Rias moaned his name, easily one of the sexiest sounds Harry had ever heard as she began to move her hips. "Oh, Haaaaarrryyyy, so good.…" With that she started to bounce up and down on his waist, doing most of the work now and letting Harry concentrate on her breasts and nipples, in particular, as the night continued.

One thing Rias was not was a passive lover, and the two of them exchanged positions several times with both of them coming several times as well, until finally Rias began to lose energy. Harry, however, was still good to go, his shaft having shown no sign of diminishing despite having come deep inside Rias several times.

This was why Rias found herself back lying down on the bed, her legs splayed to either side as Harry gripped her waist, doing all the work now as Rias simply had no more energy. She simply moaned aloud, "Fuck, Haaarry! Oh Maou, yes!"

Finally it seemed that Harry had had enough as he came inside her one last time. Pulling out and rolling to the side, his cum and her juices began to drip out of her like someone had removed a spigot.

Rolling to the side slightly, Rias moved until she was half on Harry and leaned up, kissing him once on the cheek before nuzzling into his shoulder. "That was **amazing**! And thank you for using that Blue Balls spell," she said with a tired giggle. "I don't know any anti-pregnancy spells like that. Getting devils pregnant is very, very hard even for other devils, but after a night like this, heh. I don't want to be pregnant just yet, Harry."

Harry nodded, one eyebrow rising in unspoken query.

"After high school," she replied to that unasked question.

"Really, Rias?" Harry asked, blinking in surprise. "What about college? Wouldn't a child interfere with that?"

Rias shook her head. "While Akeno and the others are free to go on to college if they want to, I don't think that's in the cards for me. I plan to be head of my family, and learning how to do that will be a full-time job. I will take a few courses online—estate management and such like—but I'm already quite excellent at manipulating money, as you well know."

Harry chuckled at that. He had checked his bank account balance last night and had found that all of the investments Rias had made had shown a profit or would be showing a profit this quarter.

"No," she said, smiling and looking down somewhat in awe for a moment as she noticed that Harry's cock had already begun to rise again. "No, in the future my family will be my life, its business my business, and our children my delight."

"Mine too," Harry said with a smile. "Though I thought you wanted to be a teacher at one point?"

"Yes, I do love being around kids. Maybe when our own are older I'll go back to school for that," Rias with a nod. Then winked. "Though I bet I could pull off the schoolmarm look now. Glasses, a sharp business suit, and a nice tight skirt. What do you think about that one?"

"I think, you minx, that you obviously haven't had enough yet," Harry said with a chuckle, leaning down. As he kissed her, Harry twisted them around until Rias was on her back once more under Harry, and he was between her legs. She laughed and linked her arms around his neck. "Just love me, Harry Potter, now and forever!"

 **{End Lemon}**

 **End Chapter**

Woot. Just… woot. I didn't anticipate that this chapter would be so long, And I honestly am a little annoyed by it. But there were so many little and large things I wanted to do here, it the length just crept up on me. I suppose I could have ended it after Akeno and Harry broke up, but that felt too negative even with how Akeno took it.

I had been really torn about what to do with Akeno from the get go. I like her as a character, but she is not really someone that Harry would be interested in as she is at this point. I think I pushed her character growth along, but even so there were some fundamental issues that could not be solved. On top of that, like Rias has said, what normal 19 year old **would** be thinking about settling down, be willing to share time with a child, or multiple children in this case, in her boyfriend's life? And of course there was also the whole sharing with another woman thing, which I think in this fic is much more in keeping with Rias's personality than Akeno's. In Seven sins terminology, Rias is drawn to lust, pride and greed, plus a bit of envy Akeno to lust, some envy, a whole lot of wrath and a healthy dose of jealousy.


	10. Chapter 10

I am not British, nor can I draw.

For December, this story brought in 1,161 votes, beating out the other two large stories, Magic and Horse. Yes it was also here on the poll, I wanted to deal with Riser LOL.

Would like to give a shout out to fellow author, Raolin. Check out his fic, The Fires of Magic; it's pretty damn good.

A brief warning. I make the Rias/Riser match a lot bigger and more detailed than it was in the original for various reasons which I think are well enough defined inside the chapter. Just, if you're expecting a complete stomp-fest, don't. Also, I use the world at large's concept of football here. I don't call it soccer. Sorry.

this has been edited by _Nad Destroyer_ and _Michael_ , this is why it is being posted so late. That, and family time killing the past two days nearly entirely for me. There were also a few changes I made that were somehow deleted when I combined the two versions. If you have read the chapter before and are noticing changes, specifically in the last section, forgive me.

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Fried Chicken Skewered**

"Ma'am, I'm sorry this is taking so long, but it is simply procedure," said the woman on the other side of Tonks, her smile becoming quite strained as she fought to keep from flinching as Tonks's hair went from red, to black, to pink, and then back again, while nearby several guards in blue SWAT uniforms and wielding wands and guns tensed. "If you will just be patient a while longer, the paperwork will be done, and you can go on your way."

"Bitch, I am patient. I am so patient I could give lessons on patience. I am so calm, I could be the Buddha of chill," Nymphadora Tonks rasped back, her hands nowhere near her wand for once. "However, that doesn't mean I am willing to use up my karma dealing with your BS."

"Um, Mum, I don't think that's how that works. I don't know much about Padma's religion, but that doesn't sound right," Teddy said, taking his mother's hand.

She seemed to calm down at that touch, and Teddy in turn breathed an internal sigh of relief and stopped looking around for a place to hide. _Although if we're still here in a few minutes, that corner over there with the large aluminum trash bin looks the best bet_ , Teddy thought ruefully. As her son, Teddy was an experienced Tonks Whisperer and knew that if anyone gave her further lip right now she would blow her top. And then a lot of other things would blow up too.

 _Although I suppose it's not all Mum's fault. We've been here for three hours now, meeting with one person after another, and we didn't bring anything to read or even to do, and we can't do magic without an entirely different permit here too. And that talk with Aunt Ginny and Grand-mum Weasley didn't help._

That morning Teddy and Tonks had been just about ready to go on their long anticipated trip to see Harry. Tonks was moving around the large chest they were going to take in lieu of luggage, pointing down into it. "Okay, count off with me, munchkin. One pensieve."

"Check!" Teddy replied, pointing at the lump of the item under a pile of their clothing. The trunk was expanded to a bit over twice its normal size, but one half of it was completely full of clothing and family items, just in case. Teddy wasn't certain what that was just in case of, but since he was looking forward to seeing Lily Luna again, he also didn't care. He missed his little friend.

"Three books on what Hermione called, 'possibly godly magical myths and odd occurrences.' Why the bloody hells Harry's interested in that will no doubt be a tale."

"Check!"

"One book from the Black Family vault about blood adoption rituals."

" _How to Blood Adopt and Not Cock it Up_ , check," Teddy said, giggling at the title.

"Right, just remember not to talk like that around Lily. If Harry gets wind you're teaching her bad words and I let you, we're both for it," Tonks muttered, winking at her son before going on with the list. "Ten books we both think Harry and Double-L will have missed by this point, and ten that Hermione thinks Harry will need or should want."

"Um… Missing two from the Hermione pile," Teddy said after counting and checking names. "Both of the arithmantic books."

"Right. The ones I thought were as dry as a nun's, um, dry as a desert," Tonks muttered. "They're still in the kitchen."

Teddy rushed and got them, and the list continued through three more items. The first, a pile of letters from the goblins, who seemingly couldn't contact Harry. Why that was and what the letters contained, Tonks had no idea. The second was, for some reason, a large photo album from Lavender's recent wedding. The third was a love letter from Gabrielle Delacour, complete with a recent picture from the blonde, whose body could make most models weep with envy. Tonks would greatly enjoy showing that to Harry in the presence of his new girlfriend in order to watch the feathers fly.

"All done!" Tonks cheered, as Teddy did a war dance around the trunk. "Awesome! Now, let's get this show on the road."

With that statement, Tonks transfigured the trunk to have several dozen legs like a certain other trunk and then set Teddy on top. "Come on, kiddo, we have a date with a series of portkeys."

Teddy nodded and hung onto the back of the trunk as it followed his mother toward the door. He never had any problem with portkeys, unlike the Potters. Their issues with magical transportation were a running gag among their friends.

Outside, however, the two Tonkses ran into a cavalcade of redheads. Ginny and Molly stood there, backed by Charlie, Bill, Ron, and the twins. The boys looked as if they were there more for family solidarity than anything else, but the two female redheads looked to have a bee in their bonnets, right proper.

"Tonks," Ginny began, "I've heard that the two of you are off to see Harry, wherever he's gotten? Is it true he's gone to Japan of all places?" She snorted. "I'd have thought after that horrible experience with Chang in fifth year he'd have had his fill of Asians."

"Well, for one thing, Chang and her family came from China before the war. They've not gone back since and have gone full native," Tonks began. "For another thing, what business is it of yours, Ms. Weasley?" Tonks asked, her voice sugary sweet, causing Teddy to quickly make himself as small as possible.

"Don't take that tone with me, Tonks. Harry just, just absconded with our daughter! Of course it's my business," Ginny retorted. "I'm her mother, damn it; I should be the one raising her!"

"Exactly so. It isn't proper for a man to try to raise a girl on his own, and it is even worse that he just left like that without even making an attempt to try to include Ginny or the rest of his family in the decision," Molly said censoriously. "Honestly, what is that boy thinking of? I imagine that by now Lily's running around like a boy, and Harry's too busy or too willful to see the problem for what it is."

"Yeah, I don't get why the heck Harry'd ever leave England, especially for Japan. I mean, they don't even use wands there, they're so backward," Ron muttered while looking away. Charlie didn't say anything, while Bill rolled his eyes. The twins, though, clapped their hands together and moved back as one, bowing slightly toward Tonks, asking mutely that she not magically eviscerate their family.

Tonks wasn't about to do that. She liked Ron most of the time. He just had a bit of a problem with foreigners thanks to having had issues with some foreign foods a time or two. For Ron, food always talked more than anything. Besides, he, the rest of the male Weasleys, and Neville had stood by Harry through thick and thin before this family crisis came up (and Neville got married and took up politics, but that was a whole other story). They were good people in her book.

So, for the sake of Ron and the twins as well as Charlie, who she'd once dated before he went dragon mad, Tonks decided on lightly wounding Ginny and Molly with her words rather than eviscerating them magically. "Oh, really? Lily needs a mother figure, huh? And where were you when you were her actual mother, Gin? I seem to remember it was always Harry doing the parenting thing with her."

While Ginny spluttered at that, Tonks turned her eyes on Molly and softened slightly. "Molly, I owe you a lot for helping me with Teddy when he was a bairn. And I know you are worried about Lily, but if you wanted to keep her around, maybe you shouldn't have been so quick do defend your daughter here when the divorce was happening. Sending a howler to Harry about, 'how dare he divorce Ginny,' was the wrong tack to take."

Molly stiffened, but Tonks went on smoothly. "And, as far as the law is concerned, Ginny, you might be her biological mother, but you certainly don't have any rights to Lily now. So you can just bugger off," Tonks said, pushing past the two redheads.

"I don't care what the law says, Nymphadora Tonks. There is no way a man can raise a girl!" Molly shouted.

She was quickly echoed by Ginny, who rallied. "That's right. You better tell Harry to bring my daughter back home or else!"

"Or else what!?" Tonks said, whirling to a stop with her wand suddenly in her hand and her face flashing into the crimson spectrum along with her hair and eyes. That look would have made any sane Death Eater back off, let alone two highly opinionated but unskilled witches. They balked, backing away, and Tonks sniffed, her looks settling down. "That's what I thought."

With that she turned away and moved off down the street with Teddy on the Luggage-lookalike next to her, waving goodbye at his uncles. "Gin, I don't know what's behind this change of heart, but you should know better than anyone what Harry's willing to do for those he loves. Just think about whether or not you want to be on the other side of that equation before starting shit."

"Language!" Molly barked, but she made no effort to stop Tonks leaving, knowing how dangerous she could be.

"Bite me!" Tonks growled. Then, after leaving the redheads behind, she leaned in and whispered, "This is a good point to talk about the old rule that goes, do what I say, not what I do, 'kay?"

Their day had gotten worse after leaving England. MACUSA had reams of paperwork you had to do just to pass through, and, worse, they knew Tonks, hence their current issues. "I don't understand what your problem with me is," Tonks growled, leaning back in her chair and glaring across at the woman. "Every time I hand you a new piece of paper telling you my plans, you come up with still more!"

"The problem, Ms. Tonks, is that you are a Metamorph," said a suave, soothing male voice from one side of the desk. "Barb, I'll take over, thank you."

The woman beat a hasty retreat, and a thin, middle-aged man with wire rim glasses sat down across from Tonks. "Metamorphic magic is outlawed in MACUSA for all but governmental aids. We've never run into a Metamorph just passing through, as you allege to wish to do, but we've dealt with several South American partial and full Metamorphs who attempted to get into our country illegally for their own designs or those of their employers. So we were scrambling to figure out whether to turn you away or to find some way for you to be allowed to use our Portkey system."

He smirked slightly. "And, to be fair, the last time you passed through someplace was in France, and we've heard about the…incident there. So there's also your known temper and combat prowess to consider."

Tonks winced. Fleur was **still** not talking to her or Harry about that one, and the both of them weren't allowed to enter France any longer regardless of their reasons for doing so. "It was just one measly historical house, after all. Some national treasure if it couldn't stand up to a little spellfire."

"Seventeen combatants total, an exchange of Bombardas, Reductos, and even more deadly combat spells including one aborted attempt to use Fiendfyre is not 'small spellfire' by anyone's standards," the man replied, his voice now sharp before sliding back into his more urbane tone as he continued. "There is also your son and his heritage to consider."

"Hey!" Tonks shouted, standing up and slamming her hands on the table. "There is nothing wrong with my son!" That was true, too. Oh, he had a slight bit more magical resistance and endurance than most and a hankering for meat, but Teddy didn't have anything like the strength or the speed and healing ability Harry had passed on to Lily. _Fuck, I should really have gone muggle like they did, damn it._ Relations between nonmagical and magical America were not the best, there being barely any interaction between the two, and, since Harry had flown from London to Tokyo straight away, he hadn't even needed to touch down in America at all.

"Nevertheless, there are laws in place to deal with even half-werewolf children. You will need a permit, young man. But you, Ms. Tonks will either need to agree to have your magic and form bound while you are within our territories or be watched at all times, with a magical tracker placed on your wand. The choice is yours."

"Or I could…" Tonks began, only to stop and count to ten as she felt Teddy's eyes on her. "Fine, we'll do that. I mean the whole letting you follow me and the tracker on my wand."

 _It's not like I need it to use magic anyway._ Tonks consoled herself. _I might not be as good as Harry or Dumbledore was, but I can use a few attack and defense spells without a wand._ She couldn't, quite, dual cast like Harry could, but she could spell chain with the best of them, and her reflexes were better than most could even come close to matching.

"Then if you would just sign these forms, and then we will need your wands to put trackers on them," the man—who had not introduced himself, but who had a small tag that read 'Doe' of all things—said.

When the man brought out a blood quill, Tonks's temper once more rose, but she forced it back with only her flashing red and black hair showing her emotions. "My wand doesn't leave my sight, and I will read everything you give us to sign very carefully and be given a copy." She leaned forward, locking eyes with the American. "And, Mr. 'Doe,' if that's your real name, I will be very, very displeased if anything you give my son to sign remains in your government's possession after I leave Hawaii. So angry, I might be back with intent to cause that trouble you so fear, understand? You think some half-trained South American Metamorphs are trouble? You do not know what kind of trouble I could give you and yours."

The man tried to smile, but when those eyes, flashing through all the colors of the rainbow, locked on you, they could be very disconcerting. And Tonks had a bit of a reputation regardless, right up there with Luna Lovegood, Ron Weasley, and a few of the other hardcore combatants against the Death Eaters and Voldemort, almost up there with the Man-Who-Conquered. "D, duly noted, Ms. Tonks." It would be common practice to keep the file on hand, so that the MACUSA government would know if the individual entered their territories again, but in this case, perhaps it would be best to destroy the contract and the blood sample on it.

It took them another hour to sign the forms with the blood quill and have their wands receiver tracking spells. Tonks did read through each form, but given the fact they were written by lawyers intentionally trying to be obtuse, it took a while. But at last Tonks and Teddy were let go and allowed to take a portkey from the annex station in New York to California. From there they went directly across to Hawaii, which dumped them quite literally on their asses in Honolulu.

Staring out of the hotel that MACUSA used as its central portkey station for the islands, Tonks grinned as she looked on the beach the MACUSA had covered with anti-muggle charms and other spells to keep it hidden. Out there were dozens of people having fun, along with what looked like mermaids and ensorcelled dolphins out in the waters. "Oh yes, Teddy, this is what I'm talking about! Come on, squirt, let's get out there."

Ignoring the looks from a few of the guards around them, she led Teddy out and towards the beaches.

Even as the two of them caroused on the beach, though, Tonks could feel the eyes of their guards on her. There were four of them at first, but only a few minutes after arriving at the beach they were joined by six others. _It's not like they're watching us because we're foreign or anything, but because of what we are. That pisses me off even more!_

Teddy was able to sense this from his mother and suddenly smiled, pointing at a group of kids building a sand castle. "Mum, I'll go and join them; you can go have fun on your own if you want."

"I don't want to let you out of my sight, Teddy, not in a foreign place like this. Still…" Tonks wavered, looking around and seeing all the pretty, pretty people on the beach. "Okay, kiddo. I won't leave the area, but you get to wear this." Pulling out her purse, she reached in and found what looked like an exercise band and put it around her wrist, then she found another, and put it around Teddy's. It was a simple enchantment used around the world that changed the color of the band when the two bands were too far apart, the distance set when you bought the item.

The bands were expensive, but Tonks had bought one years ago at Harry's urging. (Lily had gone through her explorative phase; apparently she had somehow gotten out of the house and down the street and scared Harry senseless once.) Tonks didn't like using it since she had not been able to modify the enchantments to do more than just change colors. The spell on them was proprietary, and no one else had figured out how to duplicate the enchantment.

From there, after a quick trip to the changing room, Tonks came out dressed as someone else. Her hair was now the local black, her skin was tanned, and her breasts were just a bit perkier than they had been. She was also wearing a much skimpier bathing suit and a pair of glasses. With a wicked grin she felt the eyes of their watchers on her once more, but she ignored them and sent Teddy off with a wave. "Have fun, kiddo. I know I'm going to try to."

From there Tonks moved around the beach, flirting outrageously with a few of the sexier looking people around. Girl or boy, it didn't matter to her. She flirted with them all, coming back and changing forms occasionally, even changing into a man once, a form she'd come up with that she called 'the Von Damme model.' She would keep those forms for a time and then start to shift her hair or eyes while flirting to see people's reactions. Only a few times did she find someone who didn't react negatively, and, after that, a bit of hanky-panky would happen before she would back off and change again to have more fun with someone else.

The multiple changes was partly to tweak their watchers and partly to just have fun. Tonks had been a Metamorph all her life; she thought it was natural to change her colors or faces or body as other people changed expression. She loved changing forms and had no problem with lovers wanting a specific look, so long as they didn't push and it wasn't someone she personally knew.

But it backfired on Tonks. After the second change, Tonks spotted more than five more watchers joining the beach goers, men and women ostensibly lazing about but watching her like hawks, their wands nearby at all times. Among them were a few serious heavy hitters, several men and a single woman whose eyes were hard and deadly, men who had killed before. Tonks knew that look; she saw it in the mirror every day.

All this just pissed Tonks off even more. By the time Teddy was ready to go it was pushing evening, and Tonks was back to simmering. She had just been turned down by a rather scrumptious young girl for a bit of fun by the phrase, "I'm sorry, Miss Tonks, I'm on duty," and was once more ready to go for her wand when Teddy came up to her. "Mum, can we go? I'm hungry."

"Yeah, kiddo, let's get out of here. Bloody hell, these wankers wouldn't know a good time if it tried to step on them." Tonks huffed and moved back to the changing room where she changed to her everyday body form.

The two of them left the beach to go and eat, only for Tonks to realize that at least half of her watchers had stuck with them. They followed the twosome, some of them no longer even trying very hard to blend in, and once more Tonks's anger meter was given an extra twist.

After a meal, despite having planned to have spent the rest of the day in Hawaii, Tonks decided to push on quickly. The two of them returned to the portkey center and then had to deal with further issues on her demand for the trackers to be removed and the agreements for their blood samples on them to be destroyed. This took a while, and, again, Tonks could tell it was concern and a desire to try and control her and her abilities that led to it. But finally they were let go and allowed to touch the large hula hoop in the center of the portkey room that would take them the six thousand plus miles to their target destination. As they did, she threw up a hand, giving the MACUSA agents around them the finger. "And if I see any of you arseholes again, it'll be too soon!"

With that the Tonkses disappeared.

Despite finally leaving behind MACUSA paranoia and bureaucratic obstructionism, Tonks was still on a hair trigger and nearly simmering with anger, even though Teddy was holding onto her hand. So she was not in a receptive frame of mind when they arrived in Tokyo, Japan to find the two of them surrounded.

To be sure, there were only seven mages around them, and they didn't have wands, but two were pointing their palms at her, and there were three giant red guys taller than even Hagrid scattered behind their circle, each of them holding a mace of some kind taller than Tonks. This wasn't much, in hindsight, but as frayed as her nerves and self-control was, it was more than enough to set Tonks off.

Before any of them could do or say anything, her wand was in her hand and she struck with her favorite opening spell chain, the one she used when she wanted prisoners and was worried about noncombatants. "Get down, Teddy!" she shouted as the first spell, a wide angle Stupefy slammed out, hurling three men backwards. A Reducto sent towards the floor flung another man into the air, where a quick spell grabbed him and tossed him to smack into one of the red giant things.

"Oh, MUM!" Teddy shouted even as he ducked down, a white yellow shield of magical energy surrounding him from a hasty spell from Tonks.

The two men still on their feet flicked up shields of some kind—thin, moving disks of energy—as they started to chant in Japanese, creating some kind of attack spell. At the same time the giant red men rumbled forward, but Tonks, while not strong enough to overcome a giant's natural magical endurance, had come up with ways to deal with them. "Glue Howitzer!" she shouted, and from her wand came a wave of glue, rushing out towards them.

The wave of glue stuck the downed wizards where they were and then did the same to the giants, solidifying almost instantly into a rubbery, goopy mess that gave, but not nearly enough for them to free themselves. The giants slowed down then nearly came to a stop, unable to move at all through the mass of glue slowly hardening around their frame.

This had, however, allowed the other two locals get off their spells, and a tongue of flame shaped like a dragon and a giant stone golem sprang to being and lumbered forward towards Tonks.

"Reducto, Stupefy!" Tonks shouted, backing away to one side while also sending out a silent Aguamenti towards the fire thing. Steam flashed out instantly, and Tonks closed, ignoring the rubble of the large golem and sending out more spells towards the two, getting around the spinning disks of their defense spells. Those spells reacted even without their direction, attempting to protect their casters, but Tonks was too fast, sending spells at them from too many angles for their shields to block.

A conjured up rope quickly captured them both, but just as suddenly a flash of white came out of the steam. It was a talisman, and it landed on Tonks's off hand, shocking her like she had just stepped on a live wire. Another attack spell came out of nowhere from an area of the room where she hadn't seen anything before. She blocked it with a Protego, but then was struck from above by a vast wave of water. She tried to leap away, but another talisman flashed out into the stream of water, and it froze with her stuck there in a very uncomfortable angle, her body caught mid-dive and her wand hand outstretched to one side, only her head out of the now frozen water.

"MUM!" Teddy shouted as someone used another spell to flush out the steam. While annoyed and stunned by his mother's actions, Teddy would never have anticipated his mother actually losing.

"Hhm," said a ancient sounding voice, and suddenly there were five old men there, all of them looking exactly the same, so even Teddy knew they were illusions. In fact, all of them turned out to be illusions when Teddy felt the shield around him disappear and a firm, yet gentle hand rested on his shoulders. "Young man, would you mind telling me your name and that of your mother?" the man's voice asked in accented English.

Teddy turned to look and saw a small, thin man with a bald head and a long white mustache dressed in a brown outfit of some kind. His eyes were stern, though he was smiling at Teddy, at least. "Um, sir, my name's Teddy, um, Theodore Tonks. That's my mum, um… Don't call Mum her first name, please. It'll just make this situation worse."

"Very well. Ms. Tonks, first I must apologize for the scene you teleported into. You see we had just finished a…sting? Is that the word you use when you lay a trap for someone?" When Tonks slowly nodded from her ice prison, the man went on. "We had just finished one here linked to certain local events which, sadly, have brought me out of retirement. When you appeared, we wondered if more of the accused were coming in from somewhere else. Nor were we warned of your arrival by MACUSA, but that is typical of their arrogance."

The old man grumbled at that and moved on, leaving Teddy behind him as he pressed another talisman against the ice around Tonks, which began to melt. "In any event, while we are at fault for the image we gave you, you were the one who began this little mess, and you will have to pay for that in some way."

"In my defense, it's been a long bloody day," Tonks said with a sigh. "I know some healing spells for those hurt, but I didn't use any direct attack spells on your troops, just the ground under them. But what kind of events were you talking about?"

"We have had recent trouble with some terrorists, both homegrown and those with international connections," the man replied.

Tonks groaned. "That wouldn't happen to have anything to do with a British bloke named Harry Potter, would it?" _COCK! Who am I kidding, of course it does! What is wrong with your luck, Potter?_

"Potter-san did indeed have a hand in bringing our internal problems to light, though he was only involved in one battle against our homegrown trouble. He did provide information which led to more but has not been otherwise directly involved," the old man replied with a smile, which disappeared a second later to leave a cold, dangerous look. "How do you two feel about books?"

"We love 'em!" Tonks and Teddy replied promptly.

"Ahh, I do appreciate those who treat books with respect," the old man replied with a suddenly sunny disposition.

"Um, sir, what is 'san?' You added it to Uncle Harry's name but have not used it with either of us," Teddy asked, relieved as the last vestige of tension left the room. More than half the locals were up by this point thanks to two more men coming through another door and moving around to revive their fellows. They evidently had a lot of respect for the old man, though, since they bowed to him very deeply before doing so, saying nothing.

"Ah, a true seeker of knowledge! Excellent!" the man said with a smile. He then conjured up a table with a series of finger movements and a single muttered word. He pulled out a large book of some kind and, from within, pulled out an entire tea set, much to Teddy's delight, shown by his clapping excitedly. "Thank you, young one. Now, come, sit down, and I will tell you about honorifics in this, the land of Nippon. I believe we can leave your mother to thaw out on her own. Perhaps then she will learn the wisdom of picking her battles better, hmm? Meanwhile, perhaps you can tell me more about your and her reason for being in our country, to get you on your chosen path all the faster."

As she watched her son sit down with the man who had blindsided her so badly, Tonks scowled, looking down at her still slowly thawing prison. _Bugger. If only I had memorized a fire spell well enough to cast one wandlessly._ Then more desperate issues began to make themselves known. "Oy, can someone come over here and give me nose a scratch? It's itchin' now something fierce!"

 **OOOOOOO**

The day after his first night with Rias, Harry woke up at his usual time, feeling better and more at peace internally than he had in months, even longer than he'd been teaching. _Damn, I was really backed up, wasn't I?_

Stretching where he lay, Harry felt a tender smile grow on his face as he felt Rias against him, murmuring under her breath and nuzzling into his side. Looking down, he found that both of them were, of course, still naked, the sight causing his little staff to stand at full mast again. _Down, boy,_ he thought, patting it with one hand as he started to extract his other arm from below Rias. _I doubt she'd appreciate that particular kind of wake-up call at the moment. Not that the idea isn't tempting._

Slowly, Harry extricated himself from Rias and rolled to the edge of the bed, turning slightly to watch as Rias moaned and twisted, grabbing at all of the blankets and using them like a makeshift body pillow. Watching her twist and shift, those magnificent breasts and those bright red nipples of hers winking at him nearly caused Harry to forget his earlier thoughts about not waking her up for some more love-making. But he kept control of himself with difficulty, instead gently running his fingers down Rias's hair, watching as she smiled before she stopped moving, continuing to sleep. _Huh, she's not snoring this time. So it's only when she sleeps on her back? Nice._

At that point Harry's bladder made itself known, and he walked quietly away to deal with that issue. Using thoughts about seeing elderly people he had known naked allowed him to soften enough to deal with that, and Harry decided to both check in with Yasaka and order breakfast while in the bathroom, so as to not wake Rias. This consisted of sausages, hotcakes, and several glasses of orange juice, which, he had learned, was Rias's favorite morning drink.

Coming out of the bathroom Harry conjured up a chair to sit in by the door so he could hear someone coming and open the door, once more to avoid waking Rias. It wasn't the first time he'd done this, after all, since he and Ginny had gone through a time where they had met in various hotels, and, more importantly, Rias needed her sleep after last night. She had literally collapsed in an effort to keep up with him, such was his own endurance.

 _It will also serve as an apology for almost ruining the mood at the first. I was just so surprised at Rias giving me a blowjob that I replied with the whole truth behind that surprise rather than just a bit, as would have been proper. But, then again, she mentioned that scumbag Riser, so I suppose even without this we'd be even. Or would, if not for the bloody fantastic tit-job she then gave me after my initial mistake._ Harry shuddered as he remembered the feel of that act and shook his head rapidly to clear his head lest his little staff wake up again. _Damn me, but that is now my second favorite bedroom act._

To stave off such thoughts, Harry pulled out a few notes he'd made since the defense ritual had gone up, just general impressions, thoughts, and ideas they had all had about how it had worked, what it had felt like, and other such things. They weren't organized in any way yet, but all of them had contributed their notes to the pile, and Harry started to organize them now.

About forty minutes later, Harry heard the squeaking of wheels as someone was pushing a cart down the hall outside. He waited until it passed the doors nearest, not knowing if Sona and her peerage had come back last nightand had also ordered food, but, when the squeaks stopped, Harry slowly opened the door, having already hit it with a Muffliato.

The woman on the other side twitched back, having just raised a hand to knock, then began to blush a bit. Harry was, after all, only dressed in a bathrobe he had taken from the bathroom, and it showed a good portion of his well-muscled chest. And then, of course, there were the eyes. But Harry ignored that and took the cart from her. The woman didn't notice that the wheels had stopped making noises as he did and, later, would never recall this again, her memory of this moment dominated by the memory of the handsome man in room 9A and the heavy tip he gave her before closing the door with a wink.

With that done, Harry put a stasis spell on the food and set it to one side, sitting down in a chair by the bed. He spent a moment smiling gently at the still sleeping Rias before going back to his notes. He didn't realize, though, that the stasis spell wouldn't do anything to stop the smell of the food, and his stomach soon began to growl at him.

About ten minutes later Rias woke up, stretching her naked body against the covers. That was something that was usual for her to feel in the morning. But what was not so usual was how **deliciously** sore she was in ways she had never been sore before. That pain reminded her of what they, she and Harry, had done last night: the sensation of being filled, of feeling another body moving against her. But for Rias there was more to it than that. There was the power of seeing how much pleasure she could give someone she loved. There was the ecstasy of letting go. And, above all, rising within her was a single happy thought. _Harry and I are together now, and nothing will change that._

That thought was enough to put a smile on her face which only widened as she smelled food nearby. Despite that, though, at first Rias was barely able to open her eyes, her body was still so exhausted. It took several moments and an effort of will to turn around so she was lying on her back, from which she was able to flop her head to the side to look at where Harry was sitting by several plates of food, over which Rias could barely detect a bit of magic from something. "That smells good."

Harry looked up from his notes, and Rias felt her heart skip a beat as she saw the unvarnished love in those eyes. She stared back, a soft smile on her lips as she tried to impart the same amount of emotion. It must have worked, because Harry's smile widened, and he moved over to sit on the side of the bed, giving her a chaste kiss before pulling away, gently playing with her ahoge, which somehow was once more sticking out from the rest of her matted hair. "How are you feeling, Rias?"

Rias chuckled. "Sore, exhausted, still a little sticky…" Her smile turned into something both sinful and loving somehow. "I feel like a woman, like **your** woman."

"GRrrm," Harry growled, his eyes blazing for a moment with desire, part of him liking that quite a lot. He closed his eyes and looked away, though, even going so far as to reach down and pull the covers up over Rias's body. "That you are, my love."

I love you too, Harry," Rias replied, though she was amused to note that Harry had stopped pulling up the covers when they reached the bottom of her breasts. _I'd probably try to do something to tease him about that, but I am just too damn tired._ Indeed, she tried to raise a hand to gesture towards the food only for her arm to flop back.

She then pouted up at Harry. "You wore me our so much, Potter, I can't even move my arms!" She then opened her mouth and said, "Ahhh…"

Harry laughed quietly but obeyed, leaning over and putting together a plate from all the things he'd ordered, from which he first fed her a bite of hotcakes and then a bit of sausage. "You can be so adult most of the time, but then sometimes you can act equally childish."

Pouting, Rias replied between bites, "I just know when to have fun, is all, and we certainly did last night." Harry paused then nodded at that, eating a few bites himself as Rias chewed before going on. "Although, is it odd that I wonder about what Lily and the others are doing?"

At that Harry smile turned even more tender. If there was one thing about Rias—beyond her body and general outlook on life—Harry had most enjoyed seeing since they began to interact, it was how she treated Lily. That had evolved over time from older friend, to older role model, to, now, something very close to being a real mother figure to his daughter, and Harry could only love her more for it. "I called them already; don't worry. According to Yasaka's majordomo who answered her phone, they're still sleeping."

"That's nice." For a time the two of them were quiet, focusing entirely on taking in needed food. Then Rias giggled softly, raising a weak hand to take Harry's as he moved to feed her another bite. As Harry looked at her, Rias said, "You know, there is an ancient part of the wedding ceremony amongst us devils where we feed one another, based on the human ceremony called hand-fasting, I think. We acknowledge that we are vulnerable while we eat, just like humans are, and partaking of a meal is a way to solidify the trust between the two being wed, to both be vulnerable to the other at the same time."

"Ah, like the ancient human concept of breaking bread with someone. It's a sign they have your trust, and vice versa."

"Exactly. Trust is very important in a relationship, after all." Rias chuckled darkly. "Heh, though it's an addition to the ceremony I wouldn't have been able to do with that aho, Riser."

Harry looked at her, amusement writ plain on his face. Rias did not ask for a time and, feeling more energetic, took over feeding Harry from the plate he had made up from the breakfast plates. It was only after Harry had fed her some orange juice from a cup that Rias broke down and finally asked what was so funny.

"Actually, hand fasting has nothing to do with fasting of any kind. Rather it has to do with tying your hands together as you exchange vows. Most of the time they are personal ones you make up together, other times it is simply an extension of the normal ones between wedded couples. Sometimes it is one or other of the couple vowing to do a specific thing, other times it's both of them together."

Rias blinked at that, absentmindedly opening her mouth and letting Harry feed her another bite of hotcakes as she thought about that, then she looked down shyly, poking her fingers together almost like Asia was wont to do. "That, that actually sounds romantic. Would, that is, did you…?"

"No, Ginny and I didn't hand-fast. Neither of us wanted to do that, and we weren't really interested in making the wedding even more convoluted. To be honest, the whole wedding experience was just drowning us both. So many bloody things to manage, uggh," Harry replied, then asked with a faint smile, "Do you want to try it?"

Rias nodded, and Harry set aside the plate of food. Rias held out a hand, palm up, and Harry put his own hand on her forearm, with Rias clasping his. They both held their free hands over the clasped ones and conjured a long rope into being. Harry's was of a deep black, Rias's a blood red crimson. "Huh, the color of our hair?" Harry mused.

"I suppose it was the image we both thought of," Rias replied, then looked up at Harry's face. He was still sitting on the bed next to her upper body, leaning back against the headboard.

Harry looked down at her and their eyes locked for a brief moment then began to speak as one. "I, Harry Potter/Rias Gremory, do swear to love and cherish Rias Gremory/Harry Potter until the day we both shall die."

They smiled at one another for a few silent moments after that, then Rias conjured up a second string, the same color as her first before speaking, staring earnestly into Harry's eyes. "I swear to be the mother or big sister or anything else that Lily needs, to be her female role model, her confidant, to love Lily as if she was my own, regardless of labels."

Harry's eyes glistened at that, and he leaned in quickly, kissing her for a moment before pulling back. He then conjured a second string of his own, looking once more into Rias's eyes. "I swear to be your bulwark, to be strong when you need me to be, be loving when you need me."

"I swear to listen, to be strong for when we both need it, to be your bulwark in turn," Rias replied. A third string of red appeared around their joined forearms and hands.

This was followed by another black string. "I swear to listen to you too, to let you fight your own battles but to always be there when you need me. To honor your independence, yet always provide a helping hand."

This was something they had talked about numerous times in the past few months. Rias refused to be a damsel in distress. She had learned too much, come too far, to let someone else fight all her battles for her. They had come to an agreement on how to handle Riser for now and how they would continue to handle the defense of Kuoh and everyone within it. Rias would handle Riser if he could be goaded into a duel, a real fight, or a Rating Game. If he then tried to get around or simply tried to attack her afterward, Riser would be Harry's to deal with, and Rias would deal with the fallout. As for the defense of Kuoh from other supernatural threats, they would face those together, which was perhaps why their next oath was spoken in tandem. Two new ropes appeared, merging into one before tying itself around their joined hands.

"I promise to help not just you, but anyone and everyone else who is in our extended family now or will join it in the future," they said as one, then laughed as Harry leaned down to press his forehead against Rias's.

"I swear to be a loving, caring, and, above all, as good a father as I can be to any children we create between us in the future," he said softly, another black thread tying their hands tighter together.

"I swear to be a loving, caring, and, above all, as good a mother as I can be to any children we create in the future, to never favor one over the others treating all equally including Lily," Rias replied, feeling her heart suddenly beating faster and faster as Harry stared down at her. Then she looked down at their joined hands and the number of ropes tying them together. "So, how do we, um, finish this ceremony?"

"So we do swear, so mote it be," Harry replied with a smile, followed instantly by Rias. This might be why she missed Harry's smile turning positively salacious, his free hand waving behind him for a moment, sending a spell back to the plates on the cart.

He then leaned down, kissing Rias before grabbing the saucer of syrup out of the air and, after heating it up slightly, twisted it to one side and then proceeded to pour the syrup, strawberry syrup at this point, onto Rias's breasts.

"Gaaah! Harry!" Rias shrieked. But she was unable to even twist out of the way thanks to their joined hands and the fact that Harry instantly was leaning down, licking away at the sweet treat.

"Now for the consummation!" Harry declaimed in an overly dramatic voice, before leaning down and taking a syrup-soaked nipple in his mouth, nibbling, licking and suckling at it, causing Rias to moan and gasp. The slurping noises he made as he licked up the syrup were truly obscene.

"Harry! I'm exhausted, you, you brute!" she gasped, her traitorous body already reacting, much to her chagrin.

"Don't worry, Rias, I'm fine with doing all the work this time," Harry murmured as he looked up at her, his cheeks and lips glistening with syrup.

That piqued Rias's pride. Exhausted or not, she was **not** just going to lay there and let Harry have his way with her if she could be doing the same thing to him. Growling, she tugged on where their hands still tied together, pulling Harry up into a very syrupy kiss, and then twisted until she was on top of him, rubbing her already moistening cleft against his rod, which was already at full attention. "That Blue Balls spell," she rasped, moving her sore hips against their will. "It lasts for how long?"

"Forty-eight hours," Harry replied, his own voice husky with desire, his hips flexing upwards.

"Good," Rias replied, thrusting her still syrup-covered chest into Harry's face.

Neither noticed that, as their lovemaking continued, the bands they had created around their hands disappeared, one after another, the magic that had conjured them into being absorbed once more into their skins. They shouldn't have: after all, the ropes had been, physically, conjured up constructs. But magic was a very odd, very strange, yet often times wonderful thing and there were always going to be things people didn't understand about it.

 **OOOOOOO**

The Gremory and Phenex mansions had little in common beyond their size. The Gremory mansion was nearly completely made up of different rooms for family members, servants, and peerage members, each and every one of them treasured and respected with a room they could tailor to their personal tastes. The Phenex had rooms for peerage members and servants, of course, but they were markedly secondhand, smaller, and far less well appointed. There were also far larger rooms for the family members and a grandiose solar and offices. The Gremorys, in contrast, had a separate wing devoted to a garden and a series of small offices for Zeoticus, Venelana, Grayfia, and Sirzechs.

But one thing they had in common was that within each mansion was a hidden room, a place where contracts were kept. These documents detailed the contracts the family made, the ones each family member made or were made for them by political moves, contracts with humans, and, of course, contracts with other Devil clans.

Each of them looked different. The ones with humans were plain paper contracts, rolled up and stuffed into small niches along the walls. Others were more detailed and ritzy, including the ones with other devils.

And within each of these rooms a small pedestal stood in a corner with a glass box on top of it. The writing on the identical contracts within these was gold and red, the cursive script on them large, denoting that there weren't many details to the contract, but yet the writing and script was very formal. This was very obviously an important pact for the two families.

This is why it was probably a good thing that neither family had thought to put any kind of spell on the vaults to alert them to sudden changes within while the doors were closed. It was no doubt even better that no one was there to see as these contracts shriveled and burned away slowly over the course of twenty-four hours. This had started the evening before when Harry and Rias began their lovemaking and accelerating quickly that morning. So quickly was their burning now that, within moments, the papers' destruction was complete, leaving nothing but ash.

 **OOOOOOO**

After two more lovemaking sessions—one on the bed and the other in the shower, where Harry had, indeed, had to do all the work—Harry was able to quickly dress and ready to go, almost glowing with energy and vitality. He was also anxious to get going and eager to see Lily and the others, since it was pushing midday by this point.

In contrast, Rias now was barely able to stand up, let alone pull on some jeans and a blouse. "I can barely feel my legs, Harry Potter," she said matter-of-factly as she struggled to pull on her jeans from where she was sitting down on the edge of the bed. "You are a horrible, horrible beast who should be kept away from women the world over for their own good."

Harry leered at her in an over-the-top manner. "That's not what you were saying an hour ago, my dear."

"I'm weak; your blandishments overcame my pure, innocent self," Rias replied. The two of them looked at one another at that, with Rias holding her pious expression for a moment before giggling and breaking down entirely.

Nonetheless, she could really barely walk, and when she did there was both a noticeable wobble in her gait and her legs looked rather bowlegged. Still, Harry had a solution for that, and, moments later, the two of them were in the air, flying towards the public forest that linked into the more massive one the Youkai Association hid and maintained. They had to set down soon enough, running into the obfuscation and confusing wards, but were then quickly allowed to resume their flight toward Yasaka's mansion by one of the locals, who gave them directions as Yasaka, feeling their presence coming, read them into the wards once more.

Yasaka, the two kids, and the rest of her guests, minus Loup, Issei, Saji, and the two youngest of Sona's peerage, met the two lovers in the mansion's entranceway. Almost as soon as the two lovers entered, the two kids ran forward with Lily in the lead. "Daddy, you have to come and see this place; it's sooo awesome! Kunou showed me this place, it's a natural waterfall slide park thing; it's really cool! Where've you been this morning? You've missed all the fun!"

Lily barreled into her father's leg, but Kunou paused, letting the two have a moment. But she was surprised when Harry reached over Lily's head and lifted her into his arms, holding Kunou against his chest with one arm as he laughed before reaching down to ruffle his daughters hair. "Slow down, lovey. You're speaking too fast." He then winked at Kunou. "Maybe you can explain better, hmm?"

"Un!" Kunou said with a nod as Lily's face puffed out into a pout. She had thought she was being perfectly understandable, thank you! "Deep in the forest there's a large river that has lots of these dips and swirls in it and waterfalls too. It's so fast it acts like a waterslide, and it's really fun. I showed it to Lily last night when Momma took us out to the naiads lighting ceremony. This morning we've been having fun in the house, playing around like hide and seek, tag, and other things, since Lily-chan wanted to wait for you before going back."

Harry flashed Kunou a smile that caused her to smile back, leaning against his cheek with her own and letting out a chittering sigh. In Kunou's opinion the only thing that could make cuddles like this better was if her mother got involved.

For her part Yasaka was laughing with the others as they moved forward, but even as she did, she looked over at Akeno. Akeno was also looking back at her, a speculative gleam in Akeno's eyes rather than the jealousy Yasaka had been afraid to see there.

Akeno had had the time of her life last night, joining with several dozen other boys and men of various youkai races in singing, dancing, and drinking until she collapsed with Momo, Issei, Kiba, and a few of the others in a guest room here in the mansion. She woke up to learn that Harry and Rias had gone out on a date the night before and found herself feeling more curious than anything else. After all, she knew she had sent twenty boys home with blue balls, fried a Sagari Youkai (Horse Youkai) when he became too bold while dancing, and had teased Issei so much the poor boy both needed a blood transfusion and woke up from a nightmare later that night. There was still a large, libido-driven part of her that wondered about what had occurred between the two lovers, but she didn't feel jealous or bitter about her best friend and Harry taking their relationship to the next level.

Momo, Sona, and Tsubaki also glanced at Yasaka, and she smirked and winked at them, indicating that, yes, what had occurred with Harry and Rias had indeed happened. _My, he must be quite…ahem, endowed to put that kind of gait into a girl as tall and well-built as Rias._ Since Yasaka was barely five feet, this was not a ribald observation, rather a simple statement of fact. She leaned toward Akeno and said softly, "So, I think we all know what we need to do now, yes?"

Much giggling began, causing Harry and Kiba to shiver. The only two men there, they shared a quick nod, understanding that something was going to happen in a moment that they would not like. At the same time, Akeno and Sona moved up towards Harry and the very tired looking Rias, who was smiling down at Lily while rubbing at Kunou's long fox ears.

"UFUFUFU," Akeno began, putting an arm around Rias. "I think you have had an…interesting night of it, yes, Rias-chan? Is there anything you want to, shall we say, share with the rest of us?"

Rias flushed at that but nodded too. "Um, so long as you have a nice sofa or bed for me to lay out on, I will be willing to tell you as much as you want to know."

At that Lily scowled, smacking her Daddy's leg. "Daddy, what did you do to Rias?! Did you two dance the entire night away? You know other people don't have your endurance!"

Twitching and rather thankful that his daughter wasn't quite knowledgeable enough to understand what Akeno and Rias had implied, he ruffled her hair, deciding to get a dig in at Rias and the others. He smiled at them lazily, his eyes tracing down Rias's body and then over to the others with a smirk. "That might be true, Lily, but is it really my fault when she kept on asking for more?"

Scrunching her face at the way Harry had phrased that, Lily looked up at the blushing yet still smiling Rias and then around at the other now blushing girls. "What's wrong with you all?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, Lily-han," Yasaka said, going down on her knees next to the girl and rubbing her cheek against Lily's. "Just some big girl stuff."

"That and some rather irritating double standards. After all, a man who talks about such things would be labeled a cad and loudly derided by girls, if not by other men, if he shared certain details of an evening with a lady. It is expected, if a man is a gentlemen, he tells no tales," Harry said, still teasing.

Yasaka stood up, one hand on Lily's head as she pressed herself against Harry, throwing her free arm around both Harry and her own daughter, making Kunou's day and making the previously nice cuddle great. And, as she did so, she fired back. "Ah, but there is a difference between being a crass braggart as most men are and simply being…informative as women are, Harry-han."

Something about the way she said that, or perhaps the way her chest pressed against his, caused Harry to flush slightly. Despite the fact she was dressed rather modestly in a full body covering priestess outfit, much like the one she had worn last night, only much less fine, the size of that chest came through.

"Ahem, yes, well, I wanted to spend the rest of the day with the kids anyway, so let's go swimming!" Harry said hurriedly, getting cheers from Asia, who hadn't followed much of what had just been going on, and from Lily and Kunou. Koneko too raised her hand in the air at this but didn't cheer, that not being her style.

Yasaka smirked and retreated, point made, exchanging a high five with Kalawarner, who had also, for some reason, pulled out a notebook and a pen. The two of them had bonded last night over food and had spent the night talking about many things, with Harry, Rias, and their relationship with both of them being a hot topic. "So who wants to go swimming with Harry?"

Koneko and most Sona's peerage stood forward along with Kiba, the other young man taking a position next to Harry almost as if he was using him as a shield. Harry looked at Koneko and could tell from the way she stared back that she had something she wanted to talk to him about but wanted to wait, and he smiled at her, nodding back.

"We should pick up the others before heading out," Kunou said, wiggling until Harry set her down. "Come on; I'll show you where they are, and then we can go!"

With Kunou in the lead, Harry and the others walked off, and the remaining girls, Mittelt, Kalawarner, Sona, Tsubaki, Momo, Akeno, and Yasaka, turned to Rias like so many gun batteries, their eyes lit up eagerly with the one thing nearly every woman loved: gossip and juicy stories. For a moment Rias balked, her eyes widening, then her body's exhaustion hit her, and she shook her head. "A sofa, I demand a sofa. Questions can wait until then."

Later, as she lay out on the desired sofa and had some more food brought to her, Rias told them all what she and Harry had done. There was quite a bit of blushing going on despite the fact she wasn't explicit from the virgins among her listeners, and more than one introspective look in the eyes of the others.

"So, it not so much that he's large or anything, though he is, but he has such endurance, he just keeps going! I mean, it was nice, very nice, just also very humbling." Rias finished this by looking at Kalawarner, Yasaka, and Akeno in turn, wondering how they were taking this.

It might have sounded like she was bragging, and she sort of was: Harry was her man now, and they were together. But she was also thinking about the girls who had shown interest, even love, towards Harry and was once more making it plain she would not object to their suit. In fact, that she would welcome it, if only to give her own hips some rest.

To her surprise, Akeno, the one she was most concerned about, looked both amused, turned on, and only slightly jealous. She was very jealous of the experience Rias had just had and could only hope her first time was as good as Rias had implied this one was. But Akeno was most emphatically not jealous of the role Rias had willingly chosen to fulfill, that of mother to Lily and somewhat to Asia and Kunou. _Give me the teasing big sister position any day._ There was a big difference, after all, between being an older role model or even a big sister to being a mother, a true primary provider of not only affection, but knowledge, learning, education in the world, and authority. Akeno was in no way able to do that; she much preferred to be on the outside looking in.

That didn't stop her from teasing her friend or being jealous, as was already said, of the physical side of things. "Ara, I'm afraid not. What issues there were between us are still there, although perhaps I could convince him to just a one night stand, or perhaps I could step in occasionally, just to let him work off some of that endurance. Just for you, Rias."

Rias laughed and, reaching over, clasped her friend's hand while Yasaka barked laughter, and the other girls giggled or chuckled as was their personality, only Sona not joining in, staring and thinking hard about what a normal werewolf's endurance would be like. Akeno then sat on the floor, still smiling as she looked at her friend.

 _Hehehe, there is some attraction still there. Akeno-han might be back eventually when she starts to want to settle down,_ Yasaka thought. But her main attention was on something else entirely: not the physical side of things, but the magical.

Yasaka was a sage. This was an easy word to misunderstand, especially when she used it. It didn't just speak of her power or her connection to the Dragon's Nest, the snarled mass of ley lines under Kyoto. No, it spoke of her ability to discern things in the world around her, to use Senjutsu to a limited degree to feel out the emotions and well-being of those around her. This, beyond making Yasaka one of the most powerful beings on the planet not armed with a Longinus or a god level strength, gave Yasaka the ability to also discern magic in others.

And, looking at Rias and having touched them both, it was obvious to Yasaka that there had been some kind of exchange of magic between Rias and Harry and not just bodily fluids. And it was something she'd not seen before. _Perhaps something tied into Harry's assumed semi-divine status?_ Whatever it was, Rias's magic and Harry's both looked somehow more potent, like a thick mist instead of a miasma around them, to her Kitsune no Kyuubi senses.

So focused was Yasaka on that that she wasn't the next one to speak up of those whose reactions Rias was most interested in. And, once more, the lack of reaction made Rias breath a small sigh of relief. "My, but that sounds like it would have made a very good scene in one of my books: first the song and dance, then the rest of the night. Yes, I think I can safely say many a woman would buy a book just for a single scene like that to while away their long nights."

"You, you're not jealous?" Rias asked slowly, while Akeno watched the Fallen Angel like a hawk, waiting for an excuse to strike. While she had dealt with a lot of her hatred toward Fallen Angels, the fact that Kalawarner had not yet agreed to join Rias's peerage or even Sona's rankled, as did the other Fallen's closeness to Harry and his family, if to a lesser extent.

"I am jealous," Kalawarner replied honestly, then laughed at their expressions. "Come on, I know I love Harry at this point; I'm not just in lust with him. It would be ridiculous to think I would not be jealous that he gave you such a night of pleasure given all the times he turned me down when I offered the same. But at the same time, I'm happy—no, that's too small a word—I'm overjoyed with the way my life is like right now, and it wouldn't be that way if Harry hadn't turned me down as he had. So jealousy on my part would serve no one, least of all myself."

"You'll need to explain that a little," Rias confessed, still looking an odd mix between thankful, confused, and somewhat suspicious.

Kalawarner sighed, looking down at her body and then around at the others. All of them were good looking, even gorgeous in their own way, but none of them were so darkly sinful, so lust-inducing, as Kalawarner herself. To one side Mittelt nodded at her, understanding what Kalawarner was thinking without being told, since, as a Fallen, she too felt it, the power of their Original Sin.

"It has to do with the way we Fallen fell in the first place, we originals, at any rate," she said, looking over at Akeno apologetically. "You know Mittelt fell for envy for those of us who grew up, and I fell for the sin of lust, just as much as our former leader Azazel. What you might not know is that those sins shape us: some physically, a lot mentally."

"Wait a minute. We're all devils, and you're going to say these sins you fell for affect you worse than us?" Rias asked. "Every devil has to deal with darker thoughts, self-destructive desires, and far more of those thoughts tinged with Sin than any human. It's controlling them that has allowed us to rise up beyond our origins."

"But those origins were themselves steeped in sin, in evil. You were brought into being to be the antithesis of the legions of Heaven. We Angels were supposed to be above sin, to be entirely devoted to our Holy Father and His goals. So when we fall, that Sin consumes us almost entirely. If you're not strong enough to overcome it, the Sin controls your life, your emotions. Everything becomes but a means to feed that Sin; your life and thoughts resolve around that sin entirely."

"And by denying you that sin, yet also whetting your appetite, Harry helped you recover somewhat from your downward spiral," Sona said in the tone of someone having a revelation. "If he had given in to your advances, your lust would have been fed, and his impact on you decreased or even ameliorated entirely."

"Exactly. Then, on top of that, was the revelation that I had come to care for him more than just physical attraction, and then there was Asia and her, her…" Kalawarner faltered.

"Inherent goodness?" Momo supplied as Akeno said, "Asia-ness?" in jest, causing everyone to laugh. Even Mittelt, foul mouthed and antagonistic at the best of times, had little negative to say to Asia, while Yasaka had instantly decided she liked the young nun, as most of them had upon meeting her.

"Yes, that. And my own…call it a renewed faith. Not in our Most Holy Father and His laws, but in, perhaps, what He meant when He told us about human potential," Kalawarner replied. Then she licked her lips and smirked, her mouth twisting in such a way that every woman there, even Sona, who was about as straight as a ruler, flushed and looked away. "I wouldn't mind getting that itch scratched…"

She waited a beat, then her face shifted back to normal and she winked at Rias, who suddenly remembered that she had to breathe after a moment of not having done so. "But I won't jeopardize everything else I have now to do it."

"She's right," Mittelt grumped. "I was envious of those with better bodies or who were able to grow. I **hated** the fact I couldn't grow. I still do, but, thanks to Rias's help, I can at least look past my own body's deficiencies and maybe even see some of the baggage it brings as a benefit. But it still fucking pisses me off."

For a moment they were quiet, all of them contemplating what the two Fallen had said, and even Akeno, while not feeling sorry for them, at least understood them better. Then, in an effort to break the serious feeling the conversation had suddenly grown and to get them back to the generally upbeat and humorous, if not outright erotic, discussion of a few moments before, Yasaka spoke up.

"Well, while Kalawarner and Akeno both have reasons to not take you up on your offer, **I** mean to jump into your bed, erm, that is, yours and Harry's, as soon as I can contrive," Yasaka corrected herself, a vulpine grin widening her face as she watched Rias blush. _So she's been thinking about our conversation last night. Good!_

Yasaka too felt no jealousy towards Rias and Harry's relationship. Yasaka had had several lovers over her life, but she had **loved** only one man. She wasn't even certain she was capable of loving another man as she had her husband, her Daisuke and she simply couldn't devote the time to see if she and Harry could indeed have that kind of connection. Their relationship might build up to that point, and she hoped it did, but Yasaka was more than willing to play second fiddle to Rias so long as she got her strings plucked occasionally, and Harry continued to act, and, indeed, to love, Kunou as a daughter.

"To that end, do you have any tips to share on how to snare our wolfy man? I know smell works and showing them a little tail too, but anything specific to Harry?" Yasaka asked.

"Skintight clothing," all three of the others who had in the past or were currently still involved with Harry said as one before looking at one another and bursting into giggles as the other girls laughed. Kalawarner, after getting herself under control, was the first to respond, pulling at her habitual trenchcoat ruefully. "Heh, um, I always was able to push Harry just a bit further on nights when I wore skintight tops or skirts rather than flowing, loose ones."

Akeno blushed, putting a hand to her chin as Rias blushed and looked away. "Mah, I couldn't possibly explain how Rias and I have discovered this fact. It's far too adult for all the ears here."

"Talk, or else I'll make certain the next time the Perverted Duo get out of hand they will discover your fetish, and I'll make certain they demand they be taken on as your slaves," Sona replied tartly. While not interested in Harry, this whole conversation had fed a certain girly part of her that liked such things, and she didn't want it to end just yet.

"Heh, it's because I made this outfit for Rias. She asked for a cosplay outfit but didn't mention a specific one, so I found the most embarrassing I could find that could still, technically, be worn in public: the skinsuit from Evangelion." Mittelt said.

Yasaka shook her head, a faint sneer on her face as her mind went down a tangent. "Bah, I'll admit those outfits are sexy, but I prefer my mecha shows without so much angst, and don't get me started on the plot. Ugh. Give me the original Gundam, Turn A, Ultraman, Mazinger Z, or Voltron before it became crap. And none of that thinly veiled 'Woe is me, war is all bad, but I must keep fighting even though I switch sides every other week' yaoi crud that is Gundam Wing."

Rias suddenly leaned forward, grabbing Yasaka's hands in her own while snaring Mittelt's with her other hand. "Comrades!"

 **OOOOOOO**

As this discussions wound its way around and through the original point of Rias staying behind with the girls, Harry was having fun with the kids. The area Kunou was so proud of—it turned out it had been made by her grandfather centuries ago—was a truly amazing spot, the kind that would have brought in tourists in by the thousands. It was made all the more amazing though by the lack of said crowds.

The river through the forest had split at some point, and one tributary led down into a series of waterfalls, each of them connected to the other by a small pool and several smaller tributaries, which led off before rejoining the main branch. Those were fast and pulled the swimmer along like he was in a water slide, and you could even go over the edge of the waterfalls, which was a lot of fun. Portions of the river were very deep too, and in the forest around the river there were a series of rope swings, both towards the river and away. It was like a mix between a waterpark and a huge jungle gym, almost.

Kunou and Lily raced around all over the place with Harry following after, meeting the groups of local youkai who took care of the pools and surroundings. These were Kappa and Swanhilde, women able to transform into swans or create wings like those of a swan. The Swanhilde were, of course, all women, and many of them attempted to catch Harry's eyes only to fail.

They were all blonde and gave Harry distinct Veela vibes, which was not altogether pleasant. He and Fleur might have gotten along at one point, but their relationship had been as distant acquaintances, at best, for a while, thanks to certain events in France and during the war before that.

Watching the girls leaping into the water, with Okuri-inu and Raiter following, Harry smirked up at the perch Titan was on. "What, not going to join them?"

The Gryphon squawked at him and then regally flew over to where Koneko was sitting in a shallow pool nearby with some of the others. There it got in slowly, moving over to the calm cat-girl while his master continued her more violent fun elsewhere in the water.

Chuckling, Harry joined them, ruffling the young Nekoshu's hair affectionately. "Don't like swimming, hmm? Pity, since that's a very pretty swimsuit you're wearing. Did you help Asia pick one out too?"

Koneko wore a nice pink two piece bathing suit which covered everything that Harry felt had to be while giving her a bit more of a mature look than a one piece of similar simplicity would have. Asia wore something similar, but in white and somewhat larger in that it covered more skin.

"Arigato," Koneko muttered, her eyes closed in bliss as she leaned into his hand, purring contentedly as Harry's fingers found all the right spots. Then she answered his question. "Don't like swimming. Swings, rope walks fun, but not the swimming."

Harry chuckled at that and then asked softly, "So, do you want to talk about what's bothering you?"

Gulping, Koneko looked around for a moment and then nodded, shifting so she was sitting next to Harry on the small underwater step, not looking directly at him. "Senjutsu, you have heard about it?"

"I've read about it in bits and pieces, and I know about some of it in relation to your sister and her actions, from what you've told me" Harry replied calmly, putting a comforting arm around Koneko.

Koneko nuzzled into his shoulder, taking comfort in that like she always had in the hugs her King would give her so often, or even the ones Akeno occasionally handed out when they were younger. "Mm. Said Nekoshou can use it, thought it made my sister mad, though. Didn't. Or…didn't right away. Confusing. Some of the nekomata here, they say her training screwed up. Others, she too strong, take in too much of the aura of the world too quickly, unable to fight the negative emotions."

She looked up at Harry, her face marked by slight signs of fear and confusion despite her normal stoic expression. "All agree, use of Senjutsu, it in my blood. Offer to train me. Train me along with others. None can use, but know enough to teach." Those others included Yasaka, of all people. Although her use of Senjutsu wasn't quite the same as it would be for a Nekoshou, she knew enough to spot if Koneko was making mistakes.

"And you're afraid," Harry stated. "Afraid that you will fall into the same trap she did and go mad, even if Senjutsu itself isn't bad, as you had feared.

When Koneko nodded against his shoulder, Harry pulled away slightly to turn to her, taking her chin in his hand and lifting her face to look at her. "Koneko, I think this has to be your choice. Do the skills and abilities this Senjutsu gives you appeal? If not, don't bother, but if so, go for it. I'm certain you will do well. Do you want to know why?"

Koneko nodded her head.

"Because I have faith in you. I also know something I've told you before, my little white kitten. Your sister's actions do not define you; your sister's weaknesses do not divine your strengths. Only you can do that, Koneko. Just know that whatever you do, know I'll support you."

The nekomata suddenly pulled away, snickering. "Rias-sama, she's said the same thing, many, many times."

"But it's only getting into your head now?" Harry teased.

Koneko hissed at him a bit, but then leaned in, hugging him tightly. "Thank you." With that she leaped out of the water and raced over to the nearest tree, climbing up it and away, embarrassment flaring from her body language like a beacon.

Harry watched her go until a shout from nearby grabbed his attention. "Otou-san!" Harry turned and watched as Asia walked through the forest towards him with Ruruko beside her.

The two girls got into the pool, and Harry asked, "Where's Issei and Kiba? And what have you two been up to?"

Ruruko pointed downstream. "Hehehe. Kiba is down that-a-ways, apparently trying to recreate some scene from a movie with one of the local Monkey Youkai. As for Issei…"

Blushing slightly, Asia reached up and rubbed at Raiter's scales. "Um, Raiter forgot my rules about not zapping boys who come near me again, and, um, he's resting now."

Then her face brightened as she answered Harry's next question. "We've been upriver a ways. There's a large cave behind a larger waterfall. The two of us were exploring with a few of the locals, and we met this truly ancient Elephant Youkai there. He was having some arthritis issues, and I helped him out, then he showed me around his home in the cave. It's really fascinating. He has all these rugs from Persia and these tapestries from India. The cave just comes alive with them," Asia gushed.

At first Asia had been somewhat leery of coming with the rest of the Potter family to the ceremony last night. After all, a lot of the Youkai Association was made of people Catholicism would deem evil or unnatural. The rest would only be saved similar condemnation because they were not specifically named in the Holy Book. But Yasaka, who Asia had talked to on the phone, and the party after the ceremony had banished that wariness like it had never been.

"An ancient Elephant Youkai, now, why does that sound familiar?" Harry mused before he found tiny hands grabbing at his head from behind.

"Come on, Daddy; swim with us!" Lily shrieked in his ear.

Chuckling, Harry nodded and held a hand towards Asia. "Well, come on; you heard the little princess."

"Nope, that's Kunou!" Lily exclaimed, while Kunou giggled and nodded. "I'm Daddy's little grrrrrl," Lily finished by taking a stance and snarling like she was in her werewolf form.

"Ano, why aren't you all in your other forms?" Asia asked, gesturing to the Swanhilde and Kappa around them.

"Because swimming is easier in human form. And besides, have you ever smelled wet dog?" Harry asked with a grin. "If not, I'll get Okuri-inu over here." The three-eyed dog was nearby, lying out on the ground and panting happily as he worked his jaws on a large stone he had found somewhere.

Asia blanched at that but followed Lily and the others out of the smaller pool and into the deeper waters, where they were quickly caught by the current and pulled along. For another hour they all just swam and played in the water, whooping and swinging one moment, and being flung downriver the next.

Finally the two youngest started to tire, and Harry, with Asia's help, gathered the twosome out of the water and found a place for them to rest, a glade near the top of the small waterfall area where Issei was already resting from his latest zapping. There Harry taught Asia a small charm to clean and dry them, with Lily watching intently and learning the words and movements, if not how to visualize the effect.

After that, Harry lay out on the ground and just sighed happily, perfectly at peace with the world these past few days. He smiled as he felt Lily lying out beside him, with Kunou between him and Asia on the other side, the little kitsune nuzzling into him, happy that they had all had so much fun at a spot which she and her mother had enjoyed so often before. _And this time she didn't feel the need to bring along any guards._

This was true and only had had to do with Harry's presence somewhat peripherally. The attempted kidnapping had acted as a boil, bringing to the surface a lot of tension Yasaka had been dealing with for a long while along with the sources of it, many of whom she never would have suspected. This in turn allowed her to move against those who felt her rule was too soft, just didn't like the fact the kitsune ruled the roost, as it were, or wanted to go back to the old ways like the group that had been duped by the Khaos Brigade. Now the entire forest was much less dangerous than it had been for Kunou.

At this point the ladies had finished their discussions, and Yasaka had just arrived, having led the others to the small water area. They found Harry and the others, and Yasaka paused, taking in the scene with a small, happy smile on her face.

"This is part of why I'm willing to share to get a piece of Harry: his and Lily's personalities," she whispered into Rias's ears. Rias looked at her, and Yasaka waved her hand airily. "Simply kind people are a dime a dozen. Powerful people? If I wanted a mate based on strength, I could attract several in a few days even without being able to leave Kyoto for very long."

Harems were, it has to be mentioned once more, the norm among Kitsune and other Youkai. Yasaka might have been joking—partially anyway—when she mentioned wanting to test Harry and Loup's endurance. But having multiple lovers was nothing new to her, nor was she lying about the idea of attracting powerful people.

"No, it the combination, plus his utter devotion to his family, that makes Harry a very rare individual. And then there's Lily! Her impact on my daughter has been immense." Yasaka sighed sadly before explaining how, in the long run, the kidnapping attempt had proven more beneficial than harmful. "Before that I was forced to isolate Kunou from much of the association, and even then there were threats on her life and attempts to kidnap her to influence me.

"As for our extended family…" Yasaka sighed again, even more deeply, remembering lost friends, glares and words exchanged in anger. "Let us just say that Fallen and Devils don't have a monopoly on envy and leave it at that. The only ones who treated her like a little girl were Loup and a few distant cousins, who honestly are so often wandering away from home they could be called Kender."

Taking a moment to place that, Mittelt, who hadn't moved away like the others to give the two of them privacy, snorted. "Dragonlance, really?"

Yasaka ignored that and went on. "So Kunou grew up mostly friendless, with a natural fear of the outside, and she, she had this shy shell around her when dealing with most people, which, for all my own boisterousness, I couldn't break through. Then she met Lily under trying circumstances, and Lily somehow connected with her, and now look at her!" Yasaka whisper-shouted, an odd lingual feat. "She has friends, she's outgoing, she's friendly, she insisted on going to school to interact with normal humans!"

She leaned in, whispering fiercely, "If I wasn't interested in Harry for all his own good points, that, right there, and the way Harry's accepted my Kunou into his home and heart, would be enough."

Rias looked at her and then over to where Kunou and Lily were talking animatedly over Harry's stomach about something, while Asia was attempting to stop Raiter from attacking Issei again. She smiled and held out a hand to Yasaka. "Then why don't we get over there?"

Akeno, who had moved away to let the two of them talk, nodded firmly, holding up the picnic basket. "Indeed, yes. This is getting rather heavy."

Rolling her eyes at that, Rias gestured, and they moved forward, with the other girls quickly either breaking off or moving ahead of them. So Tsubaki was the first to show up in Harry's peripheral vision, and he smiled at her, gesturing down the river. "Kiba's somewhere down there with a few of the locals. They are trying to reenact something or other he saw in a movie."

Issei nodded, suddenly reviving from the ground. "Oh yeah! There's this monkey guy here whose face looks exactly like that actor from some old film—um, Musketeers, I think it was—and he's also a master of the rapier, so they were going to reenact this fight scene."

"Huh," Harry mused, about ask more, when, for some odd reason, all thoughts of doing anything but laying there and gaping in astonished and aroused delight fled his mind. He was still a little better than Issei, though, who took one look and then began to resemble waterfall, both from the drool coming from his mouth and the blood from his nose.

To his personal astonishment, Rias's bathing suit was modest, as modest as any suit could be on that body. It was a one piece done in black and orange with pieces cut out of its sides and back. Sona's matched her for cut but not color, and there was an added bit cut away to allow more of her smaller cleavage to show. Akeno wore an equally simple suit, a light blue bikini top and matching bottoms, though the cut of them was so spare on her large chest it looked like they were kept on more by a wish and a prayer than anything else.

Yasaka and Kalawarner's, though, were something to see. Kalawarner wore a suit that barely skirted what Harry would let anyone wear around Lily, a two piece which matched her hair in color and that barely covered her nipples up top paired with a T-back bottom.

But while Harry had seen and, indeed, felt Kalawarner's body when they made out enough while dating to get an idea of what she would look like in a bikini, Yasaka's body came as a great surprise. She was short, something he had of course known, barely five feet. But she was also very busty. Harry estimated her breasts were actually as large for her frame as Akeno's were for hers. Since she was wearing a white bikini top only a bit larger than Kalawarner's, Harry was pretty certain of that analysis, actually. Luckily, she had paired it with a pair of swim trunks down below for some reason.

For a moment Harry could only stare, then he said admiringly, "Beautiful. You all are lovely, ladies."

Even Sona smiled at that, while Akeno preened, always enjoying the reaction she could get from men, though she was a bit more amused by the blood gushing down Issei's nose than Harry's more controlled reaction. "Ara, thank you for the compliment, Harry. Now, could you conjure up a table and some chairs for us? We brought food."

Before Harry could do anything, though, Yasaka was shaking her head. "Why would we need a table when there's a perfectly flat, hard surface right here?" With that she took the picnic basket from Akeno and put it on Harry's firm, toned stomach. "See? Perfectly flat."

"Ha, ha. You, my lady, are lucky there are others present, including my daughter, else you would know what 'hard' can really mean," Harry replied, giving her a very direct look and then staring down unabashedly into her cleavage for a moment.

Yasaka blushed, but Lily and Kunou just shrugged at one another and reached for the food hungrily, not comprehending what Harry had meant there. As the teasing continued and Kalawarner made certain the kids were not gorging themselves, Koneko arrived and pulled Rias away for a moment. She explained the same thing she had earlier told Harry and then asked if Rias knew what she should do.

Rias, however, responded the same way she always did. "I trust that you will make the best decisions for you, Koneko. The mistakes your sister made, whatever the cause for the actions she took and however she was influenced by this Senjutsu, that was her, Kuroka, not you, Koneko," she said, smiling at her Rook. "Whatever your choice, I will support you."

Nodding, Koneko pulled her into a hug, smiling against the far taller girl's stomach. "Arigato." Then she pulled back and said, "Will stay here; train during the day. Come back each evening?"

Rias nodded and reiterated again that, whatever happened, Rias was proud to be Koneko's friend and her King, and for her to never forget she was family. This won her another hug, and the two wandered back to the picnic, which had grown as more of the large group arrived, including Loup, Kiba, and the man he had met here.

The last one did indeed look like the actor, Christopher Lee, when he starred in the Musketeers. The two of them sat by Harry, who was no longer imitating a table, the girls having moved over to Rias and Koneko. Once sitting down, the two men continued a discussion they had been having before arriving, their swords at their waists.

As he was talking, Kiba had forgotten his food, had pulled out a whetstone from some place, and was just about to use it on the sword of Gryffindor when Harry's hand snaked out, grabbing his wrist. "Kiba, what are you doing?"

"I'm about to sharpen the sword you loaned me, Harry. Is there a problem?"

Harry looked at him blankly. "It's goblin steel, a material magically enhanced to never need sharpening. It also takes on the properties of whatever it is dipped into. Since I used that sword to kill a basilisk, perhaps you shouldn't put your hand near the blade, hmmm?"

A suddenly white-faced Kiba slowly nodded as the as yet unintroduced monkey youkai backed away. "Right," he said, his voice nasal despite his rather debonair looks. "So that's one idea down the drain."

Soon enough the meal was finished, and Rias and Sona organized the troop back into motion, heading back to get changed before going on a tour the two Kings had booked for that afternoon and evening of some of the city's most scenic venues. Rias took charge of the kids, winking at Yasaka, who smiled back and tugged Harry to a stop with her. Then she leaned in and captured his lips before Harry could say anything.

Harry kissed back, holding Yasaka against him, then gasping as Yasaka's tongue, slightly longer and with a different texture to it than a human's, met his in a dance as old as time. They kissed and then broke, with Yasaka whispering the words she had said earlier to Rias and more about her thoughts going forward and how she loved the impact Harry and Lily had on Kunou. Yasaka interrupted her speech with a kiss after every sentence, ending with, "I want more kids, Harry. I want a father for Kunou. I want you if you'll have me, baggage and all!" before Yasaka pulled Harry into an even deeper kiss.

As his slightly bruised lips healed quickly, Harry smiled sardonically, running one hand through Yasaka's yellow hair. "In that case, I suggest we make some plans for a few dates, hmm? See how those go."

Yasaka nodded eagerly, then linked arms with him and moved off through the woods towards the mansion. "Good idea. I also want a theme song, though."

"A theme song?" Harry asked, amused.

"Mhm. You and Rias apparently already have two of them, after all," Yasaka replied. "And I like to dance too, Harry. Just saying."

While this was going on, at the front of the party another discussion was occurring with far less kissing involved. "So, are you and Daddy…um, affianced, I think the word is? Or is there something else between dating and marrying?" Lily asked, looking up at Rias, who was holding her hand as they followed Kunou and another local, a Kappa, through the forest.

"Um, sort of, yes. We've promised to always love one another and to essentially marry later on. Does that worry you, Lily-chan?" Rias asked, looking down at the far shorter redhead before going on in a teasing tone. "Afraid I'll steal some of your time with Harry away from you? You shouldn't be, you know."

"No, not that. Just…" Lily scrunched up her face, trying to think up a way to explain her conflicted emotions. "Grrr. So, it's like, I've had a mother. It, it was kind of not fun, not much of anything, really. She wasn't really there much, and, when she was, she yelled a lot and didn't really seem to like me all that much. She wanted a child with Daddy, but didn't want to be a mother."

Rias winced at that, but Lily went on. "But I like you. I like being around you, how you kind of both tease, spoil me, and force me to do better all at once. It's weird, 'cause it reminds me of Daddy, but it's nice. I just, if you become Daddy's new wife…you could change. Or, or there could be more kids eventually, and…"

Rias reached down and pulled Lily up into her arms into a tight hug. It was obvious Lily still had a few issues with how her mother had treated her with such detachment or simple absence most of the time, but Rias supposed that Harry's love for her had kept most of them buried until this point. Luckily for Rias, her and Harry's actions that morning gave her the perfect way to respond.

"Lily, do you know what vows are?" Lily snorted at that, giving her a 'what do you take me for' sort of look, and Rias laughed gaily. "Right, of course you do. You're a smart girl, aren't you? Well, this morning Harry and I exchanged a series of vows we came up with on the spot, promises and goals for ourselves in this relationship as we go forward."

When Lily nodded understanding, Rias went on, wondering where those bands had gone before shaking it off as unimportant. "Well, the second vow I made to Harry was to be a role model or big sister or anything else to you, to cherish and love you whatever label we give that position. I love your father, Lily-chan, but I love you too. Whatever you want me to be, are comfortable with me being, that's fine by me."

Lily's eyes widened at that and started to water, but Rias wasn't finished. "And the last vow I took was to promise that once more, and further to never favor any child I have in the future over you, to love you all equally." Rias's tone softened as she went on. "So, does that help assuage some of your fears?"

"Mhmmm," Lily murmured, hugging Rias around the neck and pressing her face into the taller redhead's hair, all her earlier fears gone and replaced by happiness.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Ah, this, this is a most excellent gift you have both come up with for me. Father, Mother, thank you very much!" Riser said, bowing his head to his parents. "I will immediately go and make arrangements to head to Kuoh and tell Rias the good news."

"Hahah, you truly have fallen for the Gremory's Crimson Princess of Destruction, haven't you?" Lore Phenex guffawed. "Ah, to be young again. Still, you'll have to wait two days. You will need a visa from the Gremory clan to pass through their teleportation array. Although, it's odd. Given the issues young Rias has been running into of late on Earth, this Khaos Brigade, and the sudden assault on her territory by the heir of the Astaroth clan, I was surprised that Zeo and Vene didn't immediately agree to push up the date of the arrangement."

"There is such a thing as romance, husband. I am certain that Venelana simply wanted Riser here to prove worth of her little girl by his persistence and willingness to accept some of her quirks, including moving to the human realm to go to college there." Riser opened his mouth, but his mother smiled that odd smile that all mothers seemed to share which doesn't quite reach the eyes and is in some indefinable way quite scary. "You told us you were willing to do so, and I believe further education will do you some good. You weren't lying about that, were you?"

While inwardly amused by the sight of Riser scrambling and trying to appease his suddenly frightening mother—on top of the effort he was making not to speak with that irritating third person accent he affected—Yubelluna also had to fight down a shiver of fear for herself and, surprising the purple-haired woman, for Rias Gremory just now. _I pray that your confidence was not misplaced, Lady Rias. Because, whatever your parents might think, indeed, whatever his own parents might think, there is nothing of love in Riser Phenex for anyone but Riser Phenex. And the consequences of this marriage cannot but lead to disaster if Riser has his way._

 **OOOOOOO**

Unfortunately, the good times had to come to an end. With a lot to do this winter break, Harry and the others were unwilling to be away from Kuoh for very long, and they left the next day. Rias once more spent the night in Harry's bed, which led to the two them making love once more throughout the night, something that Rias mockingly complained about.

"I've months of flirtations and frustration to work out on you, Rias, and you don't like wearing sleepwear. I dare you to find anyone besides a monk who would put up with having your body pressed against him in such situations," Harry replied. Rias could do nothing but blush and mutter at that.

Returning to the mansion that served as the end of the teleportation tunnel in Kyoto, they said their farewells to Yasaka. With duties that night that she had to see to, Akeno was the first to break away and step into the teleportation circle after Sona's peerage, minus Sona and Tsubaki. The two of them would be staying here for the day, organizing the first dozen Youkai who would be heading through the portal and then down to hell for shopping purposes, of all things, something that Harry didn't quite understand. The giddy look on Rias and Sona's faces, though, said there was more to it than that. Koneko, too, would be staying in Kyoto. She was going to start training in Senjutsu that very day.

Harry, Lily, Rias, and Kunou were the last ones to go through, the young kitsune going back to Kuoh for a few days before returning to spend each evening in Kyoto with her mother and then back there full time for a few days before the break ended. A tired Rias was leaning on Lily for support, who was giving her father on her other side a rather irritable look. "You really worked her over last night, Daddy," she said innocently, shaking her head. "I don't think you should be allowed to dance with girls any longer. It's kind of mean to make her so tired."

Harry pretended to twirl a long villains mustache as he looked down at Lily, though his next words were more intended for Rias, who blushed hotly. "On the contrary, I look forward to being mean with her again sometime soon, my dear."

As Lily blinked in confusion at him, Yasaka cackled, winking at both him and Rias. "I look forward to my own similar…treatment. And I wouldn't even need any preparative spellwork." As soon as she said that, though, Yasaka winced, thinking that that comment might be a little too much for in front of the girls, though it thankfully went over their heads. She hadn't meant for that line to come out, but just being around Harry right now was making Yasaka want him. Harry's demigod aura was again getting away from him just a little.

Rias scowled though, pulling away from Lily to go chest to face with Yasaka, glaring down at the diminutive blonde. "I'm not going to be jealous about his time or his love life, but **I** will be the first one to give Lily a little sister," Rias growled fiercely.

"Yare, yare. I would have thought that that would be Harry's decision, and mine. After all, that would mean having to wait for at least another year and a half," Yasaka said, her eyes flashing and her tails twitching behind her. "Why don't we ask his opinion?"

"Nope," Harry said, taking the two little girls by the hands and moving backwards. "I am not getting involved in this discussion. Your bodies, your choice, ladies. I have no preference." Then he smirked. "I just want several."

Lily's eyes widened. "Oohhh, a little sibling would be awesome! Me and Kunou'd be like Koneko and Asia for him or her, then."

"Awww…" Rias and Yasaka cooed, then exchanged a smile as they both nodded, deciding to table that discussion for some other time.

Yasaka then smirked at Rias. "Well then, there are a few other 'firsts' I can have for my own with Harry-han."

Rias blinked, thinking about that, and then blushed hotly, causing Yasaka to chitter aloud while Harry grew a faraway look in his eyes as he tried to imagine what Yasaka was talking about. The possibilities were certainly intriguing.

But Yasaka regained control of herself quickly. "Can I come with you? I want to see how it feels to teleport like this in comparison to the horrible, **horrible,"** she emphasized, glaring at Harry now, "way that Harry teleported me the first time."

Banishing her blush, Rias laughed, stepping back and holding her hand out to Yasaka. "Trust me, my family's method of teleportation feels quite different than a portkey."

"I feel like I'm being insulted," Harry said thoughtfully, ruffling his daughter's hair. "Are we being mocked, Lily?"

"Yep," Lily said cheerfully, reaching up to take his hand with Kunou taking his other one. "But, you have to admit that Rias is a lot better at teleporting than you. Daddy."

"All too true," Harry replied, and then led the way into the teleportation ring.

Instantaneously they were elsewhere, appearing in the Occult Research Club's room in the academy in Kuoh. It was that simple to their senses. There was a bit of a flash as they appeared and disappeared, but that was all, an astonishing feat given the distance involved.

However, as they arrived there was a bright almost shivering sensation in the air around them for a moment, the wards that Harry and the quartet of devils had put up around the town feeling them out and welcoming those it knew home. Yasaka, on the other hand, winced slightly at the feel of them before Rias placed a hand on her head, reading her into the wards.

"That was interesting," Yasaka said, looking around thoughtfully. "Those were your new wards, I take it?"

She could already also feel the tug from her connection to the Dragon's Nest, but it wasn't nearly as horrible as she had feared. Rather, instead of feeling as if she was being tugged hard back at the end of a long rope, accompanied by severe seasickness and queasiness of the stomach as well as a migraine—yes, it was that horrible—it felt more like there was a pressure building just behind her eyes and a faint unease. It was as if the Dragon's Nest had somehow been tricked into thinking that she was still somewhere near Kyoto while in reality she was here in Kuoh. But already she could feel the unease building up as reality reasserted itself.

Harry nodded. "We've been surprised somewhat by what we created here. It's the first of its kind as far as we know, a combination of all three of our magical schools, and it's…reactionary nature, I suppose, has taken us by surprise somewhat. But we can't say we're exactly unhappy about that, and the only way to learn more is to see it react to the presence of an enemy."

"Which we're in no rush to actually see," Rias finished for him dryly before asking Yasaka how she felt.

Yasaka explained the sensations she was feeling, then smiled. "I think I could get used to this, so long as it doesn't build up in my system too quickly. I think I will come by each day for the rest of this school break to get used to it."

Kunou cheered at that, hugging her mother from one side while Lily nodded, gesturing out the door towards the academy and then past it. "We can show you our house now, right? Or would you like to see some of the local parks? There's none of them that are as good as your forest, though," She said disparagingly.

Now it was Rias's turn to feel mildly insulted, but she waved that away. After all, that was the truth. Even that one park they'd been in when Rias had joined the Potter family for their run had been on the small side in comparison to the massive forest outside of Kyoto.

"Actually, that sounds like a lovely idea. I would truly like to see your home for more than I did the last time I was here, Harry," Yasaka said with a smile.

Rias smiled agreeably at that, and they all once more stepped into the teleportation circle, heading over to Harry's house. There, Harry had to read Yasaka into the wards again, but it wasn't a hardship. With Kunou and Lily pulling her along, Yasaka was then dragged up to their room, where she could exclaim over the way the beds were organized and the few pictures that Kunou hadn't been able to bring along with her on her trip back home.

As they were doing that, Rias and Harry headed up to the attic which had become Harry's room. "So," she said thoughtfully, looking around, "I'm honestly not certain I could fit any of my own stuff in here, but I am also **very** unwilling to going back to just sleeping alone back in my house."

"According to Akeno and Koneko, you very rarely slept alone even there," Harry replied dryly, putting his arms around her waist and holding her from behind, looking at his room thoughtfully from one side of her head. "I think one of the main things we will need to be doing over this break is to figure out what we're going to do with the household. I don't know enough about magical construction to believe I could add on several more rooms, but we are at the point where we need it."

Then he pulled her hair out of the way and kissed the back of Rias's neck tenderly, feeling her hum in pleasure at the touch. "But I think we can make enough room for you up here with only a bit of work, love. So long as you are willing to share closet space?" Rias's only reply was to turn and kiss him, giggling against his lips.

"Another bathroom is a must," Harry continued on as they went back downstairs. "And, unfortunately, I don't think I could work the spells to put one up in my attic. Oh, I could create something that would just, well, dissipate the waste, so to speak, but put in an actual shower? That would be tougher. Hmm… Maybe an ever-full bathtub?"

Loup had come back the evening before, unwilling to bed down back in Kyoto since he'd had a test early that morning, the college having a week more of classes than the elementary and high schools. He now poked his head up from where he'd been laying out on the sofa to look at them both, his eyes flicking up to the ceiling, through which he could hear Yasaka's voice and the little girls. But his mind was on the conversation he'd just overheard. "Kiba and I would like our own place," he said bluntly. "And maybe a man cave?"

The two lovers looked at him, not having noticed him on the sofa and he looked back at them thoughtfully. He pointed at Harry and said simply, "You're too wedded to the idea of a single house." Then he pointed at Rias. "You are too busy thinking about ways to use magic. Don't. Think about the whole thing instead. Think about the idea of a large property with multiple houses instead of just one."

Harry grimaced at that, but slowly the grimace began to fade as he actually thought about it. Rias, too, thought about it and slowly began to nod. "We could create a teleportation array or perhaps a line," she said enthusiastically. Stretch the array over a line, say between the backyard here and the backyard to my property. That way it would by physically separate, but would, in fact, be connected.

"As for you and Kiba having your own place, that makes sense too. Kiba already has his own place, officially, though he hardly ever uses it. We bought it for him so that it wouldn't seem odd to anyone that Akeno, myself, Koneko, and he all had the same address. Indeed, Koneko should have her own apartment, but it's known she's staying with Akeno and me because of 'financial reasons,'" Rias went on.

"I haven't been there yet," Harry said musingly. "We're nearly at the limit of what I can do magically here without fully restructuring the place, but maybe we can enlarge his apartment. It is an apartment, right?"

"It is, a small one without a kitchen, but it is fully his. Kiba pays for it from the money he gets from some of his contracts."

"If we enlarge it, I'll help pay for it, then," Loup grunted. He then looked at Harry seriously. "Need a man cave," he reiterated

Harry nodded solemnly, while Rias looked at two of them as if they had grown several more heads each. "What?"

"Just a place where guys can go and get away from girls, basically, like going to the pub or similar," Harry said simply. "It's sometimes necessary."

Rias shook her head. "Men are weird."

"Oh, why do girls go to the bathroom in groups then?" Harry challenged.

"That's entirely different," Rias replied with a haughty sniff.

"Sure it is," Harry and Loup said as one, causing Rias to pout at them furiously and the two men to exchange a high five.

A chittering laugh interrupted their fun at Rias's expense, and all three turned to see Yasaka and Kunou in the doorway leading into the living room. "Mah, mah. Though it goes against the grain to interrupt your fun, I need to get back. Despite the amusement plain in her voice, Yasaka's face was twisted in a grimace, a clear sign that her connection to the Dragon's Nest was paining her too much to ignore any longer.

Harry nodded and moved over to them, with Rias behind him, looking down at Kunou. "And will this little one stay with us this evening or go with you?"

"What do you think, love?" Yasaka asked, to which Kunou replied that she would like to have dinner here but then return home for the night to spend more time with her mother. "There you have it, though I think that's just because she prefers eating with more people, and I can't cook very well, right?" Yasaka said, making a face at her daughter, who looked away, whistling innocently. "Uh-huh. Well, in that case, tomorrow morning I'm going to have to put my one true cooking skill on display, won't I?"

"And what's that?" Rias asked interestedly, always hoping to learn more. While she had long since acknowledged Akeno's mastery of tea and other drinks of that sort, Kalawarner and Harry's mastery in the kitchen still bothered her somewhat.

"Now that…is a secret," Yasaka said with a smirk.

This caused Rias to groan aloud. "A Xellos fan. I should've known a kitsune would like him."

Yasaka chittered in response to that, while Kunou supplied, "I'm more a fan of Lina, myself." With that she turned and ran off to find Lily and their familiars outside, leaving the adults alone. Kiba quickly excused himself, and that left Harry alone with Rias and Yasaka.

"So…we normally have breakfast around seven or so in the morning. Does that work?" Harry asked.

Yasaka nodded and then stepped forward, hugging Harry around his middle. "MMhm, believe it, Harry…"

She squeaked a second later as Harry's arms, instead of just going around her in turn, reached down and pulled her into the air, manhandling her until her face was level with his. Then Harry leaned in and kissed her. It was a slow, thorough, deep kiss, with his tongue exploring her mouth.

Yasaka, like any woman or even most men, had turn-ons, things that couldn't be called full fetishes (though she had a few of those too) but which really got her motor running. One of these was being manhandled. Despite her sage-given strength, Yasaka knew she had a small body, though she couldn't be called petite given the size of her chest. Her lover being bigger and strong enough to just lift her while also being brave enough to do just that never ceased to get her wet, and it did so now.

By the time Harry pulled back, still holding Yasaka against his chest easily, she was a quivering, gasping mess. But though he recognized this, Harry pulled back and set her down on the ground, though his hands did shift slightly down her body to give her rear a firm squeeze. "See you tomorrow, Yasaka. And do figure out when you want to go on that date, yeah?"

"Oooh, ooh," Yasaka mock-growled as she tried to get her body under control and respond in kind. "You just teased a kitsune, Potter. I hope you know what you're getting into."

"Wouldn't that be sort of the point of dating?" Harry asked innocently, though the smirk on his face gave his tone the lie.

"Hehe, he's like that once he gets into flirting, trust me," Rias replied with a chuckle, having watched this with some interest. She had feared that, after having Harry to herself for that first night together, jealousy might rear its head when she saw him flirting with another woman. And, while there was some jealousy of the 'oh I wish he'd do that to me' variety, there was no anger or deeper type of possessive jealousy. Rather, what Rias felt most of all was amusement and a bit of heat going up and down her body, eager to feel Harry's hands on her again.

"Oh, well. That's something to look forward to, then." With that Yasaka pulled fully away from Harry, moving over to exchange a hug with Rias along with a quick kiss, the same kind that they had exchanged after the ceremony in her mansion. "Until tomorrow, my dears." With that, and leaving behind a now blushing Rias and a suddenly very interested Harry, Yasaka teleported back to the ORC clubroom and, from there, back to Kyoto.

Now alone, Rias and Harry headed outside and sat down on a lounge chair, watching the kids, which now included Asia and Raiter, run around. They snuggled there for a time, talking further about more plans for the idea of magically merging the three properties further, which would fall mainly on Rias given that she would be the one creating the teleportation lines to connect each disparate properties together. Then Rias left to get more of her clothing, her full body mirror, and some other things they agreed would easily fit in Harry's loft.

At the same time the doorbell rang, and Kalawarner arrived from her own apartment that she shared with Mittelt. Soon after that the two of them began to start dinner.

They were interrupted by the doorbell going off once more, and Harry paused, looking over towards it. "Interesting, I wasn't expecting anyone to come through that way."

By this point Kiba, Issei, and Mittelt were the only ones he could think of that would be stopping by that couldn't just teleport in. Kiba, busy as he was with training and his girlfriend, just didn't spend all that much time in the Potter's house to be read into the wards fully, and Mittelt was not the most social of people. As for Issei, Harry just refused to let him have that kind of access, given the kid's interest in Asia.

"It's not Mittelt. She was busy with copying some kind of new design she saw in a recent anime," Kalawarner replied. "And I think Kiba's got another date with Tsubaki tonight."

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry moved over towards the doorway through the kitchen and into the main entrance way, opening the door. "Yes, can I…" He blinked at the familiar yet totally unexpected pink hair on the first of his two visitors. "Tonks!?"

"Surprise, Cuz!" Tonks said with a grin, pulling Harry into a hug. Teddy joined in too, throwing his short arms around both adults' middles.

The locals had kept her and Teddy under observation for an entire day, or what Tonks thought of as observation. Really it was more of a house arrest, while a few of them asked her questions about her being in Japan while Teddy was shown around Tokyo. He was even able to shop around and was taught a lot about the local culture, both magical and not, while Tonks was grilled in the same thing and both were taught the local language magically via a ritual.

It was made clear from the get go, though, that most of this was because of Tonks's own overreaction upon their arrival. The moment she had dropped Harry's name, most of the locals' wariness went away at that point thanks to Harry, Rias, and Akeno's actions of a few weeks ago. Then, too, the old man who had apprehended Tonks after her assault had also spoken in favor of them.

"Tonks, Teddy!" Harry said happily, hugging them back, though his face showed his confusion when he pushed them both to arm's length. "I am happy to see you, of course, but…why am I seeing you?"

Tonks flinched a bit, knowing that Harry would not be happy about her having been canned from her job as an Auror, but she had to reply; their presence was noticed by other people. Lily and the kids had come inside and had been playing a game on the TV, but Lily sat up the moment she heard Tonks's voice. She now came out of the living room at a run with Kunou and their familiars following.

Teddy barely had a moment to gawk around Harry at the baby gryphon before Lily tackled him to the floor. "Teddy!"

On the floor he tried to hug her back but found himself hoisted into the air by the younger yet far stronger girl, as the redhead proffered him out towards another girl with foxlike ears, who was blinking at him. "Kunou, Titan, this is Teddy! He's my cousin! Say hi, Teddy."

"Hi, Teddy," Teddy said dutifully, waving one hand at them and smirking over his shoulder and down at Lily. "Is it just me, or are you even stronger than you were the last time I saw you?"

"Lily-chan rather likes tackling people, doesn't she?" Kalawarner mused coming out from the kitchen to look at what was going on, followed by Rias from the living room.

Tonks blinked and turned, first towards Rias, then to the blue-haired woman before looking back at Harry, one eyebrow rising in query. This was soon joined by the other eyebrow when she too noticed the fox-girl, the baby gryphon, and a odd looking, three-eyed dog. The fox girl was currently shaking Teddy's hands shyly, then with more vigor as he smiled at her.

"You've got a kind of full house here, boyo," she said to Harry. "Ignoring the kids and the animals for now, would ya mind telling me who the blue haired girl is if you're supposed to be involved with your student here, at least according to Hermione?" she asked, jerking a thumb towards Rias. "Or…no!" she gasped mockingly, stepping back and holding her hands up to her mouth in mock-shock. "You didn't build a harem!? You dog!" She then wiped a fake tear away. "Sirius would be so proud of you."

Both she and Harry looked at one another, sharing an image of Sirius up in heaven shouting about how his awesomeness had rubbed off on his godson before breaking out into laughter and exchanging another hug. "It's good to see you, Tonks," he said with a laugh. "I'm sorry Lily and I left England when we did without waiting for you to get back from that undercover operation you were running, but frankly I just had to get away from…"

"The Weasleys. Yeah, I know," Tonks said with a groan. "I've got some things to tell you there, but that can wait until later. I also have a few things that Hermione told me you wanted." With that Tonks pulled out the shrunken trunk, setting it to one side before tapping it with a finger that had a fine filigreed ring on it, which Harry supposed was her new 'wand.'

He was correct in that presumption. During their house arrest Tonks had gone through the same process Harry had upon his arrival in Japan. Her wand's core, ashwinder scales, had been taken out and then implanted into a ring of rowan wood, its shape designed by her and the crafter doing the work. She was also supposed to have had a tracker placed on it, but the old man who had apprehended her had interceded there on Tonks's behalf.

As she went to cast the enlarging charm on her trunk, however, Tonks jolted as the wards around the area suddenly came alive—not just the Potter's household wards, but the ones all around Kyoto. Her magic backfired and her arm went dead from her ring up. "What the flipping heck!?"

Harry winced. "Yeah, hold on a minute." He reached out and placed his hand on Tonks's head, reading her into the wards and letting her use magic without further repercussions.

"What the heck was that!?" Tonks asked, shaking out her hand and shivering slightly.

"Those were the wards around the area reacting to someone who hasn't been read into them trying magic here. Rias, myself, and several others created them, working together, and they are quite…effective," Harry said dryly, deciding not to try and describe in detail the working they had created.

As feeling came back to her arm, Tonks breathed a sigh of relief. "That was kind of intimidating, Harry," she muttered, shaking her head. Still, she finished the spell on her trunk, which enlarged back to its normal size.

Opening it to its first section, Harry blinked first at the pensive. "Excellent! Rias, I believe you and I agreed on a price for a pensive, right, or should we give this one to Sona since you already have access to mine?" As Rias took the pensieve, however, Harry moved on, frowning at the amount of mail that bore the Gringotts and Wizengamot sigils. "I'll have to go through that carefully, I suppose."

"I can deal with dinner," Kalawarner said from where she had gone back into the kitchen. "But I don't think we have enough for two more people. Not on top of everyone else we're expecting."

"You're expecting more than this?" Tonks asked, looking at Loup thoughtfully, as he came in from the bathroom. At the same time Teddy sniffed once then frowned, not understanding what his limited enhanced senses were telling him.

Loop simply nodded at him, tapped his chest and said, "Werewolf."

To Loup's delight, neither of the Tonkses responded with more than a nod in his direction. He should've expected that, of course, given what Harry had told him about these two, but it was still nice to see.

"Yeah, we're expecting four, maybe five more than this. Is Issei joining us?" Harry asked Rias.

Not looking up from where she was looking at the pensieve, Rias shook her head. It was a large, bronze bowl shaped to have concentric rings around it, each segment being deeper and smaller than the one preceding it from the outside in. Each also had runes written on them save the outermost ring, which had several animals and other designs worked into it. "No, he's got a family of his own, remember, so he can't always be joining us, especially at night."

"Well, regardless, I think we need to go get more food. Tonks, why don't you come with me? Then you can tell me why you looked so shifty when I asked why you were here. Don't think I missed that, Tonks."

"Sure, Harry, and this'll also keep me from interrogating the scrumptious looking redhead, right?" Tonks asked, eyeing Rias up and down, but Rias simply smiled back, not retreating or looking self-conscious at all. "I'd also like to know why the locals seem to think you had a hand in stopping some terrorist attacks here…"

Rolling her eyes, Lily dragged Teddy away. "Come on, we were playing Youkai Quest. You can join in and give us a fourth player. Titan can't work the controls so well with his beak and talons."

 **OOOOOOO**

Akeno sighed, cracking her neck and thrusting her arms up over her head to stretch them out before leaning over and kneading her legs and knees in particular, ignoring the looks she was getting from several passersby around the restaurant's main entranceway with the ease of long practice. The job she had had to come home for had been a formal tea ceremony for several very rich families that she had been booked for for several weeks now. This group, thankfully, hadn't just been a lot of old businessman, unlike the last few. Only six of them of them had attempted to do much leering as she conducted the ceremony. They hadn't even tried to caress her hands when she handed out tea to them all, which was nice, and even the few who had leered at her had done so tactfully.

But even though she was a devil, sitting in a kneeling position for several hours had taken it out of Akeno's legs, which had been in danger of falling asleep by the time she concluded the ceremony. _I think I'm going to walk to the Potters' rather than teleport,_ she thought, bowing towards the hotel manager who was behind the desk and then exiting out onto the street.

Akeno walked through the crowds of the streets sedately for a time, getting feeling back in her legs before noticing something was off. Someone was watching her, or, rather, showing interest in her more than usual. And further, the crowds which had been on the streets when she exited the restaurant were slowly giving way well before they should have, since the shopping district continued for another few blocks in the direction she was currently traveling.

Her eyes narrowing, Akeno paused for a moment, staring into a clothing store's window as she gazed around her. It was only then that she realized that, of the people still around her, many of them looked alike, and, indeed, their looks almost put her in mind of her own.

It was only when she spotted one specific face that Akeno realized why that was, and she froze on the spot, fear coursing through her from old fears, old nightmares. _What, what is_ _ **he**_ _doing here!?_ For that was the face of the man who had led several of her other former clan-members and hunted her down when she was using the family fortune telling techniques to get by on the streets. That, coupled with Akeno's fallen blood from her father, had been enough to bring dishonor on the house, or so many of them thought, anyway, and they had been determined to hunt her down and kill Akeno as they had her mother, once her father's identity had come out.

But that plan had ended very abruptly when Rias's big brother and Rias herself had arrived on the scene. She had made the mistake of giving a true fortune-telling to Sirzechs when the two of them were on an outing, and Rias had elected to try to hunt down the young girl with the violet eyes. Since then she had been protected by Rias and her family name. Any move on her ex-family's part would've seemed disastrous and stupid, frankly, a fact that now allowed Akeno to regain her mental equilibrium.

 _Why are they here now?_ Akeno thought angrily. Then it occurred to her. _Of course, the time Harry, Rias and I went into the magical quarter! Someone from the Himejima clan must have spotted me. Was that enough to push them into something this idiotic, the idea that I might be learning 'their' magics rather than mere Devil magic? Are they that narrow-minded, that foolish?_

Then a thought occurred to her, and Akeno found a sadistic smile trying to worm her its way onto her face. _Well, we did want to see what the wards would do, didn't we? This actually could be quite…_ _ **amusing**_ _. And arousing, I hope._

With that thought all of Akeno's earlier fears faded, and anticipation began to build within her. She even licked her lips excitedly when she spotted a small abandoned street to one side, turning onto it until she found a construction zone to one side with no one in it at present, given it was evening. Ducking inside, she moved a little ways into the interior of the construction zone until she could lean against a girder there, staring back at the entrance and just waiting, schooling her features into grim lines with some difficulty as she threw up a spell to keep nonmagicals from noticing anything that occurred in the construction zone or around it.

To her building anticipation, over a dozen men and women of the Himejima clan appeared there, entering and crowding around quickly. "My, whatever could this be about?" Akeno asked, putting a hand to her face and looking at them thoughtfully.

"You know why we are here," growled the one she had recognized earlier, stepping forward and glaring at her. He was a middle-aged man with a dark black, very pointed beard and long hair down in a ponytail. Currently he was wearing a business suit, but Akeno remembered him wearing the traditional Shinto robes their clan favored when he had come after her years ago. "We had an agreement with your new employers…"

"Family!" Akeno said sharply, her earlier obviously fake bravado disappearing to show real anger now. "The word you're looking for is family, not employers. I believe both Rias-sama and Sirzechs-sama were very clear on that when they saved me from your attempts to kill me when I was… what was it, nine at the most?"

The man glared at her, his mouth and cheekbones twitching as he ground his teeth. "You filthy half-blood, speaking back to me in that tone…" he ground out. "Why the Devils agreed to take you in is beyond me, but then, perhaps filth calls to filth."

Before anyone else could move Akeno took a step forward and slapped him hard across the face, sending him stumbling backwards. "You may say whatever you wish to me—your words matter as much as rain off a duck's backside. But if you insult Rias-sama again to my face, you will regret it," she growled.

The man staggered back, but was stopped from retaliating by one of the other men grabbing his shoulder. "The agreement," that one said grimly, "was that you should never learn Onmyouji type magic. You were spotted going into the Onmyodo territory with your King and one of the locals." From a distance, with his black hair, Harry had looked like a foreigner to the men who had spotted Akeno.

The man Akeno had slapped cut back in now. "That goes against our agreement, and we are here to demand that you cease all attempts to ape your betters. As if a creature like you with that filthy Fallen blood within you could ever learn the magics given solely to humans, for we are their true children, not you and those other contemptible creatures you rut with."

The man glanced down at Akeno's chest meaningfully, and he wasn't the only one. Yet Akeno kept her control, simply stepping backwards, spreading her hands out to either side. "And if I don't go along with this demand of yours? I'm honestly curious, considering my status as Queen to Rias-sama."

"Then we will deal with you here and now and deal with the consequences of it later," the second man said bluntly. "You cannot be allowed to learn that which is only the purview of humans, nor can we allow you to subvert the agreement we created with your lords and masters." The others all spread out, their body language, men and women both, signifying their agreement with that statement and what they would have to do.

Akeno allowed a sneer to spread across her face, eagerness, arousal, and a certain amount of scientific interest in what was about to happen now dominating her mind. "In that case, gentlemen," she said smoothly, "I suggest you try to enforce your rather idiotic rules. Because I have no intentions of listening to scum who think that just because their father is a sinner, both his daughter and his wife should be punished for it."

The man snarled, gesturing forward with one hands as he started to chant an attack spell. But it didn't work. The magic seemed to almost hit something and the man's hand suddenly spasmed as his spell backfired, the flame he had tried to launch at Akeno searing his arm up to the elbow to ash in an instant. "GAAAH!" he screamed as he fell to the ground.

 _Ara, so they can't sense the wards at all, I see. Interesting, and goes with whatever everyone else reported after the wards settled down,_ Akeno thought clinically, while her breath began to turn heavy as she took in the man's agonized face. The others' reactions an instant later proved this hypothesis out. _So, thus far, only Yasaka-sama and those of us who were involved in its actual creation have been able to notice the wards' existence. Excellent._

"What!?" shouted one of the others. "What did she do!?"

"Ara, I wonder~~," Akeno replied her tone teasing as her face began to flush.

More than one responded to that taunt and the smile accompanying it by pulling out talismans and hurling them to the ground. Several of those talismans launched prepared attacks or flew through the air towards Akeno. But the attacks stopped halfway, their magic dissipating in midair, and the talismans simply burned up in the air. Two of them, however, summoned bonded Oni, while another created a golem construct.

"Direct combat spells don't work for some reason. They must have wards around the area that we weren't able to detect!" shouted one of the women who had summoned up the Oni.

"That must be why she led us to this construction zone, damn it! We've fallen into the bitch's trap!" shouted another man. "Spread out, and call upon our servants. We have to kill the filthy half-breed quickly before whoever set the wards are…"

That was as far as that man got before Akeno, dodging a punch from an Oni, lashed out with her own lightning magic at that man. He screamed, and Akeno moaned happily. "Well, look at that," she said, her face flushed now as she licked her lips. "It looks as if **my** spells still work." The Oni, though, were still a threat given their magical durability, and she moved deeper into the construction site, putting several obstacles between her and the large creatures while sending out a Reducto spell, shattering the golem.

Of course, the instant that first man tried to attack Akeno and the wards around Kuoh activated, everyone who had had a hand in building them felt the intrusion. Tsubaki was currently in Hell, meeting with several Sitri servants there as part of their ongoing efforts to organize teams of Youkai heading down to Hell. Sona was still in Kyoto. They still felt it and looked up, scowling and breaking off what they were doing, heading back to Kuoh as quickly as possible. Rias, who had been talking to the kids and getting a feeling for Teddy's personality (and his version of why the two Tonkses were there) leaped to her feet and instantly began to localize the feeling, a teleportation circle appearing around her as her magic flared out.

But it turned out that Harry, still out with Tonks after picking up more food, was closest. Without a word he turned, racing through the streets towards where he felt the disturbance as he shouted out that someone had tripped the wards. Tonks, of course, came with him, her hair turning bright orange with her eagerness.

Before the interlopers could conjure up more servants, the two of them had arrived on the scene. "Knock them out, no lethal spells!" Harry shouted, and he and Tonks went to work. Two three-spell chains lashed out so quickly that even Akeno couldn't follow them. Noise-making, stunner, then Expeliarmis, and finally incarcerating spells of different types lashed out in every direction, knocking out all of Akeno's remaining attackers and hurling them into a neat pile to one side of where she had previously been standing.

The two conjured Oni was the last casualty. One of them turned, but Harry simply decapitated it with a single cutting spell, its magical resistance next to useless against him. The other fell with a thunderous scream of agony as Akeno electrocuted her.

Watching the headless Oni fall to its knees, Akeno pouted as she looked at Harry, though she looked at Tonks with a bit more interest than pique. "Mah, you spoiled my fun, Harry. But who is this?"

"This is Tonks. I've told you about her, and I know precisely what your fun entails, Akeno," Harry said dryly, looking around at the would be attackers thoughtfully. "But we have a lot of goodwill built up with the locals. Wiping out this group of stupid inbred fools—I take it they are your family by the faint family resemblance there—would not serve any purpose.

"It would have made me feel better," Akeno retorted.

Tonks laughed, looping a hand over Harry's shoulders. "So, who's the black haired girl with the knockers?" she asked crudely.

Akeno giggled at that, looking at the way Tonks was dressed and nodding. "You pull off that punk rocker look quite with very well, Ms. Tonks. And I have to say, Harry's description of you was rather spot on."

Tonks shrugged. "If you're awesome and you know it, flaunt it," she said simply, then moved over to tie up the prisoners as one of them began to groan. Then she looked at one of them, the one whose hand had been seared down to the bone at his elbow and shook her head. "Yeah , those wards of yours are kind of nasty."

"I should say so," Akeno said with a smile, looking around at her former clan-members as Rias arrived on the scene. An instant later, Sona and then Tsubaki arrived, all of them clamoring for an explanation

"They couldn't do anything," Akeno reported to her furious King and then to the others as they arrived. "They could summon up their bound creatures, but the moment those beasts took an offensive action they were slowed by the wards. Talismans seemed to work, but they were destroyed the instant they came close. No spells at all worked: that was what happened to that gentlemen," she finished by pointing at the man whose arm had been seared to ash up to the elbow.

"Excellent," Harry said with a nod and a happy smile while Tsubaki too smiled, looking at the damage done thoughtfully and pulling out a notebook as she noticed what had happened to the one man's arms and then considered the ashes of the various talismans and magical items the others had tried to use. She and Harry began to talk excitedly to one another about the implications, but Harry looked up as he realized that Rias hadn't joined the discussion, nor had Sona.

Instead Sona was holding Rias back with her arms locked in a hold under the taller girl's arms and then back behind her head as Rias tried to break free, her hands like claws. "Let me go, Sona!" she shouted. "They attacked Akeno! They attacked a member of my family!"

"They did, and they failed miserably at it," Sona said dryly, holding her friend back with difficulty. "But you can't just go about torturing them now that it's over!"

"Watch me!" Rias growled.

Tonks, watching this, started to laugh, while Harry just shook his head and moved over to help to calm Rias down, although internally he rather found her protectiveness of her family attractive. "Don't torture them, love. I have a much better idea," he said instead, while Akeno was watching her friends, breathing hard for a moment almost as much as she had during the fight.

The sadist Queen normally didn't find Rias attractive in that manner—the two of them had been so close friends for so long that, in Akeno's mind, that was like finding your sister suddenly attractive, which had been part of the problem between them previously when Akeno was also going out with Harry. The time with the Evangelion suits had been hot but also rather disturbing to her when it was over, and not in a way she enjoyed. But right now, hearing Rias shout about what she wanted to do to her former clan members, that was just damn sexy.

From nearby Tonks saw Akeno's still flushed face and rolled her eyes. "So we've got a bit of a sadomasochist here, then?"

"Ara, I don't know what you're talking about," Akeno replied as she looked away.

"Right, sure you don't," Tonks said, then surreptitiously slapped Akeno on the ass. She yelped, turning to Tonks, the flush on her face returning with help. "And you didn't enjoy that? Or the pain you dealt to these?"

The serious look Tonks was giving her made Akeno pause, realizing that Tonks had a reason for slapping her rear just then beyond making her point. "Why are you asking?" she asked suddenly.

"You were playing here," she said simply, gesturing over to the prisoners. "From what I understand you could've ended it any time once the wards activated, right?" When Akeno slowly nodded, Tonks went on. "You didn't because you were getting off. You need to think seriously about what that means. "

That caused Akeno to blush at the crude way Tonks was speaking, but Tonks went on, her tone serious. "Let me tell you a little story. There was once a very interesting family called the Blacks. They were powerful in magic, strong politically, but Dark as all holy fuck. They practiced some of the darkest magics you could name and did it with a smile on their faces and pride in their hearts. But it started to catch up to them. They started to lose control of themselves, started to believe the rhetoric that all that mattered was power.

"Eventually there was one of them, a Bellatrix Black. She was a right trip off the old Black block, enjoying pain—really having a lot of fun with it, you know—so much that she was like artist with it and had become a Dark Lord's chief lieutenant. But one time it bit her on the ass, and it only had to do so once. During a fight she got so into enjoying her opponent's pain that she never noticed another enemy coming up behind her. She was dead before she could blink.

"You see what I'm saying?" Tonks asked, gesturing around at the unconscious men and women around them. "If one of these people had attacked you in the muggle method, with a gun, would you have even noticed, you were enjoying yourself so much?"

Slowly Akeno nodded. "I see your point. I need to be more aware of my surroundings." Then she looked at Tonks crossly. "Although you could have just said that, you know. You didn't have to slap me on the ass."

Tonks laughed. "No, I didn't," she said, winking. "But your bum's so spankable I couldn't help myself."

Akeno blushed at that, then shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose I'll let you have that one."

"That implies that you could stop me from doing it in the future," Tonks said teasingly.

At that Akeno smiled at her, showing all of her teeth. "Would you like to try again?"

"Maybe later, thanks," Tonks shot back with a grin. "I think Harry and Sona are done reining in the redhead. Damn, what is with that hair-color and giving the people with it such tempers?"

"I think it's more of a female redhead thing, honestly," Akeno said, sweatdropping as Rias finally calmed down with what Harry said to her, causing Rias to look at the prisoners before nodding slowly. "It does seem as if they are done, though."

When Tonks and Akeno joined them by the first prisoner in the line Tsubaki had pushed them into, Harry asked, "Akeno, can you tell me which of these is the one in charge?"

Akeno frowned. "I can tell you who the two who were doing the talking were, but that's not quite the same thing. Like most traditional Japanese, among my clan the leader of a party like this wouldn't actually be doing any of the talking. Talking to their supposed target—me, in this case—would be beneath them. But what are we going to do with them?"

"Given that our last bit of interaction with the local government was quite good, I think I'm going to pile on the goodwill while also plumbing the depths of their magical knowledge is much as possible…and make utter fools of the lot of them," Harry said with a Marauder-like smirk, looking over at Rias.

"Agreed," she said stiffly. "But I want to make a point with them after you're done with them. Nothing physical. Don't worry; I'm calm now," she said, actually breathing in deeply as she spoke it, making a motion with her hands as if she was pushing her anger down and away with each breath. "I am calm; I will not use the Power of Destruction to make it as if these cretins never existed. I am calm; they will live past this moment of **gross stupidity** in attacking one of mine, for I am kind. I am calm; knowledge matters more than retribution."

The others were sweatdropping slightly as they looked at her, but then Rias barked at them, "Get on with it!"

"Alrighty then," Harry said with a dry chuckle, while Akeno fought off another blush at how sexy Rias was at the moment and Tonks chuckled and nudged her in the ribs to get her to close her mouth. "Anyway, we're going to giftwrap them for the local government. In fact, I think we should do just that: tie them up with pretty little bows before calling in the locals to come and clean up this mess."

"Ooh, I like that," Akeno said gleefully. "From what little I remember, my family always prided itself on its independence and its combat abilities, not so much against other people, but against youkai and other supernatural elements, so being defeated like this will truly stick in their craw. In fact, if they knew about how I have been part of a family that has created further agreements between such, that would humiliate them even more~~," she said, actually purring the last few words.

"I think that isn't necessary here, and, besides, I don't want them to know about that, since they could share that knowledge with other people. No, I have something else entirely in mind. But if you can't tell me which of them was the leader, then I'll have to find out." Moving through the prisoners, Harry found the least injured among them and woke her up with a spell. "Imperio," he said simply, pointing his finger directly between her eyes.

Rias and the other devils shuddered, actually looking away, even Akeno. That was a little beyond what even she would do, though seeing it was kind of amazing. Tonks looked at them quizzically before shrugging it off and looking back at the prisoner as Harry asked, "Which of you is the most senior in terms of your family hierarchy, the one who is actually in charge? Point them out."

The woman did so dutifully, and Harry canceled the spell before stunning her once more. This turned out to be a slightly older-looking man with a mustache and a long, full beard, both of which were marked by hints of gray. He woke the man up and, before he could speak, recast the Imperio spell on him. Before he went on, though, Harry looked around at the others. "Anyone have any questions about these people we should know about?"

"Ask them where they live," Rias said grimly. "If they are stupid enough to try this kind of activity again in the future or mess with us in any other way to get back at us for defending Akeno, I want to know where they live so I can make my displeasure with that activity even plainer. After you're done, we'll also erase their memories of our questioning them like this, so they won't even know they gave that information away.

Harry nodded agreeably. Offensively, Devil style mental magics were far better than anything Harry had in that respect, although they couldn't actually search out specific memories. But they could modify minds far better than the Obliviate spell.

There were a few more questions that Rias and Akeno had for Akeno's former family, but they went through them quite quickly. Then it was Harry's turn, and, with a wink over towards Akeno, he began, conjuring up a pad and a notebook with a pen and handing them over to the older man. "You will write down every family spell you can remember, and then you will perform the gestures and moves for them here and now."

The man replied in the tone of the entirely dominated. "There are only a few spells of that nature which are restricted to those of our family's blood. One is offensive, one defensive, while others are mainly of a purification nature and the summoning of Shikigami, our bonded beasts. Those Shikigami bonded to our blood go far beyond what we attempted to use here."

"Explain purification," Harry asked crisply, with Akeno leaning in beside him. Both of them and all the others put the idea of Shikigami down as just another way to say familiars despite the man's boasting. Thus they ignored it.

"Purification means we are able to create areas of land and territories where creatures of a supernatural nature cannot go." Pride rang in the man's voice now despite his dominated drone. "Our wards are at the center of many of the wards used by the Onmyodo community, and we even protect the royal family of Japan in a similar manner."

"Write those down," Harry said thoughtfully. "We might want to experiment with them, see if we could write exceptions into them while keeping out others. Can they be overcome?"

"Yes," the man said simply. "A powerful enough devil or demon can break them."

"Nothing new there, then. And the others?"

"The defensive spell is called Future Sight. The offensive style is Holy Lightning."

"What is holy about it?"

"It calls upon the lightning god, Raijin. Though dead, killed by the Catholic God, their names still reverberate in the ether. If you are of the Himejima blood, calling upon their names will add holy magic to your spells. It makes our lightning based spells deadly to Fallen, Devils, and even Angels, as well as Youkai and other beasts," the man replied dully.

"Once more we find that there is a lot more to magic than we think," Harry murmured, while Tonks just blinked in shock to one side. Evidently there was a lot going on here that she hadn't been told about just yet, since Harry had forced her on the defensive during their walk. She glared at the back of Harry's head, wondering if he was keeping stuff like that secret from her in hopes that she wouldn't get involved. _Well, screw that noise! This is all sounding way too interesting to not want to be involved with._

"Show me the movements for these spells," Harry said, looking over at Akeno. "I'm thinking you can look at them later in our pensive and memorize them that way from all of our memories."

Akeno nodded, smiling happily as she watched, almost cackling as she rubbed her hands together.

That was soon finished, and Harry began to gesture with one hand, conjuring ropes and pretty pink bows into existence as they tied them up, with Akeno doing the final touch, tying those bows on each of their heads. Then, as the others took pictures, Harry called a phone number he had been given to report criminal matters, calling in a group of Shinsengumi.

As the others were busy, Tonks looked over at Harry sternly. "So, are you gonna tell me what the hell is going on here?"

Hearing this, Rias looked at her thoughtfully, then over to Harry and shrugged. "You trusted her in the past to watch your back. Can we trust her with our secrets?"

Harry nodded firmly but looked at Tonks quizzically. "Are you sure you want to know, Tonks?"

"Harry, I'm going to stick me nose in, whatever you want, so stop it with the babying and just tell me," Tonks said with a sigh.

Harry shrugged. "I should've expected that. So, big secret first, I suppose, Rias?"

"I suppose so, yes. And it's best to rip the Band-Aid off, as it were." With that Rias's shoulders twitched and black devil wings sprang out from her shoulders. Around them the others did the same, even Akeno, although hers were different, one being that of a Devil, the other that of a Fallen. "The first thing you should know is we're Devils, as in the Catholic kind of Devils."

"I'm not a Catholic," Tonks said with a shrug, taking this vision with more aplomb than any of them expected. At their looks she shrugged. "I dated a vampire and nearly married a werewolf, so you're going to have to work harder than that to shock me."

Rias blinked at that, then looked over at Harry, her brows furrowing, and Tonks laughed. "No, it wasn't Harry. He was always a little young for me, although maybe if I had tried to have a figure like you two do though, he might've gone for me."

Akeno laughed. "Ara, is that envy I hear there?" But then she yelped as Tonks smacked Akeno on the ass again. "Stop that!" Akeno shouted, holding her rear now.

"I did warn you I'd spank you again if you gave me an excuse," Tonks said, laughing.

Tonks, however, was shocked when Akeno smacked her back. "Then you get what you deserve," she huffed, while Tonks breathed just a bit more heavily than she had a moment ago. She liked a little bit of pain in the bedroom. That's partially why she'd gone out with a vampire and a werewolf, after all, and why she **really** enjoyed being with Remus once she broke him down, despite their not having much in common outside of the bedroom.

After that, however, Rias and Harry began to once more fill Tonks in on what had occurred in Kuoh and Harry's part of it.

"…So you and Harry are together, but it's not exclusive. You have this fiancé whose an asshole issue hanging over your head coming up, which you've been training to deal with for a while. Devils are real, Fallen Angels are real, Angels are real, and each form their own factions. That fight is in like a Cold War sort of state right now but could break out at any moment, which seems to be the aim of this terrorist group, oh and monsters here and the world over have formed an Association under a sexy fox, literally."

"That's a somewhat decent summary," Rias said thoughtfully, her lips quirking at Tonks' twist on things.

Tonks nodded and said simply, "Yep, gonna stick me oar in. Do you want some help training up for this? I could give you someone else to spar against besides Harry, at the very least."

Soon after that a team of Shinsengumi arrived, led to them by Tsubaki, who had met them at the train station. The team leader was a middle-aged man with a long scar on the side of his head and slick-backed hair. While his men began to hoist their new prisoners up and cart them off, he listened intently as Akeno explained what had happened and why she had been attacked, ending with, "I don't know anything about this agreement they cited and would probably not have agreed to it in any event."

When Akeno finished, the middle-aged man, whose name was Akira, sighed sadly, looking over at the other members of the Himejima clan. He would never have thought about fighting even one of that clan alone, but it was evident that they had found a far bigger threat here. Further, he just had to shake his head at how blinkered this act proved the clan was. "This is beyond stupid," he said bluntly. "But I suppose it should have been expected given how isolated the Himejima clan likes to keep themselves. Although, I don't think they'll be able to keep to that policy after this bit of gross ineptitude. I thank you for letting them live," he finished as he turned to address Rias. "You know you would've been well within your rights to…"

"I know, and believe me I was truly tempted to do just that," Rias interrupted "However, cooler heads prevailed." She looked at the older man grimly. "There will be not be a second time. I will trust that you and your government will deal with this group as they should be, I will believe in your justice just this once. But if they attempt to attack me and mine again, I will deal with it."

The men nodded. "As it should be," he said simply. Then he looked over at them. "Is there anything you want to say to them before I take them away?

"Silence them so they can't speak," Rias said coldly as she nodded. The Shinsengumi woke the Himejima clan members up and silenced them all and after a few moments of stupid struggle against their bonds, all of them fell still, glaring around them.

Rias moved down the line of prisoners speaking softly. "As you are no doubt aware by this point, your attempt to attack Akeno failed miserably. It was beyond stupid of you to do so, and most of those reasons I will leave to your superiors and your government to explain to you. However, there is one thing that each of you must be aware of a right now."

She stepped forward into the leaders face, glaring angrily at him. "I am a Gremory," she said simply. "I take my family's protection very, very seriously. "Akeno might have been born into your clan, but she is part of **mine** now. She will be left alone whatever agreement you think was broken, whatever you think of her very existence, she is a Gremory as far as you are concerned. If you do not remember this, the next time you try anything, **anything** to deal with Akeno, I will go hunting for your clan, and do to you what you attempted to do to her. Do you understand me?"

The man nodded convulsively, fearing plain in his eyes. He knew now that thinking the young girl in front of him didn't have the spine to back up her older brother's pronouncements had been a very nasty mistake.

After that Akeno hugged her friend tightly as they watched the prisoners being taken away, and for a moment the others were silent, watching them go before Harry sighed and then picked up the food he'd dropped earlier. "So, I'm hungry, anyone else?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Millicas frowned as his magic bounced off the teleportation circle, though the effect wasn't as violent as most adults would think by the description his mind had just come up with. After all, one didn't enter a teleportation circle physically first so much as magically. To use a teleportation circle like those the Gremory clan supplied, a person had to send their magical energies into the circle to activate it, and then they could just step through.

When the backlash hit him the young boy stumbled backwards, shaking his head in some pain, as if a headache had come and gone within a few seconds. "What in the world?" Clamping his hands over his mouth, Millicas looked around quickly, but thankfully he had remembered to close the door behind him so no one heard his exclamation.

Once certain he was still undiscovered by any of the household's staff—or worse, his mother—Millicas turned back to the teleportation circle and scrutinized it in thought. "Some kind of protection done on the actual teleportation spell itself at the other end of the connection? That's kind of cool!" Millicas hadn't even heard of that kind of thing before, although Millicas knew he hadn't really shown any aptitude with teleportation magics to this point.

Frowning, he paced around the circle for a moment, thinking hard. "If it's there, it's either there because Grandfather or Father put it there, and Father would have included me in the spell, considering he knows what I'm up to. Or it could be put there because of Rias. Yes, that makes more sense."

With that thought he pulled out his human-style cellphone and dialed it. Of course, communicating between one dimension and the next wasn't based on technology, regardless of device he was using. Instead, this phone and all the similar devices in Hell ran on magical means devised by Maou Beelzebub. Millicas typed in Akeno's number first, only to pout as no one picked up. "Darn it. I could have trusted her to keep my arrival a secret from Rias-nee-sama, but I suppose that would have been too simple."

Then he brightened. "Oh, I have Sitri-san's phone number too. Levi-tan gave it to me the last time she was around, bragging about…what was it again, some kind of big catch Sitri-san made?" Millicas shook that off for a moment and then typed in Sona's phone number.

After two rings Sona picked up, sounding somewhat quizzical. "This is Sona Shitori; may I ask who's calling?"

"Hello, Sitri-san. This is Millicas Gremory. I was hoping to surprise Rias Nee-sama by showing up, but I can't get through the teleportation circle nor can I contact Akeno-san. Would you mind letting me through?" Millicas asked, his tone as polite as he could make it, as he had been trained to do by his mother and grandparents.

On the other end of the line Sona's brows furrowed, then she shrugged. She had just made it home from Kuoh after creating a schedule for the first group of Youkai to head to Hell, so it wasn't that big a deal. If the boy wanted to surprise Rias, that was no skin off her back. "I suppose, seeing as it is winter break, I will allow this. I will be in the ORC clubroom in a few moments."

True to the older girl's words, Millicas sensed something change in the air around the teleportation circle as it somehow changed to his magical senses. At the same moment Millicas began to hear the noise of someone coming, and, with wide eyes, he hurried over to the ring, stepping into the center and activating the array as quickly as possible.

Behind him the door opened as the signal of the teleportation ring faded, and one of the household's maids entered. She paused for a moment, contemplating the ring and looking around before sighing and shaking her head. "Just my imagination."

 **OOOOOOO**

Back at the Potter house, while Akeno immediately started to watch the pensieve to learn her former clan's spells, Rias, Kalawarner, and Harry started to cook. Tonks sat at the kitchen table, not helping but exchanging stories with Harry, motioning first out the door to where Lily and the others were running around the backyard and then over to the trunk she'd brought along, continuing their original discussion.

"Do you have any idea why Gringotts and the Wizengamot have been contacting me?" Harry asked, looking around from where he had been cutting up some vegetables. "Gringotts shouldn't have anything to say to me since I've been moving most of my… Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh.' You're not one of their bigger clients, but I'd bet your gold leaving was enough to bother the hells out of 'em," Tonks said with a smirk. As an Auror she knew precisely how many times they had been shafted on investigations because the goblins wouldn't let them access the accused's vaults to search for evidence or just to confiscate their gold. It was why Malfoy and his ilk had been able to fund Voldemort's second rise to power just as easily as they had the first. Once something was within a vault at Gringotts, only family or those authorized could access it. If a family died, the gold reverted to the bank.

"And much of that gold isn't even in gold form any longer," Rias chipped in helpfully. "After I convinced him of the necessity, Harry transferred some of his money to me, whereupon I added it to my own portfolio and have since invested much of it. Indeed, we just got the returns for the first two months on some of that, and it looked good." She nudged Harry. "Oh, and I'll get to work tomorrow on setting up a college fund for Lily-chan as you asked me to. Though honestly, Harry, why you haven't done that yet is beyond me."

"I'm still struggling with the idea of money working for you in that form," Harry replied honestly. "I'm used to the idea of money buying votes, the media, and so forth in politics, but not investments like this."

"Is there anything the bank can do to stop Harry from transferring the remainder of his cash to the local nonmagical banks?" Kalawarner asked.

"I dunno. You'd have to ask a lawyer that one. But I'd recommend at least looking at their mail. Maybe there's some ancient clause or other they think they can use or there's some kind of law from the Wizengamot that says Ancient houses can't transfer funds out of country beyond a certain amount," Tonks said with a shrug, looking at the blue-haired girl's back thoughtfully. Not just because it was a crackin' rear, like that of Akeno, but also because she still hadn't heard her story yet from Harry.

That curiosity might have had something to do with why she blurted out the next bit without any lead up. "It could also tie into why Gin-Gin was trying to pressure me about telling you to bring back Lil… Oo shit…" Tonks trailed off, her pink hair whitening swiftly to match her face.

There was a thunking sound as Harry cut through the carrot he'd been chopping and the cutting board underneath. "What?" he asked softly.

That was to be expected. What Tonks hadn't expected was for the other two women to react almost as negatively, a spear of light appearing in Kala's hands as she whirled away and an aura of black and red energy suddenly flaring up around Rias, hence Tonks's sudden fear.

Tonks decided then and there to choose her next words very carefully, only a bit of color returning to her face. "Um, Ginny kind of roused the Weasley clan and tried to browbeat me into telling them where you were and to bring back Lily. Don't ask me about the change of heart, I couldn't tell ya, though I pointed it out as bluntly as I could. Molly, well, she probably honestly believes you couldn't raise Lily proper. But Ginny, don't know what angle she's after."

Harry frowned angrily, his eyes actually beginning to glow, but just then the doorbell rang. Kala and Rias both calmed down, while Harry kept on staring at Tonks until Rias passed by him, heading towards the door. "I'll get it!"

She opened the door and blinked in surprise, seeing Sona standing there with a young and very familiar redheaded boy. "Millicas-kun?!"

"Rias Nee-sama!" the boy said with a smile, then looked around warily. "Um, can I come in?" he asked hesitantly. Sona had read him into the wards of the area once they came through the teleportation circle. Before that it had felt like a sort of weird energy field around him, watching him in some fashion the young boy could not quite define. That had gone away thanks to Sona, but he was now on the lookout and could sense the wards of the house in front of him.

"Of course," Rias replied, reaching forward and putting a hand on his head, a brief flare of magic appearing around her hand as she used her new ability to add someone into the Potter house wards.

At that feeling Millicas smiled and hopped forward eagerly, hugging Rias around the middle, which Rias returned for a brief moment before pushing him away and cocking her head to her one side. "Dare I ask what you're doing here?" she said with a smirk. "Or if your parents know you are?"

Millicas frowned, poking his fingers together and looking away before turning back with a bright grin. "Well, I might have just sort of snuck away from the house, but Dad, at least, knows I was planning to come here. He even gave me something to give to you."

Pulling a bag off his back, Millicas held out a large sheathe of notes. "Um, I don't know what it's about, but he said it was about serious politics stuff, and you'd know what it was about?"

 _Probably about the incident with the heir to clan Astaroth that Harry and Koneko killed. I've been expecting this for weeks now._ Rias exchanged a nod with Sona, then set that aside for now, smirking down at Millicas. "I note you didn't mention your mother, Grayfia-sama?"

"Erk, weelll, no, Mom doesn't know I'm here. Dad said he'd cover for me for a few days," Millicas said, shaking his head, then blinked looking around Rias and into the house where Lily and a few of the others had come out to see who was at the door.

Chuckling, Rias put an arm around Millicas's shoulders and brought him inside, asking, "Well, you arrived just in time to join us for dinner, Millicas. Let me introduce you to the Potters and our other friends. Sona, do you want to stay for dinner?"

Sona demurred, smiled at Rias, and said they would need to go over her brother's notes tomorrow, to which Rias agreed. After that Rias and the others introduced themselves to Millicas, and Harry gestured the red-haired boy down to join them at the table. " **YES**! Another boy. Maybe if we get a few more around here then maybe we can start straightening out this ratio."

Then he pointed at Tonks. "Of course, that means we can't have more women arriving. You can leave now, Tonks."

"OY!" Tonks growled, while the rest of the table laughed save for Millicas, who just smiled self-consciously until he found himself dragged into a seat by Lily.

"You're the first real redheaded boy I've seen here," Lily enthused. "I used to see the Weasleys—they're my family on Mother's side—a lot, but their hair is more orange then really red like ours."

Millicas smiled at that, and it served as a conversation starter. From then on the youngsters, Teddy, Lily, Kunou, Millicas and Asia, began to talk to one another at the far end of the table, with Millicas as first being a little shy, but then getting into it quickly. He hadn't been around many kids his own age, but he was used to talking to servants and others all the time that he, like every Gremory, treated more like friends and family members, despite Grayfia's stern teachings on how to act in public.

The adults at the other end of the table deliberately set aside more serious matters for the duration of the meal, with Harry asking if Millicas was going to stay for a while, to which he replied cheekily, "Until I'm missed at home, so, maybe a day or two? No more than that. Mom is very good about checking in on me, even if Dad says he's going to run interference." He paused, thinking. "Although, how he's going to stop Mom from checking in on me at night like she does before bedtime, I don't know."

"Heh," Harry said with a wry chuckle, as Rias blushed, shaking her head, Kalawarner smirked, and Akeno and Tonks shared a wicked laugh. "Oh, trust me, kid, a husband has a lot of ways to distract his wife."

"Whether or not my Nii-sama will survive the attempt is a different story," Rias said, trying to regain control of her face. "But, in that case, I suppose you can use my old room during your stay here."

Millicas blinked. "Old room?"

Rias smiled, taking Harry's hands under the table and looking over at Akeno to see how she would take this. "Yes. I've moved in here with the Potters now."

Thankfully, Akeno simply nodded, not really caring about that at this point, instead turning back to ask Tonks some more questions about attacks spells. Harry had trained them in numerous spells up to this point, many of which the devils had been able to learn and modify for themselves. But this didn't include spell chains, and Akeno, in particular, was very interested in them.

"So you're a Metamorph, Tonks-san? What does that mean? Other than your hair color changing, I mean. As fascinating as that is to watch, surely that would not be enough to earn that kind of magic its own label," Asia asked.

"Heh, none of that -san stuff, girlie. I'm just Tonks." Tonks said

Before she could say more, though, Kalawarner spoke up, her eyes glinting in amusement. "I'm more interested in what this first name of yours is. Harry mentioned once that you have a major problem with it, so much so you earned the hyphenated She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named label, but he never said what it was."

"And you won't be getting it out of me, whatever you try," Tonks said with a laugh. "The fewer who know my name, the better, which means you better not tell them any more than you have already, Potter, if you know what's good for you."

"What about you, Teddy? Won't you tell us your mother's name?" Kalawarner cooed, one hand gently going down Teddy's face until she took hold of his chin and turned it towards her.

Teddy, however, simply smirked. "Miss, I've been around Veela a lot over the years. You're gorgeous, but you aren't giving off an aura that's trying to turn my mind to mush. And, no offense, but my Mum can be right scary, so no."

"A, ano, if Tonks-san doesn't want to tell us, that is her right. But I would still like to know what a Metamorph is," Asia said, smiling at the two Tonkses.

Grinning, Tonks hopped to her feet, pointing randomly at Akeno. "Pick a hot actor."

"Donnie Yen," Akeno stated quickly. When Tonks just looked blank, she rolled her eyes, having to think for a moment. "Hmm… Nicolas Cage, then, or perhaps Arnold Schwarzenegger, when he was younger, of course."

"Ahnold's closer to the guy form I use myself sometimes. I'll go with that one for now, but if ya show me a picture of this Donnie guy, I can probably pull off the face, at least." With that Tonks started to shift, her breasts slowly flattening, her hair disappearing into her head, and her face shifting along with her legs and everything else. Soon enough Arnold Schwarzenegger stood in front of them much to the gasps of surprise from everyone around the table.

While Tonks explained what a Metamorph was and answered some questions from the others, Rias and Harry turned, a teleportation circle appearing on the floor outside the kitchen in the main entranceway. Koneko stepped out of it, waving goodbye behind her before turning, sniffing the air and turning towards them and immediately entering the kitchen. She stopped, though, at the three newcomers, until Harry stood up and let her take his seat. "Who're they?" she asked, twitching her head towards the Tonkses.

Once more introductions had to be done, while Harry noticed Teddy almost staring at Koneko, as he had also been studying Asia. _Oh-ho! Has puberty hit my little nephew since I last saw him?_

To Harry's surprise Koneko also seemed somewhat interested in Teddy, sniffing the air and saying that he smelled of wolf, which of course launched both Teddy and Tonks into a tale about Remus Lupin. Harry shared a few stories about the Marauders as a whole, but was mostly content to let the two newcomers dominate the discussion. Akeno, in particular, seemed intrigued by Tonks's Metamorph skill, while Teddy, in turn, continued to pay more attention to Koneko and Asia than any of the others, except for when he got into an argument with Millicas and Issei about what would be the coolest super power: typical kid fare, really. Lily and Kunou joined them but mostly bounced between the conversations or tried to peel off one of the others to join them in their own, which was, of course, dominated by their familiars.

Later that night, Harry delivered Kunou back to Kyoto for the night, getting a kiss from Yasaka in turn and a promise she'd stop by the next morning. Then Harry and Rias, with Sona stopping by, went over their paperwork, taking up the kitchen table for it, while Teddy, Tonks, and Lily watched some TV with Akeno. Akeno would show the Tonkses the Gremory house later, where they would be staying.

"Remunerations for his death, a demand of a copy of the memory so they know that Diodora was the one to start the fight. Huh… Ah, here it is. I knew that was too small a price," Rias murmured.

Sona, reading over her shoulder, also nodded. "Interesting. I wonder what evidence they found to prove that Diodora was associating with the Khaos Brigade. Although, come to think of it, is that where those odd dragon tattoos came from?"

"Perhaps. Darn it, though, Nii-sama doesn't say anything about that aspect. Just warns me to stay away from members of the Astaroth Clan for a time and to pay the remunerations as best I can. Tsk," Rias tsked before putting that to one side and turning to Harry. "What about you, Harry?"

"Hmm… Well, there was indeed two laws I was breaking without realizing it. The first is that I have removed too much money from my vault to an overseas bank, 'allying with the enemies of the goblin people,' which, according to what they say here, seems to mean business enemies too, not just physical ones. So they are threatening to confiscate what remains in my vault if I don't stop. The money I paid Hermione to get the books and the pensieve I wanted was apparently the last straw. I honestly don't know what to do there, since I doubt I'll be going back to the United Kingdom and there's only a few hundred galleons left in total."

Before Rias could interrupt, Harry went on. "However, I also think keeping some of my money in galleons rather than regular money would be a good idea, since that way I can still have money to use in the Wizarding World should I need it. But, on the other hand, I also don't like my actions being forced like that."

"True, but I think it would be a good idea in the long run. But what was the other law you were breaking?"

"An Ancient House's representative must be in the United Kingdom for the majority of every year, seek dispensation, or else cede its Ancient status. In the past that was a major deal, tied into family magics, Grimoires, and all that, but the Potters never really went into that whole scene, and I can't think of a single reason outside of what it might mean on the social scene to care about it."

"Is that why that ginger-haired harridan is trying to get Lily back?"

Harry sighed. "Probably. I would presume there's some kind of dispensation clause wherein a heir can be said to be the family's representative, save the Ancient title, and maybe even gain access to my vaults there. And Ginny's always cared more about the trappings of nobility over family. That, and it would probably be a very big deal for her personally if she's part of the reason why I left and, thus, why the Potters lost their Ancient status."

"Ah, public opinion. It can be quite cruel, certainly. Still, what can she do, so far removed?" Rias asked.

"Nothing if I don't go back to the UK. She can't communicate with me just like Gringotts couldn't. Nor could she find me, as I doubt the Onmyodo government would be very happy to help her given the goodwill we've earned there. I wouldn't put it past her to try, but that's no threat. Gringotts is a bigger threat, one I'll have to decide on in the next few days."

From there Harry joined the others while the two Kings talked some more about the security aspect of organizing Youkai trips down into Hell before Sona left. At that point Rias and Lily took Harry up to bed with them, the little girl wanting to sleep with the two of them since her normal sleep buddy was in Kyoto. And so a very busy day ended for those in Kuoh. Unfortunately, this was just the tip of the coming iceberg, which they would get a hint of later that night…

 **OOOOOOO**

With a small, secret smile on her face, Grayfia slipped out of her and Sirzechs's room, leaving behind a happily snoring husband. Outside she looked around, then stretched and allowed her smile to widen noticeably before making certain her appearance was up to the level that it should be as a maid of the Gremory household. _Whatever got into Sirzechs tonight, I think I'd like him to find some more. That was most pleasant._

This was not damning with faint praise. From Grayfia, this was the equivalent of a woman shouting out that the man involved was just the other side of amazing in the sack. The Gremory Clan were well known not just for their teleportation magic and their high level of reproduction, but also as being very fun in the sack, man and woman.

 _But if he thinks he can wear out this Grayfia-sama, he still has some delusions of grandeur,_ Grayfia thought with an almost wicked look in her eyes. However, she shrugged off such thoughts to focus on more family-based feelings. It was past time to check on her son, Millicas-sama. This was something she did every night, a holdover from a few times when she had lost friends in the night during the civil war. A part of Grayfia knew there was little point to it, but she refused to give it up.

She exchanged nods with two other maids, who bowed deeply to her as befit her rank as Chief Maid and Queen to Sirzechs. After that she was at her son's room, opening the door. Looking in, she was about to smile at seeing him asleep when something struck her as off with the scene she was currently seeing. _That hair doesn't quite match Millicas's. It is far too spiky and disorganized._

Stepping forward quickly, Grayfia was inside the room and by the bed in an instant, where she pulled the cover back with one hand and conjured up a cold flame above the bed. A note that said 'gone visiting' in Millicas's handwriting was on the top of a series of pillows which had been made to look like a body, helped by the wig he had gotten somewhere. Glaring at the message, she looked around. _No sign of a struggle, and the rest of the peerage and servants seem to not have responded to anything. Ergo, he is somewhere in the house. Or, perhaps…_

With that thought Grayfia stalked out of her son's room and was soon in the teleportation room. There she found some magical residue from her son using the teleportation ring and nodded. _So, he's gone to Kuoh to see Rias-sama._

Holding her hand over the teleportation circle, Grayfia pushed out some of her magic into it only to be rejected. Scowling, she tried again with more magic, irritated enough to simply smash through whatever magical defenses Rias might have put on the teleportation array. This time Grayfia was more violently rejected, her magic rebounding back onto her with enough force to send Grayfia stumbling backwards a few spaces. "What!?"

Unlike her son, Grayfia had dealt with defenses on teleportation rings before. So she knew what she was doing: defenses like this could be overcome if you pushed in enough magical power. Now getting somewhat irritated and concerned about why Rias would go to such lengths, Grayfia did just that. Holding both hands now, She kept on ratcheting her power up until she was pouring so much power into it that she actually started to get tired. Yet still the defense on the array wouldn't give way! Grayfia, for once, began to lose her cool, wondering if someone else, someone far more powerful than Rias, had somehow blocked the teleportation ring.

Before that concern could fully override her irritation, the door to the teleportation room opened, and her husband came through. "Grayfia-chan, what are you doing?"

Grayfia stopped, gesturing down to the teleportation ring. "It's locked," she said simply, regaining some of her self-control. "And our son has seemingly gone to Earth to visit Rias-sama." Then her eyes suddenly narrowed. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you, Maou-sama?"

"Mou, Grayfia-chan! What've I said about calling me that when we're alone?" Sirzechs asked plaintively. He then smirked, moving towards her with a leer. "I didn't hear you calling me that earlier."

Grayfia easily kept a blush from her face, irritation helping her immensely formidable self-control. "You didn't answer my question, **Maou-sama,** " she emphasized, knowing it would both impart her concerns and irritate Sirzechs. "I would not have said no to Millicas-kun visiting Rias-sama, but to have her lock the portal afterward like this? Perhaps there is something more going on there, or perhaps someone else is involved, seeing as I was unable to break the lock."

"Well, there's Rias-tan, Sona-san, and Harry. We both know what could have been hidden inside of that wizard. With that kind of power added to Sona and Rias's own, they could create a lock that could block even you. How about instead of blowing your top, we just call?" Sirzechs asked reasonably.

Grayfia scowled. She wanted to go through the teleportation ring and make certain that Millicas was all right (and give him a piece of her mind for worrying her) and make certain Rias wasn't using this lock to stop her family from realizing she was dishonoring herself. That was, after all, one way that Rias could get out of the Phenex/Gremory agreement. If Rias was feeling desperate enough, that might seem a good alternative to allowing herself to be married to a serial abuser like Riser. Grayfia knew the true character of that young man, but she also agreed with the idea of the marriage contract and all the reasons behind it.

 _Mind you, given the fact that only a few members of Rias's peerage were able to deal with another Pillar Clan heir and his full peerage, she might not feel all that desperate. Further, if nothing is happening on the other end and it's just a normal security measure, I might well damage my relationship with Rias._

"Very well," Grayfia said with a sigh, pulling out a phone. She opened it and immediately dialed Rias's phone number.

It rang several times until finally Rias answered with a grunt in her voice, sounding rather irritable. "Whoever you are, do you have any idea what time it is!?"

"It's only twelve o'clock at night, Rias-sama," Grayfia said coolly. "It does not behoove you to act as if I'm calling in the early hours of the morning. In any event, Millicas appears to have decided to visit you, which I would be fine with for a time. But when I decided to come and check on him, I was unable to get through your teleportation ring."

"And perhaps you should of taken that hint," replied Rias, now sounding a little more awake but still unhappy. "Honestly, Grayfia-san. Yes, Millicas is here; he's sleeping right now. If you want to come to get him sometime tomorrow afternoon, we can make an arrangement to do so, but that's for tomorrow."

"Who is that?" Grayfia heard a second voice asked, a girl's voice, but one she didn't recognize.

"Just someone from home, Lily-chan" Rias replied from where she and Lily and Harry were sharing his bed at the moment. She was also holding up a finger to her lips as she looked at Harry, who nodded agreeably.

"I'm babysitting," she said into the phone before Grayfia could ask. "Lily-chan and I both like to cuddle, so your phone call not only woke me up after a hard day of training, but Lily as well. So I'm going to hang up now and we're both going to try to go back to sleep. See you tomorrow, Grayfia-san."

Grayfia stared down at the phone as it slowly developed a covering of frost. "That was rude."

Then she fought back an 'eep' as Sirzechs's arm wound around her. "Not really. If she was babysitting and then had to deal with Millicas, Rias-tan has probably been run ragged. I'm impressed by the new defenses she's made on this teleportation device, but we can wait to talk to her about that. Now, come on. I still haven't given up in our little 'spar'…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Harry looked at Rias with one eyebrow raised, and Rias shrugged. "Grayfia is a very over-controlling mother," she said simply.

Lily growled at that. "Yuck. We're going to have to make certain Milli get enough fun then before we send him back home."

"Milli?" Rias asked rubbing the shorter redhead's head as she turned in the large bed to face Lily and Harry, her arm going around Lily again, and the little girl nuzzling into her father's side.

"Mm. Well, I figure that everyone should have a nickname. Milli just seems, I don't know, too self-effacing and kind of girly in that outfit he wore." Millicas had been wearing the traditional garb of a young noble boy in the Middle Ages when he came through the teleport circle, which included a long coat, an undershirt with a ruffled neck, and shorts.

Rias giggled at that while Harry nodded agreement, though Rias wondered what her nickname was in Lily's mind. "Well, we'll see what we can do about that tomorrow. For now, I think we all should get back to sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day."

True to her word, Yasaka arrived with the dawn the next morning, looking a little tired and grumpy, but far more awake than Rias was up in Harry's bed, where she was still curled around Lily, and vice versa. Even opening the trapdoor down from the attic hadn't woken the older redhead up, a sign that she was still feeling it from their 'exertions' the night before. Kunou was with Yasaka, of course, and ran up to Harry as soon as he came down the stairs, gleefully tugging on his arms and whispering excitedly, "We brought doughnut bake!"

"Fresh made doughnuts?" Harry asked with a smile, ruffling her hair and gently stroking her ear tips, causing her to hum in bliss. "That sounds lovely."

"And it's good to know that there is another morning person around," he went on with a smile as he joined Yasaka in the kitchen, where she had already set out all the ingredients that would be necessary for a wide selection of different types of doughnuts she was looking to make.

"I'm actually more of a morning person than this normally," she said, pointing to her face. "But the moment I returned home I began to get an earful from all of the different youkai races and even some single families about why they should have priority in going down to Devil-land."

Harry chuckled. "'Devil land?'"

Kunou smiled from where she was pulling on an apron that her mother had bought for her. "I thought of that name. After all, Hell is sort of weird, you know? It's got so many negative…connotations?" she said slowly, looking at her mother and smiling happily when her mother nodded at her before going on. "But most devils don't seem bad, not the ones I've met, anyway. So I thought of making a joke out of the name."

"Makes sense. As do your problems, though outside of access to the Familiar Forest I'm still not certain what kind of goods and services the youkai are interested in getting from the Devils that they couldn't from nonmagical humans or the Onmyouji," Harry confessed.

"Familiars are one thing, simply interacting with the Devils is another. Before the Nekomata Massacre, becoming a devil was a quick and easy method to enhance one's personal strength that a lot of youkai thought was simply good sense. Now that the stigma against Devilkind has been ameliorated, there will be a lot of my people who will think about using that method again and will want to head down to Devil-land, *snort*, to advertise themselves. There are also about two dozen magical items and other things of that nature that devils make which youkai would like to get their hands on, many of them to resell at exorbitant prices to the Onmyouji."

"And then there's also their rip off books," she added as an aside.

"Rip off books?"

"Oh yes," Yasaka said with a laugh. "The Devils are sort of like China in that way, I think. They take something foreign, remove the names, and create something a little cheaper looking but still very obviously a copy of the original to sell to home markets, since importing in bulk would be impossible. I've heard of rip off versions of practically every book mankind's made bar the Bible."

"And of course devils don't acknowledge copyright infringement. I wonder how many bureaucrats are actually devils in disguise or, at the very least, contracted with them," Harry mused, stroking his face thoughtfully with an overdone expression which caused Kunou to giggle.

"Say, rather, that they wouldn't recognize a humans right to it," Yasaka said with another laugh.

For a time after that the three of them moved around the kitchen, talking quietly. Something about this simple moment made Kunou's tail wag happily as if she was a dog yokai rather than a fox as she raced around, mostly getting under foot, but trying to be helpful. Yasaka, too, enjoyed the domestic moment, talking about school with Kunou, teaching with Harry, and other things.

Koneko was the next one to wake up, her sense of smell being very attuned to the smell of sweets, and she left Asia praying in their room to come downstairs to see what was going on. Lily was next, dragging a still bleary-eyed Rias. The others arrived immediately on the redheads' heels, with Akeno teleporting with Teddy and Tonks, and Kiba and Loup being the last ones to show up. The two fallen were nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't exactly unusual. Both of them were even worse morning people then Akeno was, and Issei had his own family to spend mealtimes with.

When they arrived, Teddy had a very unusual look on his face when he looked at Millicas, following him into the now magically-expanded kitchen. "I'm sorry if I gave you offense," Millicas said in the tone of someone who has said such before in the last few minutes, "but I am earnest in my desire for your mother."

"Excuse me?" Harry stammered, head whipping up from where he had just put out a tray of small donut holes. "Aren't you a little young for that, boyo?"

"What, wanting someone in my peerage?" Millicas asked, cocking his head. "No, I'm not too young for that. I know many people my age have already begun building their peerage, and my parents have introduced me to many people on the off chance we might hit it off enough for me to add them to my peerage."

"Oh, that's what you meant," Harry said with a broad smile as he looked to Tonks, who shrugged as Teddy groaned.

"I liked the face Teddy made when he said that the first time, so I didn't correct him," she said shamelessly, causing Akeno to laugh and Millicas to look even more quizzical.

When Rias leaned over to whisper in Millicas's ear, that confusion turned into a bright red blush. "N, No! I don't mean that! I mean, yes, you are, I suppose you're good-looking, but I…"

"It's best to stop while you're ahead, boyo," Harry said as Yasaka and the others around the table laughed. "There's just no way forward with that kind of statement, trust me."

"Ahem, yes, well, at any rate," Millicas said, trying to regain his poise in the face of their laughter, "I offered the Bishop position in my peerage to Tonks-san. Her metamorphic skill and the fact that she comes from a magical society that I have never even heard of before meeting you, Potter-san, means Tonk-san would be perfect for the role."

He turned to look at Asia then. "As would you for the Bishop position, given my understanding of your Sacred Gear: Twilight Healing, is it? If Rias Nee-sama hasn't offered that position to you yet, I would like to in her place, Argento-san."

Asia flushed, poking her fingers together, but shook her head. "Ano, while I'm flattered, I still believe in God, if not the way the Church views his teachings. I would prefer not to become a devil and have to deal with the pain I understand I would have to every time I prayed." After that she apologized for the pain the use of that word had caused many around the table, causing many to laugh good-naturedly at her.

In another life Asia would have jumped on the idea of joining Rias Gremory's peerage for various reasons, one of which would've been a desire to have a family, and a desire to have friends. Here, however, she had a family squared and lots of friends already. Indeed, she had made even more in the past few days via the Youkai Association.

"That's right," Yasaka said staunchly, putting her arms around Asia from behind in a hug which squished the younger girl's head back against Yasaka's sizable chest. "Don't go corrupting our innocent little nun, here. We love her just the way she is."

"Too true," Harry said with a smile, reaching over to pat Asia's hands where they had begun to make flustered wiggles and squiggles in midair at the unexpected hug.

"As for me, laddie, I don't know you nearly well enough to agree to become part of this peerage thing, which I'm also still trying to figure out in the first place," Tonks said with a chuckle. "Come back and ask me in about, say, six months or so, and we'll think about it."

"Does that mean you've already made the decision to stay around?" Harry said with a put upon sigh.

"We actually talked about that last night," Akeno said, gesturing between herself and Tonks. "Considering that Rias-chan is moving in here with you, that leaves her room free along with the room Koneko used to use. Admittedly, we will have to move all of their stuff in here as well at some point, or somewhere else," she went on, looking at Harry and Rias's faces as they glanced at one another, "but that will leave two rooms in the house that the Gremory bought for us to use while living here in Kuoh."

"True," Rias said with a nod. "So that's housing done, but Tonks, you don't seem the type to just sit around all day. And, once school starts up again, none of us will be around either."

Tonks waved her hand airily. "I've actually already gotten an offer to apprentice with one of the local police people, they call themselves Shinsengumi, some kind of historical reference there."

Teddy interrupted at that point excitedly. "It's the name of this really strong group of Samurai that worked for the nonmagical government during their industrialization era. An old man named Husukai told me about them, and some of their fights were seriously wicked!"

"Right, that, though it weren't nearly as fun for me since I was still thawing out at that time," Tonks said dryly. "And it won't be a real apprenticeship with Husukai, it'll be more of an equivalent exchange kind of thing."

Akeno and Rias gaped at the name and then looked over to Harry. Harry just nodded and said, "Yes, he's a retired Shinsengumi."

"B, but he seemed so sweet and nice," Akeno said, fumbling for words. "I didn't think he could hurt a fly! Unless it tried to damage his books."

"Trust me, that old man's got a lot of tricks under his sleeve," Tonks said dryly. "He's like this old partner I had back in England by the name of Mad Eye Moody, only a lot more sane and not nearly as damaged physically, either."

"Who?" said more than one voice, and Tonks was forced to explain her old teacher's unique properties.

Afterwards Harry changed the subject, gesturing with a fork over to Millicas and Teddy. "So I know Millicas here wants to go shopping for Gundam models. Teddy, if you're going to be here, you'll probably need to look around for a school, although I don't know if they'll take transfers in January. Did you happen to bring along his transcripts, Tonks?"

Tonks look sheepish, and Harry sighed. "Right, I'll take care of that, I suppose. Unless, of course, Teddy doesn't want to go to school? I bet we could find a fully magical school somewhere for him to enroll in while we home teach him everything else. Mittelt and Kalawarner would certainly be able to do that."

"No, I want to go to regular school, please," Teddy said quickly. "That's like the exact opposite of what the locals do most of the time anyway."

"And you also need to get Milli here some new clothing, Daddy," Lily said, looking at Millicas.

Millicas blinked and then looked down at his own clothing. "What's wrong with that what I'm wearing, Lily-san? Also, Milli?"

"Nothing if you're going to a ball or some other ritzy kind of thing," Lily said with a wave of her hand. "You stick out like a sore thumb, Milli, like you let your older sister dress you up or something."

Teddy winced, scratching at his chin. "I wouldn't put it quite as bluntly as my cousin, but the shorts and the whole outfit do kind of make you look like you stepped out of a Victorian romance novel. Like a pageboy or something like that. You're just, erm, it's not flattering," he ended kind of lamely.

Millicas's eyes narrowed at him. "I see," he said slowly, setting aside the mystery of his new, rather unwanted nickname. "Very well, clothing will do nicely as well. Thank you for telling me, Lily-san."

To one side, Koneko looked at the two boys thoughtfully, something that Asia caught, and she asked innocently, "What are you thinking about, Koneko?"

"Thinking about a story I remember reading," Koneko said, looking between the two boys and then from Teddy to Harry. "Teddy, he looks something like Harry, right?"

"Erm, sort of. His hair is close to the same color, though he mentioned choosing that color for himself thanks to his limited Metamorphic abilities. But why is that important, and what story were you thinking about?" Asia asked.

"Reverse Hikaru Genji project," Koneko said obliquely.

Sitting nearby, Akeno heard this and gagged on a sip of milk, gasping and thumping her chest, causing it to jiggle, something that caught most of the people's attention around the table. "My drink just went down the wrong tube," she said, and then looked at Koneko closely, her eyes narrowed as she wondered if Koneko was actually serious about that and if she should encourage it just for the fun of it.

Koneko didn't look at her, though, continuing to look between Harry and Teddy.

Halfway through the meal Yasaka had to leave, having pushed herself well beyond the point of comfort when it came to the feeling of being away from the Dragon's Nest. She was shuddering in place, her fingers twitching spasmodically and her tails drooping at the feel of her connection to the Dragon's Nest trying to pull her back to Kyoto. She exchanged another long kiss with Harry even so, followed by a hug with Rias, before disappearing through the ward with a final head rub to her daughter.

When breakfast ended Rias took Kunou and a beaming Asia over to Mittelt and Kalawarner's apartment. Lily, despite her yowling protests, was forced to go with them after several attempts at a tantrum that got her nowhere. It had come to Rias's attention that, beyond the dress that Lily had made been made to wear during the ceremony in Kyoto, she didn't actually have very many other formal dresses. She had a few good, every day kind of dresses, sundresses and such like, but nothing that could be worn to formal events.

This, of course, caused Millicas to smile at Lily, and she glared back at him, daring him to say anything. However, thanks to his relationship with his own mother and other very strong-willed women, Millicas knew not to take up that offer, simply smiling at her innocently until she left. When she had, he turned to the others, saying cheerfully, "So, where are we going?"

Not an hour later Millicas was rather astonished. "I've gone shopping with my mother and grandmother occasionally, and it wasn't anything like this. I mean, normally we would be there for **hours**. But we were only in there for thirty or forty minutes, and I've got everything I needed and wanted." This consisted of a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and three Gundam models, neatly stacked in a bag.

"Have you ever shopped with Sirzechs?" Harry asked.

"No, he normally lets my mother do all the shopping."

"Wise man," Loup said, grunting from where he had sat nearby. "Letting them shop is always a good way to keep some goodwill with the women."

"Indeed, a wise man, that Sirzechs," Harry added with a chuckle before looking around, pointing towards a sports store. "Still, that means we have several hours to kill before we meet up with the girls. So we can either head over to the park early, or we can head in there and see if there's anything beyond robots you want to take back, Millicas."

Millicas looked at the store and than nodded eagerly.

Soon enough Harry had bought a football, pads, and numerous other pieces of sports equipment that Millicas would be bringing back home with him, including several dozen Nerf guns he bought with his own money. After that, all of the boys headed over to the park.

As they were walking, Teddy took the ball from Millicas, bouncing it up and off his head before flicking it upwards with his foot again, showing a certain amount of control with the black and white ball that spoke of years of practice. Millicas watched Teddy for a time, trying to figure out how he was doing that, before looking up at Harry and asking innocently, "By the way, would you mind horribly if I offered to make Lily-san part of my peerage as I did Asia-san?"

At that Teddy lost control of the ball, kicking it so hard he nearly sent into several passersby, and would have if not for Kiba quickly grabbing it out of midair with his Knight-given speed. Teddy didn't notice, though, staring between Millicas and Harry. "What!?"

Teddy hadn't understood much about what a peerage really was, but he understood it to be the equivalent of either a magical marriage or somehow magically creating a family. Either way, the idea of his cousin being involved like that with another boy made a strange and unpleasant feeling start to boil up deep inside him. He didn't like it; he didn't like it one bit.

"Yes, I would mind horribly," Harry answered sternly, letting Teddy breathe a sigh of relief as Harry stared down at Millicas, making certain the boy understood how serious he was about this. "Eventually, considering several other things that you don't know about, I might be amenable to Rias adding Lily into her peerage, but I hardly know you, Millicas, no offense. And that idea makes me really uncomfortable."

 _And it makes me think I'll need to watch what the two of you get up to while around one another very closely. Given how she acted during the Diodora incident, Lily's Potter blood might push her into doing something truly stupid if she hears about this and thinks it's a good idea for some reason,_ Harry thought grimly. Part of being a parent was keeping your kid from making mistakes, and this sounded like a major one.

"I see. But if you get to know me, can I offer again in a few years? I can already tell that she's going to be a magical powerhouse, much like yourself, if at a slightly lower level. And as a, what did Rias Nee-sama call it, a Phoenix Werewolf? I would be a fool not to think about how that could help my peerage in the future."

Teddy's eyes narrowed while Harry simply shook his head and said he'd make that decision when it came to it, but that it would also be Lily's decision, and she wasn't the kind to leap at that sort of offer. That was a lie, of course, but Harry hoped that Lily could learn to think ahead by the time he became comfortable with this idea in general.

Soon enough they were at the park, where Teddy immediately raced forward into the area of the park set aside for football, kicking the football straight up and then spinning around and kicking it up again, bouncing it off his chest and head before letting it drop back down to his feet. "Does anyone want to play? What about you, Milli?" he asked, looking pointedly at the other young boy.

"What are the rules?" Millicas asked, his eyes narrowing both at the use of the nickname and the challenge he heard in the other young man's voice. He hadn't heard that tone directed at him before, and he didn't like it very much.

"Rules?" Teddy chuckled. "We don't have enough people here to make rules beyond 'no bringing weapons or using magic on the pitch.'" Given some of the football games Teddy had seen with his Mum, that was not a small consideration. "Just try to take the ball from me and kick it into that goal over there, while I do the same with that one…Milli," he said, pointing at each in turn.

Harry looked at Loup and Kiba, who both nodded, and they too stepped forward while Millicas simply raced forward full tilt towards Teddy. The five of them played for a bit, with the two youngsters playing full out and the adults, of course, just toying with them. This kept the violence to a minimum for the most part until the girls arrived.

Surprisingly, Mittelt came with them, still talking to Rias about something, gesturing down at her hands and then making a boxing motion. Her words were unheard by Harry and the others. She stopped, however, as she saw the five men—or, rather, three men and two boys—dancing around with the football and laughed delightedly. "Oh hell, yes! Football!" she shouted, racing forward.

Between one step in the next she snapped out a brief spell and was then dressed as if she were a student at the Academy during gym class. In that attire she raced forward, kicking the ball out from under Millicas's feet, upending him onto the dirt, and racing on.

Grunting, Millicas lay on the ground for a moment before growling and pushing himself to his feet. He'd just been taken out by a girl, and his pride as a boy, let alone the son of Maou Lucifer, would not allow that to stand.

Harry watched, cocking his head to one side as Loup quickly prepared himself in the goalie position. The werewolf let loose a small grunt as he blocked Mittelt's shot from one of the corners, smashing the ball away at the last instant. Kiba got in front of it before it could head deeper into the woods, and Harry asked dryly, "I take it you like football, Mittelt?"

"You better believe it! Barcelona for the win!" Mittelt shouted thrusting out her hands in a peace sign.

"Oh please!" Teddy said with a scoff. "You don't know what football is if you just root for Barcelona. You have to watch Manchester United or Chelsea!"

"Blasphemer!" Mittelt barked back, glaring at Teddy and ignoring the many levels of irony present in that statement, smacking her forehead into his. "You want to go!?"

"Bring it!" Teddy shouted in return.

Sighing, Harry shook his head. This wasn't something he'd seen coming, that Mittelt, standoffish, foul-mouthed seamstress and budding otaku, would also be a football rowdy. His daughter racing forward, laughing and shouting that she wanted in too, that was much more normal to him.

Soon enough the teams were prepared, and the game began, with the last person arriving being Issei. As he had a family, he still couldn't spend quite as much time with everyone else as he might have wished. But this time he hadn't even needed to lie to his parents, telling them he was running out to join in a pickup football game.

Yet even with the greater number of players, Teddy and Millicas still ended up facing one another several times. Each of them tried to one up the other as they began the start of a rivalry right in front of Harry's eyes. He was amused by this but hoped that it wouldn't get to the point where it was a real rivalry rather than a friendly one.

 _But is it just me, or is Lily at the center of this?_ Harry shuddered at the very idea, having already been having issues with Issei and Saji vying for Asia's affections and having no wish to see any boy show interest in his little girl.

The only people who didn't play the game were Asia and Kunou, who sat together, watching, cheering on both teams equally. Kunou didn't like competing like this, and Asia didn't like sports as a whole outside of tennis, which she had recently taken up thanks to Rias introducing it to her.

Unfortunately for Harry's hopes, Teddy, in a typical football move, kicked the ball out from under Millicas just like Mittelt had a few moments before. But this time Millicas flipped himself off of his hands, and charged back, shoulder charging Teddy off the ball and dumping him onto his rear, racing down the pitch with the ball in the opposite direction.

Teddy, of course, took umbrage at this and leaped to his feet, almost tackling Millicas off the ball. Then Mittelt, who was playing on Teddy's team, arrived, followed by Rias, who had also gotten quite into the game for some reason. Millicas passed the ball to Rias despite all Teddy could to do stop it, and she and Mittelt fought for the ball, only for Lily to swoop in and take a neat pass from Mittelt. But behind them the two boys fell to the dirt, actually wrestling now.

From his position on the sidelines as a ref, Harry shouted, 'No punching, boys!"

"Aren't you going to separate them, Tou-san?" Asia asked, looking up at her adopted father, something she was still having issues remembering occasionally.

"Boys will be boys. So long as no punches are thrown, I don't see the harm."

Eventually, though, when the boys showed no sign of getting back into the actual game, Loup loped over and pulled the two boys apart. They glared at one another as he held them at arm's length to either side, their feet nowhere near touching the ground. "Play nice," he rumbled.

"Yeah, I'm afraid you're both being red-carded," Harry said with a laugh, pointing to the edge of the playing area. "Both of you need a time out and to remember the game matters more than any rivalry."

Eventually the time that Sirzechs had told Rias to expect his wife to pick up their son started to loom, and Harry called the game closed, with Teddy's team up by one. Millicas scowled at having lost, but was mollified slightly when Lily thrust her hand out towards them with a grin, shaking his hand hard. "Good game, Millicas. You're not nearly as girly as I thought you were."

Millicas frowned at that. "Um, thank you, er, I think? That was a compliment, correct?"

She nodded and raced over to her daddy, who was laughing quietly at this exchange and the others. She went to give Kunou a hug, but she squealed and literally climbed up Harry's side to perch on his head to get away from her, and Harry laughingly warned Lily off, telling her she needed a shower. "In fact, I think all of you could use one."

 **OOOOOOO**

Grayfia scowled inwardly, unhappy with her current duties as she marched down the hallway to the teleportation room once more, this time in the light of day. While she had agreed to leave Millicas with Rias for a few days, this plan had not stood up to the plans of Lord Gremory and Lord Phenex and their agreeing to move up the date of Rias and Riser's marriage, which would've been in February, to two months from now.

That wasn't good, and Grayfia honestly didn't like being a part of it, but, given their concerns about what all had been going on on Earth, she couldn't exactly say they weren't without justifiable reasons for wanting to make certain that Rias had some more help, which Riser would provide, in their eyes, at least. Grayfia wasn't certain they were correct on that score, and she also didn't really like Riser.

But Grayfia knew her duty and so agreed with them and with her husband to go before Riser and make certain nothing untoward occurred. That this would let her pick up her son was a nice bonus. _Although hopefully Millicas-chan will not be there for this meeting._ Grayfia knew this wasn't going to be pleasant. With a sigh she held out her hand over the center of the circle and sent her magic into it. Thankfully, true to her word, Rias had unlocked it for the day, and the teleportation circle activated swiftly. _I just wish that my reasons for going to Earth were just as Sirzechs-sama told Rias-sama. Although I am still wondering about that conversation with Rias-sama last night. Was she really only babysitting? There was something else in Rias-sama's voice, as if she was hiding something._

Regardless, Grayfia knew her duty and would see it done.

 **OOOOOOO**

Knowing that Grayfia was a stickler for propriety, Rias had most of her peerage with her to greet Hell's strongest Queen. The only one of her peerage that wasn't there was Mittelt, who had gone back to the fallens' apartment and had not returned. Rias debated with herself whether to go and order Mittelt to join them for this but decided against it. Given the friendly nature of this meeting, there was no need to have her full peerage there, really. Only respect towards Grayfia had the rest of her peerage here. Well, that and curiosity, in Issei's case, as to what Grayfia looked like, and Rias's sense of humor to see his reaction to the older woman.

Harry was there as well, since he wanted to meet this Grayfia person, having heard about her from Sirzechs and from Rias, getting some very different opinions about the woman, but not having met her just yet. Millicas was still in the bathroom getting changed, though, when the teleportation circle activated.

Harry's first impression of Grayfia was sternness. She was just as tall as Rias and was dressed in a maid outfit, as Rias had said she would be. But her face was cool, almost cold, given how controlled it was, despite the red lipstick she wore and how honestly gorgeous she was. And while her body language was almost subservient, it didn't match her face at all.

To his, Akeno, and Rias's surprise, Grayfia seemed to be able to feel the wards around her as she entered, something none of the Youkai had reported up to this point save for Yasaka. Harry had personally put that down to her being a sage, but evidently it was simply a more heightened magical sense than anything else.

None of the others noticed, of course. Koneko and Kiba didn't notice Grayfia's body language, while Issei was too busy staring, his mouth agape and his eyes wide. "W, who's she!?"

"That would be Grayfia Lucifuge-Lucifer, as in the wife of the King of Hell," Kiba said in a whisper. "A woman strong enough to wipe out our entire peerage if she so choose. I would roll up your jaw if I were you."

The silver-haired woman looked around warily, then down at her own skin before looking over at Rias, her gaze both calculating and approving. "You seem to have learned some new tricks, Rias-sama," she said in way of greeting.

"Quite a few, actually," Rias with a smirk. "Millicas-san is showering right now, so you'll have to wait until he's done. He, Kiba, Issei here, and several other boys had a rather rousing game of something Harry called football."

"It's a real man's game, and Millicas had something to prove," Harry said with a laugh.

Grayfia looked at him and very carefully did not let her expression change as she now got a feeling of the magic within Harry Potter. It was quite a bit more than what she had expected, indeed, far more than she and Sirzechs had believed possible, even for one with a possibly unknown Longinus Sacred Gear, which was what they had both thought he contained. Feeling his energy now, though, it was obvious why Rias had been unable to interest Harry in joining her peerage.

And yet, even Rias was somehow…stronger wasn't quite the word she wanted to use. Grayfia was a master of body language, and all of Rias's peerage seemed more confident, stronger, and more certain of themselves than they had been the last time Grayfia had seen them. But Grayfia could also sense something about Rias, much as Yasaka had, though not to as great an extent.

She let nothing of those thoughts show, however, as she bowed her head towards Harry. "Potter-san, my husband told me much about you. I hope you are enjoying your time teaching, but I have to ask why you are here, as I understood that you were not part of Rias-sama's peerage. Might I ask what you are doing here?"

"While I am not part of Rias's peerage, I'm certainly a friend," Harry said, frowning as he detected some irritation in the woman's voice.

"I see. But I am afraid I will have to ask you to leave, as I have business to talk to Rias-sama and her peerage," Grayfia said.

If she was anticipating that Harry would simply leave at that, she was sorely mistaken. Instead Harry exchanged a look with Rias, who shook her head and leaned back. "He stays," she said simply.

"Rias-sama, I am afraid I am not here just to retrieve my son. This is truly Devil business, and I feel that Potter-san being here is detrimental to that business and not at all necessary as he is an outsider," Grayfia said sternly. "I am afraid I must insist."

"That's strange. I thought I was co-ruler here in Kuoh, at least in terms of Devil-type business. He stays," Rias said firmly, staring her brother's Queen firmly. She admired Grayfia a lot, more in many ways than she did her mother, but she wasn't about to bend on this point despite how difficult it was. But if this was about the thing Rias feared it was, Rias wanted Harry here for moral support, if nothing else.

Seeing the younger girl's determined look, Grayfia nodded slowly. "So long as it is understood that you should probably remain silent, I will not object to your presence further."

"Bully for you," Harry said with a chuckle, visibly dismissing the gray-haired woman.

"Now what is this all about, Grayfia? Or perhaps I should just guess and say you're here as someone else's messenger?" Rias asked caustically. "Or, no, peacemaker. My parents wouldn't want me to try and just kill Riser like I so long to, after all."

Grayfia frowned at that, her magical aura beginning to leak out into her eyes and from her body all around her. "That wasn't very polite."

"I'm not feeling very polite, and your beating around the bush isn't making me feel any better. Now spit it out."

If anything Grayfia became even colder, despite the odd sensation she had been feeling since arriving ratcheting up as her magical aura flared out of her skin, causing the temperature in the room to drop visibly. "One should always act with proper decorum, milady."

"Yes, you'd know all about propriety, wouldn't you?" Rias said, her eyes going as cold as Grayfia's for a moment.

Grayfia frowned further at that, her aura flaring, but even as she did she felt the presence around her pushing down, pressing in as if like a physical thunderstorm, almost. "What is that I am feeling?" she asked, the question suddenly becoming more prominent in her mind than Rias's lack of respect.

"Our new defensive magic," Rias said with a small, thin smile. "It reacts negatively to magic users that have not been added into the warding scheme, and I wouldn't recommend performing any spell that the wards could view as aggressive action."

"Will you not read me into them?" Grayfia asked.

"You haven't answered my question," Rias said coolly. "Why are you here?"

It struck Grayfia then that Rias's attitude had changed the instant she had mentioned being here for more than her son. She was now suddenly being viewed as an enemy, just like Rias would look at Riser, by a woman who had looked up to Grayfia for her entire life. Looking around, she also saw that Akeno, Kiba, Koneko, even the new boy, who she hadn't been introduced to, were following Rias's lead and were subtly ready for trouble.

In contrast, Harry wasn't visibly ready, but he was also watching her like a waiting python, his fingers twitching. Those emerald eyes were locked on hers, and, whatever his body language said, she knew the wizard was poised to leap to Rias's defense.

Part of her applauded the fact that Rias had been able to gain such an ally, had built such loyalty among her peerage, but most of Grayfia's mind was busy wondering what she had done to deserve that treatment. "I am simply here to do my duty to my King and to the House of Gremory," she said simply. When Rias simply looked at her, Grayfia went on. "But, as you have obviously guessed, I am here to inform you that Lord Riser has been allowed to press forward with his suit upon you early. Indeed, he will be arriving momentarily to meet with you."

"I could just raise the defenses on the teleportation ring and let him bounce," Rias said thinly. "Or I could wait until he activated the circle and then shut it down mid-stream."

Harry chuckled mirthlessly at that, while Akeno put a hand to her cheek, a small blush appearing there, causing Kiba and Koneko to both scoot away from her as Issei just shuddered in place, muttering, 'Remember, it's for the oppai; remember, it's for the oppai,' under his breath. "Mah, I wonder what that would feel like, what expressions Riser-san would make at that time. Mmmm~~, so delicious!"

"You will not do so," Grayfia growled out. "Please do not instigate a war between your two houses, Rias-sama."

"I refuse to make any promise on that score if the alternative is my own enslavement," Rias shot back angrily, glaring now at Grayfia before sighing and regaining some of her control. "And don't expect me to read him into the wards, either. But if he doesn't start anything, like, say, touching me, I won't do anything to him. Physically, anyway."

With a sigh, Rias leaned back, and they were all silent for a moment as a flame appeared in the center of the teleportation scheme, slowly resolving itself into the sigil of the Phenex clan, an odd, fiery bird-like form seen from the side in a vaguely circular shape. From out of this revolving sigil, Riser stepped out of the circle.

Riser was a tallish young man who looked a bit older, perhaps, than Harry, or perhaps younger, it was hard to tell given the cold, arrogant smile on his face and his stance. At five feet eleven inches, he was about four inches or so shorter than Harry in his human form, but he was equally broad in the shoulders and wore a wine-colored blazer over a white shirt coupled with a gold bracelet and necklace. He had shaggy blonde hair falling in long bangs to either side of his face, but cropped short up front and in the back.

He smiled smarmily at Rias, although, perhaps if one had no prior knowledge of the man it might have seemed genuine, ignoring the rest of the people in the room to move towards her. "Ah, Rias. Riser sees you look as beautiful as ever. Truly you have grown into a most desirable woman, a true gem of Hell."

"That's cute. You think a few sweet words can offset your personality in my eyes," Rias drawled. "Tsk, tsk, Riser. I am not my parents or yours. I know all too well the cesspit that is your personality."

"So this is your fiancé?" Harry asked, cocking his head and ignoring Grayfia's earlier injunction . "My word, he certainly has a distinct...style doesn't he. Is speaking in third person a popular thing among you Devils, or is it just a rather sad affectation?"

"Ara, it certainly isn't a social affectation, that, alas is all Riser-san. What it says about him is rather telling," Akeno replied with a giggle, getting in on the act while Koneko and Kiba smirked, if only slightly in Koneko's case. Issei, however just glared, crossing his arms and clenching his hands into fists. A lover of oppai he might be, but he knew there were lines you didn't cross.

"Did the filthy human say something to Riser?" Riser said, glaring at the two of them. "Perhaps Riser should teach you not to speak in the presence of your betters. As for you, Akeno-chan, it seems as if your King has been most lax in teaching you proper decorum. Riser will have to do something about that in time."

 _Ah, good. So only high level devils can sense our defensive working. I wonder if we can just bait him into attacking and let the wards deal with him as they did with those Onmyouji from the Himejima clan,_ Harry mused. Aloud he said, "Oh dear, and you even talk in third person. Isn't that just special? And if you think I'm a normal human, perhaps you should get your eyes examined."

"Or perhaps you should just rein in your ego entirely," Rias quipped. "After all, attacking an ally of the House of Gremory isn't something I could possibly see as anything but a provocation."

Riser scowled at that, then turned back to Rias as she spoke, but visibly decided to ignore the human's words. "Very well, Riser is not here to bandy words with those beneath him in any event. Riser instead is here to greet his bride." He stepped forward and cupped Rias's chin, pulling her head up to look him in the face. "You are as beautiful as the sun. Riser is ecstatic that Riser's parents finally convinced yours that our marriage should be pushed forward. Are you looking forward to it as well, dear?" he asked.

In reply a small, very condensed beam of the Power of Destruction flashed out from her one of Rias's fingers from where she had placed them on the edge of her desk to either side of her. The beam lashed out so quickly no one could have dodged it entirely at that range save someone at Grayfia's level or higher, and it was aimed at Riser's balls. Another beam followed an instant later from another finger aimed toward Riser's heart.

The first was dodged, if barely, the beam going through the inside of Riser's thigh rather than his privates but the other took Riser high in the chest, searing through and out his back just below where his heart was. But as quickly as the beam struck, the Phenex clan's regeneration activated, tiny flames shooting up from the wounds and then closing them, healing even Riser's clothing somehow, as if he hadn't been attacked in the first place, and he stood uninjured, glaring at Rias.

Rias simply smiled back. "Does that answer your question? And don't touch me again. I'm particular about who gets to do that."

While Riser didn't seem to get that, Grayfia frowned, looking at Rias, but before she could think about questioning that phrase, Riser flared his aura and the entire room filled with heat and fire. "You will know your place, Rias-chan!"

An instant after he stopped speaking, however, he found himself slamming down to the ground, his body and magic exploding in agony. The defensive working Harry and the others had put so much of themselves into had activated around him at this threat to one of its primaries. Riser's own magical aura was overwhelmed, pushed back down, and almost made to backfire, while pain flashed through his nerves with no apparent starting point, the agony coursing up and down his body. Yet it wasn't causing actual physical harm, and so his regeneration wasn't activating, leaving Riser nearly helpless.

Grayfia quickly stepped in, thrusting forward, the cooling or of her own aura deadening the impact of Riser's that was still being felt in the room and trying to defend him from the wards around them. "Rias-sama, call your wards off. Lord Riser, this display is not seemly. Calm down, the both of you!" she nearly growled, though she too felt the wards beginning to coalesce around her with fell intent.

Rias scowled but waved a hand in the air, closing her eyes for a brief instant as she ordered the wards to pull back. She felt Harry's magical influence in them along with Akeno's, and she turned a glare on them both, though her lips were twitching as she did so. Harry just shrugged, not even bothering to try and apologize, while Akeno's eyes were wide, her breath coming in gasps as she looked at Riser.

It took Koneko flicking her ear from behind to stop her magic from fighting Rias's orders to the defensive working, and, as she turned to pout at the Nekoshou, Rias was finally able to pull the working back. Later she would liken it to almost the mental equivalent of trying to get a wild python to release its prey, but she did it.

The instant that pressure and the accompanying pain faded, Riser snarled, surging to his feet as his aura flared out only to be snuffed almost instantly by Grayfia's ice-based aura. He glared at Rias for a time and then slowly nodded towards Grayfia. "If the underworld's strongest Queen says so, Riser must listen. But Rias, this assault on Riser's person will not be forgotten!"

"That was a defensive spellwork put in place here in my center of power," Rias said, giving no details and even being slightly misleading as she patted her desk, seeming to indicate that the spell was only within the ORC clubroom. "If you had not taken aggressive action against me, it would not have done anything to you. As for our marriage, Riser, you'll marry me quite literally over my own dead body. Perhaps then you'll get the idea that I'm just not interested in you."

Riser scowled, his aura nearly flaring out again, but he regained control of himself, the pain of the last few moments allowing him some vestige of self-control, aided further by Grayfia's watchful eyes. "Riser looks forward to our marriage, Lady Rias; it is preordained. And Riser will enjoy showing you that, in the bedroom as in anywhere else, the Phenex clan reigns supreme! Our immortality preordains that!"

Issei scowled, leaning over towards Harry. "Wow, what a douchebag."

"Quite true, he's the kind of git that could never get a girl if he had no money. I've met his sort before. Oh, objectively speaking, his looks are decent enough, I suppose. But with that attitude, no self-respecting woman would give him the time of day, let alone anything more," Harry replied in a louder voice.

That was too much, and Riser turned, his hand flaring, but Rias raised her own hand, the Power of Destruction appearing in a scintillating corona around her hand. At the same instant Rias felt the python that she envisioned the wards were sit up and surround Riser, ready to constrict once more.

Again Grayfia stepped in, her aura flaring out. "Enough! Lord Riser, Lady Rias, this continued combat serves no one. It has come to our attention that Lady Rias has issues with this idea of marriage. Therefore, my King has offered a compromise, and Lord and Lady Gremory have agreed. We will settle this in a Rating Game."

"Of course," Riser said with a thin smile. "Riser will allow Rias to try to fight for what she thinks is best for her. Riser is not a youkai, after all. And when Riser wins, as he is destined to do, then no one will doubt the rightness of our marriage."

"No," Rias said, her voice once more calm and controlled as she moved forward with one of the many varied plans she had made in the past few months for this moment. _Riser's off balance, angry, wary, even possibly afraid. Keep him off-balance, push him into making a mistake based on his ego._

Grayfia blinked, astonished, while Riser laughed. "You see, even Rias-chan knows she cannot win!"

Opening her mouth Grayfia tried again, wondering where Rias was going with this, a cold feeling going through her body. _She isn't truly thinking about using the threat of suicide to get out of this, is she? Her parents might eventually believe such, but the loss of face to the clan, even to Sirzechs-sama, would be tremendous!_ "Lady Rias, this is truly the best and, indeed, only way out of the agreement between your families."

"No, it isn't," Rias said coldly now glaring at her. "And you will be silent Grayfia! You have done your duty as a neutral party. Now leave off."

Once more Grayfia blinked, unused to anyone speaking to her in that manner, but Rias had had enough of Grayfia at this point. This was a woman Rias had looked up to for most of her life, yet she always acted like this! Grayfia always acted the part of a menial, on the one hand, yet showing a domineering personality on the other, and always, always believing in acting properly, in taking into account how people would perceive them in the laws of the underworld and in the view of societal mores rather than as a family.

As Grayfia blinked in shock, Rias turned back to Riser. "I want this to be a fight. A real one, where we are both putting our lives and those of our peerages on the line. I'm giving up my life, my future and my dreams for this! You have to at least put your life on the line. Make it a real battle!"

While Riser reeled back in both shock and anger, Grayfia stepped forward again, now actually physically between the two of them, her own self-control somewhat fraying. "That is not going to happen," she said firmly. "The repercussions of such a thing, if either of you killed the other, it would set both your families against one another. We would have another civil war! This will not be allowed."

"What's the matter, Riser?" Rias asked, ignoring Grayfia's interruption and smirking as she stared over Grayfia's head to Riser. "Not so certain about that regeneration of your family now? Or are you just a coward?"

"ENOUGH!" Grayfia roared. She grimaced as the defensive working activated, but still thrust out her magic, creating an ice wall around both Rias and Riser, throwing them backwards. "I said you would not be allowed to fight it out, and I meant it!"

Rias recovered quickly from this, while Riser looked still off-balance, torn between anger and now fear at Grayfia's glare. He well knew how powerful Grayfia was. If she so wanted, she could kill him all too easily despite his regeneration ability, simply snuffing his fire-based magic with her own ice-based until he had no reserves left and then crushing him.

But Rias simply smiled grimly. _Now!_ "Fine, but if my freedom and my life is on the line for this game, I demand that Riser put up something more than just breaking the agreement. Something personal. This agreement with our families is something our parents came up with, but this is my life, and it is not just my own life I am being compelled to put on the line here. If I am forced to marry Riser, Riser will have access to my peerage. So Riser needs to put something of his own up in turn."

Riser growled but clenched his hands together and again forced himself not to respond physically. _What is Rias playing at!? She must know she cannot beat Riser. Riser's regeneration makes him invincible! But then…that defensive ward… Yes, she is trying to force me to make a mistake there, to get Riser so angry he forgets that. Yet, even so, Riser must put something up… Ah, yes, of course!_

Besides his arrogance and disdain for those he saw as lower than him, Riser's personality was dominated by two things: his belief in his family's regeneration, which fed his arrogance; and his narcissism, which sprang from that. So Riser refused to put up anything of himself, but Rias's words earlier had given him a hint of something he could put up as a wager, something, in fact, that he had wagered before.

"Very well! Riser will wager his peerage on the outcome!" Riser shouted, stepping back and summoning them to his person. This was a type of teleportation spell that any King could use to gather his or her peerage, since they were connected to the King via his magic, acting much like the Familiar summoning spell. Even if the security on the teleportation ring down to Hell was up at the time, it was doubtful that it would have stopped Riser from summoning his peerage.

All around him appeared brief flashes of fiery magic, out of which appeared Riser's peerage. They had been waiting for his call, knowing he wanted to overawe Rias as best he could, and appeared in various poses. The Pawns spread out behind the Knights and Bishops, their line anchored by the two Rooks, and Yubelluna, his Queen, appeared beside Riser.

"You see! This is a real peerage, Rias-chan! Not the pathetic foursome I can sense you have gathered!" Riser said haughtily.

Harry looked over the crowd of girls, his eyes growing hard as he saw the young girls among them. Raw magical energy started to coalesce around his hands, but Harry found himself broken out of his murderous thoughts both by Issei starting to weep next to him and from seeing Yubelluna there.

"DAMN you!" Issei shouted, suddenly hopping to his feet. Throughout most of this confrontation he had been noticeably silent, but now he couldn't keep his anger in check any longer. "Damn you! You, you've achieved my, no, every man's dream, you bastard! My dream, my harem! You did before I even started! And now you think you can just add Rias-sama's glorious oppai to that smorgasbord! You bastard!"

"Wow, what a perv!" said one woman dressed like a maid, taking a step back.

"Pathetic male," said another, dressed in a leather biker's outfit and a strange half-mask.

"Hah, as if he could ever compete with Riser-sama!" said a third dressed in a cheongsam, gazing at Riser lovingly.

"Indeed, look upon Riser's treasures and tremble, boy! Know you will never match up against the might of Riser," Riser said before going on to brag about how he had nearly every 'type' in his peerage as it was. "Only the tsundere little sister position and the haughty Ojou-sama position is yet to be filled, and then I will have every kind of woman under the sun serving my needs!"

As Kiba, Koneko, and Akeno sweat-dropped, and Issei seemed torn between anger and awe, Rias blinked, pointing at herself, mouthing the words 'haughty Ojou-sama' to herself. But from her position next to Riser, Yubelluna heard none of this.

Instead she was staring at Harry, feeling the power in the air around him and within Harry himself. Of all of Riser's peerage, only Yubelluna had the experience and training to be able to sense the energy around them, the coiled spring feel of magic just waiting to be launched their way. And, further, she could feel something of the strength Harry had within him.

Harry stared back, raising one eyebrow as if to say, 'Yes, I know exactly what problems you were trying to escape from, however briefly, now.' He then mimed leaning forward in a bow towards her, and Yubelluna fought back a smile with difficulty, remembering how he had bowed over her hand when they met.

Riser's next move though broke their little moment. He had been exchanging taunts with Issei while Rias seemed to just watch, amusement dancing in her eyes. But now Riser put his arm around Yubelluna's, shouting at Issei, "This is how you treat a woman, boy, something you will never be able to do!"

He made to pull her into a kiss, but Harry's voice flicked out, his British accent reverberating in every word. "Good grief, you are an utter wanker, aren't you?" As Riser turned to him, Harry smirked slowly, like a lazy lion looking at a particularly cheeky deer. "Tell me, old boy, are spells of subjugation the only way you can score a woman? That's so sad. I have to wonder how many of these lovely ladies would be with you if you didn't have those spells binding them to you. Barely any, I shouldn't wonder."

Riser scowled, turning and releasing Yubelluna, fire crackling around his hand for a brief instant before he cut it off before even Grayfia could tell him too, looking around warily. "Riser will not allow you to trick him into attacking once more." He then turned to Grayfia. "In fact, because Rias has demanded that Riser put up something personal as Riser has, which is going beyond what Riser would normally have to do, Riser thinks he should be able to choose in what setting the Rating Game occurs, rather than it being on Rias's home territory, as Riser would have otherwise agreed to."

He grinned internally as Rias looked as if she had swallowed a lemon. "Now, wait a minute!"

"Unfortunately, I have to rule that that is an appropriate measure, Rias-sama. Besides, even if this defensive working of yours carried over into pocket dimensions, you would not be allowed to use it. That would be the same as giving someone the opportunity to lay out traps before the Rating game officially began," Grayfia said apologetically.

Rias bit at her ahoge for a moment then nodded. "Fine, but it has to be on neutral territory, a setting that doesn't give either of us an advantage."

With a nod, Grayfia said that that too was appropriate. "Very well. As the chosen officiator I will find an appropriate setting. When are you both willing to meet?"

Growling, Rias shook her head, pushing off her desk. "Who cares? Let's just get it over with now!"

"Excellent! Riser is also looking forward to it. But Riser will not agree to the match occurring so quickly." Now that he was once more in control, however, Riser wondered if Rias had other tricks up her sleeve.

"Such a thing should be witnessed, after all, and I would not like it said that I pressured Rias-chan into a fight without letting her prepare as much as possible. Say, three days from now?" That, Riser felt, would be enough for him to research anything Rias might have been up to recently, but be too short a time for her to come up with more plans to combat his peerage.

Rias's scowl deepened, but she nodded, and Riser gestured around him once more. "Do not worry, Rias-chan; Riser will be gentle with you come our wedding night. Until then, enjoy yourself slumming among the humans. You won't have the opportunity afterward."

With that he started to teleport away, taking his peerage with him. As they did, though, Rias wasn't looking at him. She was looking at Yubelluna, and, as Riser disappeared, Rias winked at the other woman. That final wink caused Yubelluna's eyes to widen, and, as she disappeared, she felt hope surging once more within her.

Back in the ORC clubroom, Rias stopped smiling to glare at Grayfia. "Grayfia, I respect you, but your actions here and the way you act like, like a menial at times, and then the way you always push this super respectful, unemotional manner, the way you always think you know best, does you no credit. Especially since you were essentially here to make certain I don't kill the mark my parents sold me to like a whore!"

Grayfia's eyes widened and she took a step back from Rias, realizing now that Rias's anger and rage toward her parents had begun to wash out onto the rest of her family. But, more than that, she saw the hurt and betrayal in Rias's eyes, and those, those pained Grayfia. "I, I am only here to do my duty, Rias-sama," she intoned, since that was all she could say.

She was saved at that moment by her son coming out of the bathroom, where he had stayed, unwilling to get involved in what was going on. "Did I miss something?" he asked innocently.

Moments later Millicas and Grayfia both disappeared, and Rias looked over at Harry and her peerage, her legs going a bit weak. But she smiled as Akeno and Koneko moved forward to hug her in support. "Well?" she asked, somewhat breathless as Akeno and Koneko hugged her. "Do you think he bought it?"

"Partly. But that was about as good as you were going to get. You can't always force your enemy to do everything you want him to. You have to be happy with what you can get and modify your plans going forward accordingly," Harry replied with a faint smile as he began to clap. "Despite that, it was an excellent job from start to finish, milady."

Next to him, Kiba too began to clap, while Issei looked at them all in confusion, his earlier tears forgotten. "What, what's going on?"

Rias smirked. "Riser thinks he gained something from forcing us to fight him on neutral territory. He thinks he also will be able to find out what tricks and strategies we've come up with in the next few days. What he doesn't know is that the first was bait, and the second, well… We'll just have to see which of us works the harder over the next few days, won't we?"

 **OOOOOOO**

That night, Lily, Kunou, and the others who hadn't been there for the meeting with Grayfia crowded around, getting a revised play by play of what had happened at the meeting.

Having understood what Riser was after and what it might mean for Rias, Lily and then Kunou hugged the taller redhead, showing support the only way they could. Asia, however, while also giving her a brief hug, asked if there was anything she could do to help, a grunt from Loup making it clear he was asking the same question.

Sona and her peerage were not there. Warned by Rias via her bat familiar about what was going on, Sona and her peerage would be absenting themselves for a time from Rias and her own. As she too was an heir to a Pillar clan, she could not be seen to be playing favorites openly.

"Yes," Rias said in a nod to both Asia and Loup. "There are a few ways above and beyond healing us during training. We'll talk later, but I'd like you, Loup, to join Kalawarner, Harry, and Tonks as our opponents during training times."

Loup grunted, but he was also thinking deeply. "Can I become a temporary part of your peerage?"

"I doubt it, but I will send a letter to Ajuka Beelzebub to see if he has developed such a thing. Thank you in advance for offering, but I wouldn't get your hopes up," Rias said with a shrug. "You can honestly do as much just fighting against us, giving us some more realistic experience, as anything else."

"Hehehehe. Be careful what you wish for, oh red-haired one," Tonks said. She had been somewhat astonished that Rias, who was in a deep and loving relationship with Harry, had a fiancé, even one she obviously loathed. Still, whatever she could do to help, she would.

While Akeno went into detail about what they would be facing, explaining how Harry and the others could help them to prepare for some of their specific opponents, Lily tugged at Rias's hand. Rias leaned down, and Lily whispered. "Um, are you sure you can beat him even if, even though Daddy won't be able to help you in this Rating Game thing?"

This was once more Lily as a pure eight-year-old girl, none of her normal insouciance or intelligence visible. And in response Rias hugged her gently, smiling as she rubbed noses with the young girl. "I promise," was all she said before kissing the girl on the cheek and getting one in turn.

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day started a new pattern for Rias and her peerage, complete with annotated schedule. As they all sat down to breakfast the next day, Harry asked what their schedule was like, and Rias beamed at him, pulled out a large daily calendar, and slapped it on the far wall from the kitchen table. "I'm glad you asked, Harry!" On that daily planner was a complete timetable for all of them, complete with shower times, mealtimes, and twenty minute downtimes between different segments, broken up loosely between two different types of training.

The others crowded around, looking at it quizzically, but while it was a little OCD of Rias to have created it, none of them had an issue with the amount of time that would be spent training. Kiba, in point of fact, was gleefully looking forward to it, looking over at Loup and Harry, who looked at the schedule and then back to him and nodded. They were all scheduled to train during the morning hours, and that looked like a lot of fun, even though Harry was amused that Rias had taken his offer there and ran with it in such a manner without him even noticing.

Lily and Kunou were even on there. They would spend time in Kyoto in the mornings, and Lily looked over at her dad. "Is that all right?"

Harry nodded. "The two of you and Teddy will be heading with Yasaka to Kyoto this morning and then be back here in the afternoons. I'll be looking at what Teddy's learned in small chunks after lunch while the two of you have some downtime. Then all three of you will be heading over to Mittelt and Kalawarner's for the rest of the afternoon."

Mittelt grumbled at that, but Kala just nodded. She was also on the daily planner as one of the group trainers for an hour and a half every evening. Kunou, Loup, Harry, and Tonks would be the opposition forces during that time, while Mittelt would join Rias's peerage.

"And what are these little hearts next to the eleven o'clock and one hour marks?" Akeno asked in a tone that indicated she already knew as she looked at Rias.

"Downtime," she said firmly, keeping a blush of her face with difficulty. "Just downtime."

Fufufufu~~," Akeno laughed. "Well, I hope you and Harry enjoy your…downtime~~," she teased, while Yasaka laughed aloud and the others all looked away, some of them embarrassed and others just trying to maintain some measure of dignity. Rias pouted but did not make any move to remove the little hearts from the daily planner.

Tonks, however, spoke up then, holding up a hand. "That whole peerage thing. What happens to me if I agree to be reincarnated as one of your peers or whatever?"

Blinking, Rias looked at her in surprise. "Um, Tonks, are you certain you want to do that? I, Loup asked me about becoming one part time, but there's no way I'll get a reply on that before the Rating Game occurs."

"Yeah, yeah. What happens to me specifically?" Tonks asked, waving that off. She had liked what she'd seen of Rias so far and had made the decision to stick around. In her mind, this peerage thing was just a way to do that. Devils or humans didn't really matter a lot to Tonks: she took people as they came, regardless of species.

Rias explained what would happen, and Tonks said she didn't really see a downside. When reminded rather pointedly about Teddy, Tonks just shrugged and said, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, if we have to. My kid might just find a cute little devil gal that wants a Knight with a bit of Britain in him, y'know?"

As Harry groaned and smacked his head at that, Rias looked at him, waiting for him to shrug before accepting Tonks's proposal. She made Tonks her second Bishop, and, after getting used to the slightly enhanced magical reserves, Tonks really didn't see anything different. She was leery about trying to fly, though, deciding to put that off for a time, but since most resurrected devils felt that way, Rias let it slide.

During those days, breakfast became the daily family meal, after which they would all split up. Harry would train with Kiba and Loup, the two of them providing two extremely different styles of combat for Kiba to practice against. Koneko would leave with Yasaka and the kids to train in Kyoto, and Tonks took charge of Akeno, Issei, and Rias's training. She worked them hard, forcing several new spells down their throats to the point where they didn't need to use words or even gestures for many of them. Issei was a bit behind the other two in that, but he was catching up surprisingly quickly.

During the afternoon Akeno and Rias would continue their training with Issei, joining Loup. Tonks would take over training with Kiba, teaching him a few spells. Unfortunately, what both Koneko and Kiba could do magically was somewhat limited given how much of their magical potential was locked into their pieces. But there were still several small-scale attack spells he could use, and there were several aspects of his training that Tonks and Harry both emphasized over the next few days: swiftly changing from one weapon to another, dual wielding, and mid-range attacks spells. Kiba didn't like using magic like that most of the time, but he acknowledged that he was still weak at range if he couldn't close said range.

Every night everyone would be left to their own devices for dinner. Kiba would go out on dates with his girlfriend, and Loup would ostensibly just head back to his apartment and eat alone—which Harry suspected was not the case, but that he and Sona had overcome their reluctance to get together in order to see what might occur between them. Akeno and Mittelt worked on some project together. Kunou, Rias, the Potters, and the Tonkses would have dinner, after which the kids would eventually be sent to bed. Lily remained in her own bed with Kunou or slept in Kyoto to return the next day with Yasaka, allowing Rias and Harry the use of his bed. So, every night for those three nights leading up to the Rating Game, the two of them made sweet love together, helping Rias work out her still-present anxieties.

This schedule allowed Harry time in the afternoons to talk to his familiar, something he took advantage of the very first day and onward. He had not been able to talk to Tiamat before this given all the other demands on his time since they had made their bond, but he was on a man on a mission now. Millicas's offer had brought to his mind, once again, the issue of his daughter's lifespan in comparison to his own, and he was determined to find a means to solve that problem without resorting to the Devil Peerage System.

Appearing in the Familiar Forest next to Tiamat's den, Harry waited until the sleeping dragon noticed his presence, her eyes snapping open and her long sinuous head twisting towards him. Harry found himself somewhat bemused by her size, and he stared up at her as she reared her head back and looked down at him. **"Welcome, Harry Potter. To what do I owe this pleasure?"**

"I wish to have a sort of question and answer session with you on a specific subject. We've talked about the Hallows and my draining the power of Manannán mac Lir, but we never went into very many details about what you sensed of that," Harry began, looking up at her quizzically while trying to push down his awe at her size. Ddraig was big, certainly, but somehow in the realm of the Boosted Gear he didn't loom like Tiamat.

Further, the female dragon was just a drop dead, gorgeous creature. Her body was, for all its size, perfectly proportioned, and her scales glinted with whirls and flashes of every color of the rainbow. Her head was crowned with spikes that looked both like a beautiful crown and like weapons, well cared for and utilitarian both. Others might have also noticed the aura of power and authority she radiated, but Harry, who had his own similar aura, hadn't noticed it.

" **I can sense it,"** Tiamat said with a nod, cocking her head thoughtfully to one side, her wings rustling behind her as she curled around in a new position. **"Why do you ask?"**

"I'm wondering if you can tell me anything about Blessings," he asked bluntly. "I want to give my daughter the same near immortality that I seem to have unwittingly gained, but I can't find anything about Blessings one way or the other, let alone how to use them in the first place." The books Hermione had gotten him had been full of examples of what could have been Blessings, but not a one of them described the actual creation of those events.

Tiamat cocked her head again, even further this time, moving it to the side so far it looked very odd to Harry's human eyes. " **I see, but I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to help you with much. While I am called a dragon goddess, I have never blessed an item of power or any other individual. Still, I think I can help you on your way, at the very least, since I have blessed a place before this. Indeed, you stand in the center of my Blessed territory, the Familiar Forrest itself."**

Harry barely stopped himself from gaping at that, but Tiamat went on unhurriedly. **"The magic of gods is much more based on vague concepts and even vaguer laws then the magics of humans. Humans have things they are not able to do via magic, gods do not. Humans use spells to modify or change the world around them. Gods use Miracles to shift the basic laws of the world in a specific area or territory. They can't reproduce themselves, for example, be it through what I have heard called cloning, or via replication. You couldn't use magic, for example, to create a miniature person exactly like yourself. You have to replicate in the human method."**

That caused Harry to chuckle, and Tiamat joined him for a second before starting anew. **"Further, the souls of gods are far more malleable than humans and are connected to our magical might. You mentioned that this Tom Riddle of yours attempted to split his soul using the shock of death spell to do it, correct?"**

When Harry nodded, Tiamat went on. " **A god would not have to resort to such. And therein lies a god's power. A god's soul can be extinguished, but it could also be split, and each part would retain the power of the whole almost to the point of duplication. This is where Blessings come in. Every time you Bless an object you impart a segment of your soul to that object. But, even when you do, you must also set a rule for that segment of your soul to obey. We must give of ourselves with each Blessing, you understand?"**

"You're giving me vague generalities when I would've preferred a 'how to' version, perhaps even a 'For Dummies' type," Harry said with a sigh. "Possibly complete with pictures, because I'm feeling rather dumb myself at the moment. I understand all of what you just said, but I have no idea how to go about what you're describing: splitting my soul, creating a rule upon it, and pushing it into someone else? That just sounds like nonsense to me."

" **That, I am afraid, I can't help you with,"** Tiamat said with a shrug. **"As I said before, a god really doesn't create spells; he creates Miracles. There are no spells, only vague rules. If you want to figure out something, I would suggest experimenting, although, given what you are experimenting with, perhaps that would be a very bad idea."**

With that very unhelpful advice, Harry had run into a dead-end for now. "I suppose I'll just have to figure something out, then play it by ear, as it were," Harry said with a sigh. "I seem to do quite a bit of my best work in that way anyway, so perhaps it's not a totally lost cause."

" **Given your life to date, I would have assumed you would be used to flying by the seat of your pants, Potter,"** Tiamat replied drolly.

"It doesn't make it any easier, though," Harry replied dryly.

But other than training for even larger portions of the day and coming up with plans for facing different environments, Rias was primed and ready for the battle with Riser. She had developed several different plans going forward regardless of environment and could use any one of them to overcome Riser. And, even if he had been able to discover some of the experiments she had been doing, he couldn't have discovered everything, and Rias knew that she would have surprise on her side.

Yet one more important thing did happen during those three days, though it centered around the Potters rather than Rias's peerage. Asia was blood-adopted into the Potter family. This was something Harry and Asia had talked about occasionally: making Asia not only adopted into his family legally but using magic to make them blood-related. Admittedly, Harry had been somewhat leery of it at first, given the many different magics in his blood, but the idea had a major upside, and, after making certain that the poison in his blood wouldn't overpower the werewolf and phoenix tears already in his blood, he decided to look into it.

And, of course, like many things involving Harry, it was destined to be a highly unusual event.

At first Asia had been very hesitant. Blood magic was, of course, at the core of the Church's discrimination against magic, and, though she had come to see most magic as, if not good, then at least neutral, blood magic was something else entirely. She had been reared for most of her life to believe that magic outside of Sacred Gears was bad, and that blood magic was even worse.

However, Asia did like the idea of being a real, full-fledged Potter. After all, she was the only Argento, whereas she would be one of three Potters. And there wasn't even any jealousy on Koneko's part to consider. While she would probably become a Potter the moment Harry and Rias married, she couldn't be blood adopted. The werewolf blood in Harry and Lily would not merge peacefully with Koneko's Nekoshou blood.

When asked about it, Yasaka had been adamant on that being a very Bad Idea. "Mating between the species is fine, but not actually mingling their blood on that fundamental a level," Yasaka had said, chittering in good humor at the blush on Koneko's face at the use of the word 'mating.'

When the books arrived, and Harry went over what the ritual entailed with her, some of it caused Asia to quail, but the upside of becoming a Potter magically speaking as well as socially and lawfully was too big for her to ignore. After praying to God for guidance and getting no set reply, Asia had agreed to go through with the ritual.

With the help of the books Hermione had found them, Harry was able to re-create the blood adoption ritual in the basement of his house. This involved a series of concentric circles done into the floor and runes sketched out in an intricate array, leading into and out of the one main circle to two smaller ones. There would've been more circles added for other family members, but, as they were the only two Potters alive, two was all there had to be.

Part of this array was a series of runnels leading into the large central circle from the smaller ones. The runnels were straight from the one in front, while the other moved slightly around where the person being adopted would sit. In front of that point was an area cut out of the rock fit for a single hand, where the blood of both Lily and Harry would merge and where Asia would need to put her hand down into the blood.

Normally this ritual was a private thing, but Harry had invited Koneko and Rias who extended an invite to Akeno which Harry okayed in turn. Kiba though couldn't make it, having plans to head out with Loup for an all-day endurance training trial. Asia had, in turn, invited Kalawarner while Lily invited Kunou. Beyond Harry and Lily, Asia had become closest to the older-seeming Fallen and wanted her there for support. All of the watchers watched in respectful silence as the ritual began.

Harry started it off, placing both hands to either side and sending a pulse into the array as he began the verbal part of the ritual. "I, Harry, Head of the House of Potter, do offer to bring in new blood into the house in the form of Asia Argento. I make this choice being of sound mind and body. Potter est scriptor magicae porrigit eum in domum suam et in sanguine est te, sicut in antiquis legibus (The House of Potter extends its magic and its blood to thee in this, in accordance with the ancient laws). We will defend thee, give thee shelter, and love thee equal to our own."

While reflecting that that last bit was really just silly to say at this point, Lily spoke next, her voice far more formal than she would ever speak normally. When she in turn got to the Latin, she faltered, but each word still came out clearly. "I, Lily, Heir to the House of Potter, do accept and agree with this offer, being of like mind with my head of house in relation to Asia Argento. Mixtis sanguine animabus nostris amore (Let our blood be mixed as our lives and loves have been).

Gulping, Asia nodded conclusively, and, as Asia had, sent out her magic into the array around her. Twilight Healing gleaming on her fingers, the light from the runes around her were an odd coppery silver color, while around Harry it had been green and white, and with Lily it had been white and blue for some reason. "I, Asia Argento, do agree to become a Potter and forsake the Argento name. Ego stare tecum, et ambulant juxta a te, et a domo mea usque ad fortitudinem quam totum (I will stand with thee, walk beside both of thee, and give of my strength to the family as a whole)."

As Lily rolled her eyes at how over the top the oaths part of this ritual had to be, Harry began the spell portion of the ritual. This was a several sentences long spell that involved numerous hand movements he'd had to memorize, each movement being necessary according to the books, which caused Harry to lose any desire to try and do without them. The magics in the three circle moved towards one another, merging and brightening, especially along the runnels that would carry Harry and Lily's blood to Asia. That part of the ritual would keep the blood a liquid and keep it moving, which, given Harry's unique blood, wasn't a small consideration. It should also kill the poison that was also part of his blood.

As the others all watched, Harry cut his hand with a silver dagger—which was necessary to stop the wound from healing too quickly—and let his blood congeal into the little rivulet in front of him. A second later Lily did the same with another silver dagger. Their blood flowed towards Asia, the light of the ritual changing color from a confused light blue color to a dark yellow color.

As she watched this, Asia's mind went back over the past few months. How happy had she had been with the Potters, and how much love she felt from them and felt for them in turn. How Harry had helped her so often, not only taking her into his house but helping her plan for the future. He had even helped Asia when she wanted to aid the community, taking her to the Japanese equivalent of soup kitchens or to various hospitals in greater Tokyo.

This in turn had helped Asia realize that, going forward, she could do a lot to help people by becoming a real doctor rather than simply relying on her Sacred Gear. Harry had said more than once: it was the best camouflage she could ever create. "After all, that way you can cover any 'miracles' by simply being a darn good doctor."

Then there had been Lily, a breath of fresh air and fun in her life. Asia had never before dealt with younger children for so long a time, and sometimes Lily's exuberance overwhelmed Asia, but both she and Koneko had been tremendous helps, even Kunou had been a delight to be around ever since they had met.

Then Asia's mind drifted back to her past with the Church. _The Church turned on me when I decided to follow the spirit of God's teachings rather than the law. They turned on me when I held out a helping hand, all unknowing as to the nature of who I wished to aid. I do not hate them for what they did, but I am saddened by it. And I know that Harry and Lily would never turn me away like that. That they have supported me throughout and will continue to do so. I, I love them,_ Asia thought to herself, tears coming to her eyes as she looked at Harry's welcoming, smiling face.

Yes, it was time to give up the name Argento and all the baggage that went with it. It was time to become a Potter. Her face firming as that resolution solidified inside her to certainty, Asia lifted a stone dagger in order to cut her palm and dip it into the blood in front of her.

But, as she did, there was a shivering sensation in the wards of the house, and suddenly popping into existence above them was a bright, fiery bird the likes of which everyone there could recognize, though only two had ever seen the like before. Asia gaped up at it as did everyone else, some of them crying out in shock and fear, wondering why this creature of Light was here. But Harry and Lily simply stared, astonished. "Fawkes?!"

From the phoenix came a song, a melody of joy, fierce pride, and simple goodness, a sound that wound through the ears and souls of those listening, a magic beyond anything anyone there had ever seen save Harry, who simply smiled and let the song wash over him for a moment. The bird flew around the room as Rias gasped, "H, Harry, is that…?"

"A phoenix. Specifically, the phoenix Fawkes, whose tears saved my life, and whose feather my wand used for years," Harry said, looking at Rias closely from out of the corner of his eye and then to the other supernatural ladies, gauging their reactions.

To his surprise, only Kalawarner seemed a little in pain from the very image of the Light being there. Rias was sweating and pressed against the wall, an unconscious attempt to get away from something that was her race's antithesis, but she still stared in awed wonder at the magnificent creature. And, despite her body's reaction, there was no pain in her face as there should have been, nor on any of the others.

Fawkes swooped around the room, somehow hovering in front of Koneko, before looking at Kunou just as long. When it stopped at Akeno, its song dipped low, almost becoming a whisper, leaving Akeno with a conflicted yet amused expression on her face for some reason she later refused to speak of.

There was no doubt to the cause of Rias's reaction, where Fawkes's song became something almost approaching ribald, causing her to blush heavily, her voice a near shriek. "Harry! Have you been…?"

"Of course not, love," Harry said with a smile. "That's just Fawkes; he does that."

Fawkes trilled again in delight at the reaction to his joke, the song bouncing once more back into its happy register. Ignoring the others for a moment, it swooped once more around the room, then alighted on Lily's head and flared its wings out wide, fire and light coming from them in a magnificent display.

For her part Asia had twisted around this way and that, her eyes wide and her hands clasped in front of her on her cross, the small ceremonial dagger forgotten at her feet as she prayed. "Thank you, God! Thank you for letting me see something so joyous, so **good**!" She had been sending that prayer to heaven ever since Fawkes had first appeared.

Now having turned entirely around, Asia gazed directly into its eyes, and Fawkes gazed back. Its song stopped for a moment, and it crooned, leaning in and putting its head against hers and its beak on her shoulder. As Asia hesitantly raised hands to its plumage, Fawkes closed its eyes. From those eyes came a few tears which dropped down into the small rivulets of blood.

Staring at her, Fawkes raised a claw from Lily's head, and, mimicking the action, Asia did the same with her own hand. Gentle as a pinprick, Fawkes's beak pecked at two of Asia's fingers, causing small dots of blood to appear.

"Asia, dip your hands into the blood, lovey," Harry said softly, watching this.

Breathing in deeply, Asia did so, and the magic of the ritual moved on to the next stage despite this odd interruption without any issue. The blood in the circle disappeared, the ritual slowly forcing it into Asia's body, merging with her blood and changing it to match the sample that Harry, Lily, and now Fawkes had created between them.

With the inclusion of the phoenix tears, there was no pain as Harry had feared due to the basilisk venom in his blood. Instead Asia felt only a bright white heat slowly traveling up and down her body until it was entirely full of the feeling. She gasped, thrusting her arms out to either side as if she was trying to encompass the feeling.

At the same time, Asia's body slowly changed. Her long blonde hair slowly shifted to nearly be as black as Harry's with a single yellow streak through it from right above her right eye, all the way down its length. Her eyes too changed very slightly, darkening in hue visibly for a brief second before they rolled back in her head and she collapsed backwards, her magical reserves drained by the ritual.

Harry caught her as she fell back, cradling her head in his lap as he looked up at Fawkes in stunned shock.

As the ritual was finishing, Fawkes twisted to look directly down at Lily, and Lily, somehow understanding what Fawkes wanted, opened her mouth. A single bright, dew drop tear fell into Lily's open mouth, and she closed it quickly, staring up at Fawkes as warmth flowed through her, while below, almost unnoticed, some of the blood that remained in the circle actually reentered her system, carrying with it some of the power from the tears that the Phoenix had offered and from Harry's own part in the ritual.

And with that, Harry gasped, feeling a tug on his magical core, his very soul, as if something was pulling at it from the blood on the floor and Lily. Deciding in a single split second to trust Fawkes, Harry let it happen and felt a good third of his power somehow flashing out into the blood and from thence into Lily. The drain was so sudden and so unexpected that he nearly fell onto his side, and Lily did collapse forward to land on Asia's back, Asia's head still lying in Harry's lap.

But even as the Potters collapsed, Fawkes was not done. It spread its wings wide, its song once more a joyful, triumphant bugle in the air, as if it was both ecstatic and challenging the very fundament of the universe at the same time. Why Fawkes was issuing such a challenge, Harry and the others had no idea, but that was the impression they got when they all talked about it later, their voices a whisper, like people who had seen something so momentous that it had to be kept a secret. But for right now, Fawkes was not done surprising them.

The phoenix flapped its wings once and was in the air, gliding over towards Kalawarner for some reason. It swooped around her, staring at her from all angles, and she stared back as best she could, which wasn't much, her body trembling as she stared at one of the true Light-based animals in the world, pain going through her body from where her black wings, the signs of her Fallen status, lay.

Yet Fawkes did not judge her, it simply assessed, and then, with a crooning sound, it flew into the air, one of its feathers suddenly coming loose and falling into Kala's outstretched hands. She stared at it and then up at the bird, which did a final twirl around the room, still singing in that joyous, triumphant tune, before disappearing from sight in a flash of fire.

For a moment they were all silent, simply staring at the place Fawkes had just been inhabiting, and then Rias spoke, shuddering and sliding down the wall to sit with her back against it. "That was, that was…"

"Not expected," Harry finished dryly, pushing to shaky feet as he hauled Asia up and into a hug, with Lily pushing herself upright to fling her arms around them both as far as they could go. "Now I can say this officially," he said, looking down at Asia's suddenly tear-streaked face. "Welcome to the family, daughter mine."

Asia sobbed happily into his chest, while all around them the others wondered what had just happened and why, and Kala stared from the spot where Fawkes had disappeared down to the pinion feather in her hand.

After recovering from the ritual, of course, Harry examined Lily and Asia as much as he could, with Rias and Akeno helping.

Asia had not gotten any of the lycanthropy curse from Harry as Lily had, that seemingly had not carried over via blood alone. But she had gained much of the same healing ability from his phoenix-fed blood and a large measure of the basilisk poison in her system. Lily's own healing ability had increased astronomically to the point that it was equal with Harry's own, though Harry, of course, had to admonish Lily not to try to test that out for herself.

Beyond the immediate impact of her hair, Asia's strength and speed had not been increased overmuch. She was still a baseline human, though her reflexes matched Harry's own when he had been Seeker for Gryffindor in his first two years at Hogwarts. But the biggest difference was in Twilight Healing, which had, for lack of a better term, evolved somehow.

Harry figured that this was a direct impact of Fawkes interference, but, if so, he was happy to see it. Instead of silver looking rings, Twilight Healing was now a bracelet on either wrist which looked very nearly like a flame given metal form, accompanied by a single diamond in the center, its clear opacity dancing with thousands of colors all at once.

For his part Harry was more concerned about the feel of how his magic, or his soul, rather, had been drained, pulled into the ritual and then somehow pushed into both girls. He could now sense something within them, but if that was a sign that they now shared in his own semi-divine longevity, Harry had no way to test that.

 **OOOOOOO**

Yet despite that astonishing event, the upcoming Rating Game VS Riser came upon them swiftly.

That day, Rias woke up to the feel of Harry's hands moving over her back, caressing her body and then moving into her hair, twirling his fingers around it. She murmured happily, twisting so that her head was on his chest, her bare breasts pressing into his stomach. "Nervous?" he asked, his voice causing a kind of rumble to go through his chest into her body.

"A little," Rias confessed. "It's not going to be my first fight, but whatever else he is, Riser's not stupid. The wards helped me to set him up to lose Yubelluna and the others, but it also will have forced him to prepare in turn, which means this is the first 'real' fight my peerage and I will face against a prepared opponent."

"And your training against me and Tonks is what exactly?" Harry asked archly, reaching down to pull her body entirely on top of his so they could look one another in the face. One arm went around her waist, holding her there, while the other continued to play with her hair, nearer her scalp at this time. "You're ready for this, Rias. You were ready for this weeks ago; you're more than ready now. Whatever new tricks or traps Riser comes up with…" Harry paused, then smirked and went on in a singsong, "This game that you're runnin' baby, you've already won."

Rias laughed aloud, shaking her head wildly, but as she leaned in to kiss Harry, Rias felt all her earlier anxiety disappearing.

After a late breakfast, Harry and the others prepared for the day. This was not an easy task, considering that it once more involved getting Lily into a dress.

Though he had been very leery of doing so, a discussion with Rias had assured Harry that it would be safe to bring along the two girls, something that he hadn't even thought of doing despite Rias inviting him to watch the Rating Game under her auspices as an ally of her clan. But then Yasaka had stated that she wanted Kunou there, and, after having her reasoning explained, Harry had agreed to it after learning that, since the match would be handled under the auspices of Maou Lucifer, Sirzechs, no one would dare to start anything. His family would be perfectly safe as they watched the Rating Game.

Of course, Harry had heard that kind of thing before, and, while he had agreed to bring the kids along, he had also prepared emergency portkeys and shield charms for both. He was also not going to let either of them out of his sight, whatever happened.

But, setting all that aside, there was the problem this morning of getting Lily Luna Potter into a dress. Lily was mature for her age, a very intelligent young girl, but one thing that she was not was a girly-girl. Even the sight of her father needing to dress up along with Kunou gleefully trying on a new dress and chattering excitedly with Mittelt about it did nothing for her enthusiasm. If anything, it made her even more reluctant.

Eventually, however, Harry was able to talk her into getting into the dress and actually staying in it for the rest of the day.

"Are you sure we can't take Teddy, Kala, and Loup along?" Harry asked as Lily finally allowed him to do her hair, the last thing they had to do before leaving. The little girl was dressed in a deep burgundy dress with black highlights and frills along the bottom, something like the outfit Mittelt routinely wore, only with slightly less in the way of frills, and cut for a real little girl rather than someone who simply looked like one.

Kunou also wore a dress, of course, but hers was white with red highlights and had a distinct Asian look to it, somewhat like what her mother had worn during the ceremony. When Mittelt had presented it to the two kitsune, both of them had loved it instantly.

"I'm afraid not," Rias said with a sigh. "I was able to convince Grayfia and Nii-sama that I should have some allies among those watching, but this is, unfortunately, like Riser said, quite a big event. It isn't every day that a contract between two Pillar clans is contested, let alone in a Rating Game between the participants.

"Which, of course, will allow you to bring out Riser's true side in as public a display as possible," Harry stated.

Rias nodded grimly. The two of them had talked about that as well over the past few days. She had not anticipated the idea of the Rating Game being so public, but, once Riser had said it aloud during their confrontation, it had seemed obvious in retrospect. This in turn had forced Rias to think about what would happen after she won the Rating Game, how to mitigate the damage done to her family's reputation, and also how best to stop her family from thinking they could just turn around and find another pureblood Pillar clan to marry her off to.

"Anyway, I couldn't get many tickets to it simply because of how many other people, 'important people in Devil society,' were already demanding that they be allowed to watch," she drawled, her face twisted into a strangely pretty sneer. "Some of them are there watch me be humiliated, like the Lord and Lady Astaroth. Others are there just to hobnob, but they're too important politically for Sirzechs Nii-sama to turn away."

"And there's not going to be any question about favoritism there?" Mittelt asked with a scoff from where she was doing Kunou's hair. That was a much easier proposition than doing Lily's, who simply would not sit still.

"Sirzechs Nii-sama might be organizing who is there to watch the Rating Game, but Grayfia is the one that's involved in actually administering it. Her probity and strict adherence to the law is not something anyone is going to want to question. Which, honestly, is part of my problem with her," Rias grumbled, shaking her head.

Turning back to Harry, Rias went on. "Anyway, there might be a few there that will mutter and grumble about your inclusion, at first from those who only see you as a human that I've befriended for my own, obviously perverse, reasons. But anyone who can sense your aura—which, given how much control you have over it, is rather tough—won't give you any lip. Although," she said seriously, moving forward to take Harry's head in her hands and looking deeply in his eyes. "My cousin Sairaorg will be there. If you value your life, and I know you do, do not accept any challenges from him. Please, for me? I really don't want to have to deal with that issue."

When Harry nodded, Rias backed away with a thin smile, which disappeared as she continued. "And if any of my mother's extended family are there, keep away from them."

"You've never mentioned a problem with that side of your family before," Harry said, his tone making the statement a question.

"It's…complicated," Rias said, frowning and biting at her ahoge for a moment. She reached over absentmindedly and grabbed Lily's shoulder as the girl made to rush out the room, holding her still before taking the brush from Harry. Somehow Rias seemed to have the magic touch, and Lily immediately calmed down as Rias moved the brush through her hair, continuing to speak softly.

"Nii-sama and I both have shown that we have inherited the Power of Destruction. Indeed, even Millicas has, which is a bit of a problem politically. That power comes from my mother's side of the family, from the Bael Clan. Sirzechs Nii-sama's mastery of it is such that none living in that family can even remember anyone who could match it. Indeed, there is only one other person in our generation who has shown any aptitude with the Power of Destruction in this generation, and that barely."

"I'm starting to see where this is going," Mittelt said sardonically.

Nodding in her direction, Rias continued her impromptu lecture on near-family politics. "Millicas's proven ability with the Power of Destruction far surpasses my half-cousin Magdaran, the so-called heir. Given that he's shown no sign of the Gremory teleportation power, negating his ability to take over my clan at this point, and the position of Lucifer is no longer hereditary, technically speaking, **Millicas** should be the Bael heir. But that would both put too much power in the hands of the current Lucifer, Sirzechs Nii-sama, and our family and is seen as an affront by Clan Bael. They tend to look on my father's family as, as…" She paused, thinking.

"Johnny-come-lately's?" Harry supplied. "New money?"

"Something like that, yes. Only with a lot more distant disdain, sneering, contempt, and even a bit of outright hate added in there," Rias replied dryly.

Harry sighed. "This all sounds rather complicated, and I'm rather glad that Loup, Kala, and Teddy won't be along. Teddy's too blunt for his own good, Loup is just this side of antisocial, and Kala is still a Fallen, technically unaffiliated. I would've preferred to leave Lily and Kunou here too, but…"

"But I demanded to go along once I knew that Kunou was. Rias needs some moral support, and I'm not going to let Kunou go down there alone!" Lily said defiantly, looking up and pulling away from Rias to look at them both sternly.

"And I am under orders from my mother to go," Kunou said sedately. She had been in dozens of social events and such like before and knew how to act and what her mother wanted from her. She was to deliver a message in no uncertain terms, although her very presence would do some of that for her. That this was also a sign from Yasaka that she trusted Harry to protect her daughter in such an environment was not lost on either Rias or Harry.

Downstairs, the four of them found the rest of Rias's peerage there. Akeno led Rias's peerage to one side with Tonks standing between Koneko and Kiba, while Kalawarner and the rest of the Potter household stood to the other side, ready to see them off along with Asia, who would be going at her insistence. After all, if anyone was hurt more than the Rating Game could handle, she could heal them and could do so better if she was on hand. Rias smiled at them all, then straightened her spine and said to her peerage, "Game face on, ladies and gentlemen. Let's get going."

They all nodded, and she began to weave her hands in and out. Her aura appeared around her body as a teleportation sphere enveloped them all, teleporting them straight from Harry's home down to the Gremory estate in Hell.

There they were met by Grayfia, who bowed deeply to them. "Mr. Potter and ladies. If you could please enter the room on the right, you will be taken to to the observation rooms being used for this Rating Game. Rias Ojousama, if you and your peerage will enter the room on the left, that will teleport you down into the arena."

"They even have these games occur in an arena? You are truly going full Roman here, aren't you. Bread and circuses to keep the masses," Harry quipped, though there was nothing funny about the look he gave Grayfia.

"My people enjoy blood sports even more than yours, unfortunately," Rias said with a chuckle of her own, nodding to Harry and moving off.

But before she could, Harry stopped her and, in full view of Grayfia, pulled her into a hug and then a deep kiss, pulling back a moment later to wink at her. "For luck."

Rias chuckled, caressing his face tenderly for a second, and then sent a wink down to Lily and Kunou. "I'll see you all in a bit."

Harry smiled and watched her go, feeling the censorious expression sent his way from Grayfia. When Rias and her peerage disappeared, Harry turned and looked at her, his head cocked to one side and his emerald eyes dark, his glare confrontational.

For a second Grayfia glared back at him, but then she turned away without another word. Evidently either she didn't think it was worth it, or she wished to beard Rias first.

Harry didn't care. Like Rias, the way Grayfia had been acting since showing up with Riser had just rubbed him the wrong way.

Stepping through the doorway, Harry found himself somewhere else so smoothly that even he didn't sense the teleportation, and he whistled. "Good grief, I knew the Gremory clan was good with teleportation rings and so forth, but that was something else!"

In the other room was a small receiving area where lots of people were already mingling, laughter and the sound of various discussions ringing out along with the sounds of clinking glasses, all the signs of a high-end party. Rias had been right: this had been turned into a social event for the powerful and wealthy, and a portion of Harry was sickened by it. But he couldn't change it, and so he simply moved forward into the crowd, one hand on Lily's shoulder, with Asia doing the same with Kunou, though Kunou knew better than to wander off, unlike Lily.

From one side of the room Sona saw them arriving and moved towards them, curtsying politely towards Harry. "Potter-sensei, welcome."

This simple greeting seemed to cause a cascade effect as more and more people noticed their arrival. This in turn brought attention to the fact that all of the newcomers were wearing a family crest that none there had seen before. They were also wearing the Gremory crest highlighted by a blue circle around it, showing that they were allied with the Gremory.

That sign brought the first verbal response from the various onlookers. "My daughter has never mentioned that she made a full alliance with a human mage," said a large, boisterous looking man moving through the crowd. He had red hair down to his shoulders, a neatly trimmed beard, and a merry, smiling face.

He seemed to pause and look at Harry thoughtfully for a moment, probably sensing his aura, but he kept moving so quickly that Harry couldn't tell. "I am Lord Gremory," he said, holding out a hand.

"Harry Potter," Harry said simply. "This is my house, as you put it."

A brown haired woman moved to stand beside Lord Gremory. She was a beautiful woman with short, flax-colored hair and violet eyes with a chest that was perhaps a bit larger than Rias's, but not quite as large as Akeno's. Like the man, she appeared too young to have a daughter Rias's age, let alone Sirzechs, with Harry estimating her physical age as a bit over his own, that is, mid-twenties.

 _This must be Venelana,_ Harry thought. _Rias's description of her was spot on_.

The mother of two with the body to make most models weep smiled at the three girls, especially Lily who was staring up at her husband. "Our daughter had, however, mentioned in her few letters that there was a little girl named Lily with hair color that made her think that we might be related, however. How are you, dear?"

Lily sniffed and moved closer to Harry, still staring up at Lord Gremory. "I haven't seen a real redheaded man like that before, only gingers. But I suppose even redheads can be evil."

In reply to this Venelana twitched, her smile faltering, but Lord Gremory just laughed. "I would've thought that interacting with my daughter would've told you that not all devils are evil, little one."

"I didn't mean that," Lily said, rolling her eyes like he just said the most idiotic thing in the world. Without another word she turned and moved behind Harry, leaving the Lord Gremory to gape after him.

"What did she mean, then?" he asked.

"You'd have to ask your daughter that one," Harry said coldly.

Now it became apparent to both Gremorys that Harry and, indeed, his whole family did not view them very favorably. Even Asia was doing her best to glare, and this was actually quite effective to those who didn't know her. The reason behind this was obvious to both now that they thought of it, since there was only one truly large issue between their daughter and themselves.

"You are human, of course," Zeoticus replied. "Humans have never seen the point of lineage marriages, but, while among your people it is based entirely on politics, they are a necessity among our people. While the peerage system helped us to regain our numbers quickly, we need to keep pure devils from being bred out. Further, a marriage between Rias and Riser will add the Phenex regeneration ability to the Gremory and Bael powers already within my daughter."

"Really?" Harry asked, a thin, dangerous smile on his face. "To me that just seems a very thin veneer you are placing on essentially pimping out your daughter like a two pence whore."

Sona groaned from one side as Lord Gremory's head flew up, his eyes dilating in pure fury, and Venelana's face froze in shock. "How dare…!"

"Harry, Father, this is not the time or the place for such a discussion," another voice said accompanied by a light pressure on the skin. They all turned and watched as Sirzechs moved through the crowds towards them, pushing past the muttering watchers easily.

"We are here to watch my sister defend her right to choose her own fate, not to get into fights on our own about that very thing. Harry, offering open and purposeful insult to your hosts is still frowned upon in human lands, isn't it?" Sirzechs asked.

"It is," Harry said with a sigh, nodding his head. "I'll apologize for that one. My tongue and my temper got away from me."

Lord Gremory huffed irritably, but Sirzechs went on smoothly. "Father, Harry has only heard about this arrangement and the reasons behind it from Rias's perspective. She has made her own opinion on it plain numerous times, so you shouldn't get angry that someone who's only heard about it from her perspective parrots that perspective back to you."

At that Lord Gremory winced, something like guilt flying over his face. But he suppressed it quickly and turned away. "True enough, but hopefully she won't feel like that once she and Riser get to know one another after this. After all, my relationship with my wife started off as somewhat rocky, and we built a family and love from it.

Harry opened his mouth, but Sirzechs turned with a smile on his face towards them, and Harry sighed and shut it again. There was something rather intimidating about Sirzechs at that moment which stopped his words before they could escape.

"I don't think I've been introduced to all of your party before. Your daughter Lily matches your description of her to a T, though," he said, flashing the shorter redhead a thumbs up. Lily grinned back at him, moving out from behind her father and reaching up to shake Sirzechs's hand. He did so with amusement playing on his face, while titters and chuckles from all around them indicated that many were amused by how Lily was acting as if she was more of boy then a little girl.

"This is Asia," Harry introduced, who stepped forward and curtsied prettily. "Asia is my adopted daughter, now fully adopted through a blood ritual. And this little lady is Kunou."

"No relation to you, Mr. Potter? I would at least believe so given the ears," a blond man asked dryly from nearby. When Harry turned in his direction, the man bowed his head slightly.

The man's tone was respectful, and it took Harry a moment to realize why. During his brief confrontation with Lord Gremory, Harry's control of his aura had slipped, and more than one person there had caught that slip and understood that Harry was a power to be reckoned with. Indeed, there were a few throughout the crowd there were now looking at him speculatively, their eyes narrowed as they seemed to try to look through him rather than at him.

Deciding instantly to run with it, Harry released his self-control over his aura and glared back at each of them, one after another.

The aura of a demigod didn't have the impact among this body as it would have in front of humans, but more than one man or woman there reacted by either backing away or fighting the urge to curtsy. The blonde man didn't, but he did seem to falter slightly as did Venelana and Lord Gremory, though they recovered, and their gazes now were much more assessing and respectful than before. That aura of power was equal to or exceeded most there, and somehow it was denser too.

Harry did note, though, that Sirzechs and one young looking man didn't react like the rest of the crowd. Sirzechs didn't seem to even feel it, while the young man, a massively strong looking fellow Harry's age or so with black hair and eyes, seemed to grin excitedly.

In contact to all this, though, Harry's aura had had an uplifting effect on his family and young Kunou, who stepped forward, curtsying prettily. "I am not related by blood to Potter-san, sir. You are correct in that assumption. I am Kunou, daughter and currently acting representative to this event of Yasaka, Kitsune no Kyuubi, ruler of the Youkai Association. I am Potter-san's apprentice and have been offered the protection of the Gremory and Sitri household during my stay in Kuoh as per our alliance with those families."

"Ah, and what exactly does this agreement entail?" Lord Gremory asked, torn between smiling indulgently at the young kitsune and frowning at the knowledge of who she represented. Yasaka, after all, was known to be on the same power level as a Maou, though perhaps not as strong as Sirzechs. And the Youkai Association was a tough, powerful force, one the Devils had been on bad, if not antagonistic, terms with for years.

"The alliance is composed of an agreement bound by magic. It details that the Gremory and Sitri clans will extend their protection to youkai in their territories, and they allow access by youkai to Hell. In turn, my mother, Yasaka, agreed on her own magic to extend access to the Association to them in turn as well as mutual defenses against all comers," Kunou said, stumbling once or twice and repeating herself a bit, but going on easily. "Rias, erm, that is, Gremory-san herself also created the teleportation tunnel connecting the mansion in Kyoto, including several security features."

"Amazing," Lord Gremory said with a smile. "She can create such a thing already?"

"What do you mean, bound by magic?" Venelana asked intently.

Kunou blinked and then looked at Harry, who smiled and stepped in. "When we made the agreement, we all, that is, myself, Yasaka, Rias, and Sona, bound our magic into the agreement. If one of us is no longer willing or able to follow it, our own magic will kill us."

That was a bit of a lie: after all there was a sort of scale to those kinds of vows and a sort of warning period that your magic would give if you were coming close to breaking a vow. But, judging by their faces, none of the Devils realized that.

Venelana's face, in particular, was white, and Kunou spoke up. "But so long as no one stops Ri, Gremory-san from acting in such a manner as to protect that pact, nothing will occur. And that would be rather silly, wouldn't it, to break away from such a lucrative deal for everyone involved right?"

"And one minor mystery is solved," Sirzechs said with a somewhat forced laugh. "My fellow Maou, Leviathan, has mentioned how proud she was of her little sister creating some kind of coup. She'd be here now if not for the fact that she was dealing with some issues involving something else you all passed on to her, some kind of artifact, I think it was, she had to return to the Church?"

"I am afraid I can't speak about that topic, but Sona-san has been of tremendous help in creating the formal agreement between the Association and the Sitri, Potter, and Gremory families," Kunou said with a smile up at the black-haired girl.

"You count this one as a third-party himself?" asked one Lord from nearby, gesturing towards Harry. There was no censure in his tone, just intrigue.

"As a wizard, a master of magic, and as a new type of werewolf with the strength of a demigod, yes," Kunou said simply. She stopped speaking as Harry laid a hand on her head, his fingers finding just the right spots on her ears to make her chitter happily for a moment, forgetting everything else.

"And as a family friend," Harry said simply. "I took Kunou on as an apprentice so that she could also enjoy the security of Kuoh and go to school with my daughter, Lily."

"Ah yes, the wards that Grayfia reported. She said they were most…formidable." That drew some more mutters of interest as Sirzechs continued. "I don't suppose you'd be able to sell that kind of system?"

"Since it took us so long to develop and put together, and since it includes three different magical schools of thought rolled into one, I'm afraid not," Harry said dryly.

He heard but ignored the continued whispers going around the crowd as more than one of them thought about the demigod statement that Kunou had just delivered and the power they were feeling from Harry. Harry would've gone about voicing that differently, but had to admit that, in this setting, it and his own show of strength, seemed to be working rather well. "I don't believe we've been introduced," he said to the blonde man.

"Lord Phenex," he said, smiling thinly. "My second son is going to be down there, fighting for his future bride."

"Fighting for his future bride against her will," Harry said firmly. "Pray keep that in mind, Lord Phenex. I have only interacted with Riser once, and, perhaps because of emotions running high, he did not leave a favorable impression. Rias, however, has had years to both research and analyze Riser's personality and actions to discover whether or not they are compatible. She thinks they are not, for…various reasons."

"She's just listened to rumors and nonsense from those who are jealous of my son and his powers," the lady beside Phenex said, indicating that she must be his wife. "I would've thought that someone as strong as you would already know that strength begets jealousy, and jealousy creates rumors."

Harry laughed. "This is true, milady, and I could tell you quite a few stories about rumors started about me."

"Some of them were even true," Lily said with a giggle.

Harry gently noogied her head before addressing the two Phenex nobles, his hand then switching to ruffling her hair just as gently. "However, I did not say Rias had just been listening to rumors. I said she had done research, and quite a bit of what she has no doubt passed on to her parents, and perhaps even to you two, is not rumor but fact. Considering Sirzechs's earlier comments about keeping the peace, I'll leave it at that, though," he said, turning away from them slightly to look at the younger man who was standing behind them.

He was a tall man, about an inch taller then Riser, perhaps, with slightly broader shoulders and an equally handsome face, aged slightly more than Riser's, yet not marred with his arrogance either. Instead the young man had a small smile on his face as he stood next to a very young looking girl, somewhere below Asia in age, perhaps. "And you are?"

"This is Ravel, and I am Ruval. I am heir to Clan Phenex." So saying, Ruval held out his hand without any sign of hesitation or anger. And, as Harry shook it, something in Ruval's eyes told Harry that this man was far more open to the truth about his younger brother than his parents were.

His words a moment later made that thought a certainty. "I'm here to see my little brother hopefully get taken down a peg or twelve. His arrogance is worrisome, and if there is any reality to those rumors my parents mentioned, his actions bring dishonor upon our family."

His parents simply rolled their eyes at that, indicating without words that they believed there was no truth to them before remonstrating with him along with Ravel about his lack of family feeling. At the same time, both Lord and Lady Gremory simply waved their hands off as if it was of no moment.

Luckily for Harry, he didn't have to reply to that as servants came in from the far side of the room announcing that the match was about to start, and that they should head into the next room to take their seats. The party moved into the next room over, which was set up like an amphitheater with each row of seats higher in level than the one preceding it.

Breaking out of her father's hold on her shoulder Lily raced ahead, ducking through the crowd to get a front row seat and growling at the few people who try to sit next to her. For the most part they all chuckled at her exuberance save for a few that glared right back, until Harry arrived, pushing through the crowd as genteelly as he could with Asia and Kunou in tow. Surprisingly, Ruval helped in this effort, moving next to Harry and pushing his way through with polite excuses flying in the air behind them.

Kunou and Lily waited, and, once Asia sat between Harry and Sona, the two girls clambered into Harry's lap, and Ruval sat down on Harry's other side. As they sat on Harry's lap, though, Ruval paused, watching as the two little girls pulled out large flags that said 'Go Rias' on them from some small pack Lily wore at her side. He then started to chuckle and then laugh. "That's so cute," he chortled, slapping his knee. Ravel, too, stared at them, and seeing this Ruval teased, "What, little sister, do you want one to root for our brother?

Or do you just want to get into someone's lap?"

Ravel scowled at him and turned away with a huff, while her father on her other side laughed.

Sirzechs sat calmly behind Harry, but once he spotted the small flags his eyes almost seemed to sparkle like a certain headmaster's, and he leaned forward eagerly, his face like a child's as he asked, "Can I have one of those?"

"One could almost question your neutrality in this matter, Lord Lucifer," said a snarky voice from the crowd behind them.

"On the contrary, Lord Astaroth," Sirzechs shouted back, not even turning his head fully to look at the speaker, "I don't want anyone to question where I stand on this little bit of stupidity. My wife can be neutral for both of us, after all, which leaves me to show my true feelings."

With a chuckle, Harry waved his hand in the air, conjuring a large banner into being. It read, 'Go Rias, crush him!' "Will that do?"

As more than one of the devils around them widened their eyes at this swift creation of matter, Sirzechs asked eagerly, "Could you change it a little, add some hearts, maybe a smiley face here and there?"

Harry looked at him for a moment, then put his hand on the banner and used a color change charm to create the image that he wanted. In either corner a chibi-fied version of Sirzechs's face showed up with two thumbs up below the face and lots of little hearts all around. "Will that do?"

"Don't encourage him, Harry," Sona growled, twisting Harry's ear. The last thing she wanted was to have Harry get into the habit of encouraging Sirzechs's sis-con sickness. Who knew, he might do the same for Serafall!

But Harry ignored her, handing the banner to Sirzechs, who set it up to either side of him despite the grumblings from the people who had taken up those seats having to move aside. One of them simply laughed and shifted slightly toward Sirzechs to get further under the banner. That man was the same black-haired young man from before, and he had not stopped looking at Harry speculatively since he showed up. When Harry looked at him now, the man nodded back, holding out his hand with an easy manner. "Sairaorg Bael, the ne'er-do-well cousin and the only member of my clan here at the moment."

"Harry Potter. I've heard of you," he said dryly. "The combat junkie, right?"

Sairaorg laughed. "Guilty! But since you've already heard about me, I don't suppose I could…"

"I've been ordered not to accept any challenges from you, sorry," Harry interrupted him with a laugh. "Maybe in a few weeks once all this has blown over."

"I'll take you up on that," Sairaorg said warningly with a bright grin.

"That's for later," Sirzechs said sternly. "It's going to start soon."

The lights around the room began to dim to allow them to better see the images that started to show up on the large window in front of them. The background was of the arena below, which was suddenly superimposed with the image of a forest with several small squares above that, like video cameras which would follow the action here and there throughout the territory.

Down below, Riser and his peerage and Rias and her court met in the center, where Grayfia waited for them and then began to explain the rules. She pulled out a paper and handed the rules to both Kings and seemed to be noting a few of the rules in particular. But the audio for the match wasn't on just yet, so the watchers couldn't tell what she was saying.

Riser seemed to say something, gesturing to Tonks and Mittelt, who he hadn't met before. Rias said something back, and Riser laughed, waving her away. He then gestured around them and then up towards where the observation deck must be visible, smiling widely, a smile which seemed to falter as he looked their way, possibly because he spotted the large banner behind Sirzechs.

As Rias turned in that direction too, Lily and Kunou leaped up until they were standing on Harry's thighs, causing him to grunt, but they didn't notice, waving their flags wildly. Rias noticed and waved, as did the others.

Muttering about their needing to watch his wedding tackle, Harry pushed the kids back down, and Ruval took the opportunity to lean over and ask in a whisper, "I take it you have had some impact on lady Rias's training?"

Harry nodded. "That and playing the opposition."

By this point Rias had turned back from the observation deck and shook her head slowly at Riser. "Let's get this over with," she said simply, her voice now audible to those within the viewing room. "I have my family to get back to."

Grayfia twitched at that, understanding some of the hidden meanings there, in particular that she did not include her parents or the extended Gremory clan in that. But she said nothing as Riser rolled his eyes. "You Gremorys and your emphasis on family."

"Yes, I know. Isn't it sad that that's so unusual? Everyone should feel that way. It says something about Devils that more don't," Rias interjected quickly. "Skip the trash talk, Riser; let's start already!"

"Very well," Grayfia said, gesturing. At that gesture two teleportation circles set into the arena's floor appeared behind the peerages, one behind each. "These will take you to your starting positions. Once you are there, a gong will sound and the Rating Game will begin. Be aware of the rules at all times and that if an attack exceeds what the bounded field of the Rating Games can deal with, it will cause an instant loss of the individual involved."

Rias rolled her eyes again, already seeing the point of view that Harry had drilled into her: Rating Games were not war, they were games, first and foremost. "Are you ready?" Grayfia asked, looking at them both.

"I am ready to win what is already mine by right," Riser said sententiously, bowing and doffing an invisible hat towards Grayfia before looking across at Rias. "Are you ready to accept your fate?"

"My fate is my own. I am here to fight for something that is **mine** that was never my parents to give away!" she barked back. "I am here to fight to be free of you, this agreement, and their meddling in my private life."

 **OOOOOOO**

"That was somewhat harsh," Ruval muttered as he looked over to where the Lord and Lady Gremory sat, their faces pained, though if that was due to the words Rias had just said or simply the vitriol in her tone was up in the air. Regardless, Lady Gremory looked like she had just been slapped in the face, and Lord Gremory didn't look much better. Still, Ruval had to ask, "Is it really such a surprise?"

Harry looked over at them and then shrugged. "I think they're a classic case of, 'none so blind as those unwilling to see.'"

 **OOOOOOO**

"Then to your starting positions, please," Grayfia said before she disappeared in a flare of magical energy, reappearing in a small control area. From there she could direct the magic of the spells that would follow all of the participants around, and observe the strength of the bounded field, as well as being able to speak into the electronic receivers. That would allow her voice to be heard both by the participants and by the watchers, though she wouldn't do something so crass as a play by play.

Rias nodded sharply and turned away, leading her peerage off without another word. A second later they disappeared from the arena and reappeared in the bounded field somewhere in the jungle, as they had been warned to expect. She smiled as she looked around, hearing the birdsong and other sounds of the jungle before looking over at Koneko. "Koneko, you're on point. Illusion spells and plan gamma, ladies and gentlemen. See if we can make them blink."

Issei and Tonks both grinned, and then Akeno, Tonks, and Rias turned to the others, casting disillusion spells on each of them in turn. They worked perfectly, especially in this environment. Nothing less than a invisibility cloak could really make you invisible while moving around. But they were the closest thing to a full chameleon cloak than anyone else had ever developed, and Issei, Koneko, Mittelt, and Kiba disappeared under them quickly, followed by the three magic users themselves.

 **OOOOOOO**

Dozens of voices clamored over one another as they all shouted out their surprise at this sign of magic, and Ruval nodded slowly. "I see Lady Rias has learned how to use more magic than just the Power of Destruction that her mother's side of the family is known for."

Harry smiled thinly while the two girls on his lap waved their flags frantically. Behind him Sirzechs started to do the same with the banner.

For a moment the spells of the Rating Game also seemed to lose sight of Rias and the others, showing the same area of the jungle they had teleported into. But a moment later they started to follow the two groups as they were supposed to.

 **OOOOOOO**

With Koneko in the lead, Rias and her entire peerage moved through the jungle like a trained infantry squad. Koneko was on point, well ahead of the others. Issei was bringing up the rear. Kiba and Tonks had moved to either side of the main line of advance with Rias in the center, ready and waiting to act as magical artillery.

Mittelt and Akeno were gone, having been sent up into the air on their own. Their objective was to get high and not reveal themselves until they could create a decisive engagement.

For a time they simply moved through the forest, searching out their enemies as Riser and his peerage did the same, though in a far more haphazard manner with no luck to show for it. This soon became apparent to Riser, since he had sent Yubelluna, his Bishops, and a Knight into the air in order to find his enemies. He had been training his group extensively, mostly in midair combat and flight, since he knew that this was an area where a lot of devils struggled, especially ones who lived on Earth, like Rias and her peerage did. He had also prepared a few different strategies to offset the odd magic-storing gems that he had been able to find out that Rias had been experimenting with.

Both peerages also had communications gear, which his flyers used to relay reports back to Riser, who had found a large rocky knoll sticking out of the jungle on which to perch, scowling angrily as he looked around into the forest. "Riser could just burn it all to ash, then Rias and her servants wouldn't be able to hide."

"It might come to that," Yubelluna said honestly as she alighted next to him. "We haven't seen hide nor hair of them, Master. I'm afraid either they are somehow hiding from on high, which is possible in this jungle, or something else is going on."

"Pull back the flyers. It is evident that Rias has indeed learned new tricks," Riser said. "Instead, send out the Pawns in every direction, teams of two. Except for in this direction, of course," Riser said, turning around from where he had been facing.

He gestured with a hand forward, and that arm instantly became bathed in fire, which, in turn, bloomed out in a huge conflagration, the tongue of fire lashing out into the jungle, setting it alight. Riser did the same in another direction at forty-five degrees from the first, and then again to the other side of that one at near to the same angle, smirking as the smoke began to rise along with the shouts and shrieks of frightened and terrified animals. "Riser think we can assume that they won't be in those directions," he said coldly.

From where she was leading her friends forward, Koneko gasped, shaking her head, and fell back towards the others, reporting. "Smell of smoke to the left of our advance, crackling of fire too. Can also sense at least four, maybe more people coming towards us through the forest. The flyers have pulled back, though."

Thanks to her training in Senjutsu, Koneko had learned how to feel out the world around her to a certain degree, though she wasn't very good at that aspect of her training yet. Her strength and speed, though, had both been enhanced by her Senjutsu training.

"That was smart of him, I suppose," Rias muttered, scowling. "All right, that must mean that he will be sending in his Pawns to search us out. Koneko, get some space between us. Kiba, Issei, you're team one. Stay with Koneko at a distance of a hundred feet or so. Ambush anyone who attacks her." Tapping her micriphone, she sent an order to her flyers. "Akeno, Mittelt, you're team two. Break off backwards from our current position and wait."

"And you and Tonks?" Akeno asked over the radio even as she moved after Mittelt, moving towards the others now, whereas before they had been moving further away along both sides of the advance."

"Long-range artillery," Rias said grimly, gesturing directly ahead of the route they had been following.

Her aura appeared around her, and a vast wave of Power of Destruction lashed out in a mass of red and black energy, equaling the attack Riser had launched. Moving through the forest, the beam of magical energy annihilated everything it touched, including the fire where it intersected where Riser had all launched his earlier attack. The flames snuffed out, deprived of anything to feed them, but that did nothing for the other two lines of fire that Riser had created through the forest.

"That, and bait," Rias said with a smirk. With that, she and Tonks moved in an entirely different direction before she teleported them away between one step and the next, moving well behind and to the left of their original position to a larger than normal tree Rias had spotted earlier in the distance and had sent her bat familiar to.

 **OOOOOOO**

Lord Gremory gasped in delight, thumping his fist down on the side of his chair. "Did you see that!? Magnificent teleportation control! I was afraid she would only be training up her Power of Destruction simply because it's so much flashier."

"Apparently not," Venelana said with a faint smile. "Although she has trained the power I passed on to her as well. That attack she just launched was much more powerful and much more controlled than any I've seen of Rias before."

 _Heh, don't be surprised yet, ladies and gentlemen. Rias and the others have a lot more to show than that,_ Harry thought, his face blank as the two girls in his lap continued to wave their flags.

 **OOOOOOO**

Riser, too, was surprised by the power that Rias had just shown, but not over much. He had done some research into Rias and her peerage over the past few days and thought he knew what to expect. But while he had discovered some of what Rias had been training in, he had neglected to think about the mental aspect of the game and how Rias might play it. "There!" he shouted. "There! Rias is there; her peerage will also be there. Take the fight to them! Riser will arrive shortly."

Angered by how long it had taken them to find the other peerage and worried about giving Rias time to regroup, Riser didn't realize that he was walking into a trap. For her part, Yubelluna did wonder about why Rias would have shown herself like that but shook her head and obeyed, following Riser into the air as he zoomed just above the jungle's canopy towards where Rias's attack occurred.

They were not the first to arrive, however. That dubious honor was given to a few of his Pawns, specifically two young looking Nekomata called Ni and Li. They both were dressed in stripper-style sailor seifuku, or traditional Japanese school girl outfits, in this case made to show off their stomachs and lower chests while also being very short. They had light red and blue hair and wore boxing gloves to match.

Stopping suddenly they looked around and then, as one, shouted out, "We can smell you!" and leaped forward towards a seemingly random piece of jungle.

But they were met in midair by Koneko, the sudden speed of her movement breaking the disillusion spell over her as she launched herself towards the other two Nekomata.

She smacked the fist of the blue-haired one down, kicking out at the other and then flipping her body around in a display of acrobatic skill, using her hold of the first one's arm as a bar. Before she could even register that her sister had been taken down—Koneko could smell the family connection—another kick smashed into her face, sending her out of the Rating Game with a single blow.

"Two of Riser's Pawns have been retired," Grayfia intoned.

But this brief battle brought in more of Riser's Pawns. Two of them were tiny little loli types, the sight of which caused Koneko to scowl, though the large chainsaws they both wielded were at least amusing and, Koneko reflected, oddly appropriate for the setting. The other two wore maid outfits and wielded long staffs which they twirled around their bodies as they raced in from Koneko's right flank.

The two lolis, who's names Koneko knew were Ile and Nel, started to attack immediately. But for all their surprising amount of speed, Koneko simply dodged this way and that, using her body's natural nimbleness to her advantage.

And, when her fists struck, the Pawns in turn were forced to leap wildly away. No Pawn was going to be able to take a punch from a Rook, but her punches had been augmented with Senjutsu to the point that they came far faster and actually created a noticeable wake. The one time one of the maid Pawns didn't dodge far enough, she was sent flying back, having to kick off a tree and to the side to get some room.

But even so, the Pawns were confident as they moved around her, trying to encircle Koneko from every direction, trying to pin her down. "Keep at it!" shouted one of them. "Even if she takes us all out, if we take her out, that's a win."

"In whose book?" Koneko asked tartly, dodging attacks from that maid, grabbing her staff and pulling her in close. She ducked under the punch Koneko flung out but lost her weapon, having to release it as she rolled away to one side.

A second later Issei and Kiba were there, and Issei wielded the second magical spell that he had created. Magic gleaming all over his body, Issei slammed his hand into the ground in front of him and shouted, "Living Magic, Tentacle Hell!"

From that spot Issei's magic lashed out, impacting several trees around the battlefield, which suddenly came alive. The tree limbs reached down and grabbed at the two maid Pawns, who had no chance to escape. The trees then twisted them this way and that until they were held midair in various erotic poses.

At the same time Kiba slashed forward, a simple broadsword in one hand as he closed the distance, cutting down one of the Pawns before she even realized he was there, so distracted by the attack on their fellows were they.

Swiftly, Koneko lashed out, taking down the last loli-like Pawn, sending her flying through the air, where she disappeared before she landed. A second later Kiba had finished off Issei's victims.

"All of Riser's Pawns have been defeated," Grayfia intoned.

From above came a shout of pure fury, and then on its heels came a roiling torrent of fire. It flashed downwards, slamming down towards the three triumphant members of Rias's peerage, far too wide for them to dodge.

"Shields!" Kiba shouted, pulling out several small crystals and hurling them into the air above him, ducking down and hiding his face as he did. Koneko and Issei did the same, and above them the activated crystals suddenly expanded into full shield mode.

Just like when Rias had given them to Kiba and Kalawarner in their assault on the church, the shield spells didn't quite work as a Protego would have for Harry. They didn't so much create a protective energy shield as create a red energy in the form of a bubble that simply destroyed anything that entered it instantly. This included other magical powers and fire.

Kiba grimaced as first one, then a second, and then a third energy shield faded. The fourth began to dissipate, but then Riser's attack faded out, leaving the energy shield to dissipate more peacefully than its fellows. Yet they had done their job, and Kiba, Koneko, and Issei were all still alive in the game.

From above Riser paused, staring in shock as the three members of Rias's peerage were undamaged by his attack. _Riser didn't want to have to do this, but those spell crystals are so strong, they must be removed._ "Hold it! The rules of the Rating Game state that we cannot use foreign items which someone else has created without registering them first. Those were clearly unregistered! Can I get a ruling, please?" he shouted to the skies.

"A ruling has been requested. The game is hereby suspended," Grayfia intoned, appearing in midair a second later. "Lady Rias, if you could join us."

It was only then that Riser realized with a start that Rias had been close by, standing in the canopy of a tree nearby, a spell flaring and ready from her fingers.

While she seemed to calmly cancel her spell, internally Rias was cursing. With Tonks to shield her, she had been able to create a concentrated blast of Power of Destruction which could have at least removed Riser's Queen from contention and forced him to regenerate to a degree that would have slowed him down tremendously. With none of his other pieces close by, they could have possibly even removed him from the game right then and there if they were able to keep up the pressure. But now the moment was lost, with the rest of Riser's scattered peerage closing in quickly. "What is it?" she asked, a scowl on her face.

"Those crystals of yours, they are not allowed in the game! The rules state that we cannot use exterior items of power that we ourselves have not created. Riser demands that any more Rias and her peerage are carrying be removed before we continue the game." Riser scowled. _Riser should know. Riser made certain that was included in the rules of this Rating Game!_

 **OOOOOOO**

Lord Phenex groaned, slapping his hand to his face and shaking his head while Ruval chortled. "What's wrong?" Ravel asked, scowling. "It's obvious that Riser Nii-sama is correct on this point if the rules state that."

"Have you been learning strategy games?" Harry asked, looking across Ruval to the young girl.

"Yes, of course! It's a normal thing for those of our station to learn," Ravel huffed. "It seems to me a good idea to remove those weird crystals. If he can use the rules of the game to do so, shouldn't he?"

"Perhaps, if they were actually all that important. And if he wasn't going to be forced to give up something of equal or greater value," Harry replied.

At that Ravel frowned, then watched as the debate down below continued.

 **OOOOOOO**

"The rules of this match stated that no one could use items of power other than any Sacred Gears they might possess," Grayfia said sternly. "I am afraid I will need to rule these crystals are magical items of power."

"I will agree to that," Rias said, surprising Grayfia. "However, I will force Riser to do the same. It is well known, Riser, that your clan can produce Phoenix Tears. Are they not an item of power?"

"But those come from Riser's body. Riser creates them himself. They are simply a physical and separate representation of Riser's holy Power of Regeneration," Riser objected, suddenly looking less sure of his position.

"As do the shield spells embedded in those crystals. The crystals themselves are not magical items. They are simply containers of my magic," Rias shot back. "If you can have those Phoenix Tears, than my peerage can use my shield crystals."

Grayfia scowled. "While I agree with your point, Lord Riser, I must also agree with Rias Ojou-sama on this. After all, it is not so much the items themselves that are frowned upon as the idea of both sides having equal preparation time and equality in terms of the items. Lady Rias, can you honestly say that these crystals were created in the past few days?"

When Rias shook her head, since many of the crystals had not been created in the past few days but before that, Grayfia went on. "Lord Phenex, can you safely say that you created these Phenex Tears for this match in the past few days?"

Riser scowled but shook his head and Grayfia finished her ruling. "In that case, you may both lose these items for the remainder of the match. We'll take a five-minute break, and you will hand them over to me for safekeeping."

Cursing, Riser slowly nodded. Not even he was stupid enough to gainsay Grayfia Lucifuge. "Very well, but Riser requests that the whole match be restarted from this point on."

Rias scowled outwardly, while inwardly she smiled gleefully. "I will agree to that, however I think that gives my opponent unfair advantage. A lot of tactics rely on surprise, and I have already used some of my own," she said, gesturing down to Issei, Koneko, and Kiba.

"True," Grayfia said with a nod. "While Riser's point is valid once more, so too is yours. In recompense, if you should win this match, the Phoenix Tears that Riser and his peerage turn over to me will be given to you, added to the personal bet that you created between yourselves three days ago."

 **OOOOOOO**

"Personal bet?" Lord Phenex asked, growling and turning to Sirzechs and Lord Gremory. "This is the first I've heard of it!"

"I as well," Lord Gremory said with a shrug.

Sirzechs simply smiled, not saying anything, while Harry smirked. Ruval caught this out of the corner of his eye, but also said nothing as they watched the screen, waiting for the matches to begin again.

 **OOOOOOO**

Grayfia took the remaining crystals from Rias's peerage and then the Phenex tears from Riser's. These were little vials full of Phoenix Tears. Each of Riser's peerage had two of them, though this hadn't helped the Pawns much since they had been taken out so quickly.

Once the items were in her possession, Grayfia disappeared briefly to put them all away in the control room before coming back. "In accordance with Lord Riser's request, the Rating Game will be restarted but in a different environment. We will restart when the two of you have split off to head to your starting points."

"You only delay the inevitable," Riser said, smirking at Rias, trying to psyche her out now that she had lost her trump card. "Without those little toys, do you really think that you can match Riser's power, Riser's peerage?"

"Yes and yes," Rias said simply. "You keep on talking about your peerage, your power. A group that is only fighting for pride or because they have been ordered to can never fight as ferociously as those were fighting for family, Riser, and I'm going to prove it to you."

"All right," Rias muttered to her peerage as she led them off. "We have to assume that Riser will come up with a way to see through our dissilusion charms."

"Perhaps infrared or something similar?" Tonks interjected. "I know that works, as do motion sensors."

Rias nodded in her direction and then looked over at the others. "So, unless anyone else has any plans, we're going to go with operation alpha."

"Target Riser and take him out of the game, or any large group of the enemy peerage?" Mittelt asked with a bright, evil looking grin. "But that will only work if they all stick together. They didn't the last time."

"True, and if they spread out far enough to be too far away to help one another, but close enough for them to see what's going on with one another, we might give away an advantage." Rias bit her lip for a moment, thinking, then nodded resolutely. "Riser will be angry, but he won't be stupid. This ploy to remove my magically infused crystals shows that. If I were him, I would think of ways to use my three major advantages. One, my own personal regeneration; two, my numbers; and three, my ability in the air."

"My Light weapons might not be able to stop his regeneration, you know," Mittelt said, gesturing with her glove-covered hands. Even so, her eyes were glimmering eagerly.

"I realize that, but if we can keep the pressure on that, Light-based magic may come into play. Riser's regeneration is based upon his magical reserves. If we keep hitting him hard enough, they will give way, and your Light-based spears will cause wounds which drain more magic than any other kind of wound. If he takes the forward position as we hope, we'll be able to do that at range with your ability and with Kiba's."

"There's also something else we need to be aware of," Kiba said slowly. "Riser's fire attack nearly shattered through all the shields I had on me. His magical power is tremendous." Koneko and Issei nodded agreement.

"That's true, and we can't assume that we'll be in an environment that will allow us to hide from his attacks… I suppose, then, we need to use another one of my aces. Come here," she said, motioning them all closer.

At that point Rias went around, laying her hands over the faces, hearts, and, in particular, the eyes of each of her family. Each one, in turn, felt a surge of energy of some kind as Rias forced more of her personal power down their connection to her via their pieces. As Rias stepped back she shook her head slightly, feeling a little exhausted after that. A second later, however, the second spell seemed to go to work, and, concentrating on each, she could see through the eyes of her peerage. "Hopefully that will help," she muttered. "And if any of you run into trouble, don't hesitate to pull upon my power further to help."

As Rias finished speaking, the setting around them shifted, and they all found themselves standing on top of a skyscraper in some kind of cityscape. It didn't quite look like Tokyo or any of the other cities that Rias had seen pictures of, which she supposed was to stop either side, once more, from having an unfair advantage. Hopefully it was the same with Riser. Seeing it, though, she swiftly changed her plans. "Akeno, hand out your little Oni to Tonks, Issei, and myself. Keep one for yourself, one for me, two for Issei, and two for Tonks. Issei, you do know how to…"

"Oh yeah," Issei said with a grin as Akeno summoned up her little Oni. She smiled, leaning down and gathering them all into her bosom in a hug, and then handed them out to the others that Rias had named, one at a time, issuing orders that they should obey the devil they were being paired with. Once preparations were complete, Akeno and Mittelt leaped into the air, covered by disillusion and Notice-Me-Not charms. They rocketed straight up, higher and higher, until they were well out of sight of the ground and had to use conjured binoculars to spot anything below them. It was hoped that by being this high they wouldn't be noticed until they swooped down on their prey.

But Rias and her family were not the only ones making preparations. Riser, too, had realized after the last match that he had to somehow offset Rias's new magical advantage. _Perhaps Riser should rely more on his regeneration… But no, a peerage's purpose is to be used by their King, after all._

"All right, Mihae, use your familiars. Isabela, you too. Yubelluna, you and Riser will be our reaction force. We will head into the sky, occlude ourselves as best we can. Riser knows we have nothing that can match that illusion spell that Rias just showed us, but we can come up with something."

"There are a few bounded field spells that we can use," Yubelluna said with a nod. Though she desperately wanted Riser to lose, Yubelluna was going to give it her best in this match for a number of reasons: partly pride, partly to make certain that Riser didn't realize her own feelings in this matter, and partly to simply make a good showing. "I doubt it will work against anyone who is searching for us specifically, however I think we can also see through that illusion spell if we look for heat signatures."

"Excellent thinking," Riser said, surprising Yubelluna by actually praising her for something outside the bedroom. But he went on to show his true personality once more as he looked at the Pawns. "You all will spread out in groups to scour the city for our opponents. Behind you will come the Rooks and Isabela, following each team of Pawns, accompanied by Mihae's familiars. But your jobs will be to find the enemy. Even if you die doing it, you'll be able to pin them down in place."

All the Pawns, who had already died once in this Rating Game, flinched at that, but they nodded obediently. Their reactions worsened when Riser ordered them all to step forward and he placed his hands on them. They all flinched, even Yubelluna, as they felt a slight probe of his magic impact down their connection. "There, now Riser will be able to tell wherever you are, and that will be useful if any of you lose. Even if you all die, so long as you take out the majority of Rias's peerage with you, Riser will win this fight easily," Riser said with a smirk. "Even her Power of Destruction cannot stand against the Phenex clan's Power of Regeneration."

 **OOOOOOO**

Hearing that, Harry turned to look over his shoulder at Sirzechs, one eyebrow twitching upward in question. In reply Sirzechs smirked and shook his head very slightly, showing his opinion of that one.

 **OOOOOOO**

Like the first Rating Game, the first thing both sides had to do was find one another. The first to make proper contact this time was Issei, who turned a corner of the street and found himself facing three Pawns, the maid-dressed ones, Marion and Burent, and the one who looked like a belly dancer named Shuriya. Issei gaped at her in particular, his hormones taking control of his higher functions for a second. Then, when they all charged, the bouncing breasts nearly made him stumble to a halt.

But he quickly regained control of himself as Marion shouted, "Kill the pervert!"

With that he turned and raced away, trying to escape, then ducked into a grocery store, meaning to go through it and out the other side. "Damn it, when I dreamed of women running after me, I didn't mean it like this!"

As they ran after Issei, the Pawns radioed in, and the nearest Rook, in this case Xuelan, responded. She was a somewhat short Chinese girl who dressed in a cheongsam and was a hand to hand fighter like the two Nekomata.

And with her was one of the three familiars that her fellow Rook had summoned, a trio of magical rhino beetles. These were monsters from the Familiar Forest that looked like their name implied, a mix between beetles the size of a man and a rhino, their horns encased in specially created metal sheaths.

Xuelan closed the distance quickly, entering the supermarket from the other side and moving inwards quickly with the beetle following her, waiting for her order to attack, her hands clenching and unclenching eagerly. She had seen what this one had done with one of his spells before and thought him a Bishop, which meant to her mind that, if they closed with him, he was next to useless.

The three Pawns chasing Issei crowded into the building after him, one of them nearly tagging him, but he ducked out of the way, kicking back and catching her in the leg, putting her, one of the maids, on the ground, as he raced deeper into the supermarket area, only to stop as Xuelan burst out from the back store, grinning evilly at him. "Nowhere to run!"

Issei looked around swiftly. "No! No, I won't lose here! I won't lose like this! Not when I've only just begun by quest to become a harem king!" As the beetle smashed through the wall nearby, Issei squealed but leaped free in time to avoid it, concentrating on his next magical spell. "Witness my terrible power!"

With that Issei slammed his hands together, creating an aura around him. Then, as the beetle charged, he leaped backwards, leaving behind a series of after-images. Or so Riser's peerage thought until an afterimage charged into one, tackling Xuelan to the ground and nuzzling into her chest eagerly. "Oh, yes! Bliss!"

"What the…? Get this pervert get off me!" shouted Xuelan, raising a hand to smash it, then pausing as three more of the doubles piled onto her. "What the heck, he can multiply himself!?"

Two of the Pawns immediately went to her help as the beetle and the last Pawn, the belly dancer, attacked Issei. A staff lashed down, smashing one of the body doubles, which poofed into nonexistence. The maid paused and then rolled her eyes. "Right, Rias-sama is known to be an anime freak. Guess it's only natural she'd attract other people with similar interests."

A second later the Pawns had cleared out the body doubles who had tackled Xuelan to the ground. "Anything else in your bag of tricks!" Xuelan shouted turning to the noise of the beetle smashing through aisles after Issei, with Shuriya moving around to attack him from behind.

"I have not even begun to fight!" Issei shouted, leaping over to land on top of the meat counter. _Thank you, Harry-sensei, for your agility training, and…thank you, I suppose, Akeno-senpai, for giving me such great motivation._ Pain, after all, was the oldest motivator in the world, and, coupled with the opportunity to stare at Akeno's chest so often, it had performed a miracle. "Look at your feet!"

A few of the Pawns actually did this, expecting something else perverted or maybe more clones to just jump out at them. Instead they saw two little Oni, one by the Pawns and another near the Rhino Beetle. "What the? They're so cute!" shouted one of the maid-dressed Pawns, going down to her knees in front of them. "Isn't this a familiar?"

Issei pointed a finger at each of them in turn and shouted, " _Engorgio_!"

The little Oni grew instantly into massive monsters so large they stood several feet taller than the Pawns. "DESU!" they bellowed as one, raising clubs.

One smashed one of the Pawns, the one called Burent, to the side with enough force to take her out of the game. The other attacked the beetle, charging into it with the beetle smashing back just as ferociously.

But Xuelan charged forward, shouting, "Who cares! If we take you out, they'll disappear too!" She smashed the closest Oni aside with her Rook-given strength and then leaped forward in a high kick towards Issei, who popped, revealing himself to be another body double. "What the!?"

From where he had been hiding behind one of the aisles, the real Issei rolled out, one hand pressed to his upper arm and his palm thrust forward. "Behold the true gem of my magic spells, the power of my perversions given form! Dress Break!"

From his palm a spell flashed out across the supermarket's interior, impacting each girl in turn, shredding the clothing and weapons of those who had them.

Even the beetle lost the metal cover on its horn, though this didn't stop it from ramming the Oni it was fighting in the gut, bearing it to the earth. The no-longer little Oni was still fighting, though, and it wrapped its arms around the beetle's head, grappling with it.

As the girls shrieked and covered themselves Issei hopped to his feet, making a fist and pumping it in the air. "Yes! Perversions for the win! Gimme that glorious oppai!"

 **OOOOOOO**

"Daddy…" Lily said hesitantly. "Um, I know he's on Rias's side and can be an okay guy sometimes, but…"

"I know, sweetheart," Harry said with a sigh. "I know."

"My word, my daughter's cute little Pawn seems to be rather a problem child," Venelana said, a dark and rather frightening feeling starting to radiate off her.

"Well, you can argue it was effective," said Sirzechs with a chuckle as the rest of the crowd laughed or groaned, which it was depending on their gender for the most part.

 **OOOOOOO**

Stepping forward, Issei used another spell he had learned from Harry and Akeno, pointing at each girl in turn. "Incarcerous, bondage version!" Soon all of them were trussed up, their breasts on display. There were ropes twisting this way and that in a erotic show. "Now, how best to take you out…" Issei said happily, stepping forward, his hands making little grasping noises in front of him.

"Pervert! Hentai! Molester!" shouted Shuriya, twitching away from Issei, real fear in her eyes. That caused Issei to stop and stare at her, his hands falling to his side.

Shuriya took advantage of that and shouted, "I quit!" followed by Marion. This was immediately followed by both girls disappearing and Grayfia intoning the message that Riser had lost those pieces.

Xuelan, though kept on trying to fight free of the ropes, reaching for Issei with her hand. Shaking his head at Shuriya's expression earlier, Issei simply shook his head, and was about to leave her there and help the Oni deal with the beetle, when suddenly his world was engulfed in fire.

Thanks to his earlier spell, Riser had sensed his peerage being taken out and could even tell where they had been. As Issei had turned away, Riser had arrived in midair above the supermarket where he simply rained down a pillar of fire, engulfing the entire building and searing it to ash within seconds.

Grayfia's voice intoned over the intercom, her voice just as cool and controlled as it had been a moment before. "Riser's Rook has retired. Riser's Pawn has retired. Rias Ojou-sama's Pawn has retired."

 **OOOOOOO**

"Rather ruthless, and that was a Pawn, not a Bishop?" Lord Phenex asked rhetorically, sighing. "I have to give that casualty ratio to Rias."

"Ah, but now, just imagine if this was a real fight instead of a Rating Game, Father," Ruval said grimly, causing his father to wince and his mother to blanch.

"You, you surely don't think that…" Lady Phenex began before frowning and stopping as she watched the screen with her son's face on it, worry clear on her features.

Behind Ruval, Sairaorg nodded, as did Harry and Sirzechs. Lord and Lady Gremory, too, were frowning, looking at one another and wondering if what they had just seen was a sign of Riser's ruthlessness or simply the manner he used to game the system.

 **OOOOOOO**

" **FUCK**!" Rias growled, grateful now that this was a Rating Game and not a real fight. This was what she had worried about and why she had ordered her peerage to split up, so Riser simply couldn't take them all out at once. But they had spread too far, and Riser's speed and ruthless action had cost them.

But, despite that, she didn't break away from her own work, the massively intricate teleportation circle in front of her continuing to grow and fill in further with more Ankhsera runes. This was one of her trump cards, but it was taking all her time and a lot of her remaining magic to set it up.

The Oni she had asked Akeno to leave behind tapped the communicator on her face, and Rias muttered, "Everyone be aware, Riser's decided to sacrifice his pieces more actively than we anticipated. Tonks, move to Kiba; you two are closest. He's to your northwest, six blocks away. Take the next left. We need to play for time now, not to find the opposition. Koneko, pull straight back through that park and then move to your right. Link up with Kiba and Tonks, please. Akeno, Mittelt, stay hidden for now."

 **OOOOOOO**

Riser flew away from the conflagration, staring down in an attempt to spot the telltale glimpses of something moving to one side that wasn't his own peerage. The spell to see heat helped, but not enough given the size of the city, and it also looked as if Rias had figured out a way around that too. Tapping his communication device, he said simply, "Change of plans. I will be raining down random conflagrations to hopefully flush Rias and her peerage out. Be aware of it. I will be most displeased later tonight if your own stupidity costs me your further use in this game."

With that Riser turned in a random direction, picked out the largest skyscraper in view, and began to demolish it with fireballs. Once it was nicely on fire, he then shifted attention to several other random buildings as he zoomed over the city in an equally random pattern.

 **OOOOOOO**

Elsewhere in the city this carnage was heard, but Koneko, moving back through the small park as ordered, disdained it, concentrating on her enhanced senses. "Know you're there," she said coldly. "Come out."

The two cat Pawns did so, leaping down from trees to stand on either side of her. From their hands they held cat claws now rather than boxing gloves, and they crouched down, staring at her angrily. "We demand a rematch!"

Koneko shrugged and made a little come hither motion, and the two growled angrily, charging forward. "Sssstinking Nekosshou!" one of them hissed. "It's because of you, it's because of one like you, using Senjutsu! Because of that cursed technique and those like you who could use it that our families were slaughtered! It's because of you that we, with, with Riser, that he!"

Wincing slightly at what her tone implied, Koneko met their charge wordlessly. A few months ago those words, that accusation, would've almost completely unmanned Koneko. She would never have been so open about her own heritage as she was now, with her cat-tail and ears showing.

But that was a few months ago. "Blame Kuroka, not me," she said simply. "Senjutsu not bad, only giving in to the curse of malice bad."

She dodged to one side and lashed out with a punch that immediately ended the game for one of them, then brought her hand around and grabbed at the other one, slamming her down to the ground in turn.

Before she could finish that one, however, another Pawn, this one with blue hair and wielding a staff, arrived along with the Rook, Isabela. "Darn it, Ni! You two weren't supposed to get that far away from us!" So shouting, Isabela and two giant rhino beetles charged forward.

Koneko smirked, cracking her knuckles, then took a single step back from Ni to face the two newcomers. "Bring it."

Isabela, a woman almost as tall as Akeno, charged forward, meeting Koneko blow for blow. The rhino beetles spread to either side of her, and Koneko was forced to leap away again.

In her ear she heard Rias's voice again. Now that most of the work of powering the teleportation sphere was done, she could concentrate on aiding her peerage. "Koneko! If you can, break contact! Tonks and Kiba are on their way to you, but they have to detour around where Riser's playing pyro right now!"

"Can't!" Koneko grunted, one of the rhino beetles nearly taking her in the side of the head with one of its pincers. She dodged it, but the blow destroyed the communicator. She turned, punching it so hard the thing's armor shattered, and it instantly disappeared, taken out of the match.

But this allowed Isabela to get in a shot in turn on Koneko's back. She grunted, but took it, giving back another blow only to have to leap away from another strike. Kicking out backwards after landing, she caught the third Pawn that had shown up, the mule kick shattering her staff and doing enough damage to send her out of the game in turn. The next instant the rhino beetle blasted her through several trees and then into the small building that served as public bathrooms.

Isabela made to follow, but then Koneko got her feet under her and bodily lifted the rhino beetle up off the ground, hurling it back at her. Isabela moved out of the way, then grunted as a piece of thrown masonry slammed into her. It didn't hurt the Rook overmuch, but it let Koneko close the distance. Leaping over a punch from Ni, her fist caught Isabela in the side of the head. And a Senjutsu assisted Rook-powered punch was enough to get through Isabela's own Rook-level endurance.

"Riser's second Rook has retired." Grayfia intoned.

Koneko barely had a second to turn to look at Ni before fireballs began to slam down in the center of the woods, followed by several dozen more. "Baka fried turkey!" she howled, dodging one fireball then diving head first into a nearby pond, using the water to shield herself. The water shielded her for a moment, but the boiling heat still caused her to cry out in pain—not enough to take her out of the game, but certainly very, very painful. This in turn forced Koneko to call up the Boosted Gear for the first time in this fight, using it to heighten her durability and power her spells, trying to create a cooling spell around herself. But there once more her Rook status worked against her and the heat quickly began to eat away at her defense.

 **OOOOOOO**

"GRRRR…" Lily growled, almost shifting into her werewolf form on her Daddy's lap as she stared at the top of the small pond where Koneko had disappeared. "I do not like that guy at all, Daddy! Will Koneko be all right?"

"Don't you know anything?" Ravel said haughtily, rolling her eyes at the younger girl's stupidity. "Any damage they take in the Rating Game is reduced tremendously. She might have felt some slight pain, but not enough to really hurt her."

"What I don't understand is where that other flying girl and Rias's Queen have gotten to," Sairaorg confessed, to which many of the others watching nodded agreement.

As Lily glared at the youngest Phenex there, Harry simply rubbed her head and watched the game, already making notes on what Rias and the others could do better. _Her earlier lack of concentration on making certain all her peerage was able to help one another has cost her. But if she can finish that spell, it's game over for Riser even if Mittelt's Light magic can't do it._

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time that Riser was raining fire down on Koneko's position, Kiba and Tonks ran into trouble. While Tonks preferred to keep to the streets, moving through buildings to help her stay hidden, Kiba had taken to the rooftops, using his speed to try desperately to get to Koneko.

"Bloody hell Kiba, slow the fuck down!" Tonks shouted. But Kiba wasn't listening, trying to go to his friend's aid. "Cock!" Tonks, realizing she wasn't going to be able to catch up to Kiba, who was now entirely visible, slowed down and began to move more adroitly, moving in such a manner so as to flank Kiba's advance and come to where Rias had said the park was at an angle, possibly flanking Riser's forces.

Doing so she moved through yet another building, this one an office building of some kind. But as she did, she noticed something she hadn't seen before, and her pink hair turned black and blue for a moment. "What the heck? Are those spider webs?"

The strands in question were nearly as thick as her fingers, but they did seem to make up a massive spider web, completely blocking her way forward.

"Right, that isn't creepy at all," Tonks scowled, shaking her head and wondering if she should just burn the shit away. Instead keeping to the idea of staying hidden, she was going to back away when a small sphere of brown and orange magical energy impacted the entranceway she had just come through, smashing it into flinders and erupting in a bright brown flame. The flames quickly spread to engulf the entire entranceway and moved towards her, down the hallway in the back of the building.

For just a moment Tonks gaped, wondering what the heck could cause a brown flame, of all things, but then a dinging sound came from one side and the elevators opened to reveal skittering horror. Six large spiders, coming up to her knee, almost, appeared and began charging towards her.

Outside, Mihae shuddered. "I, I'm sorry about this, miss. But my King has ordered, and I must obey."

Tonks, though, was not afraid of spiders, and she was a combat veteran with a truly amazing array of spells at her disposal. "Flippendo, Bombarda, Protego!" A three-spell chain lashed out towards the spiders, and Tonks turned, casting a flame freeze charm on the entrance and backing away, hence why she'd had to verbalize the first three: Tonks couldn't dual cast silently. The first spell flipped one of the spiders that had already escaped from one of the elevators. The second exploded inside the first elevator to open, splattering the familiars into gobbets. The Protego created a shield in front of the second elevator, blocking the spiders in there from getting out.

To Tonks's surprise, however, the spiders from the third elevator kept coming, rushing through the fire towards her, and weren't burned. "Fucking fantastic!" In fact, Tonks realized, the brown fire wasn't actually burning anything after that initial explosion. _Crap, it must have been two spells in one. This isn't a fire; it's some kind of, of…_ After a few seconds of breathing in the fumes from the brown fire or whatever it was, Tonks began to have trouble concentrating.

Quickly realizing what was going on, Tonks hopped up onto the reception desk to one side of the entranceway and created a Bubble Head charm over her head, keeping the fumes at bay. Then she transfigured the ground and bits of debris from the explosion at the entranceway earlier into tiny cats and dogs, sending them in to attack the spiders. Though smaller, there were more of her transfigured beasties than spiders.

Once certain they were being dealt with, or at least being kept off her back, Tonks sent a few cutting spells at the walls, creating numerous holes before sending out a dozen illusions that looked just like her. But instead of following them, she then cut a hole in the roof and exited that way, leaping up to get a hold and pulling herself out onto the floor above. There she glanced outside through each window, grateful that the spiders weren't as disturbingly numerous as they were in so many horror flicks. _That would've been bad, but I suppose they must have spread along the first floor of each building in turn and then waited in hiding in different places._

Outside, Mihae sighed as another illusion dissipated under her cutting spells. She wasn't a very good combatant, being rather a caring, kind girl at heart. She had been brought into Riser's peerage not for her combat abilities but for her skills in the bedroom, and she had limited spells. But Riser's orders were absolute, and she shuddered at what he might put them all through if they lost this battle. She knew those already removed from the game would be in for it, so she had to do her best, even if that meant working with Siris's disturbing familiars.

But, not being a trained combatant, Mihae had not realized she should be in cover even if she thought she was in a position of strength. She had barely an instant to realize that that might be a good idea when a Reducto took her in the head. The pain of the blast had barely begun before it cut off, and Mihae found herself back in the starting area of the arena, out of the game.

Landing lightly outside, Tonks cracked her neck and grinned, her hair turning a bright pink once more. "Well, that was fun." But no sooner had she said that then dozens of spiders smashed their way out of buildings everywhere along the street she was currently standing on. "Crickey, need to keep that big mouth o' yours shut, Tonksy, old girl," she grumbled, her body starting to shift even as she looked around for a place from which to defend, her ring hand flashing out spell-chain after spell-chain.

As for Kiba, he was intercepted on a rooftop several blocks away from where Tonks had run into trouble. Both of Riser's Knights intercepted him there, leaping towards him from another rooftop. One was a tall woman with dark blue hair in a long ponytail and a wearing a Chinese cheongsam, vambraces, greaves, and short red shorts. In her hands she held a large Zweihänder. The second was a shorter woman with the armor and attitude of a European knight and had some kind of bandage over her head.

The second one flourished her sword happily in the air before actually bowing towards Kiba. "Excellent! I've been hoping for this kind of match. I, Karlamine, challenge you to a true and honorable duel! Oh, don't worry. If you accept, Siris won't interfere."

"A true and honorable duel, you say?" Kiba said with a chuckle, a sword appearing in one hand while his other pulled the sword of Gryffindor out of it's sheath at his side. "I'm sorry. If you challenge me later on I will cheerfully give you that match you wish for. But for right now, as we are in a life or death struggle for my King's future, I must decline."

"That's a pity!" sneered the other Knight, readying her sword. "Because we're not about to let you go."

Warned by some sixth sense, Kiba leaped away as the rooftop below him suddenly came apart, and a giant rhinoceros beetle shot forward, up out of the hole. Siris raced forward from his other side, and Kiba was forced to use both his swords defensively for a second before pushing Siris away. Then Karlamine too charged, if somewhat reluctantly, and his brief moment to take aggressive action failed.

From out of the corner of his eye Riser saw this and laughed, howling loudly to be heard, using a spell to magnify his voice and hoping to use a bit of psychological warfare to figure out where Rias herself was hiding, breaking off his attack on Koneko's previous position, much to her relief. "Aren't you going to come out and help your precious family, my dear?" Riser asked. "Two Knights plus a bonded familiar who can actually aid them in battle against one is a match; he surely will lose without help. Or do you think so little your own pieces?"

This did not work as well as he had hoped. Rias did see what was going on. Indeed, she saw it through Kiba's eyes, but while she was busy with her own preparations, the pulsing web of a teleportation sphere that she was creating, Rias was able to take a brief moment to bounce her voice off a distant skyscraper. "That is the difference between you and me, Riser. I do not see my peerage as mere pieces. And I do not use them as you do."

Riser scoffed. "Bah, what can they be but mere tools? It is foolish to think of them as anything more. A peerage is there to aid the King, to be used, to be tools. That is all they can ever be to a true Devil, especially one of our standing. We, Rias-chan, are the elite, heirs to the clans, the true Pillars of power in Hell. Your odd fetish for humanity and its creations is simply unconscionable to Riser."

While this caused further consternation among those watching, including from his parents, Rias was ready with her own riposte. "I see my peerage as family, Riser. I have trust in them, trust in their abilities and skills. You think your two Knights, beaten down, their honor disregarded or cast aside, can match the metal of my Kiba, my Knight? You are sorely mistaken!"

From where he was standing, holding off both of the other Knights, Kiba smiled. "A little melodramatic, milady, but it certainly gets the point across." The three of them were moving so quickly, dancing, leaping around, their blades flashing, that the rhino beetle was almost forgotten for a few moments until the other two had turned Kiba around so the beetle could attack him from behind.

But rather than be surprised, Kiba flipped up and away, smacking the swords of his two opponents away to land on the back of the beetle. The sword of Gryffindor smashed down, barely breaking the heavy armor of the magical rhino beetle, but it did break through just enough for the tip of the sword to cut into the flesh beneath. It immediately began to spasm, hurling him off of its back and away.

Karlamine was close enough and dashed forward, nearly taking Kiba out then and there, smashing his conjured blade out of his hand. But then Kiba fully activated his Sacred Gear. "Sword Birth!" A blast of magical power lashed out from him and created dozens of swords around him, their points piercing the rooftop. He grabbed one of them and continued to dual wield against his two opponents as Siris joined in.

The rhino beetle, too, trundled after him, but then began to collapse, spasming with froth pouring out of its mouth before it disappeared. "What the heck!? No way could that sword have done that much damage with a tiny pinprick!" Siris shouted,

Kiba shook his head, not having honestly anticipated such a massive response to that assault. "Basilisk venom," he mused aloud. "This sword I've been given the use of is truly quite deadly."

"What kind of Knight are you to use poison!?" Karlamine bellowed, her face twisted in rage as she attacked all the harder.

Yet for all her speed and furious energy, the power of his King filled Kiba, and he moved faster and hit stronger than either of his opponents. "I am a Knight on a mission!" Kiba said simply. "I have my King's pride and expectations in my heart and her future on the line. I will do what I must!"

As Siris made to lock blades with his Demonic Blade, Kiba activated the blade's demonic magic. "Replenish Calm!" The sword emitted a gravitational pull, pulling Siris's sword toward it and crushing the massive Zweihänder in a gravity field before wrenching it out of her grip. The next instant Siris was nearly stabbed with the sword of Gryffindor, and Karlamine had to come to her rescue, blocking the attack. She smashed the blade out of the way and seemingly knocked Kiba backwards, putting her out of his sword's range.

This was not the case as Kiba raised he sword in a slash, shouting, " _Discidium_!"

The severing charm lashed out in a crescent, catching Karlamine in the chest and cutting through her armor and into her body before the Rating Game's magic ported her away. Then Kiba was in the face of the other one, taking the fight to her. Siris barely had an instant to pick up Karlamine's sword before it was smashed out of the way with the sword of Gryffindor and Replenish Calm smashed into her side, taking her out of the game in turn.

But Kiba did not have any time to try to get away. Instead Riser, who had been watching from nearby in the air, sent a massive fireball down at the Knight. Kiba had an instant to turn before he had to race away, sheathing the sword of Gryffindor, dropping Replenish calm, and grabbing desperately for another blade. Twisting around, he shouted, "Flame Delete!" The fireball hit the shield of ice magic the sword had created and began to barrel through, but Kiba threw more of his King's magic through into the blade, aiding it by shouting the Flame Freezing charm Harry had taught him at the same time.

This didn't really stop Riser's attack, but it protected Kiba enough that he could escape to a nearby rooftop, leaping across the space and racing away. His Knight piece-given speed now allowed him to race across several rooftops.

"GRAH! Get back here, you little bastard!" Riser howled as he lashed out with fireball after fireball towards the dancing and leaping Knight.

Nearby, though, Tonks had no such speed to call on. She had barely a second to gasp in relief as the spiders all around her faded out of the game along with their mistress, when a explosion that made her own Bombarda and Reducto spells look tame caught her from above, smashing her out of the game in an instant.

But as she did, Tonks heard Rias shouting, "NOW!" through their comms.

"Take this, you pyro bitch! Spear of Light attack, Holy Rain!" shouted a voice from on high. Hundreds, then thousands of Light Spears flashed down towards only two targets, Riser and Yubelluna.

Higher in the sky than Yubelluna, who had dived down to nearly street level, Riser had no chance of dodging. Between one second and the next Riser was literally pin-cushioned by hundreds of Light Spears, sending him plummeting to the street with a cry of agony. His regeneration powers were truly as excellent as his prided himself, but they were slowed badly by the Light based assault. He was able to stay in the Rating Game, but Light-based spells like this were still incredibly painful.

Yubelluna had an instant to respond to the attack and did so with a speed and creativity that drew many a nod of approval from the watchers. She shouted out a, "HYAAAAA!" and blasted out an aura of her Sacred Gear, Bombardier, and exploded it instantly, destroying all of the Light Spears aimed in her direction. It also hurt her in the back blast, but, even so, she was able to survive.

A second Later Yubelluna zoomed away, looking up and back as she mused that, devil or human, letting someone get above and behind you in a dogfight was deadly. _It must be Mittelt and Akeno, but where…!_

She hadn't even finished that thought before Akeno dove down proceeded by a blast of lightning, which nearly took Yubelluna in the side. But she dodged at the last minute, lashing out with an explosion of her own. For an instant the two Queens looked at one another, hovering there in midair, and then Yubelluna smiled. "Even if your wings are mismatched, they look beautiful Akeno-san."

"Ara, thank you," Akeno said. "I don't suppose I could ask you to surrender? You and Riser are the only ones still alive." That question had multiple layers to it that only those who knew about Yubelluna's desire for freedom from Riser could follow, and thus it was far more heartfelt than it sounded.

"I am afraid not," Yubelluna replied, keeping her tone dry, but her eyes were serious and she bowed her head very slightly to the other woman in thanks for the offer. "But my pride as a Queen will not allow that, no matter the circumstances."

The two Queens looked at one another for another brief instant, and then began to dance around in midair, launching spells one after another, each of them trying seriously take out the other now. They zipped and zagged around the cityscape, moving away from where Riser had gone down, launching spell after spell. Akeno had a major advantage in the number of spells she could use, but, to her astonishment, Yubelluna was both faster in the air and could create an equivalent of dual wielding spells, attacking and defending at the same time, something none of Rias's peerage had yet been able to do. It was slowly starting to look like more of a battle of attrition than anything else.

Back with Riser, Mittelt alighted nearby, cackling, and in her hand a far larger Spear of Light than the ones she had launched before appeared. "I honestly don't get what all the fuss is about," she said mockingly, moving in for the kill. "You just look like a plucked turkey to me."

Riser, however, wasn't finished. He weakly raised his hands, and from around them wings of fire appeared, launching a wave of magical energy in every direction around him. Mittelt yelped and leaped away but was still seared by the fires and flung to one side, smashing into the building opposite with enough power to crush something internally, causing blood to gush from her mouth. Even so she wasn't out of the fight yet and fought against the Rating Game's spell as it tried to remove her.

"Filthy little crow!" Riser shouted as he pushed himself to his feet. Yet, even so, he was feeling it. All of his earlier attacks had amounted to nothing, barely a dip in his magical reserves. But healing from hundreds of light based injuries was both slow going and taking it out of him horribly. "You, you think you've won? You, you don't, Riser cannot be beaten!"

"I don't **think** I have," Rias said, suddenly appearing on a nearby rooftop, a blast of Power of Destruction catching Riser in the knee and cutting his leg off neatly, dumping him back to the rooftop even as the wound immediately began healing, the limb regenerating. "I know I have. Did you honestly think I sent out my peerage to do all of the fighting for me without doing anything myself?" Rias asked coldly. "They were doing what they could to keep you away from me. Because they knew my spell needed some time to set up.

"W, what spell?" Riser asked, pushing himself to his feet. All of his earlier wounds were nearly gone, but his magical reserves were next to nothing now, and he knew it. Instead he had to bluff, to gain time for his reserves to build back up.

"This one," Rias said with this grim smile as she suddenly disappeared, not even a flash of teleportation energy showing where she had gone, the only thing occurring being a brief pop as air filled the space she had been in. Riser looked around only to get a blast of Power of Destruction in the back. He turned, blasting out with his own rapidly diminishing magical powers, destroying the building that that attack must've come from, only to take another blow from the side. A third blow swiftly followed, and suddenly, all around him the Power of Destruction rained down.

Desperately, Riser used one of his few remaining spells, and, using a power called the King's Shift that was inherent in the Peerage system, switched his own position with that of Yubelluna, his sole remaining piece. From where she had been in combat with Akeno, Yubelluna gasped and only had an instant to realize what had happened before the hail of Power of Destruction attacks hit, and she disappeared from the game.

Even so, Rias took a brief instant to order Mittelt to retire, then she quickly followed Riser. With her teleportation magic covering the city much like it did Kuoh now, she could teleport herself anywhere she wanted with barely a single moment of concentration. She even teleported Koneko and Kiba after him, joining Akeno, who had promptly begun raining magic down on him.

Koneko had not had a pleasant time of it under the water as Riser's earlier attacks rained down. While the Boosted Gear did give its user a bit more in the way of defense, it hadn't really helped much, and only a cooling charm that she had barely mastered from Harry had kept her in the game in the end. She had literally crawled out of the pond, her skin bright red from the scalding water, her face having barely been protected by her arms, and Koneko's body and magic barely responding to her demand that she stay in the match.

But when she saw Riser in front of her and heard Rias's voice in her ear, she gathered enough energy to push to her feet and cocked her gauntleted fist back, shouting, "Take this, you fried turkey!" With the gauntlet roaring out, "Boost, Boost, Boost," the blow crashed into Riser with enough destructive force to hurl him backwards and through several buildings.

Riser was saved by the fact Koneko was so weak, the Boosted Gear had been drained by the constant heat based assault earlier, and the fact that Riser had just a second to step very slightly back, making it so he didn't take the full power of the punch. Even so, the blow shattered his body from shoulder to hip. His Regeneration power instantly started to work, but his reserves were now so badly depleted it was a slow, painful process.

One which Riser's body would not have the time to finish. He looked up through bleary, nearly burst eyes as Rias appeared in the air above him, a hammer of energy searing down.

That was the last sight he had of the game as the magic of the Rating Game pulled him out of it before the attack could land.

As it did, Grayfia's voice, which a moment before had announced Yubelluna's defeat and Mittelt's withdrawal, sounded out one last time. "Checkmate. Repeat, checkmate. Riser Phenex has been eliminated from the game. Rias Gremory has won."

With that, the bounded field all around them disappeared, and, one after another, Rias, Kiba and Akeno found themselves back in their starting point. Akeno, her face flushed and breathing heavily, was still scowling despite their victory. The match between her and Yubelluna had ended due to Riser's desperate defensive spell, and she felt rather like she had personally not done enough there. "That was rather unsatisfying."

"Speak for yourself, Akeno!" Rias shouted as she threw her arms up in the air exuberantly as Kiba and the others who had arrived earlier threw their own hands in the air with Issei whooping exuberantly. "We won!"

 **OOOOOOO**

After spending about fifteen minutes just talking, hugging, and laughing together, as Asia joined them to heal their few wounds, Rias's peerage split off to shower and dress in formal wear, with Kiba helping Issei with his tie. "I understand you took out three Pawns and a Rook? Impressive," the blonde man said as he did up the younger boy's tie.

"Heheh, that's not all. I got to see their oppaaaaakkkk, tight, tight, Kiba-senpai!" Issei gabbled.

"Enough of that kind of talk, please. Venelana-sama is out there, and she will cheerfully torture you if you speak like that in front of her," Kiba warned, loosening the tie.

Outside the two boys met up with the others, who were all wearing formal dresses. Rias wore an off the shoulder dancing dress, while Akeno wore a slinky lounge dress, as did Mittelt, though hers was far more frilly. Koneko wore a man's formal tuxedo, with only the chest marking her as a woman, which was just fine with her, especially in this crowd.

Rias smiled at the boys and then gestured for them to join the girls, and together they exited into the reception area. There the crowd had already gathered along with tables full of food and drink, something that only Akeno and Rias, among her group, could ignore. Even as men and women began clapping or otherwise showing their appreciation for the good show they'd seen, Koneko made a beeline through the crowd with the others following.

Here and there in the crowd were people who weren't cheering. Lord and Lady Astaroth simply looked on, their faces neutral masks. Several others also glared at Rias and her peerage, muttering about how the peerage system was ruining Devil-kind.

But Rias didn't have eyes for any of them. The only ones that she had eyes for were Harry and his family and her beaming brother. Her brother reached her first, of course, picking her up and hugging Rias to her his chest as he danced around excitedly. "That's my Rias-tan! Oh, imouto, you make me so proud! That was amazing. You didn't just beat him, you outfought and out-thought him and made Riser dance to your tune from one end to the other!"

"GAHH! Thank you for your congratulations, Nii-sama. Now let me go!" Rias grunted.

But Sirzechs had barely set her down before Lily, having made better time through the crowd then Harry, reached her, barreling into her legs. Rias scooped the little girl into her arms, hugging her tightly and being hugged in turn around her neck as Lily shouted into her ear. "That was **awesome**! You did it! Oh, that was so great! You and all of the others were so cool!"

"Well, thank you for that, sweetheart," Rias said, nuzzling her cheek against the little girl's.

Then Harry was there with Asia and Kunou following. He enfolded both of them in a hug, whispering into her ear, "That was magnificent. Well done, my love!"

Watching this exchange, Venelana smiled somewhat wanly, happy her daughter had found happiness even if not in the way she would have wished. The power she and the others could feel in Harry was such that she wasn't going to make waves. Not, at least, until she had healed the rift that existed between them thanks to their pushing for the marriage between Riser and Rias.

Having watched the fight and seen how Riser had treated his peerage, Zeoticus and Venelana's eyes had been opened, something their son had immediately pounced on, producing another copy of the report Rias's efforts, not his own, had created. It missed many of the darker back dealings Riser had made with his former enemies in various Rating Games and didn't make note of how Riser had initially gathered some of his peerage. But it did cover how he treated them: like slaves, tools, as he had stated, to be used and discarded. To Zeoticus that was pure anathema, and even Venelana, after so long being a Gremory rather than a Bael, saw it as a horror. And, regardless of their ignoring her wishes, both Lord and Lady Gremory loved their daughter.

That didn't mean Zeoticus was all that happy to see how loving Rias was with Harry. However powerful he was—which Zeoticus was not denying, having felt Harry's aura—Harry was not a pureblood Devil. That meant there would be large political repercussions, if nothing else, which would fall on him and Sirzechs to deal with.

On the other hand, Ravel and Lady Phenex both looked at this and thought it highly romantic that Rias had apparently not just been fighting for her own freedom from an unwanted marriage. But they and Lord Phenex had more important things to worry about. They too had had their eyes opened to Riser's arrogance. While they didn't have much of a problem with how he treated others, treating his own peerage, who were supposed to be his loyal army, like dogs was not something even the Phenex clan would condone. Further, it was obvious his personal arrogance had led directly to his downfall.

"I have to admit it is my son's loss," said Lord Phenex with a shake of his head.

Lord Gremory looked at him and shook his head. "I apologize for this, Lord Phenex. I truly thought that the marriage between your son and my daughter would've been an excellent move to unite our Clans' powers. But it seems as if it is not to be."

"Bah, setting everything else aside, simply taking their personalities into account I cannot help but agree that it would've been a horrible match, whatever the outcome today," Lord Phenex said with a shake of his head. "My son has proven that, whatever else, he desperately needed a reality check to deal with his ego. So I suppose, in a way, that I am happy he was humiliated here. It is obvious now that my son needs quite a bit more training and, more importantly, needs to start learning how to lead instead of command."

Harry nodded at that, while Lily looked confused. "When you command a someone to do something, Lily, you're just ordering them to do it. When you lead someone, you're taking part, you're putting yourself on the line."

Lily nodded at that and finally relinquished her grip around Rias's neck to stand between her daddy and the young woman she was quickly beginning to think of as her new mum, glaring at Lord Phenex and Lord Gremory. "So does this mean that they can't try to sell you off again?"

"Your daughter is quite rude," Lord Gremory said irritably, though he winced at the allegation, and Venelana looked away, guilt written plain on her face.

"And yet Lily's attack is accurate," Rias said before Harry could say anything, glaring at her parents. "I warned you. I warned both of you several times. I showed you the evidence of how Riser acted, and yet you still tried to force me into marriage with him. So why wouldn't you try to sell me off again?"

Lady Gremory actually backed away at the vitriol in her daughter's tone as Lord Gremory winced and looked away. "We, we thought it was for the best."

"Ironic, then, that we are already in Hell, since I believe that one of the roads to this destination is paved with such good intentions," Harry said dryly.

"Ahem, yes, well, do not worry. We have, I think, learned our lesson there," Venelana said, wincing internally as her daughter's glare had not subsided. That rift was definitely going to take some time to heal. In an effort to possibly take a step forward on that road, she gestured between Rias and Harry. "Is there something you wish to tell us here, Rias? Some **other** reason why you were so against the marriage with Riser?"

"I always wanted to fall in love with the man who would be my husband, Mother. Is it any real surprise that I did so?"

"Yet, with a man with a daughter already? I hope that you're not two-timing on my daughter?" Lord Gremory asked, trying to sound upbeat, but there was still a bit of a surly tone to his words.

Harry's eyes flashed, but, since there was some truth to that, given his and Yasaka's budding relationship and how he and Akeno had been going out for a time, he decided to let that go, simply replying, "My marriage to Lily's mother ended several months before I met your daughter, which was many months before she and I started to date. Other than that, until your daughter says otherwise, I rather think you've lost the right to any further information. But I think we were talking about you not trying to set up any other marriage agreements for Rias?"

As Zeoticus winced, Lily rolled her eyes. "Daddy, I'm gonna go talk to Koneko and get some food. She looks completely knackered."

"She does, lovey. Why don't you herd her toward a corner, then you and Asia here get her some food. I doubt she wants to be talked at by those boys over there," Harry said, having noticed several men, both middle-aged and younger, trying to talk up the exhausted Koneko, who was just trying to get through the crowd to the food in peace. Alas, her exhaustion was working against her there.

"Good idea," Asia said, clapping her hands together and moving in that direction. Since Kiba, Tonks, Mittelt, and Issei were already with Koneko, trying to get through the crowd to the food, that just left Kunou and Akeno with Rias and Harry. Kunou remained with Harry, mindful of her mother's injunction. But, having already delivered her message, she was content to just hang off Harry's hand, smiling up at Rias happily.

"I can guarantee that no further attempts will be made to create betrothals between Rias and anyone else, yes," Venelana said. She looked at her daughter as she went on. "I mean that to be the first sign of our apology for forcing you into this, Rias-chan."

"Indeed, though I don't know…erm," Zeoticus faltered as his wife turned to glare at him, hastily changing what he was going to say. "That is, there might be other marriage contracts already waiting in the wings, so we should probably check on that."

"You mean I might've been sold off more than once!?" Rias asked, keeping her voice less than a screech with some difficulty.

"No, no, nothing like that. Just old agreements for a 'daughter of the Gremory clan' which might have come into effect once you negated the agreement I personally made. Stuff like that occasionally crops up," Zeoticus stated, trying not to dig himself deeper but also blowing hot air out of his ass. He knew there weren't any such plans, but didn't want Rias to know what he had been about to say about Harry and her relationship.

"Ahem, actually, I can't remember the exact wording of our agreement, old friend," Lord Phenex said, going to his friend's aid. "After all, if we can't unite our clans in this generation, then perhaps we can do it in a future generation."

"Yes, that's a good idea. We should look into the wording of the agreement and double check to make certain there aren't further agreements. I'll just go and do that now." With that Zeoticus broke off and made for the door, grateful to be away from Rias's glares. He was still wondering about whether he approved of his daughter and Harry being together and if that mattered more than attempting to reconcile with her.

For a second the group around Rias was silent, and then Harry drawled, "Well, that was one of the more amusing methods to avoid foot in mouth disease I've seen."

As Rias and Akeno broke into giggles with Lady Phenex, Venelana shook her head. "You must forgive my husband. While he is a political progressive, he is a personal conservative and has long hoped to bring the Phenex clan's regeneration ability and their clan's ability to refill their reserves faster than any other clan added to the Gremory teleportation skills. My own family's Power of Destruction was just a bonus."

Harry and Rias exchanged a smirk at that, the origin of which Venelana could not interpret. Then Rias yawned before shaking her head. "It's been a long day." She looked thoughtfully at her mother before smiling very slightly. "I would like to talk to you further some other day, Mother, but right now, I think I'd rather just go home."

"And my mother will want a report on today's activities," Kunou said, equally tired after nearly a full day of being on display. Even so, she didn't forget the points her mother had wanted her to emphasize here. "She will be pleased that the Gremory Clan has not repudiated its agreement with the Youkai Association."

"Actually, you have yet to take your prizes," Harry said quickly. The image of Yubelluna and the raw appeal in her face was still in his mind, as was the personal pride she had shown, fighting to the last in the Rating Game.

"That's true," Rias said with a smile that was pure evil. "Then I suppose we have to wait for Riser and his peerage to arrive, don't we? Or rather, his former peerage."

While wanting to ask about that, Lord Phenex unfortunately could form an all too accurate idea of what that was. So instead of asking and removing all doubt as to his son's stupidity, he floundered for another topic and found one as Ravel and Ruval made their way through the crowd towards their parents. "Ah, yes, ahem, allow me to introduce you, Rias. This is my other son, Ruval, and my daughter, Ravel," Lord Phenex said.

"I like your dress sense," Mittelt said to Ravel. She had just returned with a small tray of food for herself, not having any interest in sticking around the hug-fest that Lily had begun the instant she reached Koneko. "But the twin tail look is a little dated, isn't it? Although you could liven it up a bit."

Ravel blinked and then tugged self-consciously at her hair. "How so, miss?" In another lifetime, perhaps, that question would've come out sharply or with an insult at Mittelt's low status thrown in. But being around Ruval rather than Riser had worn down a lot of the edges on Ravel's attitude towards the world.

After that ice breaker the group began to hobnob, although Rias didn't move very far away from Harry, who talked about how he and his family had been received. Sairaorg being rather kind to the Potters didn't come as a surprise, although Rias did breathe a sigh of relief that Harry had gone with her injunction about not starting any fights with him. The Astaroths' not making trouble was also a good thing, as was the general reaction to Kunou's bombshell. It looked like their work with the Youkai Association would bolster the Gremory's position politically going forward, bringing in more friends on the progressive side of things even as those from the Pureblood faction distanced themselves.

Eventually Grayfia herded a very reluctant Riser into the room followed by his peerage, by which time the Potters and Rias's peerage had come together again, moving into a corner and basically having a small, separate party within a party. They looked up, though, as Riser and the others entered,

All of them looked a little shell-shocked except for Yubelluna, who simply looked neutral. Of all of them, she had been the last one to die and had been giving as good as she had gotten against Akeno until Riser had tried to use her as a shield against Rias's attacks. But while the others simply looked shocked, Siris and Xuelan were glaring at Kiba and Issei, respectively, in particular. It had taken two of the confiscated Phenex Tears to clear away the poison from Xuelan's rhino beetle familiars, and Siris just hated the fact she had been beaten by the other Knight.

"Well, here we all are, Lucifer damn it!" Riser grumped. "And there she is, the cheater! No way could someone build up the amount of magical power necessary to launch so many successive Power of Destruction type attacks. And how in the world did she get a fallen to join her peerage, huh!?"

"Sour grapes, little brother?" Ruval asked sardonically, shaking his head as he took a sip of wine from one of the servants who were slowly circulating through the throng. "You need to learn how to lose more gracefully than that."

Riser glared angrily at him and pointed at Rias, ignoring Harry's presence as unimportant. "But all the spells they used, how they acted, if that doesn't smack of outside interference…"

"It smacks of training," Rias shot back. "Perhaps if you had done so more than…"

"Enough!" Grayfia said, stepping between them. Lord and Lady Phenex also rested their hands on their son's shoulders, gripping hard and glaring him into submission. "The match has been decided. The agreement between the Phenex and Gremory clan is annulled."

Riser scowled but nodded, and his parents let him go. "Fine, you win Rias-chan. You can continue slumming with the humans for all Riser cares."

"Acceding to your loss is not why you were brought here, Riser-san," Grayfia said coolly as always. "You are also here to settle your private bets."

"That, that was… There was no bet! That was just… And in any event, it's non-binding!" Riser sputtered.

"Ara, so you are not only a coward but a liar?" Akeno asked, cocking her head to one side before sighing. "I wish that could come as a surprise."

"Riser-san, I regret to inform you that you are wrong," Grayfia retorted, sounding not very sorry at all. "I was there as a neutral party and was called upon to witness this bet between the two of you. You offered up your peerage to Rias-sama to offset her demand that she face you in a real life or death struggle," she went on, ignoring the choked gasp of horror from Venelana, her eyes locked on Riser. "You have lost. Therefore your peerage is forfeit."

As Riser began to bristle, and, indeed, his parents gaped in horror, their worst fears realized, Sirzechs stepped forward. Laying a hand on his wife's shoulder, he cocked his head at Riser, a thin smile on his face. "Now, I'm certain you're not going to call my wife a liar, are you? If she says so, the event must have occurred."

From one side Harry piped up, amused as he noticed Lily and several of the others watching this just as avidly as they had the earlier Rating Game, sipping from sodas and munching on some little appetizer type things. Issei, in particular, was chortling, eager to see the bastard who had achieved a harem before him get his comeuppance. "I could even offer a memory of the event that you could view using a pensieve. And, if you don't trust my memory of it, we could even take Riser's."

"Is, is this true, Riser-sama?" Karlamine asked, her face torn between hope and something like horror, possibly at the dishonor of being cast aside like that. Siris and the two Rooks both looked horrified at the idea of being cast aside, moving forward and shouting about how it couldn't be so. The others, however, looked torn on how they were supposed to feel.

All save for the two youngest Pawns, Ile and Nel. They just began to cry, happy smiles on their faces. This seemed to be a sign for Mihae to join them, with the two Nekomata Pawns quickly following.

The sight of that made Harry's gut clench. He had been very careful to let Rias handle this her way, since he knew the twins were older than they appeared and, technically speaking, a peerage by law belonged to their King, so he could do with them what he wanted. But political ramifications be damned, some things needed to be answered for.

"What would you intend to do to them anyway? You already have a full peerage set, Rias-san," Ruval asked, one eyebrow rising in question.

"My parents will look after them here in Hell unless they wish to go to school in Kuoh. Essentially, they will be free to do whatever they want. It is more about freeing them from Riser's control rather than self-aggrandizement," Rias said with a shrug, turning to look at him.

Lord Phenex and his wife looked at one another and then sighed. "If Grayfia is stating that she witnessed this bet, we have no choice but to agree to it. Think of it as just another lesson, my son, in how not to treat your peerage from now on."

Riser had literally begun to steam at Rias's response, and, internally, he had been preparing an attack on Harry, seeing in him the catalyst which had changed Rias so much from what his reports had told him to expect before their meeting several days ago. His parents' acceptance simply fanned the flames, seeing it as a betrayal on their part, and the sight of many of his peerage exchanging high-fives and looking happy at being free from him twisted the dagger further, igniting a fury that he had to act on.

He whipped around, not attacking Rias or any of the others, but the traitors among his own peerage. "If Riser cannot have them, no one will! Riser will be the only King you will ever know, traitors!"

Harry had honestly been expecting an attack on himself or Rias. So, too, had Sirzechs and even Grayfia. All of them were caught flat footed by the sudden shift of targets. So the attack, a pure magical blast of energy, would have struck the unsuspecting Pawns and Mihae at the very least. If not for Yubelluna.

" **NO**!" Though just as physically exhausted as her fellows, Yubelluna still had a large amount of her magical reserves left, and she used them now, not to defend herself or those closest to her, Karlamine and Siris. Instead she leaped forward and lashed out with a barely molded shield of explosive power, the same kind she'd use to destroy Mittelt's Light Spears. This blocked Riser's magical attack just long enough for Harry to send a quick stunner at Riser, knocking him off his feet.

Yubelluna's action had saved Mihae and the others. But it had not saved her, Siris, or Karlamine. Karlamine barely had time to scream before she had been engulfed in the magical wave of energy, her armor not saving her face or the rest of her head as she fell twtiching and screaming to the ground. Siris hadn't survived, her body seared to the bone and flung away like so much trash. The two Rooks hadn't been targeted and were unscathed, though they looked on in shocked horror at what their King had attempted to do.

Their former Queen was an entirely different story. Her defense had protected the others, but not herself. The rabid magical attack had hit her body from the waist down, reducing everything below that point to slurry.

Harry and Asia raced forward from where they had been in the crowd as Sirzechs roared in fury, grabbing Riser's arm and snapping it like a dry twig, hurling him to one side to slam into the wall, the Power of Destruction around him so vibrant and alive that everyone was forced away, even Grayfia. " **How dare you**?! You come here and attack other guests in my house?! And for what, your foolish pride!?"

Lord and Lady Phenex tried to beg for their son's life while Ravel just stared in shock, horror filling her at her brother's act. Ruval simply glared at Riser's now fear-filled face and turned away, while Rias and her peerage moved to push the rest of Riser's peerage away from Yubelluna.

Harry and Asia ignored everything else as they knelt down next to Yubelluna, trying to save her life. But even with Asia there, they couldn't regenerate her legs. Regeneration like that would've been something that only a Phenex member could do, even if they had access to Phenex Tears. "No, not like this. This is, your life's not going to end like this," Harry muttered as he tried to stop Yubelluna's innards from just giving out.

*Cough* "M, my life, choice, finally my choice," Yubelluna gasped, blood dripping from her mouth as Asia tried desperately to save her. Her new advanced version of Twilight Healing appeared on her arms as Asia tried to force her magic into Yubelluna's body. But all either of them could do was stanch the flow of blood, they couldn't regenerate the lost limbs or missing innards. Not a lower intestine, her missing legs, or a portion of her spine. It was a wonder that she was still alive to make noises, and it was only because of Asia's power that she was able to do so. Harry's spells were next to useless, and he knew it.

 _There must be something I can do, anything! I won't let this woman die! Not like this! Not after finally regaining her freedom; not after sacrificing herself for no reason for innocents who were, too, finally freed of their tormentor._ Harry thought, his mind a fury. Suddenly, acting on an instinct he didn't know, Harry flashed his hands to either side of Yubelluna's face and roared out, "Will you live if I give you a chance to live!? Will you live for me and mine!?"

Yubelluna stared up at him, seeing the anger there, the compassion and pain, all felt for her. In the face of that, the idea that she might be agreeing to becoming a slave to someone else once more didn't occur to her. And, really, even if it had, she would have dismissed it outright. That was not the face of someone looking for a slave. That was the face of someone who desperately wanted to help. In an instant she convulsively nodded, the only reaction she could make by that point.

The instant she did, even more magical power surged through her from Harry's touch. " **THEN BE REBORN AGAIN,** " Harry intoned, his voice almost sepulchral now as blazing energy of a bright orange and white color came out of his eyes and mouth as he pushed his aura into Yubelluna's flagging body, his soul and magic merging with her own for just a brief instant as he ordered her body to live, pouring so much of himself into it there was no doubt as to what would occur. And, in response…Yubelluna's body healed itself.

But that wasn't quite accurate. After all, simple healing would not have recreated her legs. No magic could have replaced her limbs like that, not even the Philosopher's stone. Instead it was as if Harry's magic remade reality so that Yubelluna's body had never been injured in the first place.

When it was over, Yubelluna lay there, her head flopping to one side as Harry released his grip on her, but she was whole again. Also naked from the waist down—whatever Blessing he done had not saved Yubelluna's dignity. Harry quickly conjured up a blanket and laid it down across her while Asia looked at him in awe.

"A Blessing," one of the locals said, an elderly man who had remained quiet throughout the day, simply watching events occur. Now he shook his head. "Damn me if I've never seen the like! He really is a demigod."

Lord Gremory, who had just arrived from the family vaults where he had examined the remains of the agreement between the Gremory and Phenex clans, looked at this and then down at the glass case he was carrying before shaking his head and putting it to one side. Whatever objections he had against his daughter marrying a non-pureblood devil was gone now. _I'll talk to them about that later._

Tiredly Harry pushed to his feet, only then aware of what had been going on around Riser. That too had paused, and Harry walked through the crowd, which made way before him, before standing next to Rias, who had moved to join him so automatically that even she hadn't been aware of it until they stood facing Riser and Sirzechs. "What would happen to this one now?"

"Well…" Sirzechs said slowly, staring over Harry's shoulder to where Yubelluna lay. His grip on Riser's throat had even loosened enough to let him slump against the wall. "Since you just healed one of the victims of his attack, and the others had not yet officially changed hands to the Gremory Clan, I would have beaten him within an inch of his life, then forbidden him from building up a new peerage."

"Not enough," Harry said coldly. "Look at him. He doesn't look angry or remorseful, he looks bitter that his attack failed. He took a life today. He would have taken several more if he had his way. I think his life should be forfeited in turn."

"Killing him in cold blood isn't going to happen," Sirzechs said, shaking his head.

Nearby Lord and Lady Phenex sighed in relief. As much as they hated what their son had just tried to do, they still loved him, after all.

"Who said anything about in cold blood?" Harry asked, waving that off. Riser sneered at him, but that stopped as Harry slapped him hard across the face, so hard he nearly broke Riser's jaw, the regeneration of the Phenex clan immediately going to work on the wound. "I challenge you, Riser. Here and now. Win, and you go free, and you'll even be able to rebuild your peerage later. Lose, and I take your life. What will it be?"

Of course, Riser jumped on this even as his parents tried to stop him. Lady Phenex, however, looked at Riser's Pawns and stopped, shaking her head. Lord Phenex continued to plead, then tried to demand that Sirzechs stop this battle, fearing that he could tell who would win this fight all too easily. Sirzechs refused, angry himself at how Riser had killed one of his former peerage members after they had been handed over to his clan. Karlamine would live, though she would be horribly scarred, and even that was only because of Asia Argento and her amazing Sacred Gear.

Sirzechs refused, saying that Harry had the right to issue the challenge, and Riser had accepted. Instead he sent for a potion to rejuvenate Riser's magical energy so there could be no doubt he faced Harry at his strongest. Then the two of them were transferred to the arena where the Rating Game had begun.

Ravel however bypassed Sirzechs entirely. She moved directly to Harry and curtsied deeply, actually going down on one knee as she did. "Please sir, I know my brother has, has acted in a way that brings dishonor on him and my family, but, but he is my brother! Please, punish him yes, but do not kill him like this."

This and the sight of Riser's parents pleading made Harry's ire cool somewhat, and he looked around. His daughters were there, and while Lily's teeth were bared, Asia's were clamped in front of her, praying. And if Harry knew his newest daughter she was praying for them both, despite Riser's recent act of insanity. Sighing, Harry shook his head. "We'll see." was all he said, before turning away.

The moment the two started to fight, Harry transformed into his werewolf form and used its greater speed to zoom around Riser, twisting him this way and that, launching attack after attack before Riser could even try to trash-talk. The only response from Harry was, "I don't waste breath on the dead."

Riser shielded himself as best he could, but the Phenex magical strength lay in fire, and fire was almost as bad in terms of defensive spells as the Bael's Power of Destruction. He had to use his ability to fly to keep ahead of Harry's assault, but doing so he lost sight of Harry. Mindful of how Rias had used a chameleon-like spell to hide in both matches, Riser used the spell his side had used in the second battle to see through it, only to not see him at all.

"Fine, then! Scurry around all you want. I'll just fucking burn the whole arena!" Riser roared, creating a massive winged fireball that he would then hurl downward at the arena. Since Sirzechs was behind his own powerful shield, he didn't even register in Riser's mind.

At that shout Harry appeared to one side, glaring up at him silently. Riser roared in triumph and simply aimed the attack towards Harry.

The fireball struck, but Harry created a cone of cold around himself via the flame freezing charm, pitting his magical reserves directly against Riser's very deliberately. _Tire him out so that his rejuvenation ability is affected. No need to drag this out more than necessary._

Riser watched as his attack hit this area of cold and dissipated to either side, and, just like Harry had hoped, he simply snarled in rage and threw more of his power into the attack. "You think your measly ability to create cold air can stand against my fire!?"

But withstand it Harry did. His reserves were simply larger than Riser's, and, further, defending like this was easier than attacking. Then he started to hover in the air, using his relatively untrained ability to fly. Rocketing forward, he gripped Fragarach in one hand in lance form, Ddraig on his other hand. The Boosted Gear had pretty much exhausted itself before, but Koneko had given it to Harry even so.

Riser continued to send a continual fireball attack at Harry. Yet as Harry closed, his attacks started to weaken as he became desperate, and, as Harry flew at him like an arrow, Riser's inherent cowardice came to the fore. He dodged away, with Harry flashing through Riser's former position.

As he passed by Riser, Harry twisted haphazardly in midair, making a mental note to train at flying without a broom more in the future. It really wasn't the same at all. But Riser was too exhausted from his earlier attacks to get away before Harry could finish his turn, Fragarach twisting into a new form as he thrust out his other hand, shooting out a Incarcerous at Riser. Riser was able to batter it aside with his own barely formed magical attack, but this opened him up to Fragarach's attack.

In Harry's grip, Fragarach had shifted into a long metal chain with thin, fine links and a spear tip at the end of the chain with backwards facing jagged points. With a flick of his hand and his magic guiding it, the tip struck Riser in his chest, penetrating entirely through Riser's body, where, as Harry pulled, the flanges hit and stuck. Riser's reaction time had only stopped Harry from getting a straight on hit.

Thought surprised by how Fragarach had somehow been able to ignore his physical durability—which was high given his status as a High-Class Devil—Riser was even more surprised an instant later. His body had automatically begun to burn the invading item to ash in order to heal the wounds it had caused, but no matter how hot his internal flames became, nothing happened. "W, what's going on!? Why can't I burn it away!"

"It's not just any metal. Fragarach, a weapon of a god, and formed at the moment into tungsten. You'd have to burn a lot harder than you are now to burn it away," Harry said coldly. He raised a hand to Riser's face and blew out his eyes with a series of cutting spells. The wounds immediately began to heal, but Harry knew that even if he didn't do anything else, that first wound would soon prove fatal.

Harry had demanded this fight with the intent of killing Riser quickly and as overwhelmingly as possible. But Ravel's plea and the eyes of his daughter on him weighed heavily on Harry, and now looking at the panicked, fearful expression Riser wore, he couldn't do it. It would be too much like outright murder. Murder, further, in front of Riser's family. Harry couldn't do it. When it came to the point, he just couldn't kill Riser like this in front of his parents and siblings.

Pulling on the chain, he dragged Riser's feebly struggling body towards him, grabbing at his throat with his free hand. "I could kill you right now. Your vaunted power, your regeneration ability, your status as a High-Class Devil. All that means nothing now, does it?" Convulsively Riser nodded, staring at Harry with real fear in his eyes, fear Riser hadn't had the time to feel when facing Rias and her teleportation technique.

"You've lost," Harry intoned, and, after a single second of feeling his blood drizzling down his chest and back, Riser nodded convulsively. "You will let your peerage go without further issue. You will submit to your parents; tell them everything you have been doing that could in any way bring dishonor on them. You will further never attempt to build up a peerage until they, and your siblings, both agree you have learned your lesson, and, when you do, not a one of that peerage will be a woman. You will do anything and everything to atone for the lives you ended among your peerage. Agreed?"

Riser convulsively nodded, and Harry concentrated, shifting the form of the chain slightly so that the barbs had disappeared from the spear tip to the chain, pulling it out of Riser's body with a loud and rather ghastly sound. Harry kept his grip on Riser's throat for a moment, though, staring into his eyes. "Good. And just remember, the instant you break this agreement, this stay of execution ends. Do you understand?"

Again Riser stared for a second at Harry, but he wasn't seeing the werewolf Harry was physically or even the human Riser had though him at first. Rather he saw Harry the demi-god that the other devils in the viewing booth had sensed. And, as such, all he could do was nod once more.

"Good." With that Harry let Riser go and turned away, flying down to Sirzechs.

Sirzechs looked at Harry for a moment and then nodded grimly. "Kindness too can be a strength." Harry just nodded back, and Sirzechs went on, throwing his arm up in the air. "This duel is over. The winner is Harry Potter!"

As Harry teleported back into the ballroom he was not surprised to find most of the Devils there staring silently at him. After all, what they had just witnessed hadn't been so much of fight as an execution. Riser had not made a lot of friends today, but Harry's display here had also garnered quite a bit of interest, multiplied by the knowledge that he and Rias were involved.

But Harry didn't care about that. He moved over to where the still comatose Yubelluna was being carried by Koneko, ruffling the girl's hair and smiling at her before turning back to Rias, taking her hand in his own. "Can we go home now?" he asked, to which Rias simply nodded. She sent a bow towards her brother and a far more cursory one toward her parents while her peerage and the Potters gathered around. Once they were gathered, she teleported them all out. The fallout from the day's events could be dealt with another day. Right now they had a new family member they wanted to get home.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

Gah. What a beast of a chapter. I honestly did not mean for it to be so large, but the first bit with Tonks wrote itself, then the bit with Akeno's family, then, oh my God, then Fawkes decided to just show up! Ugh. The only thing in this chapter that went nearly how I initially planned it was the fight against Riser. A Riser who had taken this match seriously and who had two peerage members who could use their familiars in combat, something that I don't think we see often enough in the original. As for the Harry/Rias beatdown, Riser isn't as tough as Diodora was with mark of the Infinity Dragon on him, and was, despite getting his magic reserves restored, still running on empty mentally against a Harry who just wanted to end this shit and had a weapon and a plan to get through his regeneration. But when it came down to it, he coul kill Riser in front of his fanmily. that would take a real bastard.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you all for reading, and have a Happy New Year!


	11. Chapter 11

*Ain't Rowling nor can I draw boobies.

For this month's poll, the winner was a Patty on only story first, _Sword, Bow, and Horse,_ with 1088. This is a Ranma and Lord Marksman and Vanadis crossover, with this month's update making the third chapter, and, considering it was only part of the poll over there, that's darn impressive.

 _Anything Goes Game Changer,_ my personal choice this month (and from now until I finish it!) brought in 1073, with 198 votes here on fanfic. _FILFy Teacher_ had 1069 votes, 470 of which came from here hence why it is also being updated here. I wish I had time to both update _FILFy_ and the winner of the large story poll, which was _Horse for the Force_ , but I underestimated this chapter **again**. I just couldn't get to it this month, and since _FILFy_ had won a poll I put up to see which should become my priority, it gets updated instead of _Horse_. ON the other hand: total words across chapters was 143,000 this month, LOL. So maybe I shouldn't apologize for that.

 **There is something I do need to issue an apology for:** When I put the two versions of the last chapter I sent to my flow/character interaction and small mistake beta readers, there were a few changes I had made on my version that were somehow deleted when I combined the three files together. Specifically, there were many of them in the last section before the Harry/Riser fight, which will hopefully make Harry's reasons for not executing Riser at the end of their fight more understandable.

I have also been told that I have been spelling Danaan wrong all this time. My bad, and I will switch to the right spelling from now on.

I wish to recommend another fic called _Pawn of Grisaia_. It is a crossover, but it isn't in crossover section, and I think it has one of the best Akenos I've ever read and a very unique Main male character who basically has replaced Issei, but **without** taking Ddraig!

This has been beta-read by _**Nad Destroyer**_ , and _**Michael**_ , one for flow and general character interpretation help, and the other for small mistakes. Going through the chapter and checking their corrections took me near to seven hours all told, and is why the chapter's late. But it will read better for it.

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Calm Before the Storm**

As they appeared in the Occult Research Club's room, Rias smiled wanly. She didn't like how it had ended, but she was now free of Riser and free of her parents' attempts to marry her off! _Freedom! I'm sad that one of Riser's peerage had to die, but the outcome was all I could hope for._

Despite that, Rias cold not help but to scowl as she remembered those last few moments after Riser's attack on his former peerage…

 **Flashback:**

As Devil lords and ladies scattered in confusion, and her brother dealt with the perpetrator, Rias gaped in appalled horror, shocked not at Riser's ill humor, but at the fact that he had lashed out like this at those he had once led as their King. Then Harry and Asia had reacted, and she followed on their heels, unable to do much more than watch. Rias's healing spells were limited in the extreme, and, even if she had had the time, no healing spell she knew of could regenerate limbs or entirely vaporized organs.

Even the Phoenix Tears of the Phenex clan were limited in how much they could do in such a situation. Only a Phenex clan member could regenerate to that extent. For other people, their tears would work on anything below missing limbs or exploded heads and hearts. Here, both Yubelluna's legs were missing and a goodly portion of her intestines.

Asia and Harry were so busy trying to heal Yubelluna that they couldn't pay any attention to what was going on around them. As Sirzechs threatened Riser, the rest of his former peerage were being led away despite two of them trying to protest. Grayfia, however, was having no truck with that. A single glare from the strongest Queen sent them packing, and Grayfia followed, herding them out into the waiting arms of several more servants, all members of various Gremory clan member peerages.

Yet while Asia concentrated her modified Twilight Healing on Yubelluna, the aura of the healing Sacred Gear also worked its magic on the nearby Karlamine, keeping the sorely wounded Knight alive until Ravel, of all people, could give the older girl a vial of Phoenix Tears. But for some reason, while Karlamine's injuries healed, they healed...wrongly. Her wounds should have disappeared entirely, but the burn marks instead faded into a horrible set of scars which pulsed with sickly light, evidence of what Harry would call the 'curse' component of Riser's attack spell. Still, she was brought back to life and, a moment later, led off to rejoin the others by another servant.

Rias wondered why her wounds hadn't healed, but before she could voice that question, her attention and the attention of everyone else there became fixated solely on Harry and Yubelluna as a miracle occurred.

 **End Flashback**

 _Still, Karlamine's alive, at least. And I imagine once Asia recovers her strength she'll be able to do something for the poor girl._ With a smile at that thought, Rias turned to Harry, intending to thank him both for his training leading up to the match and for his largesse in sparing Riser as he had. "Harry, I…"

She paused as, with a faint smile on his face and with no warning, Harry fell forward into her chest.

"Harry!" Putting a hand to his forehead, Rias gasped. "He's burning up!"

Tonks quickly moved over, pulled open one of Harry's eyes, then cast a spell on him and hissed as she saw some lights of red and dark umber colors appear around his body. "I don't know how, but he's pushed himself well past the point of magical exhaustion."

"Asia, is there anything you can do for him?" Rias asked, looking frantic as she knelt down with Harry still lying against her breasts. Around her, the others began to panic too, with Lily rushing and pushing everyone else aside to grab at her father's arm, tugging it hard. The sight of that made Rias calm down in turn, knowing that she had to take charge here.

Asia quickly manifested her Sacred Gear and laid her hands on Harry's head, but nothing happened. "I don't understand it," she said, her face distraught. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him." This was the second time today Asia had run into a limitation of her Sacred Gear, and she found that irritated her despite her lack of anything anyone else could have called an ego

"Nothing wrong your Twilight Healing can fix," Rias said with a slow nod, looking over towards where Yubelluna was being laid out by Kiba, having not awoken since Harry had brought her back to life. "The Blessing, maybe it's a holdover from that?"

"Could be, though I don't have a handle on what a Blessing is, to tell ya straight," Tonks said with a nod. At the same time Akeno moved some of Harry's hair away from his forehead and touched it, hissing briefly at how hot his skin was to the touch.

"And we didn't see anything like that from the time we adopted Asia," Lily said, her tone somewhere between frantic and utterly distraught as tears came to her eyes. Lily had never seen her father like this. Exhausted, battered, bruised, yes, even bloody once or twice, but not simply unconscious like this for no reason. That frightened Lily. That frightened her a lot.

"Let's get him home and lying down, then we'll need to figure out what's wrong with him." Frowning, Rias put her arms around Harry and was about to lift to him up when Loup, who had been lying out on the room's sofa waiting for them, stood up abruptly and moved towards her. He waved Rias off and then lifted Harry easily, including dragging Lily up it in the air when she refused to release her grip on Harry's arm.

"Come on, luv," Tonks said, laying a hand on Lily shoulder. "You need to let Harry go so he can be carried home, okay?"

Lily frowned but nodded, dropping back the short distance to the ground. A second later she allowed Rias to take her by the hand and nuzzled into Rias's arm as she looked at her father, while Kunou stood there in distress, also looking very worried but not quite as disturbed as Lily. She had seen people suffering from magical exhaustion before, though she hadn't seen someone hitting their limits so quickly without any buildup.

Within a second the two young girls, Asia, Loup, and Harry were gone, teleported to their house by Rias. Then she turned to the others, her voice clear and commanding. "Akeno, wait here for Sona to return. She and her peerage should be along shortly. Tell them what happened and tell them I don't want it to get back to the Underworld. After his display of power just now, the last thing I want to do is to let anyone think he weakened afterward."

Rias didn't think any of the partygoers would take advantage of that, but with Devil politics, one could never know for sure. And the difference between politics and war among Devils was, historically, very, very slim, though thankfully that had started to change with her brother's rule.

Akeno nodded, unhappy but understanding. Rias turned away from her to look at the others. "Koneko, I'll be sending you along with the others to the Potter house, but you know you'll have to do something different than them, right?"

Koneko, looking just as upset in her own way as the younger kids, nodded. "I'm to bring up the wards to the highest level?" She, Rias, and Harry were the only ones that could do that, and Rias still found it somewhat amusing that Koneko had been the first one to be given that responsibility.

"Right. Then, Akeno, after you speak to Sona, ask her to lend you Momo, Reya, and Tsubaki to check out the wards. We've been gone for half a day, and I want to make certain that nothing of a magical nature has happened while we've been gone."

Akeno nodded again, looking over to Tonks, who nodded as well, indicating that she would help as much as she could and stay with Akeno while she checked in on everything. Kiba was about to offer to do the same thing, but Rias had another job for him. "Kiba, I'm going to send you through the teleportation ring straight to the Familiar Forest."

"Won't that cause issues?" Kiba asked judiciously, understanding why he was being sent there but not wanting to exchange trouble now for more trouble in the future. Even Pillar clans normally had to call in advance and inform the government office which controlled the Familiar Forest that they were going to be there and when, if only to not run into other clans they had feuds with.

"As a Gremory, you can enter it on my orders!" Rias barked irritably. "If anyone shows up and attempts to question why you're there, let Tiamat eat them! Explain to her what's happened and get her to come here to look at Harry for us."

"Of course, Buchou," Kiba said, bowing from the waist towards her. An instant later he was gone, teleported back down to Hell and the Familiar Forest.

"I'm going to go to Kyoto, myself," Rias said, looking around at the rest of her peerage. "The only other person beyond Tiamat I can think of who might know something that could help is Yasaka."

"She's never mentioned anything about Blessings as far as I know," Akeno protested.

"No, she hasn't, but she is an experienced ruler who has dealt with a lot of occult and unusual things in her time. Yasaka also said once that she was descended from the original Inari, so she might know something or have access to someone who does."

Akeno nodded at that and watched as her friend disappeared. A second later Tonks smiled weakly. "So, never a dull moment around here, is there?"

 **OOOOOOO**

While Rias and the others were dealing with Harry's sudden malady, back in the underworld, Rias's parents and older brother were dealing with the fallout of the event, with Grayfia helping by seeing to Riser's former peerage. Thankfully for the Gremory Clan, there wasn't as much fallout as there would have been if Harry had gone through with his plan to execute Riser. Even with what he had done during the after party, the Pureblood Faction would have raised a major stink if Riser had been killed, not in the heat of battle, but execution style afterward.

Yet as much as some of them liked to believe they had moved past their violent origins, power talked to Devils; it talked loudly. So while many of them would have wanted to question his relationship with Rias, only a few were self-assured or arrogant enough to bring it up after Harry's show of force.

Then too, Harry had **very** obviously spared Riser when he could've killed him. Everyone who had watched the match knew it, and that had very, very firmly put the Phenex clan in Harry's debt up to their gills. Lord Phenex even acknowledged that formal debt before sending Riser home under Ruval's care.

That was not, in any way, a kindness. Riser had been basically broken by today's events, socially and politically, by his own actions during the battle against Rias and after, and then further mentally by Harry. His older brother would not allow him to forget and would probably hammer it home in no uncertain terms before any of the others got home. There was no love lost between them, something the parents were only just realizing went deeper than simple sibling rivalry.

It wasn't, for all that Rias and Harry might have wished, because of the way Riser had treated his peerage. No, whatever happened behind closed doors was fine to most devils. Rather, it was his stupidly callous way of disposing of them, the needless cruelty of it, that made most of the devils present for this event look down on him. On top of that had been the political side of things.

"If he disappears or runs away, your clan will pay for it, and perhaps not just monetarily," Sirzechs had growled at Ruval as the two young men made to leave. "He broke guest rights, and he did so right in front of **me** by killing someone who, at that moment, was under the protection of my name as Lucifer and the Gremory clan. If he runs, he loses all protection as a member of your clan, and he will have to atone for that with his own life."

But, even so, there were still those among the onlookers who shook their heads. "That demigod is quite obviously involved with young Rias, and that's not right! Yes, she won her freedom from the Phenex/Gremory contract, but her children won't be pure! Does that mean the Gremory clan will be fine with no longer being a Pillar Clan in the future?"

"I have to disagree. Marrying into power isn't just a human phrase, after all," said another lord, an older woman who smiled rather whimsically. "Look at what Potter showed off in that...well, you could hardly call it a fight, could you? Transformation into a werewolf form, healing ability far beyond any normal werewolf I've ever seen, and magical power well beyond most people here."

"Indeed," said a third, an even older, more thoughtful looking noble, his hair entirely gray and so long and unkempt it nearly covered his face. "Quite a bit more magical power than I would have anticipated he would still retain directly after an event like the one he used to bring that other woman, the Bomb Queen, back to life. She was dead, gentlemen, ladies. Even using a Peerage piece would not have healed those wounds."

"That doesn't change the fact that he is not a devil!" said the first one relentlessly to many a nod from those around him. "Pureblood Devils are in danger of being bred out of existence, and we all need to do our part."

"And have we? How many sons and daughters have you had?" asked a red-haired man with an easygoing smile. He was a distant cousin of Rias's who hadn't inherited much in the way of skill with teleportation but was well known as a lawyer among Devil-kind, which was not an easy task by any means.

"That's beside the point," the first man huffed. His name was Lord Amon, the head of another Pillar Clan. His Clan had produced many of the strongest devils in the Great War. Yet, even so, there were some things that even the most powerful devil had to face.

The truth was, Pureblood Devils had a very big problem getting pregnant. When you stripped everything else away from their origins, the original devils had been created magically, an entire army brought into being to offset the legions of God by the original Lucifer. They were, essentially, homunculi. Angels were much the same: neither group were natural beings who were supposed to reproduce via children or even duplication, like amoebas. They had become more so since, but that origin still plagued Devils and Angels, though in the Devils' case they had begun to break through that barrier and had also come up with the Peerage System to bring in new blood. Yet few of the Pillar Clans could boast even four children in Rias's generation spread throughout their populations, let alone from the main branch.

The Gremory clan was an astonishing group, with two children from the main house and several dozen nieces and nephews around the place, though few of them had shown any aptitude with the clan's teleportation powers. And then there was Grayfia and Lucifer, who had gotten pregnant within a year of the two of them becoming an item. The Phenex clan was even more renowned, with three children at present from the main house, all of whom had shown aptitude with their clan powers. That was why the marriage had looked to be such a good idea from a social perspective. Or why this particular Lord thought that way, anyway.

In reality, the basis for the marriage pact had been based on something entirely different.

"I have to apologize for all this, old friend," Lord Gremory said again elsewhere in the ballroom, shaking his head. "Your clan is going to be in for a very bad time thanks to Riser, and I can't say I'm sorry to see how it went, now knowing what we do about his personality."

"We let our personal friendships get in the way of seeing what was there," Venelana said with a sigh. "And perhaps we too had become convinced that we should look to keep our blood purer to retain our Pillar Clan status."

"It's fine," said Lady Phenex with a sigh of her own accompanied by a shake of her head. "We might not take it to the extreme the Gremory clan does, but we Phenex value loyalty. What my son showed today was both far too much ego to let stand and too much needless cruelty to his own troops. It was honestly pathetic, and if it was only the tip of the iceberg, as it might be, that is even more disturbing."

While his parents were soothing feathers, and various servants were spying on conversations elsewhere in the crowd, Lucifer, unfortunately, found himself pigeonholed near the food by Lord and Lady Astaroth. "It was not Rias Gremory or some of her peerage which killed our son," said Lord Astaroth angrily. "Too much of that story did not make sense. Now we know it must have been Harry Potter!"

"If you are here to demand answers of me, then perhaps you should have known what your son and heir was up to before he invaded Rias-tan's territory!" Lucifer barked back. "You know what our investigators have uncovered. And you had the gall to demand of my little sister that she pay reparations! I might have handed that on because you and your clan has always stood by the Rating System and the New Devil faction, but do not mistake that for acquiescence."

"We will withdraw that demand," said Lady Astaroth firmly, glaring at her husband until he looked down, nodding his agreement. "We have no wish to make her and her new paramour angry at us. We just want closure at this point."

Sirzechs paused, then slowly nodded. "For that, I will ask young Harry to add his own memories to those that were already shared with my investigators. That will have to be enough."

Later that night, after all of the guests had left, the family met up together to discuss what had occurred, what they had learned from the other partygoers, and everything else. Or most of them did. Lady Gremory didn't talk much, sighing and looking away from them all. She only spoke up when the others were finished talking, her tone whimsical and sad at the same time. "I wonder what we're going to have to do to get Rias to forgive us for this. Lady Phenex was right: what we personally saw of Riser is enough to make me question everything else Rias tried to make us listen to over the past few years."

That froze everyone else where they were sitting except for Sirzechs, who smiled thinly. "I think you're going to eat some crow," he said simply. "A lot of it, and possibly without ketchup or any other condiment. I'd get on that quickly too. Don't let her make the assumption that you're just going to try to keep going as if this incident and everything that occurred before it is now over with and can be put behind us."

His eyes hardened noticeably. "I warned you. I warned both of you what lengths Rias might go to in order to be free of Riser. But you didn't listen. Thank every circle of Hell that the worst didn't happen, that she was able to win her freedom rather than die for it! So yes, I think you definitely have a lot of ground to make up before she forgives you."

"We will send a letter to her asking her to come down to speak to us on the twenty-seventh," Zeoticus intoned, his own voice grave and his face showing how shaken he was at the implication, and the near-contempt, in Sirzechs's words. "We will invite her and Harry Potter both to talk to us and, hopefully, to start rebuilding bridges between us."

"In that case I wish you all the luck in the world. " With that, Sirzechs bowed to his parents and left without another word, Grayfia trailing behind him.

The moment they were alone in their room, Grayfia asked, "You realize that this will cause trouble, of course, Milord Sirzechs? While we might make fun of them for their idiotic beliefs, the Pureblood Faction is still a social and political power to be reckoned with. And they are also the faction that is already in near direct opposition to your policies. Any issue like this will be a hot-button topic with them."

Sirzechs bit back a growl with some difficulty. "I realize this, but what would you have me do about it?"

"It is not my place to come up with solutions," she said primly, causing him to smirk and look at her lopsidedly. "I simply know what they will attempt to push the Gremory clan into doing: they will push to have another arranged marriage prepared for Rias-oujosama as soon as possible, regardless of her personal feelings or any prior arrangements she might have made."

"I think we can both assume that, yes, but that doesn't mean we're going to give into them."

"You should consider your position more," she said sternly. "I would think that trying to at least appear conciliatory toward them would defang any social or extralegal move on their part to force the issue. We can ill afford to have another civil war, after all."

"No, I fucking shouldn't!" Sirzechs roared, suddenly losing his temper. She blinked, looking at him in surprise as he quickly threw up a sound muffling spell around the room. With that done he continued without any let up. "Grayfia, you are far too **dam** **n** concerned with appearances! I know you for a loving, caring individual, but I can count on the fingers of **one** hand how often you show that aspect of yourself in a month! And the way you have acted in regards to this entire marriage issue from beginning to end is just, has just… Sirzechs paused and visibly counted to ten as he regained control of his temper. "It has not shown you in the best light."

For a moment Grayfia was silent, then she turned, looking down at the ground. "What would you have me do? We need to be aware of how we are viewed. We have to put the betterment of all Devil-kind ahead of our needs and wants."

"That is officially our position, yes," Sirzechs said. "But that doesn't mean that we need to act in such a manner when we're alone. By the cursed legion, Grayfia, it's almost as if you actually agree with the pureblood movement!"

"You know I don't!" she barked back, now beginning to lose her own temper in turn. "If I believed that, I would've never joined your faction during the war."

"There is a difference between believing that Devil-kind should immediately restart the three-way war as the Old Satan Faction did back then and believing now that new blood Devils are just as important and necessary as pureblood Devils are," Sirzechs growled. "But you are so quick to say we must act in such a manner, must kowtow to what you think society expects of us. What am I supposed to think about what you believe! If we had a daughter of our own, would you have agreed to have our daughter be part of this kind of arranged marriage to someone like Riser!?"

"No," Grayfia shouted. "Of course I wouldn't! But I can't…that is, I cannot act…" She stuttered to a halt, looking away, her façade cracking and revealing the turmoil within. "It is not my place to…"

"Of course it's your place! You are my queen, my wife!" Sirzechs said softly, moving behind her and taking him her in her his arms, one hand around her waist and the other around her shoulder. With his thumb he gently pushed her chin around to face him. "I know your clan prided itself on its service to the original Lucifer clan. I know that the position of menial was ingrained into you from an early age along with respect for authority, law, and social customs. But Grayfia, you were able to throw those off once because you could see that it was better for all of Devil-kind. Because you fell in love with me. I want you to take that next step, to extend that feeling and to throw aside this, this **façade**. Can you try to do that, for me?"

"I can," she murmured, nodding slowly. "I can try."

Sirzechs smiled and leaned in, kissing him her. "Good." _And, if you do, maybe we can try to heal the rift between you and my little sister, just like we will need to heal the rift between her and our parents._

 **OOOOOOO**

The two comatose forms of Harry and Yubelluna had been brought up to Asia and Koneko's room and laid out on their beds, though Rias had to enlarge both beds somewhat for them. Yubelluna was nearly as tall as Rias, after all, and Harry was a good bit taller again. They had been made as comfortable as possible, but unfortunately, Yasaka, who was the first to arrive, was stumped as to what could be wrong with Harry.

"I can tell something is wrong with them. I feel almost as if… I don't know as if something within him is missing now or perhaps diminished, but I can't tell what it is, only that it is more than simple magical exhaustion. I'm sorry," Yasaka said, much to the distress of everyone around. Her daughter buried herself into Yasaka's side, staring at the bed where they had laid out Harry, while Lily lay next to him, unwilling to let go. "Let me examine Yubelluna. Maybe that will give me a clue."

The others nodded, and she moved over to the other bed, kneeling down next to Yubelluna and laying her hands first on her forehead, then her chest. And almost instantly, Yasaka's Sage senses could feel something there, a connection almost calling out to her. It was as if the other woman was using Yasaka's own brand of sensing the world, but not quite, and at the same time Yasaka could tell Yubelluna's scent had changed to that of a were-creature, although again, not quite. The one thing that Yasaka could say right off the bat was, "Well, that's interesting. She's no longer a devil."

"What!?" exclaimed more than one voice, and Rias quickly moved over along with Akeno, who had returned with Tonks a few minutes ago while Yasaka was examining Harry. Sona's peerage had decided to take on the job of making certain nothing had occurred of a magical nature while they were gone on their own.

After a few seconds of examining Yubelluna, they could only agree: she was indeed no longer a devil. The former Queen of Riser's peerage read to their spells as part human, part animal, and part plant, all combined into one.

Having studied European magic and histories a little more thoroughly since meeting Harry, Yasaka frowned and then clicked her fingers in realization. "She might be a bandrui now."

"A what now?" Rias asked.

"A female druid. Druids were essentially priests to several of the old-time religions like the Celtic faith and Tuatha de Danaan. Bandrui were particularly prized by the Tuatha de Danaan. I think that when Harry essentially brought Yubelluna back to life, his Blessing sought for an equivalent template to fit her into," Yasaka mused as she stood back up, pouting and biting at one nail in thought. "Something like that, anyway. Asia, did you have any part in this?" she asked. "Can you tell me anything that happened?"

Asia shook her head sadly. "By the time Harry attempted to Bless Yubelluna-san, my powers had already given up," she said, somewhat ashamed of that.

"Pity," Yasaka muttered, then, without preamble, reached down to lay her hand over the blanket that covered the woman's crotch, using another spell there which caused a blue glow to appear and spread quickly.

"What the heck are you doing?" Rias asked, while Asia backed away, as did Koneko and Teddy, who had been looking on in confusion and worry.

"Was this woman sexually active?" Yasaka asked instead of answering.

"Very much so," Rias said with a sigh. "That was one of the issues I had with Riser: that he routinely abused Yubelluna and at least his Knights and Bishops. As his Queen, Yubelluna obviously would have been forced to face a larger share of that kind of thing than the others."

"Well that's interesting, because her body has been completely healed," Yasaka replied with a bemused smile on her face. "She's basically in perfect physical condition for a thirty-something-year-old woman, and her hymen is intact."

"That **is** interesting, though I don't think it really matters at the moment," Rias said, shaking her head. "We'll tell her about it, obviously, when she wakes up, but it hardly tells us more about what Harry is going through now than we had before."

Kalawarner had, of course, been waiting for them at home and had helped Loup the instant he and the others teleported in, despite her own worries for Harry. Now she nodded, adding, "I think it will be a positive to Yubelluna that can really help her close the book on that part of her life."

They all fell silent then as a teleportation circle appeared underneath them. Kiba came through it along with Tiamat in a body the size of a medium-sized donkey, filling the room even further and quickly making the Chromatic Dragon Empress even more agitated than she already was, which, admittedly, was quite a lot. **"Clear the room!"** Tiamat bellowed. **"I want everyone out of here who isn't directly trying to help Potter!"** Her voice softened a little as she looked at Lily and her downcast expression. **"I suppose you can stay, but please don't move, child."**

Once everyone was out of her way, Tiamat moved to sit between the two beds on her haunches, her tail smacking into the ground with enough force to cause everyone there to jump. She looked between the two comatose forms, her eyes glowing as she sniffed the air heavily, as if taking in just as much information through her nose as her eyes despite whatever it was she was searching for being magical in nature.

Then she slowly blinked her massive eyes, her long neck flaring up and back as she hissed. **"Soul sickness,** "she said definitively. **"Am I correct in saying Potter performed a Blessing with that one, a powerful one?"**

"He brought her back to life," Asia said, wiping down Harry's forehead with a dull rag, her eyes anguished at her inability to help him just as she had not been able to help Yubelluna earlier. Asia was unused to running into such hard limits on her ability to use Twilight Healing, and she didn't like it one bit! _But how do I train myself to be better? How do I get Twilight Healing stronger than it is already?_

"What is soul sickness?" Rias asked, smiling reassuringly at Asia and sitting on Harry's other side, taking his free hand, his other arm being monopolized by Lily.

" **Harry is not a god,"** Tiamat said bluntly. **"He is, at best, a demigod. Much of the power of a god, perhaps, but not the spiritual extension of that. His soul is still that of a normal immortal being like you all rather than a god. Ergo, it is not as malleable."**

Seeing their faces, Tiamat rolled her eyes and elaborated, one claw coming up to rest briefly on her jutting jaw as she explained what she had told Harry about Blessings before when they had talked about them. Tonks, however, got there before she could finish and shouted out, "Wait, he split his soul!?"

Everyone gasped at that, and Lily asked hesitantly, "Is that true, Tiamat-sama?" Tiamat had basically demanded that she be addressed like that during their initial meeting, and Lily had no desire to annoy her at the moment by forgetting it.

" **For a given value, yes,"** Tiamat said slowly, wondering about the anger and loathing she could see in Tonks's expression and flashing hair. **"It isn't as if his soul will remain split. Rather, a bit of his soul went along with much of his magic into Yubelluna here, to start the rebirth process, as it were, but it will return or reform eventually as the bit within Yubelluna fades out."**

From the doorway Mittelt muttered, "Fuck, it sounds as if Harry's soul has become some kind of silly putty which'll, like, melt back together automatically."

Tiamat swiveled her head in that direction, her voice becoming even more of a growl than normal. " **We're talking about magic at a level that few could understand, and fewer still can do. So you will have to forgive me for speaking in descriptions your tiny, feeble minds can comprehend."**

As Mittelt blushed at her mutter having been overheard, Rias asked Tonks, "Why do you look so horrified? I mean, I'm not exactly happy about the fact that Harry was forced to manipulate his soul in such a manner, but you look as if you just saw a ghost."

"That was doing its business on you at the same time," Akeno added, giggling a little wickedly at the expression on Tonks's face.

Tonks growled at her, leaning over to flick Akeno in the ear, but she dodged adroitly, and Tonks turned to the rest of the group. "I suppose you wouldn't know. Hell, a part of me wishes I didn't know. Still, Harry's told you about the Unforgivables, right?"

"….Yes. One dominates the soul, the other tortures it, and the third kills it. They all target the soul and are thus Unforgivable. The creation of them is something of a major wedge between European wizards and every other magical society in the world," Rias said tartly, while the others to a woman and man shuddered. "What about it? Because if you're implying that Harry did something along those lines…"

"No, not that! Or, not precisely that. As far as I know, Harry has never once cast the killing curse. Hell, I don't even know if he could. The other two he can cast, and he's actually pretty disturbingly good with the domination thing…" Tonks said, trailing off for a moment.

"I beg to differ," Akeno muttered. But there was no heat in her tone, and she, like Rias, was now looking back down at Harry worriedly.

Tonks did the same, continuing her explanation. "Well, the killing curse does something else when you use it. It basically splits your own soul at the same time. Killing like that, killing not just a person's physical body but the entirety of what that individual is or could ever be, the price of it is heavy, and your soul pays the price. It can recover, but for the few moments after you've cast the spell your soul is damaged and can be split in two."

Rias and every other devil there shivered again at that, while Yasaka just looked like she wanted to be sick.

Only Tiamat took it stoically, shrugging her draconic shoulders and looking over at Koneko thoughtfully, since she had taken the gauntlet off of Harry as they had gotten him onto the bed. **"I can't say that that is precisely the case here. The soul of a god is like any muscle would be for a human being. The more you use it, twist it, manipulate it, the more you're able to do. For a demigod like Harry, I'm uncertain that would be the case, but he should recover."**

"All right, we know what happened now, but why wouldn't it have happened during the ritual?" Rias said thoughtfully. "Is it just a matter of the power needed to perform each act?"

" **Ritual?"** Tiamat asked, then sniffed the air and looked toward Asia, her long snout forming into a smile as she did. **"You are now linked by blood to Harry and Lily? I am happy for you. Being special and unusual is always easier with family rather than alone."**

Asia blushed at that but curtsied prettily, and Tiamat nodded in reply before turning back to Rias. **"I presume you're speaking of the ritual in which Harry welcomed young Asia into the family? Can you explain what happened? Unless it is a family secret."**

"Even if it was, you're Harry's familiar regardless of your contract being more like that of a contracted magician than anything else, so I have no concern of your sharing his secrets," Rias said dryly. From there she went on to explain what had happened, and Tiamat listened silently until they got to the part where Fawkes turned up.

" **Well, that explains it!"** Tiamat interrupted, laughter in her tone now. " **That old bird is still around, hmmm?"**

"You know Fawkes?" Rias asked in surprise.

" **I do. I even know quite a bit more about her than anyone else expects I presume. You could say that Fawkes provided the...the pilot light, as it were, to ignite the ritual, while Harry provided the oil. Harry's soul was not part of the ritual, but the ritual drained his magical core something fierce, I presume?"**

"He mentioned that, yes," Rias said with a nod.

" **In that case just let him rest. Let him soak in ambient magic, feed him a time or two, I shouldn't wonder, and he'll be right as rain,"** Tiamat said, now somewhat dismissive. This had been fascinating, but by the ancient gods of magic did Tiamat hate being so small! _Perhaps I should look into that human transformation I tried a few centuries ago again. But what would the difference between that and simply shifting to a smaller size be? Surely humans aren't any more comfortable, but then again, they are born to be this size, aren't they?_

She turned away to head towards Koneko for a moment, leaning over the girl and staring down at the gauntlet. She put a large claw on it, and Koneko grunted a little at the strength of that claw landing on her arm but took it stoically. For a moment Tiamat fell silent, then leaned back with a huff.

" **Very well, but I will be back in two weeks' time to have another…match…with you. And you, child, should make time to talk to Ddraig. He's got something he wants to say to you."** With a swish of her tail that would've looked coquettish to any other dragon, Tiamat turned away, nodded once at Koneko, and disappeared, teleporting back to the Familiar Forest.

Rias gently played with Harry's hair for a few moments as she pondered what Tiamat had told them before blinking as something Tiamat had said finally registered. Then she looked over at Akeno. "Wait, 'her?'"

Having heard the pronoun as well but having no idea why Tiamat had used it to describe Fawkes, Koneko and Akeno both shrugged, while Yasaka ignored it to concentrate on more important things. "Tiamat just said that Harry should soak in ambient magic, so why don't we all move back to Kyoto until they recover? The ambient magic from the Dragon's Nest will help his soul heal and get Yubelluna over her magical exhaustion quicker too. Being around so much nature would also help Yubelluna, given her new status." That this would also let Yasaka watch over them and not have to deal with the achy, growing migraine feeling of being away from Kyoto was just a bonus.

Rias nodded, and Loup picked Harry up once more while Koneko did the same thing for the far taller Yubelluna. It was slightly comical to see her like that, but the still almost distraught expression on Lily's face as Rias gathered the little girl to her was enough to stop any attempt at smiling that she might have attempted.

She lifted Lily up into her arms where the girl hugged her once, then just clung there in her arms, staring at her daddy. Kunou too was still subdued, but Yasaka gathered her into her arms as well, and they all teleported straight from Harry's house to Yasaka's mansion in Kyoto, with Rias doing the spell work.

Only Akeno, Tonks, and Teddy opted out of going with the rest of the family. Kiba and Loup wanted to go, but not because of any further concern for Harry, their worries there put to ease by Tiamat's words. Instead they wanted to go celebrate the victory out at a bar Loup knew in Kyoto. Teddy and Tonks too were no longer worried for Harry's life, certain he would pull through like he always seemed to.

Akeno and Tonks took Teddy home to the Gremory house but, after putting him to bed, stayed up late into the night, sitting and talking about the day's events and sharing a large bottle of wine between them. Both of them were somewhat miffed about how the Rating Games had gone.

"I wasn't able to beat the Bomb Queen one-on-one despite all of my training! But I was winning before Riser pulled that switch, darn it!" Akeno growled, pouting outrageously.

"Poor baby," Tonks cooed mockingly, shifting her face to match that of the Bishop she had fought. "I fought only one of them, but she set an entire bloody colony of Acromantula on me! I don't care what spells were on the Rating Game to remove us if we hit a certain threshold of pain or injury, death by spider would not be one of the top ways I could think of going."

"And what would be one of those ways?" Akeno asked dryly, watching as Tonks shifted back to her normal body. "That must save quite a lot on makeup."

"Being shagged stupid, I suppose," Tonks said with a grin. "Or maybe of old age surrounded by my loved ones, with the skulls of my enemies at my feet, of course."

"Shagged into an early grave, is it? And is that why you nearly married this Remus Lupin?"

"Sort of," Tonks said with a grin, lounging back in the chair. Both of them were dressed in long nightshirts, and this move flashed quite a lot of leg towards Akeno, but she didn't comment, simply staring at Tonks for a moment. "He was damned good in the sack, that's true, but once ya wore away his defenses, he was actually a pretty fun guy to know."

"And what happened to him?" Akeno asked softly.

Tonks grimaced. "Let's just say that, despite being so much fun, he had a major issue with commitment and always sort of…" She paused, thinking how to put it. "He always thought that he wasn't worthy of being loved regardless of anything I did to try to convince him otherwise, and that sat between us, I guess. It was just, he had faced his personal demon, the werewolf curse, for so long and had tried to fight it like a wall, not allowing it to have any sort of hold on him or anything. And he had a pathological need to protect other people from that curse."

She took a long, slow drag from the wine bottle before setting it down with a dull thud. "So, fearing that he was a burden or a danger to us or some such crap, he left us. Harry tried to find him, but instead of just running away like, well, like my parents thought he had, Lupin had hunted down some of the werewolves working for Tom Riddle and had pretty much gutted the madman's werewolf allies on his own before being taken down. I wish he'd had the courage to stay alive, to come back and become a father, but I can't say that he was a coward either. There are different kinds of courage, y'know?

"I always think of him as the character described in the song, "Heroes," you know? 'A hero's going to save me just in time?' He was a hero at the last, just not for the reasons that I would've liked him to be," Tonks finished.

Akeno nodded softly, then, in a deliberate effort to change the subject, mused aloud. "Mmm, now, if I was assigning songs to everyone, what would Rias's be?"

Tonks fell silent, watching her for a moment and noticing how her outfit pressed her out nighty out alarmingly, and felt her own chest start to expand in a near-automatic challenge, but she fought the urge down. "'Click, Click, Boom,' maybe, for her Power of Destruction?"

"No, that would be her brother," Akeno answered absently. "Perhaps a song about redheads and their temper? No, wait, 'I'm a bitch; I'm a lover!'"

"Hehe! Mine would be, 'I Like It Heavy,'" Tonks said with a laugh.

"Ah, mine would probably be 'Amen,'" Akeno replied with a smile, taking another long draft from their wine bottle. "But what about Harry's?"

"'How Do You Love,'" Tonks replied instantly.

"You're so certain? Have you thought of this before?" Akeno teased.

"Oh yeah. Definitely. 'You can have the sound of a thousand voices calling your name, you can have the light of the world blind you bathe you in grace. But I don't see so easily what you hold in your hand, because castles crumble nations stumble and turn into sand'. That is Harry to a 'T', and boy was his life surrounded by some lies large and small trying to tear him apart. But all he ever wanted was a family."

Tonks let a lopsided smirk appear on her face at that point as she looked at Akeno. "That is why I am not doing the overbearing relative thing towards Rias or any of you. All of you, something about each of you called out to Harry, and he opened himself up to you, and you opened yourselves up to him in turn. You might not all share blood but you've certainly made yourselves into a family."

"Nice of you to say so," Akeno said with a warm smile. "Although I'll admit it took me quite a while to figure out my place in that family."

"It does sometimes. Just don't make the mistake of putting your own assumptions of where you should be up against the assumptions of other people." Tonks leaned back and downed the last of the wine, shaking the bottle disconsolately for a moment before setting it to the side.

While Akeno blinked and wondered what Tonks had meant by that Tonks looked around and then chuckled. "This place is kind of empty, you know, with just you me and my boy in it. But if Kiba and Loup are going to live together in their apartment, turning it into a guys' pad, we could do the same here. Move Mittelt and Kalawarner in; it would make it seem less lonely for its size, anyway."

"But if we did that we would have to move your son in with the guys, wouldn't we?" Akeno asked, setting aside her confusion at what Tonks had said a moment ago.

Tonks waved that off. "He's only a single step away with that teleportation ability of Rias's. Now," she said, standing up on slightly wobbly feet. "Where's yer kitchen? I want some more wine."

Akeno laughed but got to her feet and led the way. "I might even have some of Rias's popcorn still around. She makes some of the best popcorn you will ever taste. And then, perhaps some romantic comedies."

"Romantic action," Tonks said with a growl. "Something we can make fun of at the same time."

"That works," Akeno said with a nod. "Although, remind me of the idea about Mittelt and Kalawarner moving in here tomorrow. That seems like a good idea."

The next morning Teddy would not be surprised to find his mother laid out on one of the sofas, half naked, with several bottles of wine nearby. The bottles were a bit unusual, but the half-naked thing on the sofa, that made Teddy feel right at home. The sight of Akeno on the next sofa over, though, with her top nowhere in sight, caused him to do an abrupt about-face, his face entirely red, as he quickly marched up the stairs. "Nope, not getting involved in that. Let them sleep it off. Besides, Rias has got the niftiest collection of manga, anyway."

 **OOOOOOO**

That night, however, Akeno and Tonks were not the only ones having a heart to heart, though they were the only ones doing so with another physical person.

Kalawarner was lying back on her bed in the Fallen Angel's apartment disconsolately. Mittelt had gone to sleep, happy about how she had done in the Rating Game, almost killing the opposing King and Queen with her first attack. Mittelt knew she needed to work on her endurance and to build up her ability to better control the number of light spears she created, maybe even enhance the magical gloves that kept her light spears from hurting her now that she was a devil. But, other than that, she was perfectly happy with how the fight had gone, not overly caring about what Riser had attempted or anything else to do with that aspect. The blonde loli Fallen wasn't a very empathic person.

On the other hand, Kalawarner was somewhat depressed. Yes, she was still of the firm opinion that she didn't want to become a Devil. _But, if I had, perhaps I could have been down there to help out Harry and the others. Perhaps I should have forced the issue, regardless of the reaction of bringing a Fallen into such a place. But I didn't. I let my concerns for the future override my concerns for the now._

Sighing, she reached over to a small, thin glass case Harry had created for the phoenix feather Fawkes had left her, pulling it out and a moving her thumb along it. To be honest, she was very concerned. In terms of the real powers out there, Riser was nothing. Not even a bottom feeder. He just wouldn't register at all. Rias and her team had done very well, and she knew that Rias would've beaten Riser flat in a one on one fight, even if not in exactly the same manner as she had here.

Harry too was growing all the time. _But am I growing? Growing as a person, perhaps, growing as someone important to the family, but not growing in terms of combat potential._ _I need to find a way to grow. Maybe I should start taking part in Harry's magic lessons with Asia._

As she was thinking that, Kala continued to trace the feather, and, as she did, it started to glow with a reddish yellow light. Kala stopped instantly, holding it up in front of her face, but the light instantly faded. _What the heck?_ Holding it close to her eyes, Kala let the tip of the feather brush her forehead, and once more the light started to glow, but this time it was accompanied by images that were not from Kalawarner's memory or imagination.

Rather, the images seemed to be of different times and settings. Of a blacksmith's forge from various angles. Of a large stone altar, hidden deep in the woodlands, covered by ivory save for a single place that looked scorched. Of another altar, this time in a wide meadow filled with flowers, the scent of spring in the air. The last was of a person, a young man declaiming before a group of equally young girls, all of their faces marked with woad like the Celts were supposed to have used. Then the images disappeared to be replaced once more by the blacksmith's forge, only this time weapons were shown. And each of them were Light weapons or armor, each a different type, until the vision alighted on one, an incongruous image here in a forge with the background of heat and fire: a bow, complete with arrows.

With that the images ended, and the lights went out so quickly it made Kala blink. When she opened her eyes again she wasn't holding the feather: it was back on top of the small glass container, her hand slumped to one side of it. _Huh… So was that just a weird dream or something else?_ Kala was leaning towards the something else, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, since the images, while confusing at first, had given her two ideas for how she could get stronger: armor and a bow.

Armor to help everyone else, something she could work on with Harry, who was easily the best when it came to enchantments. A bow so she could fill in a niche the family didn't have yet, that of a long range sniper. _Yes, that could work._ With her mind now much clearer, Kalawarner sighed, put the feather back in its small container, and then twisted onto her side before closing her eyes.

 **OOOOOOO**

In Kyoto, Koneko too was having a heart to heart, but in her case it wasn't nearly so ephemeral a situation as with Kalawarner. She too was lying out in bed, the day having taken it out of her big time. Nearby she could hear the soft, even breathing of Asia in her own bed. The two of them had been given a nice double room in Yasaka's mansion with two small beds. Elsewhere, Lily and Rias were sleeping cuddled together in a bed in the room next to Harry's, the older redhead having convinced the younger to get some sleep, while Kunou slept in her own bed with both her own familiar and Titan for company.

The sight of that had struck Koneko as almost weapons-grade cute, but right now she didn't have the time to think about that. Instead she was once more wearing the Boosted Gear and was currently glaring down at it. "Tiamat said you wanted to speak to me, Pervert?"

" _ **Hah, just because I am a male who knows what he likes is no reason to think of me as a pervert, little cat. Don't worry, your tail isn't the kind I'm interested in."**_ Ddraig's voice sounded out in her head, the small gem on the gauntlet shining only slightly in the darkness. _**"And you don't have to speak aloud, Koneko. Just try to project your thoughts, and that will be enough."**_

" _What do you want then?"_ Koneko sent, growling.

" _ **I don't know about you, but I feel as if we could have done better in this Rating Game,**_ " Ddraig replied, his tone serious and leeched of all humor. _**"Being separated from a true connection to the soul of my wielder limits how much of my power you all can pull out from me at any given time, and that is dangerous. I think we need to look into training you, or Harry, to find Balance Breaker."**_

" _What is that?"_

" _ **Hmmm, you know those RPG games you and the vampire boy play online together?"**_ Lily had once stolen Ddraig out of his box to join her, Koneko, and Kunou in playing one of those with Gasper. _**"The Balance Breaker is something like a cheat code which allows you to access far more of my strengths and abilities. We need to figure out how to bring it out."**_

" _Why the urgency?"_ Koneko asked bluntly. _"Khaos Brigade or something else?"_

" _ **We were recorded fighting together against the Fried Turkey's peerage, Koneko, and even landed him a good one at the end. That kind of thing is certain to spread, and Albion will know I am awake now if he didn't before. We need to be ready for him and for any other threats out there."**_

Koneko pouted. _"Just great. Still, I'll talk to Harry about it when he wakes up, find some way to train to find this Balance Breaker. But not opening my soul to you, even if I could. Senjutsu and that kind of thing can't mix well, I think."_

Ddraig grumbled at that but acquiesced. He doubted that anyone unwilling to meld their soul to his being would be able to call upon his full power, but perhaps if they took his current self to the utmost limit and had a large bag of other tricks and abilities, they wouldn't have to.

 **OOOOOOO**

Harry woke up groaning and in some pain, his eyes blinking open then closing quickly in agony at the light bathing his face. Though, to be fair to his caretakers, this amounted to little more than the nearby window letting in some light into the room. Nor was this a sensation Harry had little familiarity with. After all, there had been a time during the war against Riddle that this had been pretty much the norm rather than unusual, and the Dursleys were no picnic either. They might not have been normally violent towards him, but when Vernon got into the mood, he could be as abusive as Marge and Ripper combined.

So while it had been many years since he'd had to go through a similar experience, Harry was still able to analyze what he was feeling with relative ease. It felt as if his body was somehow torn between achingly exhausted, as if he'd pushed himself mentally and physically, and yet as if his body was near to fully rested with energy to burn yet at the same time badly stiff. For a moment the dichotomy threw him, then he realized that his mind was terribly disjointed, his mental plane feeling as if a tornado had reached in and had a rummage, a sensation he recognized. _Ah, magical exhaustion. I tried a spell that was beyond me. But, what was it exactly?_

That was about as far as his mind got before something small and body-shaped moved next to him. He barely was able to open his eyes for a second, but he saw a wave of red hair and a very familiar face leaning into his vision. "Daddy?"

"Hey, honey," Harry replied, his voice scratchy and parched. "What exactly happened? And, um, can I get some water, please?"

Lily's arm went around his chest and hugged him tightly, and Harry could detect a sound like a sniffle for a moment before she turned and shouted so hard it hurt his ears, "He's awake! Daddy's awake and he wants some water!"

Moments later Harry was sitting up in bed with Kunou and Lily hugging his sides as if they were afraid he would fall back asleep the moment they let him go. Around the bed Rias, Yasaka, and the rest of his friends and family were gathered, sans Loup, who simply couldn't fit into the already crowded room.

Beyond Asia's head, Harry could see another bed beyond them containing Yubelluna, which, coupled with everyone's explanations, told Harry what had happened. She was sans makeup and still sleeping deeply, her eyes closed. In sleep, the woman seemed to be almost at peace, her expression no longer a mask for the pain within. _She is a_ _very beautiful woman,_ Harry reflected. _Just as good looking as the other ladies here, if with a slightly more mature beauty than them, save for Kala and Yasaka._

After hearing what had happened and what Tiamat and Yasaka had been able to discern, Harry slowly nodded and, after carefully editing his speech for any and all curses, replied. "So, basically I pulled a magical superpower out of my rear through sheer dumb luck, and, while the cost of it was high, my rage against Riser and my own adrenaline kept me going until I dealt with him too. After which the bill came due, and I collapsed."

"…You are taking the fact you split your soul up like that far too calmly, Harry," Tonks growled from where she was leaning against the wall near the doorway.

"Oh, inside I am sooo not calm it's not funny at all," Harry drawled. "But we are British, Tonksy, so I felt playing the sarcastic blasé statement card would be keeping the side up." As Lily giggled at that, Harry's façade faded, and everyone there saw he really was rattled by what he had been told. "But it wasn't permanent or anything? My soul has repaired itself?"

"As far as my Sage senses can tell, but even knowing now what I'm seeing I've not got anything to compare it to. Tiamat?"

" **Grrrm…"** Since her arrival, Tiamat had not joined in the general discussion. Half of her mind was dealing with the sensations of being so small at the moment, which really was just a wrong feeling for any dragon. But the rest of her mind had been examining Harry with every sense available to her.

In truth she was shocked at how quickly Harry had recovered. True, she had no baseline to use to figure out how long it should have taken, but she knew how long it had taken her soul to return to normal the only time she'd Blessed something in the past. And, despite his vast array of tricks and spells, Harry's base strength was equal to Tiamat's, so it should have taken him as long as it had her. _**So am I just wrong about how strong Potter is, or has something inside him somehow helped to rejuvenate his soul faster than it should have been able to?**_

Since trying to answer that question was beyond her ability, Tiamat shook it off. **"Your soul is fine, Harry Potter. A demigod's soul might not be as immutable as a true god's, but it will regrow from this type of Blessing given time. Your magical strength will refill swiftly, though I think you will need to renew your mental defenses and such like."**

She then reared up on her haunches, her face thrust forward into Harry's. Since she was the size of a large donkey, this should have, even given her draconic body, been rather more amusing than anything. But somehow Tiamat seemed to loom as if she was in her normal-sized body. " **But this is not something you should take for granted, Harry Potter. You were** **very** **l** **ucky! Yubelluna was on the edge of life and death. Without your regeneration ability as a, a 'Phoenix Werewolf,' you might well have died from the drain on your magic reconstituting her body demanded. Even with that, without the aspect of 'the ferryman' of Manannán mac Lir it would have been beyond your ability to save her. Instead you would have, in effect, created a phylactery inside her and splintered your soul permanently."**

All of the people in the room shivered and fell silent, their faces turning various shades of white while Harry and Tonks shared a look and a grim nod. Even the two little girls, who barely understood what was being discussed, shivered, clinging even tighter to Harry.

That act would have, even for the best of reasons, been utter anathema to everyone there. The grim expressions told Harry that everyone was in agreement on that point without having to voice it.

Harry slowly nodded. "So, we know now what Blessings cost. But this, this wasn't something I really controlled, Tiamat. I mean, yes, the original intent was mine, but how it came about?" He shrugged helplessly. "How can I stop something like that happening again when I'm desperate to change something or protect someone, or would it be better to try and somehow train it?"

" **Train it how?"** Tiamat asked bluntly. **"You are no god, Potter. You get this wrong, you die, simple as that. You destroy your own soul. You need to be aware of your limitations and avoid pushing them. Your soul might become stronger after this, but not enough to experiment with."** Then she sighed. **"Still, you have ways to review memories that are well beyond anything I've seen before. I would recommend using your pensieve to figure out exactly how it felt to Bless Yubelluna, then simply…figure out how to control it, how to know if something is beyond your abilities, or figure out the feeling you get when you are about to shift from wanting something to occur and creating a Blessing to make it happen. That is all I can tell you."**

"So, we're back to winging it, then," Harry groaned. "Still, that gives me a place to start." With an almost audible snap, Harry decided to set that topic to one side and asked, "So, exactly how long was I out?"

"You've been asleep for the better part of two days. It's now the evening of the twenty-sixth," Rias replied, sitting down now on the edge of the bed and taking his hand in hers.

This meant, of course, that Harry had missed Christmas, but in the days leading up to the break Harry had learned that Devils could literally not celebrate Christmas in **any** way. Even just attempting to exchange gifts on the day of Jesus Christ's birth brought pain to them. Not really being Christians, it had been easy to convince Harry and Lily to exchange gifts and such on New Year's Eve instead of Christmas.

"And where are we? This doesn't look like our home or your old place, Rias?" Harry asked, though he was looking between her and Yasaka, already having an idea.

"As you've no doubt already discerned, you're in Kyoto, Harry," Yasaka said, pushing Rias down onto Harry's chest from behind to lean over her to give him a kiss. Yasaka was currently in her Kitsune form, two long ears poking out from her long blond hair, and her nine tails visible behind her.

More importantly, her jaw felt slightly different in this form, and her tongue, when she pushed it into Harry's mouth, was a bit longer and coarse to the touch. The kiss deepened, and Yasaka only pulled away when Rias growled and pushed her away, blushing at the feeling of the other woman's breasts pressing into her back at the same time that she was feeling Harry's hard chest against her own.

"You're in Old Corky's room." Kunou mangled the Yatagarasu's name, giggling at the antics of the grownups as Rias admonished Yasaka for her pushiness. "He was Mommy's advisor that was involved in the attack Harry helped stop. The position hasn't been filled since, so his room's been vacant."

"Hmmm. You know Lily and I spend so much time here, maybe we should just bite the bullet and take over one of your mansion's wings, make it a home away from home?" Harry mused.

Hearing that, Rias and Yasaka stopped their minor argument, the Kitsune chittering happily at the idea while Kunou promised Harry and Lily that she'd love it, and they could go exploring together in the woods every day that way. After assuring her that he would enjoy that, Harry asked the others what had been going on.

Relieved that Harry seemed to have no further ill effects from his soul-splitting, the group began to exit the room. Kiba, Loup, and Tsubaki, there as Sona's representative, left together. Tiamat just popped out of existence, heading back to her home after tossing out a request for another 'spar' with Ddraig to Harry as soon as possible, who simply smirked in reply.

Teddy left too, taking Kunou with him. The young Tonks had full confidence in Harry's ability to bounce back from anything and took him waking up as he had as proof of that. The young kitsune was also happy now that Harry was awake and didn't need further reassurance of his return to the land of the living. Lily did need a bit more and remained stuck to his side, while Kala left to prepare some food, or, rather, a lot of food, as Harry's stomach had begun to grumble loudly.

Of the six left, Tonks, Akeno, and Yasaka pulled up some chairs and added their own bits to what had been going on. Asia and Koneko took turns hugging Harry, then moved to a pair of chairs close by but not directly against his bed, while Rias sat on the bed itself and did most of the talking.

She told them she had received a formal note from her parents to meet with them along with Harry and a note from the Astaroths withdrawing their demands for reparations in return for the real story of how their son died. "The last is easy to deal with, given the note Nii-sama gave me. I think they just want some honest closure and more evidence of what he's been telling them since Diodora died."

She paused, her blue eyes showing her hesitation. "I'm...uncertain how to deal with my parents. The note is conciliatory, but I don't know if I want to… That is, I've spent so long blaming them for the arrangement with Riser…"

Yasaka and Harry exchanged a glance, and then Harry reached out, pulling Rias into a light hug. "Rias, if your parents are admitting they were wrong, I think you should give them a chance. So long as they don't try to control you or tie you up in another arranged marriage—which is a ship that has sailed, I should think—it should turn out okay. I am not saying you should forgive them or that you'll ever be close to them ever again, but entirely shutting them out of your life would be a mistake. And besides, if they are asking for a meeting with both of us, I'll be right there with you."

Sighing, Rias nodded. "All right. I'll reply that we'll see them on the twenty-eighth , unless you think you won't be recovered by then?"

"I should be, I think. Again, I don't have much experience with my soul recovering from being used as a bloody spell component. I'll be there, Rias, right beside you, never fear," Harry replied before kissing her.

It was supposed to be a chaste kiss, but despite Harry's body starting to feel tired again, the two of them rapidly started to get into it a bit too much, pulling away only when Lily groaned out a, "Gah, I'm still in the bed!" That and the others' laughter caused Rias and Harry to pull away from one another.

"I doubt he's up to that level of exertion just yet, Rias, and, since this is my house, don't I have dibs?" Yasaka asked.

While Rias was trying to formulate a response to that, Yubelluna woke up. She did so in a slightly slower but far more startling manner than Harry. First, she started to mumble the normal, "What happened, where am I?" set of questions, then she sat up abruptly as her final memories came back to her. "What? My legs!"

Before any of the others could say anything, Yubelluna threw off the bedding to stare at her lower body, moving her legs this way and that as they came into sight. This showed that no one had thought to replace her disintegrated dress after they had put her to bed, and she was still naked from the waist down. Her legs were a little longer looking than Rias's and just as well-formed, with a tiny beauty mark on her inner thigh and another down near her ankle. Her pussy lips, visible when she spread her legs, looked a little larger and thicker than Rias's or Ginny's, and there was a tuft of purple hair above that. At the sight, Harry couldn't stop himself from letting out a low whistle.

Reaching over, Koneko pulled the blanket back over Yubelluna's legs as Tonks started to push the other woman back down. "Easy there, Purple. You've been going through one hell of a rough time. Heh, I made a pun."

"A right horrible one, Tonksy," Harry said, shaking his head to dispel the image from his mind. _Hmm, being with Rias seems to have weakened my self-control. I really will have to renew my mental defenses later._

Staring around her now, Yubelluna first stared at Rias. "You! If I'm here, then you did it, you beat Riser!" Then she looked around before her eyes lit on Harry and suddenly blushed, showing much more embarrassment than most who knew her would have believed given her normal attire, pulling the blanket tighter around her legs with an "EEP!"

"Let's take care of that little fact right now," Rias said, hopping off Harry's bed and beginning to gesture in front of her. "What kind of pants do you like to wear, Yubelluna, and what is your waist size?"

"I don't know Japanese sizes, but I'm fifty-seven centimeters, if that helps, and regular jeans, I suppose. Not tight, though: the loose variety," Yubelluna replied, still looking somewhat dazed and embarrassed.

Rias blinked, as did the other older, or, rather, more fully formed ladies. "Fifty-seven, really?" Yasaka asked. When Yubelluna nodded, she shook her head. "Wow. Respect, girl."

Yubelluna smirked. "Thank you. I've always practiced yoga and various calisthenics to keep my figure, but it is an uphill battle even with a devil's constitution."

Shaking her head, Rias muttered, "Might have to look into more yoga myself if it can keep you that thin." So saying, she conjured a pair of pants into being, while Akeno stood up and created a white curtain between the beds.

Neither got their target object quite right, since conjuration and transfiguration were among the skills Harry had been teaching them which they hadn't mastered yet. They were at the equivalent of a third-year student at Hogwarts in many ways. Harry walked each of them through the process, showing the accompanying movements with his fingers. "Although, if this was a test I wouldn't be helping you ladies and would, in fact, be failing you right now," he teased.

Both girls stuck out their tongues at him before turning to try again. Akeno got the curtain right on the second try but forgot something to hold it up, which forced Koneko and Tonks into service as curtain ends. Rias took several tries to get the pants right, the zipper giving her trouble, but eventually they were done, and Yubelluna had finished dressing with Yasaka's aid.

This had resulted in a rather amusing moment, albeit one hidden behind the curtain, when she realized who Yasaka was. Once the curtain was pulled back, she was looking between Rias, Yasaka, and Harry in wonder, shock visible on her face from that revelation before she resolutely pushed it to the side. "Rias-sama, Harry-san, Yasaka-dono, what, what exactly happened after I fell unconscious? The last memory I have, it… My legs were…"

The normally self-possessed, calm, even haughty woman that most saw when they met Yubelluna had been gone since the moment she woke up, but now real fear was visible on that beautiful face, and Harry couldn't stand it. Without even looking at the others for their opinions, he started to explain. "First, Yubelluna, I have to tell you a bit about me and the Celtic god Manannán mac Lir."

Rias was a little concerned at first about how fast Harry was to share the full reason behind his demigod status with Yubelluna, but after a moment she knew that that concern was more because she hoped to keep the full breadth of his abilities from Devil-kind at large rather than Yubelluna the individual. _And, like it or not, Yubelluna-san is here to stay. And I rather think I like it, although her position in the household remains to be seen..._

Listening intently, Yubelluna asked only a few questions, visibly reining herself in several times lest they go off on a tangent. She seemed to know a lot about Celtic beliefs, so she didn't have many questions about Manannán mac Lir, but asked several questions about the Blessing when it got to that point. As Harry finished, she slowly nodded. "I, I see… So, I left one master for another. At least I know you are not the kind who would abuse his tools."

" **NO,** " Harry said, his voice hard and certain, while Rias scowled on his behalf, and Yasaka rolled her eyes. "I know you don't know me very well, Yubelluna, but I would never treat anyone as a mere tool. I will always treat you with respect and dignity, like the lady I told you that you were when we met in that bar."

Yubelluna smiled faintly at the memory but held Harry's gaze, searching for any sign of deception, finding none. She wasn't really showing it, but Yubelluna was really, **really** beginning to be turned on despite her momentary protest. Her shock at still being alive had faded sometime during Harry's explanation under the impact of Harry's emerald eyes and British accent. _Curse my Roger Moore crush!_

She couldn't stop herself, she really couldn't. "Harry, could you say, 'Keeping the British end up, sir,' for me?"

Yasaka blinked as did Rias and Akeno while Harry frowned. "I'm sorry, I know that from somewhere, but…"

Tonks laughed. "Oooh, someone wanted to be a Bond Girl, aye? That's from…hold on… Um, that movie with the marine expert chappie who didn't like shaking hands for some reason."

At that Harry laughed. "Ah, and you imagined yourself in the image of Romanova then? Though I prefer the rest of the film. 'And what do they teach you in Siberia about keeping warm?'" he asked, putting even more of an accent on his words, causing everyone to laugh while Yubelluna shuddered.

"Hmmf. I still think the best Bond girl is that one who goes into space, Holly! She's a woman in a man-dominated profession, and she goes into space! That or Bambi and Thumper. They should've finished off Sean-Bond," Lily said, speaking up from her place by her father for the first time. She had been looking with interest at Yubelluna, who had smiled at her a few times but not asked any questions about her.

"In a way the movie did just that, lovey," Harry said, his hand ruffling her hair tenderly. Lily rumbled happily, leaning further against his side but not moving her eyes away from Yubelluna. Something about her nearly captivated Lily's attention, her looks or her odd smell that the others had said came from her new status as a bandrui, Lily didn't know, but it was there.

Yubelluna smiled, addressing her directly now. "And this must be your daughter, Harry. Those eyes and the face are all yours, I think." Her smile turned sly. "Although that red hair could well give people some ideas about how long you and Rias have been an item." The others looked at her in surprise, but she waved them off. "Please, if I didn't know that before seeing you in your club's room before the Rating Game, I know it now with this setting."

"Yes, this is my daughter Lily, but she isn't my only daughter. I have adopted Asia there, and Rias and I have sort of worked out a joint custody deal for Koneko-chan. There's also Yasaka's daughter, Kunou," Harry said, gesturing to each in turn, making Asia flush in pleasure, and Koneko to stand up straight with pride, her ears twitching upright with the rest of her as Rias smiled at her fondly as Kunou smiled happily at being mentioned.

Yubelluna was silent for a moment, looking at them and then smiling somewhat wistfully. "This is the oddest family I've ever heard of, but it sounds lovely all the same. And, before any of you ask, I have no problems with kids. I used to look after Nel and Lle, although whatever they look like, those two are actually only a bit younger than Asia-chan looks to be."

From there, the conversation shifted all over the place as Yubelluna asked Harry how he and Yasaka had met, how he had gotten together with Rias, and many other questions. Harry and Rias, in turn, asked questions of her, and Yasaka was called upon to explain the various aspects of what she sensed in Yubelluna.

"Hmmm… Well, I was a gardener once. I was also okay with animals of all sorts, worked as a dog walker at one point. I even was going to college for a degree in horticulture when Riser and I…" Yubelluna scowled, and suddenly the years spent with Riser settled down on her like a lead weight, her face slowly becoming cooler, more controlled and closed.

"Well, that might be why you were fit into the bandrui template, then," Yasaka replied briskly, eager to move the conversation on.

"And we kind of need one," Lily chirped. "You should see…" She fell silent when Rias held up a finger to her lips, and she blushed, having nearly ruined the surprise Rias and everyone else had been working on over the past few days.

"If everyone has a role they need to fill, then, yes, gardener would be mine. That and maid or general cleaner. As messy as I am when I work with the dirt, I definitely dislike it anywhere in the house. I'm kind of OCD about it, really." Yubelluna admitted. "I nearly forced Riser to keep his room clean despite everything he could have done to me."

"Oh, Seven levels, I know! Men can be such pigs sometimes, leaving food and clothing all over the place. That's been a major issue with living in the same room with Harry and this little messy monster," Rias said, mock-glaring at Lily, her face scrunched up as Lily responded with a mock-growl of her own.

Harry simply shrugged. "I like a little mess around the place, but I suppose we can agree to disagree. But you said you were going to college?"

"Yes. I was a normal college student before I accidentally discovered my Sacred Gear during a car crash. After that I was targeted for it by a devil who wasn't willing to take no for an answer. Then Riser came in and swept me off my feet." Yubelluna scowled. "Looking back on it, I have to wonder if that was a plan Riser had come up with to get me to willingly become his Queen."

"Well then, in terms of duties around the house, you can be our general maid and gardener," Harry said in an upbeat tone which turned nearly tender. "But I thought you would prefer to be a lady."

"In public, I would very much like that." Yubelluna smiled, leaning back and closing her eyes as the relief of Harry's words and tone moved over her like a gentle wave. _No more forced exhibitionism, no humiliation, no degradation! Not here, not with these people. I am finally free._

"Lily, love, why don't you run off to play now?" Harry asked softly. "I think we need to have a serious talk."

"I'll go with ya, Lily," Tonks said, hopping to her feet. She had no wish to be drawn into further Devil style shite despite technically being one now. _Then again, I think hanging all the politicians, whatever their race, would make for a lovely Yuletide party._

Yasaka also excused herself, leaving Rias, Akeno, and Harry to talk to Yubelluna. They were silent for a moment, and then Rias began softly. "My family has taken in Riser's peerage, and their connection to him has been blocked for now and will be severed. At the moment he is a King with no peerage, but I imagine the King's Piece will be removed after we meet with Lord and Lady Phenex and formalize his further punishment. I don't know if you remember, but you weren't the only one hurt in his attack on you all. Siris died, and Karlamine was gravely wounded. Regardless, my parents have already prepared psychologists to speak to them. Many have requested, even pleaded, to be allowed to return to Riser despite all the, the evidence of his treatment of them I turned over to my parents. We know it is Stockholm syndrome in many cases, yet none of us can tell who among the rest of Riser's peerage would remain loyal to him regardless of what happened. Can you tell us?"

"Not the pawns. After Riser had gotten them into his peerage, he saw no need to molest Nel and Lle further. But he made them watch all the time, and, in a way that was just as bad." Yubelluna said, astonished to find tears trying to form in her eyes. _Odd, I thought I had cried all the tears I had in me years ago._

Harry let loose a low, animalistic growl deep in his throat as he fought the urge to transform and hunt down Riser for that. "I see… Now I am regretting most strenuously not having executed him before."

"We had information on how he treated everyone else, and I'm afraid I sort of assumed that he was molesting them too, but we didn't have proof of that," Rias said with a scowl. "Still, justice will be served—if not in the coin we could have wished—never fear."

"No, he was always careful with them. But I don't see why you're surprised. There are devils out there who very much prefer young girls and girls who cater to it too," Yubelluna stated, looking somewhat confused as she saw the two were furious more about the ages of the two girls then how they were treated.

"I tend to try to hold myself to a more moral standard than that," Rias replied with a scowl. "Still, go on."

"The two Nekomata are, well, they are kind of sluts, but I doubt they have any true love for him. Certainly they never enjoyed the pain games he had us all play occasionally. Burent and Marion are loyal to the Phenex clan. They were his first pieces for that reason, and I don't think that has ever changed even if they kept his vices secret from his parents despite how much damage some might have done the Clan's public image. Shuriya…not certain about her. She liked the sex, even when Riser loaned us out to other High-Class devils for favors or to seal a contract. But there was a mind behind that body of hers, and I don't think she liked being treated as a disposable tool in combat any more than I did. Mira, you'll have to be careful of her. She was the weakest of us and tended to get more in the way of abuse. If anyone is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, it's her.

"Mihae, she's possibly the shyest person I've ever met." Yubelluna shook her head. "She also was our newest member and, so long as she isn't near him ever again, should be fine."

Her voice starting to become choked up, Yubelluna went on. "Karlamine being, being injured is a tragedy, as she was one who would have been free from him in an instant if given half the chance. That's why, that's why I was sent out on that mission I met you on rather than the two knights, Rias-sama. He couldn't, couldn't trust Karlamine not to run off if he remained home and the obedience portion of the Peerage bond weakened due to being in different dimensions."

Rias moved over to throw an arm around the woman, while Harry pushed himself out of bed with some difficulty to join them in Yubelluna's, Akeno beating him there by a few seconds. He hugged Akeno and Yubelluna both with what little strength he had left, while Rias and Akeno did the same, giving this strong, yet sorely wounded woman all the aid they could.

Eventually Yubelluna went on her hands resting on the arm Rias had put around her chest. "Siris, the Knight who died, and the Rooks... I don't know which came first for the two Rooks, their masochistic tendencies or their infatuation with him. But they were loyal to Riser. Siris was too, though I have no idea why."

"According to the note they sent me, my family has already brought in two human psychologists we have contracts with, one of whom is a woman. With that help we could keep them and the others away from all men if need be."

"That could help the youngsters realize you're serious. Not the Nekomata, though." Yubelluna frowned. "To be fair I don't know if their oversexed ways behind closed doors were a defense mechanism or not. But you will have to watch Xuelan and Isabela."

Moving away from the group hug, Harry slid around so that he was looking Yubelluna in the eyes, and when he spoke his tone even, but his emerald eyes were as hard and dark as stones. "Do you want him dead? I might have let him live simply because I didn't want to kill him in front of Ravel or the other kids and his parents, but I could find a way to get to him somehow. A dark alley somewhere in the Underworld or a brain aneurysm, or dress up like a Khaos Brigade assassin, any number of things."

"I'm glad you didn't. Ravel's the darling of the whole family, and there have been rumors that her mastery of the Phenex fire is exceptional. Despite her, I think it is called tsundere? Despite her tsundere attitude, I rather like her and would not like to see her traumatized so," Yubelluna said with a faint smile.

She looked at Harry closely, and a part of her, the dark, vindictive, and, above all, wounded part of her demanded that she answer yes. But she shook her head. "No. At this point his death wouldn't solve anything, wouldn't serve anything. It wouldn't bring back their innocence."

She then smiled a thin, wintry smile. "However, there are other ways to hurt him, especially with his parents agreeing to the punishments in question. I was, after all, Riser's Queen, and I know Devil Law and contract laws in particular. If they balk, well…"

From there Yubelluna described could be done by that type of magical agreement to keep Riser in line, to make certain he learned and was never in a position to hurt any other woman ever again, while also describing in detail several things Riser had been up to over the years which could bring dishonor. Listening to her, Harry was amused to note how much these Devil contracts sounded like magically binding oaths among wizard-kind. Rias too was amazed at her mastery of Demonic law and quickly hopped off the bed to grab a pen and pad, writing it all down before giving the older woman a spontaneous hug. "This is all amazing. And if we couch it just so, even Riser's parents will agree with it, every bit of it."

"Ah, politics: where blackmail isn't nearly so horrible a term," Harry quipped before he got out of the bed, standing with a bit of difficulty as Kala came in with several servants following her, pushing trays of food. "For now I think I need something to wash my mouth out from all this dirty talk." He held Yubelluna against him lightly, twining his arm around hers and gesturing with his free hand to the food, transfiguring his former bed into a table as he did, causing exclamations of shock among the youkai servants. "Shall we?"

Finished talking about Riser and anything difficult, the group continued to talk for a long while on numerous other topics. Rias and Yubelluna both talked seriously about the food she'd prepared, grilled fillet of brill, which, as Harry put it, "Is rather a built-in pun, since it is both brill and brill!" to many boos and hisses at the awful pun.

For his part, Harry tried to wheedle out of Rias and Akeno the secret Lily had nearly blurted out earlier, but failed. Then the talk switched to gardens, and Yubelluna took over, excitedly talking about the gardens she'd been in charge of at the Phenex estate and what she would like to see done if they allowed her, permission which Harry, of course, instantly granted, so long as she kept the various familiar nests. Kala nearly came to blows with Yubelluna on the topic of cleanliness, since outside the kitchen, Kala and Mittelt were both slobs. Yasaka too joined them late that evening after the kids had come by to say goodnight, and they all just continued to talk, getting to know their newest companion, until Harry and Yubelluna were nearly falling asleep.

Rias and Yasaka helped Harry back to bed, though, given the disparity in size, it was mainly Rias doing the work. But at least Yasaka was able to help Harry walk in a straight line.

Lily had not followed them. Now that her daddy was awake, all of her concerns about him had disappeared, replaced with her initial certainty that he would be fine regardless of anything that happened. So she was off with the others, trying to decide on a single movie they all wanted to watch that night.

Eventually the two ladies were able to get Harry into his room and sitting up on the bed, where they started to strip him of his clothing. "I can do that myself, you know," he muttered, trying to help. But his fine motor control wasn't quite up to working the buttons of his shirt for some reason. He had even had trouble with feeding himself earlier.

"Oh hush, Harry," Rias murmured, pulling his shirt up and off and tossing it aside, her eyes raking his upper body as she did every time she saw him like this. _Mmm, muscly._

Yasaka, too, was taking in the view, as was Harry in return. Rias had leaned in close as she pulled his shirt off, and, as she did, Harry could gaze straight down into her cleavage. He could also smell her perfume, lavender and something else, almost orange but not quite. Yasaka too smelled amazing to him, and only got more so as they helped him out of his clothing, but in her case it was a deeper, more earthy scent, one he recognized after only a few seconds contemplation.

Down below, Yasaka was looking up at him appreciatively while her fingers deftly undid his belt and pants, pulling them off with some difficulty, and not just because Harry had to lift himself off the bed for a moment. Harry's little staff had responded to the view, and she had to fiddle with his pants for a bit until she could get them off.

"Heh, sorry, Yasaka, Rias. I, um, I might be tired, but a certain part of me doesn't seem to have gotten the memo. I honestly don't think I'm going to be good for anything strenuous, though."

Chittering, Yasaka shook her head. "That's quite all right, Harry. It's a compliment, one I treasure." Staring at the tent pole straining at his boxers, Yasaka licked her lips, then looked up at Rias, her eyebrows raised in question.

Rias paused for a moment and then smiled. "Nothing strenuous, love, but perhaps we, or rather, Yasaka, can help you take the edge off. It is her house, after all, like she said earlier." _And letting the two of them play alone will pay Yasaka back a bit for opening her mansion to us as she has over the past few days. She didn't have to welcome all of us as she did, and I've greatly enjoyed our discussion on leadership and the various problems we've both run into._ And, Rias reflected, she very much preferred it when both she and Harry were both able to, for want of a better word, give their lovemaking their all.

 **{Lime start!}**

"Mmm, I know just the thing, too…" Yasaka said, smirking as she pulled Harry's staff out from his boxers. "I won't even have to change either. You remember me teasing you that first time we really flirted, Harry, with the dango sticks? Heheheh, well, you're about to be shown the proof of my boasting."

"Oh?" Harry murmured, his tone deepening as he felt Yasaka's breath on the bare skin of his cock. "But I won't be able to pay you back right away…"

"I'll take a rain check on that lingual skill of yours, then," Yasaka replied before she began to kiss and lick at the head of Harry's cock. She then opened her mouth and took the head into it, followed by a few more inches. She let it rest there for just a moment, and then her tongue, longer than a human's and far rougher to the touch, started to force more and more of it into her mouth.

"Heh, um, I'll just leave you two to it," Rias said, tearing her eyes away from the sight with some difficulty. _That was oddly hot._ She backed away, still watching the scene until she bumped into the closed door behind her, which she fumbled with for a moment before she pulled it open, closing it behind her. Then she quickly put up a silencing charm and moved away, trying to calm her racing heartbeat and other responses to what she had just seen.

"Fuuuccckkkk, Yasaka, that feels **good**!" Harry grunted, leaning forward to run his fingers through Yasaka's hair before playing with her ears.

She moaned in turn, pressing her face deeper into Harry's crotch, taking him into her mouth and down her throat in one go. Kitsune ears were really sensitive, and Harry's fingers were finding just the right spots. That, plus the fact she loved fellatio, was really getting her motor running.

Her eyes gleaming with desire, Yasaka stared up at Harry. She pulled back so that his cock head was once more resting in her mouth, giving it several long, swishing licks, licking up the pre-cum before pulling back off almost entirely so Harry could see her tongue at work. Then, still maintaining eye contact despite Harry's continued stroking of her ears, she thrust her head forward almost violently, taking Harry's entire length into her mouth and down her throat.

"Holy, shiii…" Harry grunted, the feeling out of this world. It was warm and tight, almost like being in a woman's pussy, but different, moving differently around him, to say nothing of the fact that, somehow, Yasaka was still able to move her tongue lightly around the base of his cock.

 _Enough playing around, time to get serious,_ Yasaka thought gleefully, pulling back just a bit before moving her mouth up and down, pulling away from Harry's hands as she did so and breaking eye contact at last, her eyes closing in bliss.

This was why she missed Harry casting a few spells. The first one created a small, bullet-shaped piece of wood. The second, a Sirius Special Spell, teleported Yasaka's skirt which was her usual Miko outfit, from around her into a neat pile to one side. That she noticed, but before she could do anything her panties followed. Then Harry's hands moved from the back of Yasaka's head down her back and through the base of her tails to her small, padded rear, picking up the small magical vibrator from the floor before trying to work their way under Yasaka's rear.

This, however, nearly overbalanced him off the side of the bed, and Yasaka pushed up at his chest with some difficulty, feeling a thrill at the feel of those tight, heavy muscles under her fingers. "Mou, Harry-han, what part about not needing to exert yourself didn't you get?"

With Yasaka's help, Harry first sat back upright and then flopped back onto the bed, moving into the center of the bed with Yasaka's aid once more. "It isn't in me to not try to return that kind of favor," he murmured.

Yasaka shook her head but moved around the bed until her crotch was over one of Harry's hands, the one holding the makeshift vibrator. "Well, just don't try to do too much. Your body's still not fully recovered." With that Yasaka licked her lips once and then dove back down on Harry's cock, gobbling it eagerly like it was her favorite treat. Soon enough her head was bobbing once more on his cock, his whole length in her mouth and down her throat as she made happy gurgling noises.

At the same time Harry's fingers were busy. Unable to see what he was doing thanks to Yasaka's tails being in the way and his own lack of fine muscle coordination at this point, he had to fumble for a bit but soon found her cleft. It was noticeably shaggier than Rias's, but it was just as wet as his redheaded love's had been the last time they had slept together. _Has it really been two days?_

Shutting that thought down as being pointless, Harry continued his work on Yasaka's lower lips. One finger slowly worked its way inside, curling and uncurling, while two more found the small nub at the top of Yasaka's pussy that he knew was her clit.

Yasaka's moan confirmed this, but instead of pulling back and giving a more verbal response as Harry had thought, Yasaka sped up her own deep throat assault on his dick, moving her head faster and faster, and Harry watched, somewhere between bemused and intensely aroused, his fingers pausing in their exploration. Even the sound Yasaka was making was dirty, the 'glrrk, glrrk' noise adding to the impact, making the experience all the better.

How long this went on, neither could tell, but eventually Harry felt a familiar feeling welling within his balls. "Yasaka, I'm about to cum!"

If anything that made Yasaka redouble her efforts. No other thought was in her mind other than tasting Harry right then, and she was going to have it.

Desperately, Harry touched the base of his cock as Yasaka's head was on the upswing, casting the same spell he routinely used with Rias, another Sirius special that changed the taste of his cum to whatever the girl he was with would find most pleasing. And then, fighting off the need to cum, Harry grabbed up the tiny vibrator once more, plunging it without any preamble into Yasaka's pussy. Redoing the vibrating spell on it was hard for some reason and made his eyes nearly shut from the effort, but Harry pushed on, pushing the small vibrator deeper into Yasaka's depths. His other hand pressed down hard on her head, forcing her to take his cock deeper.

"EEEEEMMMM!" Yasaka squealed around Harry's cock as she swallowed, causing Harry to finally lose control and cumming deep down her throat, Yasaka cumming at the same time from his own ministrations.

For a second it was all she could do to remember to keep breathing through her nose, her whole body quivering. Then Yasaka slowly pulled her mouth back off Harry's cock, making an audible popping noise as she did. Her long tongue flicked out as her mouth continued to gape open for a second, and, in the light of the lamp set by his bed, Harry could see her sharp teeth gleaming there along with a copious amount of his seed, though it was nothing to the amount which had rocketed straight down her throat.

As Harry watched, she flicked her tongue back in and closed her mouth, swallowing. Once more she opened her mouth to show Harry that she had swallowed everything he had poured down her throat. "Mmm, Kiwi… Tasty and filling too," she purred throatily, then her eyes widened in surprise as she noticed that Harry's cock hadn't flagged at all.

"Really, you show me something that sinfully sexy and you expect anything else?" Harry asked. He then asked solicitously, "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you when I pressed on your head at the end there?"

"Heh, impressive. And no, Harry, you didn't hurt me. I can take anything you want to dish out. In fact…" Yasaka trailed off as a wicked idea occurred to her. "In fact, why don't you transform, Harry, and then I can prove that I can take **anything** you do."

Harry gaped at her but, after a moment's hesitation, nodded and transformed into his werewolf form. His body bulked out in every direction, adding three inches to his shoulder width and a further three to his height, causing him to practically dwarf Yasaka. A fact that, judging by her suddenly dilated eyes and the smell of her arousal doubling, she greatly enjoyed.

Despite having had this form for longer than he'd known her as more than his best mate's little sister, Harry and Ginny had never experimented with it. Ginny had not exactly hated Harry's werewolf side, but had certainly not been open to seeing it as an addition to their sex lives. Before her, Harry had never gone that far with anyone so it had never come up. So despite his nose telling him in no uncertain terms that Yasaka enjoyed the view, Harry tried to hide his body somewhat, one hand dropping to his crotch and the other covering his lower face, hiding his muzzle from view.

Yasaka however was having none of that, and gently removed his arm from his face, leaning in to kiss him. Pulling back she sent him a wink. "Come on Harry, no need to hide yourself, not to me, and I daresay not to Rias either." She gently stroked her hand down his face, then played gently with his ears, causing his eyes to close and a deep rumble to shake his large frame. "You're so self-controlled Harry, it's just not healthy. You need to learn that you can let go sometimes you know?"

"It, It's not that easy," Harry said, trying to think through the haze of his arousal and the simpler pleasure of having his ears rubbed in just the right way. "I, I don't, that is…"

Realizing that Harry's self-control issues ran deeper than she had thought Yasaka sighed but continued her work on his ears, setting aside the fact she was more turned on right now than she could remember being since the last time she'd been with her dead husband, her eye raking down Harry's muscles and enlarged frame. "Harry, everyone has a wild side to them, some admittedly more literally than others. You need to let it out to play at times, or else you'll just keep on getting more and more wound up. Yes, control what you can around you, but you don't have to control yourself to that extent."

"For far too long myself was all I could control," Harry replied.

"Having heard about your life prior to coming to Kuoh I can understand that. But it's no longer the case is it?" Yasaka asked, kissing Harry's muzzle ardently, then leaning back kissing his eyes and ears, watching them twitch before biting one of them ever so lightly. "Is it? You can control much more than yourself Harry, so conversely you don't have to control yourself to that extent any longer, do you?"

"I, I'll, think about it, it's um, it's hardly easy to think clearly right now," Harry said panting a little now.

"Good! I didn't want it to be," Yasaka said simply. "I'm not saying that Rias would be willing to play with this form, but I bet she'd like a bit more heavy play in the bedroom, lover." With that Yasaka pulled away entirely, letting her eyes stray down now to his tool. The shape of Harry's cock was different now, the head more pointed like a dogs rather than a human's more mushroom-like tip. Further, its size had changed, adding at least the length of Yasaka's pinkie to its length, and another two thumb's worth to its already considerable girth. "Amazing," she breathed.

So he didn't realize how sensitive he was down there until Yasaka leaned down and began to lick and nibble every swollen inch of his cock. She giggled throatily, looking up at him with a wink as she moved to be kneeling within Harry's outstretched legs, out of his reach so she could concentrate entirely on what she was doing to him rather than the other way around, her tails wagging. "Now, why don't we take a walk on the wild side, hmmm, Harry?"

 **{End Lime}**

 **OOOOOOO**

Moments after leaving Harry and Yasaka, Rias looked around at everyone else in Yasaka's TV room. "So, what do you all think of Yubelluna?"

Her own peerage members shrugged before Akeno spoke up. "After we learned what Riser was up to with his peerage, I think we all felt sorry for all of them. Yubelluna seems to have borne through it well enough and is, generally speaking, not quite what we expected her to be given how she has acted in our limited interactions with her and Riser both. I think we will all take a wait-and-see attitude as to whether or not we can be friends with her, Rias."

"What about you, Lily, Kunou, Asia?" she asked.

"I like her," Lily said brightly. "She knows a lot about plants, and I thought her explosive powers looked amazing when she fought Akeno! Can you imagine being able to make something explode so easily? That would just be cool! She even smells a little like a werewolf too, but, like, one that rolled around in a lot of flowers and dirt."

 _Note to self, when Harry starts teaching her spells, make certain it occurs in our training ground_ _,_ Rias mused, shaking her head with a chuckle. _I can just see our little Lily becoming quite the pyromancer in the future._

"She seems nice," was Kunou's uncomplicated opinion. Asia too was of that opinion, while Koneko's impression of the former Queen was a bit more in depth than either of theirs. "She's tough. Stronger than she acts; has been through a lot. I kind of respect her for that."

There were some murmurs from the other women at that. All of them understood intellectually the courage that Yubelluna had to have lived through her time with Riser and come out the other side as mentally all together as she seemed to be.

Kala and Mittelt both nodded agreement. They didn't know as much as Rias's original peerage did about Riser and how he treated his peerage, but they did know something about being abused by those with more power than them. And, after hearing about how Yubelluna had nearly died to save the rest of her peerage from their master, both were willing to see if she fit in with the rest of their group.

Teddy and Tonks both shrugged, not having an opinion one way or another, though Tonks was watching Rias closely. She'd gotten used to the idea that Harry was dating Yasaka and Rias both and that Kala might be pining to join them, but from what she saw, Yubelluna seemed as if she might be interested in Harry too and vice versa, though that was a subtle thing with him. _Huh, I wonder if Rias realizes that or not? Well, it should be interesting to watch, whatever happens._

"The more the merrier," Lily said with a firm nod as if she was casting the final vote or something. "That's part of what I've really like since we arrived in Japan: meeting all these new friends, making them friends rather than acquaintances, and all of us all living together as we have been. It's great!"

"That would be the werewolf in you, I think. Werewolves are always happier when surrounded by their packs," Rias said with a laugh, tussling the little girl's hair affectionately as she sat down on the sofa next to her. Lily promptly snuggled into her side, while Asia and Kunou did the same under a blanket next to them, and the others all made their homes variously around the place. "Now, what were we going to watch?"

Later, after putting the kids to bed, Rias returned to Harry's room, finding Yasaka outside the room, leaning back against the doorway in her Kitsune form. Her eyes were glazed, her breath was coming in gasps and pants, and her long tongue was lolling out. "Was it that good?" Rias asked, wondering if the two of them had actually gone all the way despite Harry's physical and mental exhaustion.

Yasaka shook her head. "N, no… It's just, he honestly was a bit much…" she said, touching her jaw rather tenderly. "I think I might've pulled something!"

Rias laughed, and Yasaka pouted at her. "That's not nice."

"You asked for it, literally!" Rias said, still laughing. "And I can't imagine why you did it **that** way when you're as endowed as I am," she said, touching her chest. _Or maybe even a little more,_ she thought, looking down at Yasaka's. Given their disparate sizes she couldn't quite be certain, but she thought that the other woman was indeed a bit bigger in that area than she was, which was, while something she was used to with Akeno as a friend, also kind of irritating.

"Oh, but it was soooo worth it," she murmured, patting her stomach a little. "He was positively delicious." Then, without warning, Yasaka leaned up and kissed Rias hard on the lips.

Rias shuddered as she felt those feminine lips on hers, opening her mouth slightly and feeling Yasaka's long, rasping tongue against hers. She also tasted Harry's essence there and shuddered again, warmth filling her from her mouth straight down to her lower body.

But then Yasaka pulled away, winking at her. "Maybe next time it'll be all three of us?"

"Maybe," Rias murmured, shaking her head. She couldn't say she was in love with Yasaka or that she was nearly as attracted to her as she was to Harry, but Rias also couldn't deny that she thought it might be interesting to experiment and see what it would be like to go beyond kissing with a woman. "Maybe."

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to go find an ice pack. Ow." With that Yasaka sauntered away, once more holding her jaw and wincing.

Watching her, Rias rolled her eyes with a final, if breathy, chuckle, then pushed open the door to Harry's room and entered, moving quickly towards the bed. She found him sprawled out there, but his eyes were open as she entered. Rias smiled at him and then stripped off her clothing before she moved to the bed. She stopped and stared, somewhat amused to see him rising to attention again despite all Yasaka had done to calm him down. _That is very,_ _ **very**_ _flattering and makes me regret my earlier comments about wanting to wait for him to feel better._

But Rias controlled herself and, with only a gentle pat to Harry's cock, lay down next to him, nuzzling her face against his shoulder and kissing his neck lightly. "Some other time," she murmured once more, "when you're feeling better. I'm tired, and so should you be."

Harry laughed quietly. "I'll say it again, Rias: the man who would not feel aroused with someone like you sleeping next to them doesn't exist. Still, you're right that you would have to be the one doing all the work, and that just won't stand twice in a row."

She laughed at that and then kissed him again. "I love you, Harry Potter," she murmured against his lips.

"I love you too, Rias Gremory," he replied before pulling her into a hug as she reached out to turn off the light.

Yet even as Rias fell asleep curled up next to him Harry didn't not fall asleep just yet. He had some more work to do. With a long sigh, Harry bent his thoughts inwards to his mental plane. As he had thought, his mental plane was a bit disordered from the way he had left it. His werewolf instincts had run amok and were now just loose all over the place, his defenses were shattered here and there and his aura had been seeping out through the cracks, though not too much. The main issue was his instincts, and Harry frowned as he turned from repairing his defenses, about to banish those instincts back into its cage next to his libido, which had also gotten loose, although it, an image of Harry himself with… enhanced proportions… hadn't moved much.

But then he paused, and looked at the image of his werewolf instincts, a large, black-furred version of his werewolf form as he remembered Yasaka's admonishment. _I don't need to control myself so much any longer, I don't need to worry about other people trying to control me or manipulate me. I don't need the cage any longer, not for my instincts, not for my libido._

With a frown, Harry concentrated, and the two images before him slowly began to fade, while around him, his mindscape slowly changed. Trees sprang up here and there, and a few wolves started to appear, cavorting around the place, each of them composed of memories of a time when Harry's instincts had saved him, or when he had given in to them for the sheer fun of it.

Harry's single image of his libido too disappeared. The cage it had been in, lined with images of Rias, Yasaka, Akeno and others also disappeared. Those images flashed around his mindscape, taking up new positions elsewhere as the light of his soul changed slightly, becoming a little yellower, more vibrant. Harry idly noticed that a lot of the images that had been inside the cage, which had been where he had stored thoughts he hadn't wanted to give credence to, featured Akeno, which Harry supposed he should have expected. She had always called out to a part of him in a way, a kind of sexuality he hadn't wanted to take part in.

 _And now, do I still think that way?_ Shrugging that thought off as unimportant, Harry continued his mental repairs, still wondering about things, such as the whole 'malleability of the soul' issue and others. He didn't notice when an image of Rias moved into a special, small silver and gold lined room right below the tower on which his soul resided, an area that had previously only had images of Lily, Hermione, Ron, Teddy, Tonks and at one point, Ginny. Nor did he notice when it was joined by several other pictures from his memory. But even if he had, it was doubtful he would have cared. After all, he had a lot more precious friends and family now. Although if he had, one of them might have surprised him.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Mommy, what happened to your jaw?" Kunou asked in innocent confusion as she looked at her mother across the breakfast table.

A little way down the table, Harry coughed delicately as his eyes found Rias's, exchanging a brief smile and then looking back at Yasaka. He was feeling a lot better than he had been last night and had easily made his way to the breakfast table without any aid, though he was among the last to arrive. And even that was because he and Rias had spent most of that time in a very nice snogging session.

Now he watched as Yasaka flushed a bit at her daughter's innocent question before catching Harry's gaze and winking. "Nothing major, Kunou-chan. I just attempted to bite off a bit more than I could chew last night."

Kunou's brows scrunched up cutely at that, but Harry spoke up before she could inquire further, his voice rising very slightly at the use of the word 'bite' in this context. "So, what are everyone's plans for the day? I think I personally want some exercise…outside. Maybe go for a swim."

Yasaka and Asia, who were the ones really in charge of his convalescence, glanced at one another before Yasaka nodded. "That should be all right, so long as others go with you. Though I think Rias said something about a girls' day out."

"I did indeed, but that leaves Loup, Issei, and Kiba at loose ends," Rias noted, looking at each man in turn and getting nods from each in turn. Issei hadn't been with them the night before, but he was getting more and more adroit at getting out of the house these days without giving his parents cause to worry, something helped along by Loup, who had introduced himself to them at one point as a tutor.

"Ara, I'm more interested in what you were trying to eat last night than any plans today," Akeno teased, having cottoned on to what Yasaka had implied. "Whatever did you try, Yasaka-sama~? And after bragging so much about certain skills in that area too~."

Yasaka's gaze whipped between Akeno and Kunou, her look both desperate and promising wrath if Akeno didn't let up in front of her daughter. Luckily, Tonks and Teddy weren't there that morning. They had preferred to stay in Kuoh and find a place that served European style breakfasts, so Akeno was alone in her teasing assault, and once Rias, Kala, and the others headed her off, breakfast passed without further incident.

So, after breakfast, Loup and Kiba decided to head back to pick up Issei from his family for the day and then headed out with Harry to swim at the same river they had been shown before in the forest of Kyoto. And if Harry noticed how there seemed to be a fox following them at one point to make certain they didn't roughhouse, he didn't comment, simply winking in its direction.

None of the girls were with them. They had decided to take Yubelluna shopping as a part of cutting off all her ties to the Phenex clan. She also deserved a day to just be pampered, in Rias's words. And the other girls, particularly Asia, who had been watching Harry nearly as often as Lily had, deserved it too. Rias was going to splurge on them all.

Harry found that his body was just as strong as ever and didn't feel any special exhaustion or anything after swimming around, so he was quite happy with the way the day went. Then Issei asked, "Hey, guys. Erm, Harry-san, what do, that is, how do you tell if a girl is into you or not?"

Issei had not yet been able to separate 'Potter-sensei' from 'Harry,' and Harry was in no way helping him given Issei's attraction to Asia. Indeed, he now looked at Issei rather suspiciously, one eye closed thanks to an errant beam of sunlight while the other started to glow with magic. "Hmmm… This better not be about my pure, innocent Asia would it?" Harry asked.

"Gahh! No, not Asia-chan! Jeeze, between you, Koneko-chan, and Raiter, I don't know which is worse! No, it's about Ruruko-chan. I, well, she sort of, um, hinted that maybe she'd like to go on a date with me at one point after we came back from the Rating game. But if that's the case, why doesn't she just, y'know, ask me out?"

"Some girls are more traditional and would rather be asked out than the reverse," Kiba opined. "Though I doubt Ruruko would like you to be over the top about it. Certainly don't ask her at school, and don't, whatever you do, act any differently around her. She would hate that."

"All women would hate that," Loup grunted, stretching out on the ground nearby. He had felt rather irritated about missing both the Rating Game and the action afterward and was trying to figure out a way to enhance his strength and abilities without becoming a devil. At the moment he was looking at using enchanted war gear and items Harry and Rias could create, as well as further martial arts training. "Being yourself is best. If they don't want that, they aren't for you."

"Yes, but…" Harry and Kiba said as one before looking at one another and laughing.

Harry gestured for Kiba to continue, and he did so. "There is a limit to how much of yourself you should show so quickly. And, in your case, Issei-kun, she has seen quite a lot already, both the good and the bad."

"Your heroics and your perversions, in other words." Harry elaborated. "You've come a long way from that mob character that was part of the Perverted Trio. You showed off your heroic side against Diodora and during the Rating Game. But that last was tempered by the way you went about it."

"Hey! Don't blame me for all that! It's not my fault becoming a devil has heightened my already massive libido! Becoming a devil heightens your connections to the Original Sins. And my Lust has let me create my spells and even has driven me to become as good as I am at magic!" Issei retorted, angry at having been called a mob character, the sort that could be found in the background of any RPG. _I was never a mob character, darn it! I was the tragic hero!_

Harry nodded at that, going off on a tangent. "That's true, though I think there's more to it than that. But Akeno mentioned that you had created four spells, yet we only saw you use one original spell during the Rating Game and two of the spells I've taught you. What are the other three?"

At that Issei began to cackle evilly. "You really want to know?"

Cocking his head to one side, Harry shrugged. "No, not really."

"Well, I'll tell you anyway; rather, please let me brag!" Issei shouted, reaching out to try and shake Harry, which failed miserably.

"Fine. Just let go of me. Who knows where those hands have been?" Yet, even so, Harry smiled at Issei, indicating that he could go on, as Loup and Kiba leaned forward in interest. Even Kiba hadn't really been able to create more than a few spells of his own over his years as Rias's Knight, so it was doubly interesting to him.

"Gah, you bastard…" Issei growled, then shook it off in order to brag. "Well, I have one other spell based on my love of all things oppai. I call it the Sticky-Sticky Cannon!"

"And suddenly I'm regretting my curiosity," Kiba mused as Harry groaned.  
"Enemy of women," Loup grunted.

"Oh, come on, can't you picture it!? First I strip 'em, then I cover 'em! It'll be glorious!"

"Remember what we were talking about a second ago, about showing too much of your inner self? That, right there, is what we were talking about." Harry sighed heavily. "We might as well get it over with. Come on, what're your last two spells?"

"Well they aren't nearly as cool as my first three, but Akeno-senpai told me I needed at least one direct attack spell and a misdirection spell. So I hit on the idea of taking small things, small irritations, and magnifying them. So I came up with Prickly Privates. It'll basically create an itchy feeling and then ratchet it up every ten seconds for more than an hour. It's an AOE spell, so it can affect a lot of people all at once, driving them all crazy!"

All three of Issei's listeners gaped at him, and Kiba slowly said, "Issei-kun, it pains me to say this, but I think you are taking to being a devil a little too well. It's kind of terrifying me right now." Harry and Loup nodded wordless agreement.

Taking that more as a compliment than a statement of fact, Issei grinned. "Then this'll really blow your socks off! My last spell is even dirtier, and its name says it all: the Rectal Prolapse Spell! Mind you, I haven't actually tried that on a living target, but I definitely think it will work!"

"Fuck, I'm going to be sick," Loup groaned, turning away, his face pale.

"Issei, I want you to listen to me very carefully, okay? If you promise to never use those in training or ever speak of them again, I will try to forget this conversation ever occurred. And, further, I won't label you as an enemy of all humanity, agreed?" Harry asked, reaching out to take Issei's head in his hands. "This is where you nod if you want to live."

Gulping, Issei nodded, and Harry let him go. For a moment the men were all silent, with Issei looking kind of bewildered while Kiba, Loup, and Harry simply tried to forget that the last few minutes had ever happened. Eventually Issei broke the silence and asked hesitantly, "So, um, about Ruruko…"

"Keep your perversions on the down low; try to make asking her out both a private and seemingly random thing. That way there's no pressure on her to act in a way that she might feel others might expect her to," Harry said.

"What type of girl is Ruruko?" Loup asked.

"Cheerful, friendly, lots of friends, a somewhat typical young teenage girl," Kiba listed.

Loup grunted. "Make lists. Girls want their first date to be special. Make a list, check it off, get everything right. And have another list of ideas and places to go for the date."

"If she's been subtle about indicating her interest in you, then be subtle in turn. Make the first date something as non-date-like as possible, then, if she comments on it, you can switch gears quickly," Harry added. "And if she notices, tell her how much time you've put into it. A girl likes to know you've worked for her."

"To expand on what Harry just said if Nimura-san isn't certain how deep her interest in you goes, I think you need to be careful about scaring her off by being too enthusiastic. No roses, though a tulip or daisy might be good. No movie dates: they are rather cliché," Kiba supplied before wincing. "You, ahem, you might want to also try to distance yourself from any areas of the city you frequented with your former friends."

"And for goodness sake, don't stare at her chest," Harry finished dryly.

Issei nodded, not looking up from where he had written down all their suggestions. "Meh, no worries there. She's nice and all, but she doesn't actually have very big oppai, more's the pity."

"And never say that aloud, anywhere! Let alone where she might be able to overhear it!" Kiba growled.

Loup grunted once more then pushed Issei under the water. The other two looked at him, and he shrugged. "I'm trying to wash out the oppai obsession."

"Worth a try, I suppose," Harry said judiciously, his lips twitching. The next second Issei thrust Loup's lazy hand off his head and came barreling out of the water into Loup, pushing him back into Kiba. Harry watched all this and laughed quietly before turning and pulling himself out of the small pool of flowing water, lying out on the bank, and watching the fun.

Kiba eventually joined him, laying out next to the older man silently for a second before coughing uncomfortably. "Um, while I do not need as much help in this area as Issei, I um, I was wondering if you could, that is, are there any signs that girls give when they are ready for more? I, I think Tsubaki is, but I don't know for certain."

"Heh, no, there isn't any one signal they all give. You just have to play it by ear and use your knowledge of the woman in question. Sorry," Harry said with a chuckle. He'd not actually dated all that much in his life, but he supposed having been married did give him a lot of experience in comparison to these three.

"Then, um, what about signaling that **you** want to push forward a bit? How do you do that without coming off as demanding and pushy."

"Talk about it. That's about the only way to handle that idea. You can be subtle about it—invite her to your apartment, say, or to the bedroom if that's what you want. When you're kissing, try to bring her hands where you want them, but very slowly, so that she can stop you anytime," Harry advised.

Issei and Loup rejoined the discussion at that point, and the first thing out of Issei's mouth was, "So, still on the topic of dating, what's it like having two women at once, you, you happy harem bastard!? Seriously, tell me how they feel. What's Rias-sempai like in bed?"

Scowling, Harry was about to tell him to go soak himself once more, but then he smiled. _If Rias and the girls could have their little information session, I can get away with a bit of bragging._ "Hmm… Well, I won't go into details, but let's just say that Rias is very adventurous in bed, both in word and deed."

When Issei's face started to go red as he imagined what those words might mean, Harry realized there was a downside to discussions like this: you had to be all right with the idea of other people fantasizing about the partner you were discussing and what the two of you did together. And, looking at Issei, Harry realized he really wasn't. "And I think you need to dunk your head some more." With that Harry sent a low-level Stupefy at Issei, the magic attack hurling him back into the river with a splash.

 **OOOOOOO**

Elsewhere in Kyoto, Rias had taken Akeno, Koneko, Kunou, Lily, Asia, and Yubelluna out on the town. At first Yubelluna was somewhat stiff, but as the day wound on the stiffness faded, leaving a far more formal and much less in-your-face woman behind than most would have assumed if they had met Yubelluna while she was Riser's Queen. Gone was her normal haughty, aloof air coupled with clothing that put her assets on display to everyone around her. That image had been replaced by someone who, while no wallflower, seemed to radiate calm and a certain refinement.

The clothing she chose as they shopped reflected that: long skirts, flowing dresses, loose jeans, and older, traditional Japanese kimonos, which covered everything yet showed off her body to a certain extent, hinting at what was below without putting any of it on display but her face. At present she wore a tight blouse and jeans. This she highlighted with purple lipstick, somewhat clashing with the rest of her style, but little else. Her purple hair was let loose down her back, and a warm smile from those purple lips finished the look.

Kunou got along with her famously from the get go, having much the same taste in clothing when she wasn't running around with Lily or the others. She also enjoyed talking about gardening with her. Lily too enjoyed talking about gardening, even though she could tell that Yubelluna would be another person trying to make her act more like a lady when the occasion called for it. That thought won many a scowl as the shopping continued, but she didn't complain overmuch given the source of unexpected entertainment their newest friend provided.

This entertainment showed itself first when they walked by a florist's shop. She paused, looked into the building, and then entered before any of the others could ask what she was doing. The rest of the girls then watched as she seemed to browbeat a young woman on duty to move plants around in the window so two were given more shade and a third was placed in direct sunlight. Four more, hanging vine types, were shifted around and placed outside on small stands. "Honestly, can't you hear the little things? They need sunlight and wind; they can't be kept on that back shelf like that. Why, I bet they only get a few hours a day of sunlight, none of it direct, and don't get me started on your haphazard watering schedule."

"Um, hear, ma'am?" the harried young woman asked in reply.

Yubelluna stumbled for a moment before swiftly continuing. "Just a figure of speech. Now, for these plants with the red leaves, they don't need so much sun, but they do need some extra nutrients…"

It took Rias and the others a few minutes to get her away from the store and the poor worker, who was looking like she had been run ragged by the time they left. "So, was that your past as a gardener calling out, or your new bandrui instincts or powers influencing you?"

"I, um, I don't know?" Yubelluna said hesitantly. "I mean, I did sort of hear the plants calling out, so I would assume it is my bandrui powers, but only those few plants in trouble really grabbed my attention. So maybe it will be controllable once I get used to it."

If that was the case, her getting used to it would no doubt take a long time, because about ten minutes later, Lily watched with a grin on her face as Yubelluna stopped halfway down the block, staring up a plant set on a windowsill high above them. It looked a little brownish around the edges, and its leaves were obviously drooping, though Lily didn't know enough about plants to say what type it was.

But the reason she was grinning was that Yubelluna—calm, ladylike Yubelluna—had started to cuss a blue streak the instant she saw the plant. And now, as Lily watched, she leaped up into the air, floating in the air somehow even without wings to fly up to the windowsill.

There Yubelluna glared inside, seeing a young man there sitting in front of a computer screen with the kind of tan that only the finest NEET could ever manage. Her appearance seemed to pull his attention away from the game he was playing, some kind of visual novel if the picture was anything to go by.

He gaped at her, and she quickly hit him with a memory charm. "I am taking this plant. You will remember that a cat knocked it off your windowsill." She paused, then smirked. "You will further be very sorry for it, even if you did a horrible job taking care of the plant someone must have bought you, and take this as a sign to get out and get some sun yourself. You look like you need it."

With that she flew back down to join the others, several of whom had quickly gotten busy erasing the memories of passersby. They all looked at her, and Yubelluna shrugged. "I, um, I couldn't stop myself?" she said sheepishly to many a chuckle.

Eventually they rejoined Harry and the boys, and, after bidding Yasaka good-day they all headed back to Kuoh. There Kala and Tonks quickly left to grab Mittelt and then shop for ingredients for dinner. At the same time Harry and the newcomer were ushered through the house by Kunou and Lily, as Rias and Kiba covered their eyes. "So, the big secret you've been working on is in the backyard, is it?"

"You might be saying that, yes." Rias said with a laugh as she held her hands over Yubelluna's eyes and Kiba did the same to Harry. They walked Yubelluna and Harry into what had been the far side of the backyard facing the fence that was set between his property and the next door neighbors, then Rias pulled her hands away. "You can open your eyes now."

Harry did so and gaped in surprise at what was in front of him. Because where there should have been a white picket fence was, in fact, the back of the Gremory house here in Kuoh. Harry recognized it from having put his motorcycle there several times after coming by to pick up Rias or Akeno for dates. Turning to the side, he was going to ask Rias how she had managed this and gaped again as, to the left of the backyard, the fence on that side was also gone. It was replaced by what looked like a townhouse of some kind: it had a single story and had just as wide a garage as the rest of the house.

"What, what is this?" he asked, stepping forward. Yubelluna was staring first at the lawns and then down to where her feet brushed the grass underneath her thoughtfully.

Harry felt it as he stepped forward, a pulse of magic, and then he was there, facing the Gremory house from the edge of its backyard rather than staring at it from the edge of his own. He looked around for a few seconds and then stepped back the way he had come.

Rias was beaming at him and took his arm, pulling him along eagerly. "The townhouse is Loup and Kiba's place. Loup had been saving up for after college, and Kiba had actually been saving up his money too. Anyway, they decided Kiba's apartment was too small, and that plus Loup wanting to get a motorcycle of his own decided them on this townhouse. It has a small room for Teddy and another guest room plus the two rooms Loup and Kiba took after we renovated the interior."

"Ara, that was rather fun. An excellent way to practice spells of all sorts, and it was interesting too," Akeno said, leading the way inside.

A few steps later Harry stopped and grinned at the huge plasma TV on one wall accompanied by a DVD player and a pool table to one side. He even saw one of the magical chess sets which had been a present to him and Lily from Ron. Ron had given them two sets of brand new soldiers, one set a year for two years, and had even taught Lily how to play. There were a few other board games of the college set variety too. "A man cave, awesome," he said, exchanging a fist bump with Loup and Kiba.

"Hmmf! If you think we'll let you monopolize that big screen, you've got another think coming, Daddy!" Lily said with a huff.

"We've got our own TV in the main house, Lily," Asia admonished gently.

"Mmm, let the boys have their space," Koneko said.

"Besides, the TV in the girls' house is even bigger," Akeno added with a little giggle. "So let the boys keep playing with their…little…toys on their own."

"Ouch," Kiba mimed, holding a hand over his heart as Loup grunted.

"Girls' house?" Harry asked.

"Indeed. Since we've gotten to know them, we decided that Mittelt and Kalawarner having their own place was no longer necessary. We sold their apartment and had them move into the Gremory House. That way, between them, myself, and Tonks, that house is now nearly full again," Akeno supplied.

"Essentially, we enlarged the idea of thinking outside the house that Loup had. On the one hand, we sort of embrace that fact that we have groups which will spend a lot of time in their own houses, but essentially what we needed was not a larger house, but a compound. So that's what we created," Rias said with a smile. "What I made was a sort of stretched out teleportation ring, a permanent gateway. I had to ask my Nii-sama to help with some of it, but I think that it's worked very well. Although, as you can see, Yubelluna, the various lawns need a lot of work to really merge together."

With that Rias showed Harry were there was a thick two foot line of Ankhsera script on the ground and up to the enlarged corner pillars of the original fence. "Essentially the gateway will remain there as a permanent, always open connection between the three properties."

Yubelluna slowly nodded. She had seen works like this in the Underworld, and it was always expensive to get done, but it could be very effective in linking small properties together which were widely dispersed. "And I presume you have some defenses on those wooden pillars? They are the anchor points, correct?"

"Exactly, yes. I infused them with magic, and we asked Master Husukai to help us. Between him and our own use of your Norse runes, Harry, we were able to create a decent defensive array, though obviously, if you think you can add to it, please feel free."

Harry looked, but offhand it didn't look like he would be able to add much to their work. Rias and Akeno had both learned a lot about European style runes, and they had worked them into one array while Husukai had added the local touch.

Yubelluna moved around the place, smiling as she thought about what she could do with this combined space. Almost absentmindedly she reached out to touch a small tree at the edge of the Gremory house's backyard, but then gasped as sensations she had no word for flooded into her.

She could feel the roots of the tree, the feeling of sunlight on leaves, and something like energy, which she felt spreading throughout 'her' body or, rather, the body of the tree. It was what the tree was feeling that Yubelluna was now somehow getting sent via her hand on the bark. It was odd, bizarre, and utterly alien, but she fought through it, trying to push the information to one side so she could pull away. It was an almost overwhelming experience in comparison to the whispers of the plants she had interacted with while out with the girls.

Unbeknownst to Yubelluna, the tree had responded to her touch almost instantly. It seemed to almost glow with more vitality, its leaves shivering, and then, before the eyes of the onlookers, it began to grow: slowly, to be sure, but far, far faster than a tree would ever normally be able to. And, under her feet, as if her touching the tree like that was a signal, the grass under her shoes started to grow too. Nearby plants, a few bushes set around the lawn's outer edge, bowed towards her as if from the impact of some unseen wind.

The moment was over almost as quickly as it had begun, and Yubelluna stepped back, finding Harry there to hold her arm lightly. Shaking her head, she cocked her head thoughtfully as she looked at the tree, a small, happy, yet bemused smile on her face. "Did I do that?"

"I believe you did. This, like the plants calling out to you, must be a part of your new bandrui heritage. Even untrained or even unaware, a descendant of nymphs would have a special connection to trees," Harry replied.

Nearby, Tonks narrowed her eyes as Harry glanced her way, but, thankfully for the peace of the moment, he made no attempt to make a joke about her hated first name there. Instead Yubelluna murmured, "Hmm, I hadn't realized just yet how deep that change would be. Interesting. This **is** going to take some training, I suppose, both to use and to control my own reactions to it."

After the group had gotten over their surprise at this sudden display of Yubelluna's new status, Koneko linked arms with Harry, tugging him along. "Come on. We made changes to the main house too."

Harry stumbled at that and was ready to glare at Rias for making changes to his house without his consent, but Asia saw his irritation and quickly spoke up. "Ano, don't worry, Tou-san. We didn't make very many changes. We just shifted mine and Koneko-chan's beds into bunk beds and added another sofa to the living room. But we want you to see the changes and the wallpaper Koneko-chan and I chose."

With a wink, Rias indicated she too had seen Harry's moment of anger and understood it, but that nothing had been done to the house that he would object to. This proved to be the case, and the rest of the day passed uneventfully until evening. As they were preparing for bed, Koneko once more cornered Harry as he was heading up to bed with Rias. Rias, with a smile and a kiss to Koneko's head, left them to talk, heading up to the attic with Lily and Kunou.

Koneko explained the discussion she had had with Ddraig about the need to see if they could use Balance Breaker to bring out more of his power. "So, want you to help me train."

"Hmm, all right. Ddraig's never mentioned this idea to me before, though he's more pushed me to try and figure out how to permanently bond with him before this. Still, I have no problem with training you, Koneko-chan. In fact, if we expand the idea of Balance Breaker to cover all Sacred Gears, then perhaps Kiba and even Asia-chan could benefit from being trained to the point where they find their own Balance Breakers." Harry mused. _And doesn't Yubelluna have a Sacred Gear?_ "Give me a few days to think about it, and we'll see what we can do. But does this mean you want to keep using Ddraig in battle?"

"Un. Boosted Gear, it fits my combat style more than anyone else's. Ddraig has said he wants to wait until Lily grows up to bond with someone besides you, and you don't really need it, so I'm the best fit," Koneko said, smiling.

"Well then, let me think about it. Talk to Ddraig, and we'll make this Balance Breaker thing work," Harry said with a smile.

Koneko smiled back, hugging him tightly.

That evening, Harry made good this promise and went inside the Boosted Gear to talk to Ddraig face to snout. _"So, this Balance Breaker thing, do you honestly think that Koneko or I will be able to draw out that power?"_

 **"Perhaps, perhaps not,"** Ddraig rumbled back. **"This is a first for me too you know Potter. And I would still prefer to bond permanently to a single user. Yet I'm also willing to wait until the one I'm most compatible with has grown some more, so I can only hope that one of you can reach that stage."**

 _"Lily, you're talking about my daughter,"_ Harry said, his eyes narrowing.

 **"Her soul sings to me every time she touches my gauntlet Harry,"** Ddraig said, a wistful smile on his face. **"Strong-willed, righteous, intelligent, fun-loving, quick to befriend and quicker to fight for those she cares for, with an urge to defend those weaker than she is. Even if you weren't proud of her for other reasons, you should be proud of her for those qualities. I predict should we bond in the future she could be as strong as my strongest wielder was, perhaps even stronger."**

 _"I am proud of Lily, but I also love her and she is my daughter Ddraig, you'll forgive me if I don't want her to grow up so quickly,"_ Harry replied with a scowl. Then he sighed. _"But if she reaches an age to be able to make an informed, intelligent decision, to act as an adult, I won't stand in her way if she decides to bond permanently to you."_

Ddraig rumbled a happy sounding noise at that and Harry sighed. _"Now, about this training…"_

 **OOOOOOO**

Of course, while Harry might have wanted to start that training the next day, there was something else that took precedence beyond that: meeting with Rias's parents. While the others headed back to Kyoto to spend the day with Yasaka; Rias, Harry, Asia, and Yubelluna headed down to the main Gremory estate in the underworld. Akeno and the rest of Rias's peerage offered to go with them. Indeed, Akeno even tried to insist, but Rias wanted to keep the group as small as possible. They weren't going down to fight but to talk.

The reception they got started off predictably for anyone who knew the individuals in question.

"Rias-tan!" Sirzechs shouted as he grabbed Rias in a hug. "Oh, I am so proud of you! I know I've said it before, but I haven't seen you in two days, and, oh wow, that fight was great, and your alliance with the Youkai Association has already begun to bear fruit for the family, and I've had hundreds of requests for teleportation ring defenses, and…"

"Gah, Onii-sama!" Rias groaned, feeling her ribs starting to creak. "Come on! It's only been a few days and, oh curse it, stop nuzzling me like that!" she growled, her brother's face rubbing against hers like he was a Nekomata.

Despite that, though, after a few seconds Rias still hugged him back, whispering, "Thank you for finding Harry and sending him to Kuoh so he and I could meet and fall in love. It's changed my life sooo much, and all of it for the better. I don't think I could ever thank you enough."

"Heh, well I didn't ever think that by doing that I'd be playing matchmaker, but I suppose, so long as you're happy, that, that's fine," Sirzechs replied, though his eyebrows were twitching as he said it.

"Ahem, Sirzechs, if you could let your sister go, perhaps we could get a word in edgewise to congratulate her ourselves," Zeoticus said dryly.

With a sigh Sirzechs did so, moving over to shake Harry's hand, squeezing it tightly and almost, but not quite, glaring at him before leaning in to whisper, "Harm her in any way, and your atoms will never know what hit them."

Rolling his eyes at that, Harry returned the squeeze but said nothing to the threat. Between the two of them, Harry knew that Sirzechs was the stronger, and honestly he agreed with the sentiment regardless.

"Indeed, Rias-chan, congratulations," Venelana said, moving in to hug Rias before she could get her feet under her from Sirzechs's earlier exuberance. "In more ways than one. If we had known…"

"If you had known what!?" Rias growled, pushing away from her mother, her face clouding over, anger replacing her earlier embarrassed but grateful feelings. She stepped away from her mother, ignoring the hurt, agonized look on the older woman's face and moving back to stand next to Harry, taking his hand in hers. "If you had known? I told you, I showed you the evidence so often, and you just…"

"I think this is a discussion we should be having sitting down," Harry said smoothly, reaching over to squeeze Rias's hand lightly as he interrupted her before she could fully vent her justified anger on her parents. "Could we adjourn to a sitting room, perhaps?"

Zeoticus nodded, gently pulling his wife with him, though he too was looking at his daughter sorrowfully. "Follow me, please. Though, could I ask, why is young Asia here?"

"Ano, I'm here to see if I can help heal the Knight who was injured. Um, Miss Karlamine," Asia said, very unhappy with the undercurrents she was feeling here. She knew why Rias was angry with her parents, but Asia was a firm believer in forgiveness, and the fact it was Rias's parents made Asia believe that Rias should forgive them even more strongly.

"In that case, would you and Yubelluna like to be shown to the library for now?" Venelana asked. "The Phenex clan won't arrive for another two and a half hours, so we can send Karlamine to you there."

Yubelluna spoke up for both of them, bowing from the waist. "That sounds like a good idea, Lady Gremory."

A maid nearby bowed and then led Asia and Yubelluna away down the corridor in one direction as Zeoticus led the rest of the group to a small sitting room in a tense silence. That state continued while Sirzechs prepared some tea and set a cup down in front of each of them in turn.

Before any of the others could speak, Rias did, her voice tense, bitter, and angry. "I, I tried to tell you I hated being, being sold off like that. I told you I researched Riser: what he was like, how he treated the women of his peerage, how he would obviously treat me. And you didn't believe me that I did that or any of what I found out. I felt cheapened. I honestly felt like a whore. You two were selling me off like a pair of pimps and using Grayfia as your bouncer, and for what?!"

She glared at them, her blue eyes starting to shine with unshed tears, but she gritted her teeth and regained control with difficulty. "Yet worse in a way is that every time I talked to you about it, you were convinced I was just lashing out like a child. Even after I started to run my own territory alongside Sona you continued to treat me like a child whose opinion didn't matter. When I showed you the evidence, you didn't believe me. What did you think would happen if I was forced to marry him!?"

She paused and went on softly. "Did you think I was joking when I said he'd marry me over my dead body? Do you have any idea how often I honestly dreamed about that, about how I might have to kill myself to stop him from abusing me?!"

During this tirade Venelana's face became white and drawn as she stared at her daughter. Zeoticus was a little more stoic, though the white-knuckled grip he had on his chair's armrests told the real story.

Yet Rias continued to lash into them before either could speak. "And now you call me down here in a manner suggesting you want to let bygones be bygones? How!? How can I ever forgive you for disregarding my self-worth like that?"

Through the wild drumbeats of his heart, Zeoticus was dimly aware of his hands cracking the wood of the armrests under his hands, but it didn't register. He realized now that, even as he and his wife had written out the formal note to Rias, they had made a mistake: they had still treated her like their daughter, someone who was a child and who should come to them, to meet them on their ground at their convenience. Yet before them was a young woman who had long been denied that sense of worth, but who had found a way to become independent despite that. There was no way Rias was going to willingly be placed back in the mold of a simple daughter, or even heiress, now.

As he was thinking that, Venelana spoke for both of them, her eyes downcast. "I, I am sorry, Rias. That is all we can say. I am sorry we ever made that agreement, and whatever you or others might think, initially the contract between our clans and the Phenex was **not** a political maneuver. It became such, to be sure—it made the Pureblood faction very happy—but it wasn't built on that."

She scoffed, one arm waving as if to swat a fly. "Nor was it, as some people—stupid, idiotic people—think, to create some 'super Devil!'" Venelana even held up quote marks around those last two words, adding an eye roll for good measure. "Devil genetics being what they are, that would be impossible to predict.

"It was instead built on our friendships with Sarah and Philip, Lady and Lord Phenex. We had been friends with them for so long, had been at one another's weddings, the birth of each of their children and vice versa. We, we always thought that a marriage between you and Riser would simply be a way to affirm our friendship, taking it to the next level in your generation." Venelana sighed.

"And because of that, all four of us were blind. We were blind to your real, true reasons to be leery of Riser. We were blind to the fact that Riser wasn't his parents, wasn't someone they could be proud of outside his power and his ability with the Phenex flames and regeneration, someone who had risen above our Devil instincts to become someone more than a creature of Sin," Zeoticus said with a sigh. "Philip and I, you see, had much the same rumors following us around when we were young, and since they were groundless in our case, we assumed it was the same with him, and simply… The humans have a saying, 'None so blind, as those who refuse to see.' That is us in a nutshell.

"And, because of that, we have missed so much of your life. We have missed you change from a young girl to that of a strong, confident young woman. I, that horrifies me as a mother," Venelana said, smiling sadly. "We love you, Rias. We have always loved you, and our decisions up to this point were simply because, like you said we, we thought we knew best, and we did not. Now that our eyes have been opened, all we can do is bow our heads and, and beg you to forgive us, Rias."

With that she bowed forward at the waist so far she nearly hit her head on the table between them. Next to her, Zeoticus did the same.

Her face twisted into a grimace of indecision, anger, grief, and hope, Rias looked at Harry for his opinion. Harry simply looked at her reassuringly, as if saying it was entirely her decision, and he would back whatever she chose to do.

After an interminable moment, to Zeoticus and Venelana, Rias finally spoke. "Raise your heads, both of you. I, I cannot say I can forgive you right away. I believe that you thought you were doing what was best for the family, but it was never about what was doing best for me. And regardless of whether I forgive you eventually or not, I will never forget."

"That is the best we can expect, and we will be happy for it," Venelana sighed.

Rias's eyes narrowed. "And don't think I'll let you make choices for me again going forward. I am the heir of the clan, and I will be treated like it going forward. That means you respect my decisions, both on the business side of things and the personal side of things. So there will be no attempts to convince me to break up with Harry or to come back to the underworld or anything of that nature. If you make decisions for me without my consent again, not only will I not agree to whatever it is, but we will be **done** , are we clear?"

"Hmmf, a little too late to make that demand, aren't you, Rias?" Zeoticus said with a grunting sort of chuckle. "After all, we can't demand you return from Kuoh thanks to your agreement with Yasaka and the Youkai Association. And your relationship with this one," he flicked a finger towards Harry, "is already beyond the point where anyone could get between you."

"Huh?" Rias blinked, her face losing all hints of seriousness as she looked at her father in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"You honestly didn't know?" Zeoticus asked, staring at the two of them before laughing as Venelana broke into giggles. "I, ha-ha, I am torn between irritation at that and what it means and simply finding it funny." When Rias growled at him, and Harry quirked an inquiring eyebrow, he went on. "Ah, well, you see, when I went to look at the actual wording of the contract between the Phenex Clan and ourselves, I found instead a pile of ash. The contract had been destroyed, dissolved in no uncertain terms."

Rias blushed, realizing that probably meant her parents knew she and Harry had been intimate with one another. But she straightened her shoulders and was about to shoot back with a, 'so what,' when Zeoticus went on. "But while the agreement would have been weakened by, oh, the daughter promised in the agreement no longer being 'untainted by the touch of a man', that wouldn't have been enough to destroy the contract scroll like that. Certainly not in such a manner."

That sent Rias into an even deeper blush, and Harry took it upon himself to ask the obvious question. "If not that, then what would have been enough to destroy the contract so completely?"

"Why, it would have been destroyed so utterly only if Rias had given her body and soul in totality to a man, even exchanging vows to that effect with him," Venelana said, smiling at her daughter's look of confusion and embarrassment. For the first time in this discussion she saw some of the girl Rias had been and was grateful for the glimpse.

Rias blinked in surprise and turned to Harry. "Our hand-fasting, that had to be it!"

Harry nodded, his mind awhirl and his face going nearly slack as he thought about the implications of that. Rias too was astonished and rather worried. After all, while they had both meant the words, they hadn't really intended to make them into magical vows.

"So, so does that mean, magically speaking, we're married?" Harry asked, looking a little freaked.

"Um, I suppose so," Rias replied, taking his hand in hers and bringing it up to her face to kiss the knuckles. "Is that so bad?"

"No… no it isn't. It's just a shock to the system is all," Harry said with a quiet laugh, pulling Rias's own hand up to his face in turn, kissing her palm. "But don't think this changes anything, love. I'm still going to propose to you as romantically as I can at some point, already married or no."

"Do I take it aright that you two made vows like that in some haphazard manner?" Zeoticus asked with a chuckle, while his wife was sighing happily at the romance in front of her. Sirzechs, on the other hand, was pouting, his fingers twitching on his upper arms.

"Somewhat, yes. I, obviously I didn't jump into Harry's bed right away," Rias huffed. "I had long thought about using that method to get out of the agreement, admittedly, but I'd learned and grown so much in the past few months that the need to go that far was no longer necessary." Her smile turned tender as she felt Harry taking her hand and pulling it up to kiss the back of it. "But we decided to exchange vows in the hand-fasting tradition after our first night together.

"And it was most definitely not haphazard!" She nearly glared at her father again before looking back at Harry. "I meant it, every word. I might still be young, but I know exactly what I want out of life."

"As do I, Rias," Harry said, once more kissing the back of her hand and then around her wrist and to her palm. "Never doubt it." _So magic itself has stated we're married so what? I can live with that, I can certainly live with that._ _We might not have made any vows of exclusivity, but that does not mean our love or our vows are any less real, any less binding._

"Hmmf. And if this relationship causes the Gremory clan to lose our Pillar status?" Zeoticus asked, though there was no censure in his tone, only curiosity. "If the Lords' Assembly demands that we search elsewhere among our extended clan to find another heir?"

Devil clans were based on familial relationships, of course, but Noble clans were based on the power inherent in their blood. A Pillar clan, on top of that, had to have pure Devil blood in its main line, or its ruling line, at any rate. A normal Devil clan of middling rank or below could get away with its heir marrying a turned devil or someone of another race, but a Pillar clan would lose that status and a large portion of its political clout with it.

"Then I will challenge them to either a duel or a Rating Game, beat them, and take back my position as heir," Rias said, her eyes flashing. "I still have my dream to become clan head, after all. Besides," she said with a sly little smile as she looked back at Harry. "I should think that the idea of adding the powers inherent in Harry's genes would convince anyone it was a good idea to bring him into the family."

"True enough," Sirzechs said, speaking up at last. He'd been there to play mediator, but really he had just wanted to keep things from getting too combative, knowing that Rias had to get everything off her chest to make their parents understand how badly they had screwed up. "I might not have seen this particular outcome coming, but, like the Phenex, Harry too has his regeneration skills, which apparently breed true. And, if his magical abilities also carry over, that will be a major boon to any children you two have in the future."

"Enough of that," Venelana interjected as she leaned forward eagerly, her eyes gleaming as she hoped to capitalize on the glimpse of her daughter's less serious side she had seen a moment before. "Can I ask how you two became involved, Harry? I understand Sirzechs here hired you, but isn't it unusual among humans that a teacher becomes involved with a student? And I also understand many humans have an issue with your age gap, though I've never understood the point of that myself."

"Ah, heh," Harry chuckled, while Rias giggled, leaning into his shoulder, more of her tenseness evaporating at that question. "Hmm, well, I think we can elaborate a bit on that. As for how we got together, I suppose you could say we both found a mystery in one another that attracted our attention. Everything else flowed from that…"

From there Rias and Harry described how they had moved from teacher and student to, first acquaintances, then friends, and finally lovers. Venelana asked numerous questions, mostly about the romantic side of things and where Lily and the other children came into the equation. As she had deduced from her understanding of her daughter, Lily and Harry's way with her was actually a draw to her rather than a detriment, though Rias's willingness to share Harry with Yasaka, herself a single mother, was more surprising.

She also asked questions about Harry's past, not having any real knowledge of the wizarding sect, which was Zeoticus's main line of interest. From this, they got a more detailed view of the man their daughter had fallen in love with, not just how that had occurred.

They also realized that they still would have an uphill battle to become involved once more their daughter's life, since every time they mentioned the possibility in any form, both Rias and Harry clammed up. It was evident that while they had been accidentally pushing Rias away, she had created her own family and support structure which was only vaguely connected to the rest of the clan. That hurt, yet also filled both parents with pride at the woman she had become and how she had grown.

Eventually, a maid came in to inform them that the Phenex clan had arrived for their meeting. Zeoticus sent her away with orders to lead Asia and Yubelluna to the dining room, while he led Harry and Rias there along with his wife. They arrived a moment before the butler led in Lord and Lady Phenex, Ravel, and Ruval. The inclusion of Ravel was surprising but not enough to make anyone comment.

What was a surprise came in a moment later. Karlamine, Riser's former Knight who had been so badly scarred in his temper tantrum, followed Asia and Yubelluna in. The sight of her perfectly healed and whole face caused everyone there to gasp, even Venelana and Zeoticus, who hadn't really believed that Asia would have been able to heal the damage done to her, even with a Sacred Gear.

The fact was, Karlamine's injuries had been caused by her King, the transfer of her and the other members of Riser's peerage to the Gremory House having only been recognized at that point rather than finalized. This was more a point magically speaking than socially or lawfully, but, because of that, the wounds caused by her master had been backed by the magic of the peerage piece within her, the thing which had reincarnated her into a devil. It had thus fought the efforts of the Phenex Tears that had been used after the aura of Twilight Healing had kept her alive while Asia had been concentrating on healing Yubelluna. But once Asia was able to concentrate on Karlamine, and since only a few days had passed, healing her actually hadn't been all that difficult once Asia was able to analyze Karlamine's body and figure out what she had looked like before the attack.

Harry smiled and, ignoring all the others around him, moved to wrap his arms around Asia, pulling her into a hug for a second. "I see you were able to heal her. Well done, Asia."

Practically glowing at Harry's praise, Asia hugged her father back and then moved to join Yubelluna as Karlamine bowed deeply to the lords and ladies present. "Lady Gremory, Lord Gremory, Lady Rias. Words cannot express how grateful I am for this double boon you have given me. Not only did you free me from my former dishonorable lord, but you healed the wounds he caused with his final act of perfidy upon my person! I cannot thank you enough!"

Karlamine hesitated before going on. "But… I must tell you that I have no desire to serve any new King at this time, even from among the Gremory Clan. I realize this might sound churlish, so if thou, Lady Rias, or thou, Lady Asia, have need of my blade for a specific battle, you will find me more than willing. But, until then, I wish to hone my craft and seek solace in solitude."

 _In other words, she wants to try to put her years of serving Riser behind her but do so in her own way. The girl might have a very odd way of speaking, but her meaning comes through anyway. And the way she's staying well away from me and the other men is also telling,_ Harry mused.

Rias answered that she was fine with Karlamine remaining independent right now. Rias had no need or desire to add any further pieces from Riser's peerage to her own since she only had one Rook piece and five Pawn pieces left (Mittelt having taken up two to convert) and was secretly holding out hope that Loup and Kala would bite the proverbial bullet. Yubelluna wasn't part of her peerage. Rather, she had suddenly become part of Harry's household.

Her parents, though, had a caveat, which Venelana gave voice to. "We are fine with that, but we will request that you remain within the environs of our estate here. Further, we wish that you continue to train your sword to defend not just yourself, but the young Pawns from your former peerage that we have taken in. They have been harmed sorely by men. It makes sense that their defender both be a woman and one who suffered alongside them."

Harry smiled, realizing that this would also help abate any guilt Karlamine felt about not being able to shield them from Riser's abuses in the first place, and from the wink Sirzechs sent him, he knew it too. Despite the way they had acted towards Rias and this whole marriage thing, Harry had to admit he saw quite a bit to like in the Gremorys.

"My lady, it will be both an honor and an honorable duty to so!" Karlamine replied, thumping her armored chest with a mailed gauntlet. With that Karlamine turned to Lord and Lady Phenex and bowed her head, far less so than she had to Lord and Lady Gremory or Rias. "Lady Phenex, Lord Phenex, I do not harbor ill-feeling towards you, but nor do I have any positive feelings. You should probably take that as a given for the majority of us who served under your son and found it to be sorely different from our hopes."

"We understand, but I just have a question for you and for Yubelluna," Lady Phenex said with a sigh. "Was there any point, any point at all, where you enjoyed serving Riser?"

Yubelluna and Karlamine exchanged a glance, and Yubelluna sighed. "There was indeed a point where being with Riser was something enjoyable, something we could respect ourselves for. When Riser was romantic at times, when he treated us with care and concern, when he saw us as people rather than objects. But that time didn't last, and, for my part, I have to wonder whether or not that time was simply an extension of the mask he used to entice me to become part of his peerage in the first place. I'm sorry, Lady Phenex. I know that's not what you want to hear, but it is the truth.

"By the time he had met me, the mask was very thin indeed. After I agreed to become a devil under his command, it didn't take Riser very long to show his true colors at all. Barely three days, if that. And I am **not** sorry to say it," Karlamine said with a snarl, glaring at the Phenex clan heads before controlling herself, shaking her head, and turning to bow towards Lord and Lady Gremory again. "With your leave, then, I will go to start my duties protecting the other members of my former peerage."

Lord Gremory nodded at her, and they waited while she left the room before he motioned everyone towards the table. "If we could all sit down?"

Since she had no role to play in these negotiations, Harry sent Asia off once more. Rias asked if she could go and play with Millicas for a time, and Sirzechs agreed with a smile, telling her where to find his son. That didn't stop Harry from whispering in Asia's ear about watching out for any odd offers, but Asia simply smiled at that, kissed him on the cheek, and walked out of the room.

Lord Sirzechs took a seat at one end of the rectangular table, while Harry, Rias, and the Lord and Lady of the house sat on one side across from Lord and Lady Phenex and their two children. This left Yubelluna standing behind Rias and Harry, her head bowed demurely as if she was a servant. But that was the way she had wanted to act during this conversation anyway.

As they sat, Ruval smiled at Harry, eager to get past the awkwardness Karlamine's blunt attitude had caused. "That was quite an interesting display you put on, both the blessing to bring Yubelluna back to life and the battle against my little brother," he said, his smile turning thin at the last words. "I hope that you don't think that those tricks of yours would work on someone a little more experienced, do you?"

Harry barked a laugh as he stared back at the other man, openly challenging. "Please, I didn't even show a third or even a fifth of what I can do out there. There are **so** many ways to skin a turkey, after all," he replied, using the taunt Rias had used on occasion.

"Ouch." Ruval's smile flickered at that, his eyes narrowing.

"Boys," Sirzechs said mildly, a tiny flicker of his aura causing Ruval to blanch and Harry to twitch. "If there's any showing off to be done here, I'll be the one doing it, understand?"

"Men," Rias, her mother, and Lady Phenex said with a sigh before looking at one another and sharing a quiet chuckle.

"Actually, I've been wondering about that match," Ravel said, speaking up and looking at the Potters, her head cocked to one side. "Your own regeneration was phenomenal, far beyond what I've read werewolves should be able to do. And I heard that irritating little… That is, I heard your daughter say something about you being a Phoenix Werewolf while we were watching the match between you and Riser-nii-sama?"

Harry smirked, hearing more than a bit of irritation towards his daughter in Ravel's voice while also wondering why some devils had seemingly embraced Japanese modes of address and others hadn't. _Then again, I suppose their entire society is a polyglot of various human societies, old and new. Still, it looks as if Ravel and Lily continued to rub one another wrong after I left the scene, which is something I should have anticipated._ Ravel seemed a very proper, almost uptight young lady, part of what Yubelluna had called her tsundere personality, and that would grate on Lily.

"It's no real secret, I suppose," Harry said pulling out a chair for Rias as he sat down. "When I was younger I happened to be poisoned by a very deadly animal, a basilisk, in fact." There were several gasps from everyone who had not heard the story before, but Harry went on. "To save me, a phoenix, a real one, not one of your clan's members," he said with another smile, "had to give me some of its tears. I drank one tear, and another tear was dripped onto the actual wound the basilisk's tooth had made in my arm.

"Because of that and the interaction between the very odd concoction that became my blood at that point and the werewolf curse, my regeneration is utterly phenomenal, possibly as good as your own clan's." _Or a little better, h_ e added silently.

Harry knew, for example, that he could survive having his heart blown apart. That had happened during the war with Riddle's forces. But because his teammates, Ron and Tonks at the time, had protected him long enough from their enemies' attempts to stab Harry's comatose body with silver, he had regenerated despite the curse used to wound him in the first place, an exploding entrails curse.

"That's amazing!" Ravel gushed, staring at Harry intently. But her awe wasn't because of the regeneration aspect that so interested the rest of her family who were all looking at Harry speculatively. "I know they are Light-based creatures, and, as such they would never have anything to do with Devils, but are phoenixes as beautiful as they say?"

"Yes!" Rias and Harry answered as one, causing the others to look at Rias in surprise. But Harry was the one who went on, squeezing Rias's hand under the table as he chuckled quietly. "Over the years I've seen this particular phoenix throughout its life cycle, and I have to say that, yes, they are beautiful creatures except for right before and after burning days."

Looking at the longing expression on Ravel's face for a moment, Harry was about to offer to use his pensieve to show a memory of Fawkes, when it suddenly became a moot point. There was a sudden blaring all around them as alarms went off, and suddenly, before even Sirzechs could do more than jerk upright in his chair and stare around, there, hovering above Harry, was Fawkes.

Harry gaped at it as did at all of the devils, most of whom pushed quickly away from the table, their hands up in front of their eyes as their bodies thrummed with sudden pain. The Light-aligned creature's presence froze them in place, all save Sirzechs who raised a hand defensively but paused as the creature made no move to attack any of them, alighting on Harry's shoulder.

"Fawkes," Harry said mildly, staring at the creature. "Is there any reason why you seem to like bursting in like that?"

Fawkes whistled jubilantly, ruffling his hair affectionately with its beak. Its song, for some reason, was able to carry meaning across easily to Harry just then, giving him two, very odd impressions. The first was the sense of someone watching their favorite show or something like that, the mildly happy sense you got while watching a favorite sitcom, perhaps. The other, the other was deeper, an almost burning eagerness tied into something, some feeling Harry could not fully discern.

Before he could question that impression, Fawkes looked down at Rias. As it had been when Fawkes had interrupted the blood adoption ritual, the phoenix's song turned ribald once more, causing Rias to blush a bright red again. Yet , even so, she leaned against Harry, staring up at Fawkes almost challengingly, to which its song twisted it to an even more ribald tune, adding a tone of jubilation and amusement.

Then it hopped off of Harry's shoulder and into the air where it flew around the room. "What is that bird doing?" Sirzechs asked, his eyes slowly narrowing as his magical senses, honed over centuries and empowered by his brute magical energy, began to tell him things about this phoenix that he rather doubted the others could discern. _How interesting...and amusing, can't forget that. This phoenix is most decidedly not a normal one…_

"I honestly have no idea," Harry said with a sigh. "I don't even know how Fawkes was able to get here at all! Oh, I'm not in surprised that Fawkes was able to get through a dimensional gap, but I assume that you had anti-teleportation defenses up?"

"Of course, though, like most such, we can only stop teleportation methods whose type we know of," Sirzechs answered, his lips twitching as he tried to contain his growing amusement. He waved off the maids and servants who had rushed into the room, led by Grayfia, pointing them out the door in no uncertain terms. Whatever was going on here, it wasn't a threat. "A phoenix, though, one willingly coming down into the Underworld, that's a new one to me."

As they were speaking, the phoenix had flown around the room and stared at each individual in turn, its music becoming low and menacing to most of the devils there. This hastened the servants' retreat out the door, the Light magic of the bird's aura causing most of them various levels of pain. The exception was Grayfia, whose power was such that she could ignore such a low-level attack with ease. But she reluctantly left too at her husband/King's peremptory gesture.

The Phenex clan members had frozen to an individual in their chairs at Fawkes's initial arrival and now shivered a little at the impact of the sound. The song of a phoenix was a Light-based spell, after all. A low key one, but nonetheless as based on Light magic as an Angel's spear. This was the kind of thing that no one could train themselves for, a natural weakness that only pure magical strength could overcome.

But when Fawkes looked at Ravel, the phoenix's song changed. For her the song seemed to soften, becoming almost soothing and hopeful. Ravel gasped, staring back in awe and delight while the rest of her clan continued to flinch away.

 _Ah, so it can choose what impact its song can have. Fascinating,_ Sirzechs mused. He himself felt no impact from its song and, indeed, could tell that Fawkes was no threat to him at all. But the songs seemed to discern the Sin of the devils in the room. Rias had little Sin in her, most of it offset by the love she felt for Harry, who had a distinct connection to this particular phoenix. Ravel, being young, had no Sins to speak of despite being a pureblood devil.

A second later Fawkes was hovering in front of Yubelluna, examining her far more closely than it had the rest of the people in the room. Yubelluna and Fawkes stared at one another. Then Fawkes once more sang a song, a song of renewal, of spring and growing things, the meaning coming so clearly, even with no words, that anyone there could hear and understand. Then it seemed to shift, becoming a song of farewell, although Harry could almost hear the words for 'for now' somewhere in the air before it disappeared again, heading, somehow Harry knew, to find Asia for a bit.

For a moment the room fell silent, then, while the others were still recovering from the sudden and unexpected arrival and disappearance, Rias muttered, "Well, that was interesting. She certainly is as mysterious as a woman could be, isn't she?"

"Wait, what?" Harry asked, looking at her in shock.

"Oh, right, forgot about that. I'll, um, I'll tell you later. It's something Tiamat said. She also said it wasn't her story to tell, which kind of irritates me, but we aren't here for that," Rias said, trying to move past the abrupt arrival and departure of the odd Light-sided creature

"Indeed, indeed not," Ruval said, coughing lightly and wincing, but the migraine Fawkes's presence and songs had caused him was already beginning to fade for him, as it was for the rest of the devils in the room bar Ravel and Sirzechs. "While that was amazing, perhaps we should get down to business?"

The others all nodded save Ravel, who was still staring at where Fawkes had disappeared, her eyes wide and unseeing. That had not been anything like she had thought it would be, either in what Riser had called 'her sparkly girly' dreams or her most boneheaded, iron headed, realistic idea.

"Indeed!" Lord Phenex spoke up after his son. "We are here to discuss the punishment of Riser and finalize handing over his peerage to you. But on that score can we ask if Burent and Marion can be returned to our clan? They were family maids before we allowed Riser to take them as his first pieces, after all."

"Isn't there something you should be showing us first?" Rias asked before her parents could speak up, able to shake off the effect of Fawkes's sudden arrival better than the rest were.

Lady Phenex sighed but nodded. "We have already removed the King piece from within our son," she said bluntly. "He no longer has any connection to the rest of his peerage." With that she pulled out a small King piece and set it down in front of Lord Sirzechs. "That is our proof if more had to be added to the word of Maou Beelzebub, who has no doubt been in contact with you, Maou Lucifer."

The King piece in question looked to be made of marble, like most. It was black in color with a crown that looked like flames, an affectation added for those Peerage Sets given to the Phenex clan, much like the red cloak added to the King piece Rias had shown Harry at one point.

But this one looked broken. Indeed, there was a large gash running up one side of the piece, red and pulsating with magic, almost like puss from a mortal wound. The crown too was shattered around the edges, pieces of it missing.

With every peerage set, there obviously came a King piece. The King piece was normally infused into the King of the peerage when he or she received the peerage set from Lord Beelzebub, the Maou who had come up with the Peerage System in the first place to let Devils rebuild their numbers. For Pillar clans this was normally done in a very private ceremony, unique for each family. And, like other pieces in the set, the King piece could be removed permanently. Most of the time when you removed a piece from a devil, it was because that devil had risen in rank, becoming a High-Class devil and thus able to earn his own set. It was a permanent event, forever severing the original connection between King and vassal.

Removing the King piece was something that had **very** rarely been done since the inception of the Peerage System and had been done only because of an individual breaking the laws of his clan, or acting out in public in such a way that Devil society as a whole had to punish them most severely, which was very rare indeed. In this case it was both of those, but that didn't make it any less a serious step. And, of course, for the individual in question, the process was incredibly painful, almost the Devil equivalent of being under the Crucio to the point you went insane from the pain.

Picking up the piece, Sirzechs could feel the magical essence of Riser in the piece, shattered and broken as the piece had been removed from him. He also felt that the connection through it to the remaining pieces had also been broken, a side effect of the removal process of the King piece. He held it for a few seconds, turning it this way and that as he analyzed it before setting it down with a distinctly heavy sounding thud, as if the piece was far heavier than anything it's size should be.

"I acknowledge and accept that this was Riser's King piece, although I would have preferred to be present when it was removed by you and Lord Beelzebub. Still, I will, as Maou Lucifer, allow this face-saving gesture from the Phenex clan to stand."

From the look on Rias's face, she would probably not have allowed that to stand, but, as the arbitrator of the law if not neutrality at the moment, Sirzechs's word was final. So Rias simply huffed once and then nodded sharply. "Very well. If Onii-sama says that he will take that as a sign of your willingness to **start** Riser's punishment for what he did and nearly did, I will agree with it.

"However, that is **only** the start of it," Rias went on, leaning forward, propping her elbows on the table, and steepling her fingers. "How are we going to enforce the punishment that Harry made Riser agree to face in lieu of his life? How are you, his family, going to make certain he cannot go back to his old ways?"

"Isn't that enough?" Ravel asked, coming back to the here and now to frown at Rias. "I understand that he promised many things, but surely that was under duress."

"I have lived my life under duress ever since it was decided that I would marry your brother, little girl," Rias growled. "Or are you saying he should not be punished for nearly killing his former peerage? A peerage which, socially and legally if not magically, had already been transferred to my clan?

"There is that, and there is the fact of how he treated them," she went on, glaring at Lord and Lady Phenex now rather than at Ravel. "Would you like Yubelluna to tell all three of you what she has shared with us? She hasn't shared many details, but what little she has is horrifying and completely backs up what I had already learned of your son's ill-doings. Doings which go beyond the pale even for Devils, tales of common cruelty and abhorrent abuse that go well beyond what is allowed even to a High-Class Devil, and even outright illegal doings which paint, not just him, but your whole clan in a dim light."

Yubelluna allowed a small, tight smile to flicker over her face. It was clear to everyone there that she would have no issue whatsoever with sticking the knife in and twisting it a bit if she was allowed to do so.

Despite that, though, Lord and Lady Phenex launched into an argument on what exactly Riser was supposed to be punished further for. After all, to Devil society as a whole, Riser's abuses of his peerage weren't really that big a deal. They were, after all, still devils. Needless cruelty was frowned upon, but there was no law that enforced some general concept of how to treat a peerage. Rias countered by mentioning how such things could be seen, and how Riser had apparently broken the general rule about interfering and even sometimes throwing Rating Games, something that could get the Phenex clan as a whole in hot water. Yubelluna chimed in, explaining that he had used some of his peerage as whores for favors and access to illegal substances. This made the Lord and Lady Phenex dig in their heels, wanting to disbelieve Yubelluna's words as being from a biased source.

"Are we interested in punishment or justice here?" Harry asked softly, arresting everyone's attention. "Nothing we do to Riser now can change the past. Rather, we must force Riser to learn and put him in a position where he cannot harm others ever again as he did his peerage during his time as their King. Or else, somewhere down the line, you all will have to deal with further trouble from that quarter."

With a sigh, Ruval nodded. "Agreed. While we Phenex might not treat our peerages as closely and lovingly as the Gremory do, we do care for our servants. Abusing them, treating them as disposable, is something I cannot condone."

Huffing, Ravel nodded. It was evident that she still had a flickering of hero worship when it came to her brother, although why that was, Harry didn't know. _If anything, she should feel that way towards Ruval. From what I am feeling from him, I'd wager he's at least half again as strong as Riser is._

"I presume a full written and witnessed contract of some kind coupled with a punishment ward placed on Riser to enforce the rules of that contract will do for everyone?" Ruval asked.

"Exactly what I was thinking," Rias said with a nod, smirking internally. Her and Yubelluna's bad cop to Harry's good cop had worked a treat, although Rias was getting the impression that Ruval, at the very least, wasn't against punishing Riser as much as possible. _There has to be some reason why he is taking the speaking position here, but if they think they can get out of an agreement between us because he is the clan heir rather than the clan lord, they have another think coming._

"And I presume," Ruval went on, smiling frostily, "that you have already created an outline?"

"Indeed we have," Rias said, smiling equally coolly as she brought out a document she and Yubelluna had worked on, building on Yubelluna's ideas she had shared during their initial discussion.

It essentially outlined what they expected to occur to Riser. It also outlined what they expected from the clan as a whole to do in reparation. Essentially the clan would pay a set amount of money towards Clan Gremory for the upkeep of Riser's former peerage. that was all Clan Phenex, as a whole would have to do.

Riser was a very, very different story. Riser would be fitted with a magical dampening collar, or rather an arm guard, that would suppress the majority of his magical power. He would be essentially demoted from a High-class devil to a very low-class one. This binding would be witnessed by Karlamine and two of Sirzechs's peerage for the Gremory side of things.

Further, he would be fitted with a sigil that would cause him pain should he Feel arousaltowards any woman in any way for a year for every single abuse he had heaped on the women of his 'harem'. This was a long list of grievances, and the specifics of it caused Lady Phenex to push Ravel away when the girl tried to read it, having no wish to harm Ravel's image of her older brother further.

In return, Yubelluna and the rest of Riser's peerage would keep his secrets and no further damage to the clan's reputation would be done.

Lord and Lady Phenex looked thunderous, but Ruval simply slowly nodded, looking at his parents silently until they looked away. It was evident from that look that there was some kind of power struggle going on between them now, but Rias frankly couldn't bring herself to care. "We agree," Ruval said firmly. "Who will administer the punishment?"

"I believe Maou Beelzebub will agree to perform the enchantments," Sirzechs smirked. "Falbium is being kept hopping these days, much to his dismay, but I can rouse Adjuka from his lair easily enough. For now, shall we finish the formal contract?"

Between them all, the contract was laid out somewhat quickly, only taking two hours of negotiation until every section was correct. As Harry had once laughingly mentioned, devils had created the idea of bureaucracy, and forms and contracts were a staple of Devil life, as was finding loopholes to exploit. Each line had to be correctly annotated and written out in such a manner that Riser could not get around it. But the outline Yubelluna had created served them very well, and it was done in barely a third of the time that most equivalent contracts would've taken, with Lord and Lady Phenex writing their names down along with Ruval's in the position of enforcers, and the rest of them writing their names as witnesses at appropriate sections.

When it became his turn to sign as a witness, Harry looked at Lord and Lady Phenex and then over to where Ravel had moved away, being too young to take part in signing even as a witness, simply standing and waiting silently for the negotiations to finish, a small book open in her lap. When he was certain that Ravel was out of hearing range, he leaned forward slightly and spoke quietly to Ruval and the others. "Understand me, you only get one strike here. While I was not willing to kill Riser in front of you and most particularly Ravel or the other children in such a manner, do not think that was a sign of weakness. If he comes back and threatens me or mine or goes after his former peerage, I will find out, and I will hunt him down and end him. No amount of regeneration will help Riser then. Am I understood?"

Ruval shivered at that and slowly nodded. Normally such a threat would have entirely derailed this discussion, but, once more, power talked for Devils, and the confidence Ruval could hear in Harry's tone made it a simple statement and, as such, had to be taken as a simple warning rather than a threat. "We hear you, Lord Potter."

Nodding once, Harry turned his attention back down to the document between them all. "So long as that is clear. Now, where do I sign again?"

 **OOOOOOO**

It wasn't only in the underworld that news of the Rating Game between Riser and Rias had spread. After all, it had been a very public event, and Sirzechs had been there along with several dozen lords and ladies of various clans and Devil factions. So it was no wonder that the Khaos Brigade heard about what had occurred. Despite knowledge of their activities growing, they still had thousands of devils of all kinds willing to pass on news, to say nothing of the Old Satan Faction they were allied with.

"And they say he basically just wore out Riser, didn't show much of anything flashy, and then ran Riser through with a weapon that the fried turkey's regeneration couldn't stop!" said Kuroka, sister to Koneko and wanted S-class criminal, to Bikou, a Monkey Youkai. "How awesome is that!?"

The Nekoshou criminal was practically panting at the idea of how strong this news meant Harry Potter was, her tails quivering behind her. Kuroka had a dream, which was to have lots and lots of children. It had to be said that this was not because she wanted to be a mother. Rather, Kuroka felt she had to propagate her race in order to rebuild the numbers they had lost in the Nekomata Massacre, which her actions had inadvertently caused.

That meant finding a strong male to mate with, and, after hearing about this match between him and Riser, Harry had shot almost to the top of her list of potential mates. The very top were other humans, Youkai, and Fallen that she had met in the Khaos Brigade. But, for one reason or the other, she had rejected most of them as potential fathers to her future children by this point.

While Bikou was fun in the sack, both of them knew he wasn't the type to settle down with. Plus he had ten other girls scattered around the world that he was screwing whenever he got the chance, following in his great-great-grandfather's footsteps in that area to a T. In contrast, Arthur was a devoted sis-con and was about as emotional towards anything besides his sister, good tea, and combat as his blades, which was also a problem for a few others she could name. Kuroka wouldn't touch Hercules if he was the last man on Earth. His attitude towards women was an immense turn-off, and, frankly, he wasn't as strong as he thought he was, besides his magical durability, that is. Cao-Cao was polite, genteel, and easy on the eyes, but Kuroka could sense his real feelings towards anything and anyone that wasn't human and so knew he wouldn't give her the time of day regardless of anything else.

"A demigod," Ophis stated flatly. Her voice had its normal cold and calculating tone despite the fact she had been enjoying their meal of apple pie and fried chicken a moment ago. Bikou had brought it from America that afternoon along with fried Oreos, which Kuroka had thought looked disgusting, but which Ophis had gobbled up.

Occasionally Ophis joined several of the other more outgoing members of the Khaos Brigade for meals, during which she would enjoy the meal and then say something along the lines of, "It is good, but silence and solitude are better. When will we remove Great Red from the Dimensional Gap?"

Honestly, Kuroka thought the loli-dragon was a major downer. But she was so darned powerful that, even though she wasn't a real leader, she had become like a beacon to all those disaffected with the status quo among the Three Factions. Or those like herself who just didn't have any other place to go.

"That is the word that all of our resources in the underworld have used, 'demigod?'" Ophis went on, wiping some pie crumbs from her face.

"All the ones that know anything about Rias-chan's Rating Game, anyway," Kuroka said, trying to rein in her panting with difficulty. She had even seen a recording of the match, and a close-up of Harry's eyes did funny things to her. _I wonder if he's involved with Rias-chan. There are a lot of rumors about that, but no one had any recordings of their interaction during the party. The rumors range from someone seeing them kiss before the game to them fucking right there in the center of the ballroom, so I don't know the truth there._

"Interesting. This is the second time this individual has come to our attention. He is strong. We must look into recruiting him," Ophis said definitively. "With the Christian God dead, powers that he suppressed have been returning ever since. This mortal becoming a demigod is a sign of that process speeding up."

"We're going to run into problems with that," Kuroka replied quickly, becoming more serious. "You know I tried to spy on little Shirone, to see how she was getting on with Rias. But the wards in Kuoh are just, they're damn **scary**! Most of it was probably because of my senses, I'll admit, but all that means is that if someone else went there and tried something against the people there, the blow would come out of nowhere to them. That would be even worse!"

"Wards like that can be broken," Bikou said. "I mean they can't be **that** strong, right? Rias and the other one, they're just Junior devils in terms of power, right, no matter how high their birth? How much more energy could they add to the wards this demigod must've put up?"

"Stating such as that with so few facts is stupid," Ophis said bluntly. "If you have nothing intelligent to add to the conversation, remain silent."

Bikou winced at that but subsided, something most who knew him would be astonished by. He was a young Monkey Youkai with short-cropped black hair, though he often died it red or other garish colors. He routinely dressed in ancient-looking Chinese armor fit for a play from the Three Kingdoms period, but actually the armor was barely a year old. Unlike Cao-Cao's obsession with his ancestor, Bikou dressed like that more to needle his umpteenth great grandfather than he did anything else.

Like most of his race, Bikou never took life seriously, joking, laughing, and poking fun at those around him without care. He would have given anyone else, even Cao-Cao or the others at his level, lip. But not Ophis.

"What was this man's name again?" Arthur asked.

"Harry Potter," Kuroka supplied, looking at the sword wielder and shaking her head internally at his good looks, his blond hair, angular face, and light blue eyes behind his glasses. _He really is quite pretty. Pity he's so broken._

"I seem to have heard that name before," he mused, tapping the teacup set in front of him. "My sister should be back from England after the new year. Do you think we can wait to discover more about him at that point? I think I've heard that name while I was with my family, and Le Fay would know more about that than I."

Ophis frowned, thinking hard while Cao-Cao remained silent. The fact that Harry Potter had already messed up their plans was something that he and Ophis were aware of, but not the others at this point. They also knew that they had also lost Diodora's services because he had ventured into Kuoh, which was rapidly becoming a major source of contention.

Because of this and the fact that this information really changed little but their level of interest in Potter, Ophis slowly shook her head. "We will wait for your sister's return," she said to Arthur before her eyes twitched back to Kuroka. "Other spies indicate the Fallen's mad dog will be attacking that town within the month. Move into position to where you can take advantage of the chaos to approach this Potter. Regardless of anything else, we will use that activity to either recruit or remove him from play."

 **OOOOOOO**

The 'mad dog' in question, who might well have taken pride in that name, was indeed still plotting against those in Kuoh. Yet with so many of his bases destroyed, he had to move more circumspectly than he had hoped to, and from a distance as well. Despite that, he had still gathered quite a large army of his own. While Azazel as an individual was popular, his policies, if such they could be called, of peace and reconciliation with Heaven and Hell were not very popular. This made for fertile recruitment both for the Khaos Brigade and for others who wished for the cold war between the factions to grow hot once more.

At present those forces were being kept at sea on a large trawler converted into a living space, while the 'mad dog' personally, along with two of his more intelligent lieutenants, moved through Japan to survey what had been going on. They were not happy with what they had found, but they didn't see anything that couldn't be overcome.

"The Onmyouji will not interfere so long as we keep the fight within Kuoh," he said, frowning at the map in his ready room upon his return to the ship. "And there is still a way we can get to our target without entering their territories or those of the other factions. I'm not happy that we won't be able to create a forward position close enough to take over the city afterward for a time, but that was always a secondary concern. No, the real goal here remains to simply kill all the devils that have taken up residence there. We can do that with a short, sharp strike."

"What about the wards, Lord Kokabiel?" asked the older looking gentleman beside him. "I personally couldn't feel anything, but both yourself and your fellows warned that they were there."

This man was a human, the only one in the room at present, though there were a few others around the place. He wore a priest's cassock and was a little overweight, with a frizz of gray hair and what looked at first glance to be a kindly face. But his eyes told the real story. They were black and nearly dead, devoid of any empathy or any other good emotion, looking through the world and seeing, not other people, but tools to be used and discarded. He even looked at Kokabiel like that, but that was all right, since the fallen saw him in a similar manner.

"Oh, it's there. I would think that you would know better than to question us when we sense things you cannot, Valper," said Kokabiel, smirking at the human.

Valper Galilei winced, but it was true. The original forward base Valper had built to further experiment with the stolen false Excalibur blades had been wiped out, though that had not been clear from the outside. When he had made to enter, his Fallen bodyguard had saved his life by noticing the various magical traps which sent the old warehouse up in flames, costing several more of his personal helpers, former monks, and other men like himself who lived to see the perfect blade reborn. "Of course you are right, Lord Kokabiel, but perhaps you could explain further."

"I could feel the edge of it and the power within, though scant little else. But it was very powerful, so powerful, and, and almost alive, something I have not seen the like of since the war. It brought back pleasant memories, really."

"So…can it be shattered from the outside? You make it seem that simply entering, going under the umbrella of those wards, would be a very bad thing."

"No, or at least we lack the brute power to do so. Trying to do so would drain me too much for me to take part in the battle afterward and, given that power, removing myself from the assault would obviously be a mistake," Kokabiel said honestly. Despite being a warmonger and general jackal—again a way he would describe himself—there was nothing wrong with Kokabiel's mind, and he could afford to be honest with himself.

 _After all, if I had that kind of power I could just challenge Azazel for the leadership of the Grigori, and there would be no need to take such a roundabout manner to restart the war. Our legions would already be marching, and the human world would burn as would Heaven as I tore down Michael from his assumed throne!_

Shaking his head to remove such pleasant thoughts, Kokabiel went on. "But we don't need magical power to destroy those wards. They will have anchor points, anchor points which can be attacked physically."

The others all looked at him, and he rolled his eyes. "Physically," he emphasized, "as in **not** magical but material means. TNT, other types of high explosives, to take out the anchor point.

"But surely they'll be on the lookout for such things?" asked another Fallen. He was a younger-looking man with a jagged scar over one eye, winding its way around his head to where an ear should have been.

"Quite possibly, so we'll have to be careful about how we go about doing it. We'll need to discover where they are somehow and then send in groups of saboteurs, mercenaries that we have paid for and brought into the country for the sole express purpose of taking out these targets. But there must be nothing in their minds, nothing magical on them, nothing for the wards to spot."

"But if so, then won't the wards stones, whatever they are, be defended by further magical protections?" another Fallen asked, his voice making it obvious he was playing devil's advocate. He was a much older looking man with short-cropped gray hair and wide, powerful shoulders, the face of a brute finishing the image of someone who would rather punch things than talk, an impression that was quite accurate in his case.

"And remember that we need to concern ourselves with the small team of exorcists the Church has dispatched to Japan. They could be a wild card," Valper said with a faint smile, though there was nothing humorous in it. Rather, it was as if the man had once seen a picture of a smile. "I will need the Excalibur pieces they have been assigned before my work can really continue."

"Then you just make the explosion big enough so that even outside of those secondary protections they will destroy the stones. Perhaps a pocket nuke of some kind?" Kokabiel shrugged, unconcerned and not answering Valper's question. He had an idea there, but it would take time to put it into play. If it worked, though, the…fundamental inflexibility of the Church and its exorcists would force the devils to take action against them. _Or those wards will act against them, one or the other._ "It is not the most elegant of solutions, yet it is a solution."

"And really what do we care for the damage it will cause?" Kokabiel roared, standing up suddenly and whirling around his fellows, a Halberd of Light Magic appearing in his hand. "We wish to fan the flames, gentlemen! Wish to usher in a new era of violence and war! Let it spread to the non-magical; let it spread beyond the factions! That violence will be all the sweeter to all of us!"

He was answered with a roar of agreement, and Kokabiel's smile widened into something mad and bloodthirsty. So much so that, had anyone seen it, they would have agreed with Ophis's label. This truly was a mad dog, one poised to spread his rabies throughout the world.

 **OOOOOOO**

Over the next few days, Yubelluna did her best to fit in with the extended Potter-Gremory group, which was not as easy as she had hoped after first impressions from Harry, Lily, and Rias. Living with Tonks, Akeno, and the two fallen Angels was one irritant, which an incident on her second morning of doing so illustrated very well.

"Why do you keep on leaving your clothing just strewn all over the place!?" Yubelluna shouted, picking up both a shirt and bra before hurling them at Tonks, who had just come out of the bathroom. "Are you a closet exhibitionist!?"

"I know a lot of people who would argue about the closet part of that statement," Tonks said with a grin, her body shifting between one second and the next to a runway model that she had seen in the magazine the day before plus Akeno's breasts, which she had seen during their night of low-key, drunken revelry. The impact of the two together would have made any gravure idol weep in envy and Issei and other perverts to die from blood loss. "After all, if you've got it, why not flaunt it?"

"Maybe because you're living with other people for the first time?" Kala asked with a wry quirk of her lips, joining the conversation as she stepped out of her own room. In her hands were a few plastic bags worth of trash in her hands. "Other than your son, of course, who probably had to deal with all your strange quirks regardless of his own thoughts on the matter, the poor boy."

"Hey, I'll have you know Teddy and I always got on great!" Tonks said, lying through her teeth. Besides Teddy's baby years, there had been more than a few times over the years when Tonks's free-wheeling living had caused issues. Mainly, as Yubelluna was hinting, in the number of times Teddy or someone else had to clean up after her. And to say they ate takeout often was a bit of a misnomer: it was more that doing so was their normal way of life.

"And you!" Yubelluna shouted, turning and pointing at the Fallen Angel. "You don't have a leg to stand on! You might not leave clothing around, but trash? Your room is a pigsty."

"What, are you supposed to be the den mother?" Kala asked tartly. "You're about three hundred years too young to take that tone with me, sweetheart! I like my room that way; what business is it of yours?"

"Point. However..." Yubelluna said with a nod before pulling out several books, all of which were stuffed full of little sticky notes. "You left these strewn around the sitting room this morning."

Blushing, Kala shifted the bags she was caring to one hand and reached out for the books. "My bad."

"Ara, ara~. If we're talking about bad habits, perhaps we should talk about treading dirt into the house?" Akeno said with a giggle, coming out of her room. "Or how you've somehow changed your own room to better resemble a forest? Exactly how often have you had to use memory charms to steal plants from people who weren't taking care of them since moving in here?"

But, despite issues like that, Yubelluna found that she got along pretty well with all of the girls. It was a little early to tell, but Yubelluna felt they were fun. Each of them had different senses of humor, and each of them was very intelligent in their own way, which could not have been said for many of the girls in Riser's peerage. Yes, one or two had been smart—Mihae, for example, was extremely intelligent. But she wasn't a very good conversationalist, and, really, beyond being in Riser's peerage, Yubelluna didn't have anything in common with her or anyone else in her former peerage.

Luckily for Yubelluna, she also got along very well with the kids. While most of the adults and older teens were still, generally speaking, feeling Yubelluna out and vice-versa, Lily, Kunou, and Asia, to a certain extent, and even Koneko, were more than willing to become friendly with the newcomer. This was in part because of similar interests. Kunou really liked music, and she got along well with both Akeno and Yubelluna because of that, who was an amateur fiddler, and she and Yubelluna also liked talking about clothing and fashion. Asia was simply nice to everyone, and Yubelluna quickly slipped into the same protective, semi-motherly role that all of the older women had assumed with the young nun.

To the surprise of many, Koneko and Yubelluna bonded over fighting and training, which somewhat astonished Koneko when Yubelluna asked her where Rias's peerage went for training and whether she could use those facilities. "After all, I've got these new druid powers plus my own Sacred Gear to train."

However, she really should have been experienced enough to be careful what she wished for. Because the very same day she asked about it, both Yubelluna and Kiba became involved in training which was, to put it mildly, troublesome...

"And this is our training center," Koneko said as she led Yubelluna into the underground area. She nodded to Saji and Kiba who were already there, as well as to Asia, blinking in surprise at her presence. "Asia, what're you doing here?"

Koneko knew well that Asia didn't like to fight at all. All of the magic she was learning either had no combat application or a purely defensive one, despite Harry urging her to learn more. So her presence here was either because Harry had asked her to help them heal after training, which was not a good sign, or there was something else going on here.

Yubelluna frowned too, looking around even as she smiled at the younger blonde girl, who smiled back. "Can I ask a question, Saji? You have a Sacred Gear, correct?" she said, gesturing to the young boy who she had only barely been introduced to.

"That's right!" the boy said proudly, thumping his chest. "And it isn't like the Boosted Gear either, removed from its original owner," he said teasingly, winking at Koneko as he summoned his own Sacred Gear into being, a gauntlet with a deformed lizard face on the bit that covered the back of the hand. "Mine is the real thing, the Sacred Gear Absorption Line!"

Koneko rolled her eyes but looked at Yubelluna questioningly.

"Then am I right to assume that every Sacred Gear user in Kuoh is here at present?" the older woman asked.

"That's right," Harry said from nearby, and they all turned to look at him as the scenery around them changed to match his will. They found themselves now on a vast grassland with no trees, hills, or anything else to break up the monotony. "Or rather, it is, bar one. Young Gasper is still not quite ready to join us here, but Rias says she thinks he will be joining us in a week or so, after school starts."

Koneko smiled at Harry, then blinked and looked down at her arm. "Why is Ddraig telling me to get ready?" she asked suspiciously as she looked up again at Harry, her eyes narrowing.

"Because part of this training is going to be based upon what Ddraig and you yourself told me about your conversation with him," Harry said with a smirk. "We don't know yet if he can achieve Balance Breaker in this form, but it can't hurt to try." But the rest of you can at least learn to reach that level of connection with your Sacred Gears."

"Yes, yes it can hurt," Koneko said with a groan. The others looked at her and then back to Harry, concern on most of their faces now.

"You see, Boosted Gear and Koneko had a talk the night after the Rating game against Riser where he told her about something called Balance Breaker. Apparently, this is a power that all Sacred Gears have, to reach a new, far higher level of power. And, according to Ddraig, the only way to reach it is through experiencing life or death situations. But don't worry; we won't go that far. Instead we'll see if we can do without true life or death situations through **intense** training." That this would serve Harry in terms of training as well to a small degree was something he was well aware of, but he saw no point in saying that here.

There were many groans from everyone who had dealt with Harry's training before this, but they should've waited to groan, because it was about to get worse. "And, to help us do this, I've asked for my lovely assistants Mittelt and Tonks to join us."

There was a cackle from on high, and the diminutive Fallen Angel flew down to hover above Harry from where she had been hidden in the glare of the sun above them. She held two large spears of light in either hand, and she grinned maniacally down at the devils. "Try not to die," she said simply and without a trace of honesty or real concern in her voice.

A second later Tonks appeared, a Dissilusion charm fading from around her as she did. A broad smirk was on her face and magical energies were sparkling around her hands as she gave them all a mock-salute. "Yo. Hope everyone here's ready for equal parts training and humiliation. But look at it this way: the more you sweat and bleed here, the less you might bleed out there! Me own trainers told me that, and look at me now!"

"Shall we begin?" Harry said and, without further ado, sent a blasting spell towards Saji followed instantly by Mittelt and Tonks attacking in turn.

"You're a meanie, Tou-san!" Asia shouted as she leaped aside.

She was still pouting several hours later when they had finished, but Harry lifted her easily into his arms and carried her on his back. Koneko, too, was grumbling, battered from head to foot. Her own training had been actual combat training against a number of golems and Harry himself rather than simple endurance and muscle training like what Asia had been put through for the most part.

"Don't be like that, you two," Harry said with a chuckle. "Look at it this way: I hope that you won't ever have to use this training, but it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it." Asia moaned again, not buying that for an instant, and Harry sighed. "Who's up for some candy on the way home?"

"Sweets, hooray!" Asia mumbled into his ear, while Koneko nodded her head vigorously, and Yubelluna chuckled but still raised her hand in agreement. The two boys sighed but did the same. After all, free food was free food.

As Yubelluna worked on merging the three backyards into one larger yard, Lily became her little helper. Lily loved getting dirty, especially after spending the mornings in etiquette lessons with Rias and Kunou teaching her and Asia. Kunou didn't like getting dirty so much, so she and Asia would train their familiars while Lily helped Yubelluna. In this endeavor Yubelluna also had Loup helping on a daily basis, and Harry also pitched in when it came to the heavy magical lifting.

It had barely taken Yubelluna a few hours to come up with a plan of action for the communal gardens, and the very next day she started to put that into action. First she planted several small saplings on the outer edge of each of the backyards in turn, then she used her new Druid powers to slowly, over the course of a few hours, grow them to such an extent that they blocked anyone from attempting to look inside from the outside. This was very much a learning experience for her, but working with trees seemed almost natural to her after a few days.

Placing trees like this wasn't technically necessary to make the backyard more private, but it certainly looked very good. Then, with Harry, Rias, and Akeno's help, they slowly took down the permanent gateways between each of the properties. Once that was done, they removed the stone paths that carried the runic arrays.

"What are you going to do now?" Lily asked, huffing and puffing from where she had been carrying in several large bags of dirt and soil.

"Harry, if you could stand by with a shield for a moment? And Lady Rias, I presume that you've already cast spells to make us unseen?" Yubelluna asked before turning to the edge of the Potter house's backyard. That edge, now that the gateways were no longer around, looked as it had before they had been put up, minus the fence on three sides.

"I have. No one's home in two of the houses, and I've set up a blanket spell around the area to make people not interested in anything but whatever it is they are doing right now. I'll have to take it down soon because it is rather powerful, but what exactly are you going to be doing?"

Yubelluna didn't reply, instead thrusting out both hands. As she did, a tiara of some kind coalesced into being on her forehead. It was of an almost ludicrously simple design, looking like simple iron, almost, but within it, right at the center of her forehead, was a large orange jewel of some kind. This was surrounded by an image that looked like it was supposed to be an explosion of some kind.

As the others watched, there appeared a series of lines of magical energy on the ground moving away from her, which quickly formed a long rectangle which slowly began to sink into the ground. "This is one of the ways my Sacred Gear Bombardier can be used. This method is a little slow, so it's not nearly as applicable in combat as the more primal attacks such as Aura Explosion, Finger Bomb, or Blast Touch, but…"

"I'm sorry, Finger Bomb?" Rias asked incredulously. "Really? Do you know where that comes from?"

Yubelluna looked at her blankly, and Rias sighed. "Never mind. I'll teach you eventually. Continue, please."

"As I was saying, my Sacred Gear, in essence, translates explosive magical energy to various attacks, the limitations of which being that I have to be able to see my target most of the time or create a mental image like this to fill in. The second, which I call Image Bomber, is tough and can't be used in battle since it takes too much concentration, but…" With that she gestured again, her hands glowing brown and orange to match the gleam coming the gem on her diadem.

An instant later Harry cast a Protego, not around himself and the other onlookers, but over the area of the ground the rectangle had sunk into. There was a muted 'whump,' and the ground there exploded upwards, the explosion having been contained and thus creating even more damage within the area.

"Amazing! I had no idea shield spells could be used in that manner! That could enhance my own attack tremendously, Harry! Why, just think of the possibilities! The effect of having the explosions contained would enhance the power of them tremendously," Yubelluna enthused, her eyes alight.

Then, as the others looked at her nonplussed, bar Lily who looked like she was close to hero-worshipping Yubelluna, she coughed. "Ahem, yes, well, what I thought about doing was creating a trench where the stones with the gateway arrays should be and burying the stones underneath the ground."

"Sort of like a single large ward stone," Harry mused. "Could work, though we'll have to take steps to ensure the Ankhsera runes can't be damaged."

The solution to this problem was easy: Harry covered the runic stones with a film of thin metal plates they had purchased from one of Rias's connections then transfigured the metal into crystal, molding it around the stones. This protected the runic arrays in the stones when they implanted them in the trenches. Even the anchor stones were thus changed, and when they powered them back up, the dimensional doorways still worked.

"Why hasn't anyone thought about burying runic arrays like this before?" Rias groused, thinking about how much effort they had to put into the five points of the security ward they had put up around Kuoh.

"The crystal," Yubelluna said simply. "Transfiguration and transmutation like that are well beyond nearly every devil in existence. It's a type of magic that Harry's wizards are much better at than any others, and Ankhsera runes will etch or melt metal given continued contact. Furthermore, I don't think that purely defensive security runic arrays would be able to be buried like this and still work…unless they were somehow connected to the rest of the world above them? I'm sorry; I've never made a study of magic like that," Yubelluna finished with a shrug. "The only reason I knew it would work for the gateways was because I saw Lord Beelzebub's library, and it's got several portals like that that he and your brother created between them, Rias-sama."

"No worries, Lady Yubelluna," Harry said, bumping his shoulder against hers gently as they sat on a few lawn chairs, staring at their work. "It worked here, and that means that the possibilities for more are there, which I'm chuffed to bits about."

Yubelluna blushed hotly, looking away and cursing Harry's British accent. _And is it my imagination or is his accent thicker sometimes when he's talking to me?_ He also always called Yubelluna a lady. Not even milady, just lady, as he had when they had met. It was touching and marked another major difference from her previous life to this one. Riser had either called her Yube, an ugly shortening of her name, or 'my Queen,' or, rather, 'Riser's Queen.' It had been a sign that Riser saw Yubelluna as his possession, not that he was possessive of her, which she might have welcomed.

After the work on the connecting gateways was done, and they were once more running, Yubelluna, Lily, and Loup continued to work on the backyards, enlarging the Potter house's deck and adding a small pond along with several more trees here and there. One of them became home to Titan, his former house shifted into the new tree which gave him far more area to play with. Raiter was also given a new home in another tree, with Okuri-inu's house on the ground between them.

Flowers were planted here and there around the pool, and the single central tree that had been part of the original Potter's backyard was transplanted into the front yard, replaced by an even larger sakura tree.

Thanks to magic and Yubelluna's helpers, this all took about two and a half days, a far shorter time than it should've taken. Thanks in particular to Yubelluna's new ability with plants, everything was transplanted, green, and growing by the time the fourth evening of her time with them had ended.

During this time everyone else was also busy with general family stuff: preparing for school, finishing homework, getting Teddy into the elementary school with Kunou and Lily, and a few more things on that level. The only major event that occurred in this time was a single fateful meeting, but, for a while, no one would recognize its significance, including the individual involved in the meeting…

One cloudy day Issei was walking home from training with Akeno, Tonks, and Kala, grumbling. "Dammit, why the hell do all three of them have to be so freaking hot! Don't they know what they're doing to me!"

The fact that he was bruised and battered from head to toe should've indicated to Issei that, yes, they most certainly did know what they were doing to him, if not in the same manner as he thought. But Akeno took every opportunity to tease him, always enjoying how she was able to so easily get a rise out of him. Tonks didn't go out of her way to cause reactions but certainly didn't back away from them. And Kala, though not nearly as in his face about it, had a body that was built quite literally for sin.

And Issei was a healthy young devil with a healthy (unnaturally so) libido. This left him open to their attacks during sparring, and kept his mind on other things when Akeno or Tonks were trying to teach him magic. Indeed, beyond _Engorgio_ and a handful of other spells, both Wizard and Onmyouji, Issei's spells continued to be tinged with his obsessions.

"So you're Hyoudou," said a voice from one side of him, and Issei turned, wincing as he did so, to look at the person who had just spoken.

He was another young man Issei's own age or perhaps a little older, though not by much. He had silver blond hair, tight black jeans, and a button up shirt on, along with a silver chain that was hanging down from one side of his waist. His eyes seemed to stab Issei, staring through him, almost, before he snorted. "I'm not impressed."

"What the hell am I supposed to have done to impress you in the first place, you pretty boy bastard!" Issei growled, somewhat bewildered at this meeting and also furious. _All pretty boys should just fondle a goat and die!_

Beyond that, Issei was used to people talking down to him. The girls at school still did that all the time, even after he had joined Rias's peerage in truth and had begun to distance himself from the other two perverted trio members. His former reputation continued to color how people interacted with.

He couldn't sense anything magical about the other man—not that that meant much; Issei's magical senses were not nearly as good as they should be. Issei thought this would be more of the same and went on in a slightly more conciliatory tone. "If this is about me peeping on your sister or girlfriend, I'll apologize, but I stopped doing that a while ago."

Even if some of the oppai at school are truly amazing," he said wistfully, now staring off into the distance rather than at the pretty boy. "Ah, to see the kendo club again, the dangerous beauties! Or a true taste of the forbidden in the tennis club! But no," he said, thrusting one hand outwards and covering his face with his other hand. "No! Get thee be behind me, temptation. I will never get into that again! It is better to touch and to taste a few than to see many and touch none."

The silver-haired man's lips curled. "Is that all that is in your head, perversion? If that is so, how will you ever get stronger?"

"Exercising every day," Issei said returning to the here and now, thoroughly bewildered.

The man rolled his eyes but then paused, cocking his head to one side as if someone else was speaking to him for a moment. His eyes narrowed, and he looked at Issei with new eyes, almost uncaring, as if he had turned from being marginally interesting to dirt on his feet. "My apologies, then. I seem to have gotten the wrong person." With a bare nod he turned and walked away without another word.

"Yeah, pretty boy, you better walk away!" Issei shouted, then shook his head as the other young man disappeared around a bend in the road. "What the heck was that about?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Elsewhere, the silver-haired youth moved through the streets avoiding the known areas where the local devils were known to reside or otherwise hang out. He did so automatically, his thoughts elsewhere. _"What do you mean that the Boosted Gear isn't inside him?" g_ rowled Vali Lucifer, descendant of the original Lucifer and wielder of Divine Dividing, the White Dragon Emperor Albion.

" _I thought you said that the Boosted Gear had revived months ago. Issei Hyoudou is the known wielder! Unless you're telling me that the higher-ups among Fallen were wrong about that. But then, why would you have said that you can sense the Boosted Gear in this territory?"_

" _ **That is because it is here somewhere. The scent of the Boosted Gear is strong indeed, although not the presence of Ddraig. That is an odd dichotomy that I can't quite figure out,"**_ said a deep rumbling voice inside Vali's head. It was haughty, that voice, cool and commanding, yet also very confused at the moment. _**"But specifically, I could not sense even a hint of Ddraig's presence within that boy's soul."**_

" _Could it be the other feeling you've been warning me about since we arrived here getting in the way?"_

" _ **No, though you could have worked to bring your own magical senses to a higher peak before this, Vali. You rely too much on my powers to protect you from unseen threats. That way you'd be able to feel it yourself instead of just a faint unease and the feeling of being watched,"**_ the White Dragon said with a shrug of his ancient shoulders. _**"No, the Boosted Gear is here; it's just not within that boy."**_

" _Does that mean I should be looking around for the other devils?"_

" _ **No, I think we need to leave."**_

" _Retreat!?_ " The boy paused, moving over as if to look into a window as he almost glared at his own reflection, which was superimposed by that of a massive Dragon behind him to his senses for just a second. _"What do you mean, retreat?! I'm here to test my opposing number! If I don't get a fight out of it, why the hell am I here at all!?"_

" _ **That feeling in the air reminds me far too much of some of the wards I saw during my younger years, when there were still gods of all sorts around,"**_ Albion began, but his current wielder interrupted him.

" _Good! That just means that I would be guaranteed a good fight."_ Although, as he said that, Vali's anger at the idea of retreating dissipated somewhat, since he truly was a little concerned about the feeling in the air of being watched and almost judged wanting somehow. He didn't like it, whatever it was.

" _ **But not one against Ddraig,"**_ Albion retorted. _**"Besides, there is another scent in the air, another dragon's scent, a female one. And I want no part of her!"**_

Vali blinked, his anger dissipating in surprise. _"What?"_ He knew Albion could be cautious at times, but this went beyond simple caution.

" _ **Let's just say that there are issues there,"**_ the White Emperor said, sounding a little embarrassed as well as very, very worried. _"I would suggest waiting on finding your opposite number until we figure out what is going on here, or use your adopted Father's spies to figure it out."_

Vali grunted. He'd not done that yet beyond discovering the name of the individual suspected as being the owner of the Boosted Gear, not wanting to put himself further in Azazel's debt or to bring more attention on his own activities. He hadn't even read the reports the Devils had, for their own reasons, passed on to the Grigori about what had happened to Raynare and her group. Yet it had bitten him in the rear here, and Vali had to admit that he'd gone in unprepared. So he nodded and turned away, moving quickly away from Issei, the feeling of being watched and judged hurrying him along.

 **OOOOOOO**

For his part Harry had a relatively easy time of it during those few days of the winter break remaining. Other than making certain that Kunou and Lily had done their homework, Asia was ready to start school, helping Yubelluna with the backyard, and training with the Sacred Gear users, he was able to go on one family style date with Yasaka, Rias, Lily, and Kunou, which turned out very well.

But perhaps the two most important things he did during this time were following up on talking to Tiamat more about Blessings and training with the Sacred Gear users. Tiamat and he used his pensieve to look at what had occurred with Yubelluna as well as the blood adoption ceremony. Harry asked her several questions about Fawkes, but Tiamat refused to be drawn out on that score, simply saying that he needed to do more research on the Tuatha de Danaan pantheon. That really wasn't much information to go on, and it kind of irritated Harry, but there seemed to be some kind of understanding between Tiamat and Fawkes.

The idea that Fawkes was female, though, Tiamat was willing to acknowledge. "Are you sure about that?" Harry had asked the same evening of the meeting between him, Rias, and the Phenex clan. "I mean, Fawkes is a male name, and when he wasn't addressed as it, he was always addressed as, well, 'he,'" Harry finished somewhat lamely.

" **Gender isn't nearly as important for immortal beings as it is for you pesky mortals who have to pass on your lineage in so short a time,"** Tiamat said with a guffaw that shook the nearby trees. **"Besides, who called 'Fawkes,' *snicker*, a 'him?' Was the one who gave her that name old and bearded?"**

Harry winced at that. "Um, yes. Certainly Albus Dumbledore was, and the majority of the headmasters too."

" **You see?"** Tiamat said smugly, and nothing could do smug like a dragon. **"Men of every species always think that power should generally reside in their own gender, and most of them believe in seeing anything that they cannot identify the gender of as male."** She paused then, her wings fluttering above her back. **"Except for ships. I am uncertain why, but that is the only exception I know of. Even Mother Earth goddesses were thought up by women first and foremost."**

But the discussions about Blessings did not go nearly as well as that. Harry now understood that intent and will had driven the miracle that had saved Yubelluna's life, but he didn't know how he had jumped from wishing to save her so hard and being able to do so. There didn't seem to be any single instance in the memory where that intent and will had shifted from simple will to the Blessing in question. Harry was used to there not being much logic or reason behind most magic, but with Blessings, it was as if that aspect of magic became squared. If one had enough will and power, one could change the world in a far more fundamental and permanent manner that any other magic Harry had ever dealt with, but there seemed to be no way he could control it as he was now.

It was frustrating in the extreme. Regardless, Harry agreed with Tiamat's opinion: that Blessings in general were things that he really should not fool around with at all. Certainly not in any kind of combat context, which was disappointing.

Although, even from such disappoint could come something fun…

One time, coming home from such a meeting, Harry was surprised to find that he had some mail. The mail in question came from the Onmyouji government and was addressed to him. But, when he opened it, he found that it was not only addressed to him but to Rias and Akeno, and it wasn't a form letter demanding that he stop using magic or anything else equally invasive and stupid. "Rias," he called into the living room, where she was sitting down and finishing her own homework for school. "We have a bit of mail here."

"You have a lot of mail there, Harry," she replied with a laugh, gesturing to the pile of letters Tonks had brought with her, which had been piled up on one of the small side tables and had not been touched since. "Are you finally going to go through all the rest of your mail? You only looked at that one from Gringotts."

"I suppose so," he said with a sigh. Right now the kids were all in Kyoto or out with Kiba and Loup, so they were alone. He had hoped to have a romantic evening in. _But I suppose that work should come before pleasure._ Sitting down next to Rias, he leaned in, kissing her neck and then her cheekbones and lips lightly before pulling back and handing her the note, reaching for the pile of mail. "The local wizards want us to take part in a New Year's ceremony on the first."

"Interesting," she mused. "I think this might be the first time a devil has ever been openly invited to such a thing. Looking at the timing, it should be possible. The ceremony is in the evening, which leaves us to celebrate the New Year's with gifts and everything else in the morning."

"That makes sense," Harry said with a nod. "I'll send them a reply, then, shall I? Though why the heck they waited until the last minute is beyond me."

Harry used his magic to grab a piece of stationary from the kitchen and then wrote out a quick message, pressing it into the envelope the Onmyouji's missive had come in. A second later it flashed into a blue and white fire, and he shrugged, waving his hand to rid it of the smoke and ash. "Huh, some return service."

Laughing, Rias leaned against his shoulder, kissing his neck before going back to her own work. For a moment the sitting room was silent, the two of them working on their disparate work. Harry read through several dozen pieces of hate mail, each of them un-cursed by Tonks before she brought them along, two pieces of fan mail, and a letter from the Wizengamot saying his lands in England would be forfeit unless he or a close relative lived in them, as would the title of Ancient and Noble.

Harry couldn't say he cared much about that, but since it also said that the first, at least, would be waived if he paid a fine, Harry decided to go with that. _After all, I might have to head to Ireland itself some time to find out more about what the Tuatha de Danaan were really like. All the resources I've been able to find, even on the Internet, haven't really helped me much to figure out Blessings or more about Fawkes._

With that in mind, Harry wrote out a check and addressed it to a nonmagical address in London called Portabello Hall. It was actually a front for the Wizarding World, where four house elves worked to sort and manage nonmagical mail heading into and out of the Wizarding World, though there was scant little of the latter. On top of this, Harry had already called his bank and transferred half his money back to the nonmagical bank in London that was the equivalent for Gringotts.

Finally he was able to turn to the last message, one that Tonks had said came from Gabrielle Delacour. Opening it, he blinked, his eyes widening.

As he did so, Rias stretched beside him and set her homework aside, finally finished. She was about to suggest that they make some dinner but paused as she caught sight of what Harry was gaping at.

Inside the envelope had been a picture, which, like all wizarding pictures, moved when you looked at it as if it was alive. The image was of a young blonde girl, Rias's age or maybe a year or so younger. And she was currently wearing nothing but a set of very skimpy black lingerie, complete with garters and stockings. Her hair was loose down her back, her breasts a size or so above Asia's—which Rias knew because she had helped the girl buy her first sexy bra—and, as the image twirled, it showed a bottom whose likeness could stand up against the best models out there. Then the image moved into a sensual shaking out of her hips and breasts as the blonde stared up out of the image at Harry.

The coquettish smile the image wore disappeared the instant Rias leaned into view, her eyes narrowing as she made to speak. But no words could be heard. That bit of enchantment cost far too much to be put on a mere card.

Rias didn't notice that, nor did she notice when, after picking the image up, it tried to gnaw at where her thumb covered a corner of it. Instead she glared at Harry, waving it around this way and that. "Harry James Potter, what is this!?"

"That would be Gabrielle Delacour. She's what you might call a fangirl, one of only two or three that have never backed away from it, and the only French national who wants anything to do with me anymore." He shrugged. "It's not the first time she's sent images like that to me, although it is the first one that started out nearly naked."

"And you've never done anything with her, never encouraged her? What did Ginny think about this?" Rias asked, confused.

"Nothing. That is, I never encouraged her, and Ginny only knew about the first two. After that Gabrielle must have realized that sending such pictures to a married man was a bad idea and spelled the images so they only appeared for me. Evidently she thought that, since we divorced, that was no longer necessary. Though I'm grateful she can't seem to afford adding the ability to speak and be heard onto the picture. That would just make it disturbing."

"Yet you never told her to stop sending you these pictures?"

Harry flushed a little. "Um, well, no. It, um, it made the times when Ginny was being frigid a little, ahem, easier to bear."

"I see…" Rias replied frostily. She looked at the image and then back at Harry, then she smiled that sensual little smile that never failed to set Harry's pulse to racing. "Harry, why don't you go up to our room for a moment. I'll join you presently."

With a grin on his face, Harry stood up, but when he moved to kiss Rias she moved back. "Ah-ah, none of that. Just go and wait for me, Harry. You'll like it, trust me."

Eyebrows arcing in interest, Harry nodded and left the sitting room, heading for the stairs.

Once he was gone, Rias turned to the picture and stared down into it as the blonde girl pictured there shrieked something at her. "I don't know what you're saying, but I'm certain that it isn't kind. But don't worry, I'm not going to do anything to you. No, instead I'm going to show you something, show you the difference between you and me."

With that Rias stared at what Gabrielle was wearing in the picture before stripping out of her clothing. Gabrielle's image fell instantly silent, staring at her in unalloyed envy, and Rias smirked. "That's right blondie. You have literally nothing to offer him that I haven't already given him in spades."

Once clad in only her underthings, Rias cast a spell on them and then trooped up the stairs after Harry.

She didn't notice Yubelluna arriving in the entryway. Having left the other girls behind at the women's house, she had come back to get some rest, having no need or desire to join the others in a night of drinking and sappy romance movies. Sappy romance movies were well and good, but not the wine.

Yubelluna did not want to start drinking, afraid that she wouldn't be able to stop. She still had nightmares occasionally about Riser, though they were more often about his attack on her rather than just being stuck with him again. In her dreams she died, and no one even mourned her. In Yubelluna's dreams she was once more powerless to save herself. In her dreams she ran away only to be dragged back in chains.

The purple-haired woman knew that none of her dreams were real, but that didn't stop them from popping into her head, and the first time they had she had downed an entire Devil-made wine bottle in an effort to block them out. It had worked, but that wasn't a healthy way to deal with the problem.

She paused though as she saw Rias heading upstairs wearing stockings and garters. _Hmmm, what do we have here?_

Feeling a strange sort of excitement welling up inside her, Yubelluna floated into the air and followed the redhead, watching as she made her way to the trapdoor up to the attic and opened it up. The sight of that door closing behind Rias brought Yubelluna to her senses, and she shook her head. _Come on, Yubelluna. That's got to be kind of disturbing, you know, spying on your new benefactor and his girlfriend. Although, if the spells are down, then I…no, no. Gah. Right, off to join Yasaka and the kids in Kyoto. Need to get my mind on something else beyond sexy as hell British blokes with emerald eyes and equally sexy redheaded girls with bodies even other devils might envy. Ugh._

Upstairs, Harry looked up from where he was pulling the bed cover down to stare at Rias as she slowly, teasingly sashayed up the ladder into the attic. How she managed to sashay while moving in a straight line up a ladder, he didn't know, but she did, and it took all of Harry's considerable willpower not to start drooling. "Bloody hell, love, you could make a corpse sport a stiffie, I swear."

Rias was currently wearing the same exact outfit Gabrielle's picture had been. A pair of fishnet stockings clung to her legs up to halfway up her thigh, where they were paired with a set of black garter belts. Her panties were also black, lacy and small, barely hiding the treasure within. Her breasts—those large, amazing breasts, whose every inch and contour Harry had made it his mission to explore—were held in the light grip of a lacy black bra. The bra held them up from below, practically presenting Rias's breasts like food on a platter while also barely covering Rias's nipples, showing a lot of her cleavage to his devouring gaze.

"Thank you for the compliment, lover," Rias said with a smirk. She moved towards him but never finished the movement. Harry met her halfway, lifting her into his arms and snogging her for all he was worth. Rias moaned happily, returning the kiss as her arms went around Harry. Her eyes were still open, however, and she smirked at the picture she was still carrying, which was now motionless, staring at what was going on. She sent a wink its way and then tossed it away to land forgotten in a corner as her legs moved around Harry's waist. She then moaned in shock and delighted surprise as Harry reached down and, after moving her panties aside, slid home without even an attempt at further foreplay. "SAAAaaasomone's a little eager I sseeeE?" She squealed as Harry, mindful of Yasaka's hint that maybe Rias might be up for some rougher play, began to thrust up into her a bit harder than he would normally so early in their coupling.

Later—much, much later—the two of them cuddled in post-coital bliss, Harry's staff still buried within Rias's tight wet tunnel as she leaned against his shoulder. "So, what was that all about?" Harry asked. "It's not like you to be that jealous. Else you wouldn't have been fine with sharing me from the outset."

"Hmmf. Two things, I suppose. First was the idea that she felt it was right to send you images like that, or even tamer ones, while you were married. That bothers me. it also bothers me that she'd rather do that, pine from afar, than try to get close to you for real. And third…" Rias shifted upwards to look Harry in the face and kissed him tenderly before pulling away. "And third, while I might be willing to share you, I certainly am not going to share you with some little fangirl floozy who didn't have the courage to make a try for you when she had the chance."

Chuckling Harry nodded, and leaned in, kissing her hard as his hands made their way to her breasts once more, eager for another round as Rias moaned and urged him on.

Neither of them remembered one thing about magical paintings though: even cheaply made ones that couldn't talk could travel between frames…

 **OOOOOOO**

But finally, on the 31st of December, the work on the lawn was finished. Deciding to roll celebrating that event into their New Year's celebrations, Harry, Rias and the others organized an entire morning's worth of present-sharing and a party for everyone.

Of course, with this crowd, even gift-giving didn't always go as expected. Akeno's gift to Asia and Koneko were a pair of matched lace camisoles and an entire book series of what Harry could only term female erotica. The fact that Koneko nearly beaned Akeno by tossing them back was not lost on him, nor was the fact that Asia, sweet innocent Asia, surreptitiously picked them back up and took them up to her room when she thought no one was watching. This caused him to twitch quite violently, but before he could think of what to do about it, he looked up and discovered that Tonks's gift to Issei was worse.

Blushing, Issei took the present that Tonks handed him and unwrapped it to find what looked like a photo album. Inside, however, were images of Tonks, or who he thought was Tonks, anyway. Each image was of a different woman, a different famous model, gravure, international and runway. He had no way of knowing if the proportions were entirely accurate, but the faces were. And the poses… He blushed hotly, staring avidly as he flipped through page after page, his blush increasing while Ruruko, who had been invited along with the rest of Sona's peerage, scowled.

"Are we giving out awards for the most obnoxious presents now?" Harry asked Rias mildly as Tonks handed the two of them what were obviously wrapped books of some kind. "If this is a how-to book of some sort, Tonks, I'm going to have to hex you."

"Don't be that way, cuz. Just think of it as a…long-term goal. You can go through the book and mark out each position after you're done with it. Be among the few, the proud, that have gone through the entire thing!" Tonks said with a laugh.

Harry groaned but opened the present and was unsurprised to find an illustrated copy of the Karma Sutra. Looking over at Rias, Harry saw that she had the Japanese equivalent, which for some reason had quite a bit more in terms of bondage and rope from what he was seeing in the pages as she flipped through them. The two of them looked at one another, flushed a little, and then put the books away, staring at Tonks in amusement. "You are one-of-a-kind, Tonks."

"Of course I am!" Tonks said with a grin, her entire skin flashing green for a moment. "And don't you forget it."

"Yes, well, my gift to you isn't nearly as rarefied as your gifts to us," Harry said with a chuckle, holding out a long box to Tonks.

She took it and opened it only to gasp in delight. Inside was a short sword. It looked like something the Romans would use, but Tonks recognized it as something she had seen somewhere before. "What is this?" she asked, pulling it out and twirling it this way and that in such a way that all the other Knights all winced, Kiba going so far as to cover his eyes.

"It's a short sword that Albus bequeathed to me for some reason despite knowing that I could already use the Sword of Gryffindor. He was odd like that," Harry said, understating things dramatically, though of course Tonks knew that. "But seeing as I'm not really a sword fighter, and I've already picked up yet another sword in the meantime, I thought of you. It's got a few interesting spells on it and should add to your combat ability."

"Which rather neatly goes with my gift to you, Tonks," Kiba said firmly, holding out a card.

Tonks groaned and opened it and was utterly unsurprised to see a 'free month's worth of sword training' card, something that Kiba had obviously made himself. "This is to get me back for training you into the dirt, isn't it?" she asked.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Kiba said with a smirk, moving over to give exactly the same gift to Mittelt. "I've noticed that you don't like closing the distance, but there are a lot of styles that you can use despite your short stature to take advantage of your speed," he said to her firmly. "We **will** be training on this."

Rias leaned over to Harry and whispered, "Harry, this training you, Tonks, and Mittelt have been giving our Sacred Gear users, is there something you should be telling me about them? I've never known Kiba to be vindictive in any manner except towards the Church."

Harry shrugged. "We haven't exactly gotten very far yet, but I think we've seen a noticeable improvement in many ways," he answered obliquely.

Rias caught onto this, and she teasingly reached up to tug lightly on his ear. "Harry…" she drawled.

"Rias…" he drawled back before leaning in to kiss her thoroughly, to many wolf whistles and laughter.

Of course, the ones who received the most gifts where the kids and Yubelluna. Harry handed out emergency portkeys to many of them, including Yubelluna. Books, comic books, clothing, all the normal things were given to the kids, with a bag of ever full candy for Koneko and a few shirts for Teddy.

Yet his most significant presents he saved for last: several pieces of enchanted jewelry. First a set of earring for Rias fit with tiny rubies, which were made from two of the small crystals she had treated so they could contain spells. Kunou got a small pinky ring to match the necklace Lily already had. Koneko got a small, formfitting anklet with a few carved images in them of different wind chimes, which she could set to jingling if she wanted. Asia received a few prayer beads of different colored glass to add to her rosary each of which contained defensive runes.

Of course, every piece was like that, enchanted to various degrees. Harry liked to merge utility with beauty like that. Even Kala, Yubelluna, and Mittelt received pieces of enchanted jewelry, though theirs were far simpler in appearance.

Once all of the girls had their presents, Harry stood up and looked around the throng of family and friends. "Ladies and gentlemen, when I first heard of this idea of a compound rather than a single home, I was a little ambivalent about it. I didn't doubt the need for more space; I was simply set on the idea of keeping our house small and homely, and I couldn't quite fit the two needs together. Rias, in her infinite wisdom, and with quite a bit of help from other people," he teased gently, "realized that that wasn't going to work, and that we had to find a solution. So I thank everyone here who helped the initial project of joining our three different houses together.

"Kiba, Loup, I well understand the horror that is moving, and I thank you for taking one for the team," he said, holding up at the glass towards the two boys, who mock-saluted him as one. "Teddy, I hope you like your new home, and that you and Tonks can, like Lily and me, make a permanent home here in Japan, here in Kuoh with our new friends."

"Hear, hear!" Teddy shouted, throwing one arm into the air excitedly, while Lily bounced happily next to them and Kunou chittered and nuzzled into her shoulder.

"However, we have welcomed one other person this past week, and, without her, we wouldn't have this lovely backyard. Lady Yubelluna, please stand up and take a bow," he shouted to the laughter and amusement of everyone there.

Yubelluna blushed but stood up all the same, curtsying to the crowd, who cheered and whistled.

"Welcome to our little compound, and welcome to our rather large family," Harry said, raising a glass towards her with a smile on his face. Later that day would come a time for formalities. Tomorrow would come the humdrum of school and the return to the daily grind. In the future there would no doubt be further trials, travails, and dangers. But right now Harry was content to forget all that and bask in the warmth of his friends and extended family.

End Chapter

* * *

This is pretty much the last chapter in which the majority of the chapter will be built around small familial matters rather than bigger events or meetings. From here on I will be getting into the true nitty-gritty of the plot, and the size of the chapters will shrink, thankfully. Honestly, I was kind of surprised at the size of this one, but it isn't nearly as bad as the past two, LOL. Hope you all enjoyed your DxD fix this month.


	12. Chapter 12

Can't draw boobies or speak in a British accent. Can barely write one if I'm honest.

FILFy teacher didn't actually win March's poll. It wasn't even part of the poll. However, it had done so well back in February that I had hoped to update it in March to make up for the fact I hadn't been able to get to it. Yes, it's taken a long time to be updated, but hey, it's also a large chapter LOL.

This has been edited by _Nad Destroyer_ and _Michael Duggan_. Please give them thanks because, even if it is coming out way later than I hoped to post it, the chapter won't have nearly as many mistakes because of their efforts.

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Interlopers, Guests and the Differences Between Them**

Later that day, Harry and several others dressed formally and left the compound to head to the New Year's celebration they had been invited to by the Onmyodo government. The group consisted of Akeno, Rias, Harry, Tonks, and Kalawarner. Tonks had been invited to the ceremony by Master Husukai and would be receiving something there that would help her join the Shinsengumi.

Kalawarner had asked to go with Harry as his plus one; the invitation Harry, Akeno, and Rias had received having said they could bring another person. She had been showing an interest in runes of late, even evincing some interest in magical weapons and armor. She hoped they might have time to talk to some of the locals about that kind of thing. Whenever Harry tried to bring her reasoning for this new interest up, though, she would become evasive. It was not as if she was trying to keep a secret, but more like she was trying to work the answer out on her own.

Still, Harry had no problem with helping her. Although he had teased her for abandoning her cooking, for which he'd gotten teased back about just wanting to keep her in his home for his own nefarious reasons, to which he had replied, "Really, you are accusing me of nefarious reasons? Pull the other one; it's got bells on."

"Oh, so that wasn't you that was staring at my rear when I was cooking this afternoon? And it wasn't your eyes I felt on my chest when I was leaning over the table and putting plates down?" Kalawarner had riposted, to which Harry had no reply.

Akeno and Kalawarner were the first to show up after having left the girls' house and walked back out the gateway and across the lawn towards where Harry was waiting for them by one of the trees Yubelluna had planted, while Titan perched above him. As they approached he turned away from having a staring contest with Titan, smiling as he took in their outfits. Both wore mid-formal dresses fit to move around in rather than ultra-formal gowns. Kalawarner's emphasized her bust very subtly, raising and pressing her breasts forward. Akeno's had a slit along the side, letting more of her leg be seen, while being tight up top, actually pressing her breasts down, though even so that just seemed to draw the eye more.

His eyes raked down them both, taking in every curve, swell, and inch of their bodies before concentrating on their faces, not even realizing he had done it until he was finished. When he was done he smiled, moving towards them and bowing over their hands in turn before gesturing back to the main house. "You both look amazing," he said honestly. "I'm afraid I might find myself mobbed by an unhappy populace, showing up with four of the most amazingly beautiful women on the planet. Still, I'm prepared for it now, so shall we?"

Kalawarner surprised herself by blushing at the praise and the look in his eyes just then, while Akeno let loose a 'fufufu' sound, though her face, too, was rather flushed as they both took in Harry's own suit and cravat combo. Kala had seen desire in Harry's eyes many times before directed towards her, mostly when the two of them were cooking together or when she accidentally flashed some skin. But every time before Harry had shut down almost immediately, distancing himself. Yet, in the past few days, he hadn't been.

Akeno too had seen that look; indeed, she had reveled in it while they had been going out. But even then Harry would have seemed guilty over it, which had contributed to the problems between them that had led to their breakup. Yet she too had seen that, over the past week or so, that seemed to be no longer the case. Harry felt… Akeno wasn't certain how to put it, but the closest she got to it was less controlled or regimented. Whatever the case, a part of Akeno was confused while another part of her enjoyed it, leaving her somewhat off-balance, but in an oddly good way. _Confusing_ , she thought, letting Harry lead them into the house.

There they waited, watching with smiles as Yubelluna and Asia organized a final movie night for everyone but Kiba, who was out on a date with Tsubaki. With school starting up, they wouldn't be able to continue watching a movie every night, and the debate was fierce about what kind of movie they'd watch. Tonks was cheerfully taking part, making it all the more hectic. She had already changed. Unlike the other two, she hadn't gone home, instead simply hopping into the bathroom and transfiguring her clothing for the night into some formal European style robes, easy to move in and easy to modify at need.

Rias soon joined them, wearing a formal kimono, the colors black with light gold and dark red flowers in patterns here and there across its surface. It looked magnificent, and all the women there, and indeed the kids, all cooed over it. As they all moved aside, she looked at Harry for his reaction, and he moved forward in turn, enfolding her in a hug. "You look magnificent love, but remember to me it's always the woman who makes the dress, not the other way around."

"What do you think?" Akeno asked from behind Harry while smirking at him and a now happily blushing Rias. "Personally, I think that line was trying too hard."

"Hmm, but it was heartfelt, and the recipient obviously liked it, so I'd give it a seven out of ten," Kalawarner replied, having also overheard Harry's compliment, smirking at the younger redhead.

"Ara, I rather think it would be a six at most, but perhaps you're right, the heartfelt nature should add to its score," Akeno replied mock-musingly.

"Ouch," Harry mimed, holding up a hand to his heart, emerald eyes beaming with merriment. He linked arms with Rias and led the way to the door, holding it open for the other ladies. The message from the Onmyodo government had said it would act like a portkey at seven on the dot, but none of them were certain how a portkey created by someone else would act under the wards around Kuoh, nor were they willing to find out. With a final farewell shouted into the TV room, Harry led the four outside, where they quickly took to the air, Tonks smiling happily and reveling in the power of flight, her wings flapping strongly but without much training as Harry flew alongside.

As they traveled, Tonks studied Harry closely for a time before speaking up, taking his attention from a conversation with Kala on a cooking competition she had heard about that would occur on the first of February. "You've changed, Harry."

Harry turned to look at her as did the others, moving closer through the air so they could hear the response. "I mean it, and I think it's a good thing. You're not as paranoid, defensive, or reactive. I mean, there was a time you'd never think of going to a shindig like this, regardless of who invited you, afraid to leave Lily alone. Even if you left her with Luna, Ron, or the rest of us, you'd be calling every hour to make certain nothing had happened. You'd be doing everything you could to stay with her as much as possible."

"You know bloody well why I was like that," Harry replied, looking aside with a grimace. "Fucking Rowle and his bunch."

At the looks of the girls around them, visible in the light of the setting sun, Harry explained, his tone almost whimsical, but his eyes had begun to glow in the old 'AK Eyes' manner. "Rowle was a loyal Death Eater, one who escaped the Aurors after the war. He targeted Lily the instant he heard about her. The first attempt on her life came before she had even been weaned off breast milk. I wonder how many kids can say that? Or would even want to? Anyway, Rowle and a few others attacked St. Mungo's, the hospital Lily and Ginny were staying in after the birth."

He smiled a wintry little smile. "Rowle gathered some would-be Death Eaters, six of them, and attacked St. Mungo's, shattering the hospital's defensive wards like they were nothing. But they missed a ward I put up on the stairwell leading to the floor their room was located on, warning me someone was there when there shouldn't have been. Lily and Ginny were never even hurt, but I've often wondered since our divorce how much of the distance between Lily and Ginny was because Ginny couldn't deal with being a target because of giving birth to Lily than Ginny just not wanting to become her mum."

"So, when it came to Lily's safety, Harry would go through these moods sometimes where he'd never leave her alone unless Ron, Hermione, Luna, or myself were watching her. Or, well, the rest of the Weasleys when they were all at home, but that was rather rare," Tonks supplied, before laughing. "Longbottom was on that list once, but he actually lost Lily in one of his greenhouses during her terrible twos, and Harry's never left her with him since."

While Kala and Akeno jeered good-naturedly at the name Longbottom, Harry hummed, thinking, and then slowly nodded, a faint smile coming to his face as he looked at Rias and the other women. "I suppose I have. I've learned to not be so overprotective or controlling."

"Nah, it's not that. I don't think ya were ever controlling of Lily, just any adult who came in contact with her. Ya never hesitated ta let Lily explore or fight her own battles to a certain extent. But…but it was like, you just weren't willing to trust adults near her, not just with Lily but, to a certain extent, around you either." When Harry made to speak, Tonks held up a hand. "Harry, I'm serious. There were these, these dark places. Some of them had to do with the war; those were the only ones you ever shared with any of us, the ones we could relate to. But I think you've opened yourself up more here with these lads and lasses for some reason, be it a new start or what-have-you, and it's done you, and through you, Lily, a world of good."

"Ah," Akeno said with a faint, sad smile, flying over to hug Harry. "I think that might be because everyone in this family has been wounded in some fashion. Harry-san could not only see it, but help each of us through it in different ways. To hear that we, in turn, helped him makes me feel quite happy, even if we hadn't consciously realized it before this."

Tonks looked at them and then over to Kala and Rias. The blue-haired fallen smiled somewhat sadly—after all, her circumstances were quite different than the others—but Harry had still somehow managed to help her. Rias just nodded, acknowledging what Akeno had said.

Harry too looked like this was a revelation to him, and he gently hugged Akeno back before the black-haired woman moved away, blushing lightly. Then Harry turned to Tonks, his smile turning wry. "I hadn't actually noticed that before. Huh, who would have thought, a revelation like that coming from Tonks? The world is going to end soon."

"Oy, what's that supposed to mean, Potter!" Tonks growled, while everyone else laughed.

"Can I ask what this incident was in France?" Kalawarner asked as the laughter died down. "I mean, I've heard about what happened, that you two were attacked several times and the group was after Lily to kidnap her, but you've never explained why that ended up with Magical France not wanting to have anything to do with you and even banning you both from entering their territory."

Harry winced, and that was another thing, Tonks thought, watching him. There was a time when he wouldn't have regretted what they had been forced to do. He'd even mellowed to that extent, too. _In fact, huh, there's a thought_ … Tonks remained silent, though, letting Harry reply.

"Ah, have you ever heard of the castle of Ys?" Harry asked.

"I've heard of the city of Ys. It's part of some French legend, isn't it?" Akeno asked.

"That's kind of the same thing. But while most of the city was destroyed in a magical civil war in France—no relation to the French Civil War—a single tower of it remained. It was the only portion of the city remaining after the first surprise assault in the war." Rias and Akeno both looked like they wanted to ask questions, and he shook his head. "Don't ask. I don't know what they were fighting for, since there are several contradictory reasons given in historical books. What was known was the group on one side had the aid of giants, werewolves, and other beasts along with the help of 'muggle' slaves. Or at least, that's what the winning side put down in the history books. Anyway, it was a major historical site."

"Think of it as the magical equivalent of the Eiffel Tower," Tonks supplied.

"Exactly. It was a symbol like that, though it was never dedicated to anything like the Arc de Triomphe. But, unlike the Eiffel tower, the castle of Ys was independently owned. Still an attraction—the owners had, you know, organized tours and all that, but it wasn't government owned, and a family still lived there. A family which both funded and fought alongside the group of insane fools trying to kidnap my daughter," Harry finished with a sigh.

"Ah, I see where this is going," Rias said with a wince.

"Yep. The government knew they were there and were trying to talk them down, all the time the family was basically putting a hit out on Harry and Lily, and the locals refused to even put a cordon around the place. So Harry and I did what we had to: we stormed the place, and, well, afterward the whole place was kind of, sort of wrecked. And melted. And burning with Fiendfyre," Tonks replied, and then turned to look at Harry. "Um, by the way, have you ever actually, um, apologized for that?"

Harry blinked, looking at her. "Uhhhh…"

"Oh dear," said all three of the other women around him, and Harry cringed at the amount of recrimination they could put into those two words.

"It's not my fault! I was kicked out of the country as we were standing beside the ruins and, ever since, I can't get anyone in France to even talk to me," Harry replied somewhat defensively, making no mention of Gabrielle, since she had hardly been in a position to act as a go-between, and, besides the pictures she had sent him, they hadn't actually talked in years.

Then he caught the look in Rias and Kalawarner's eyes in particular, and he sighed. "But I suppose I wasn't really in an apologetic mood for a while there either. Um, I suppose a written apology would work, right? A really formal one?"

"For a start. That and some monetary compensation, to help pay for the refurbishment of the site," Rias replied firmly, glaring at Tonks, who winced and nodded agreement. She hadn't ever apologized for it either, though in her case that was just because she had forgotten. Harry, though, she doubted it would have occurred to him to apologize for anything he had to do in order to protect his daughter until recently.

"Yes, dear," Harry replied mildly, somewhat amused, but also realizing he had been in the wrong at the time. _They might not have been willing to listen at the time, but it's my fault for not trying to reach out to them even if only through letters since._

The talk shifted to other things at that point by mutual consent, all of them wanting to set the serious stuff aside for now. Tonks and Harry had the other three in stitches explaining about Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and some of their products, although Akeno returned the favor by musing aloud, "Ara, I wonder if a combination of, say, five of their products at any given time would be enough to convince the two remaining perverts to change their wicked ways." The line 'wicked ways' coming from Akeno just made it all the more hilarious.

Moments later they touched down in a small park well outside the environs covered by the wards. A few minutes later Akeno finished turning the message they had been sent into an origami crane as the message instructed them to do in order to activate the portkey. A bare minute after she finished the last crease, the paper glowed, and all of them hurriedly touched it, which, given the size of the crane, was somewhat difficult, something Kala sniffed at disparagingly. "Form before function, quite saaaa…."

Her voice was interrupted as they found themselves elsewhere, standing in a large flat meeting square in an area marked off by a small series of talismans. This was obviously one of many receiving zones, going by the fact that other people were popping in all around them. Kala stumbled, as did Harry, with both of them knocking into Rias and nearly taking them all down to the ground, while Tonks and Akeno quickly stepped away to avoid joining them.

"Well, I suppose that they are organized, at least," Kala huffed, pushing lightly at the other two before her hand went to her dress and smoothed it out.

"Not as bad as some portkeys I've been through," Harry replied with a nod.

They were soon approached by an Onmyouji in a formal black yukata, who took one look at the crane still in Akeno's hands and quickly bowed from the waist. "Please, sir and madams, this way."

Rias smiled pleasantly at the man and moved to stand beside Harry as the others spread out behind them. "I wonder if our invitation to this event is the only thing going on here. Or if there's something more going on; it's obvious that we're among the high and mighty here."

Looking around, Harry understood Rias's point: everyone around them was very well dressed, so well dressed that Tonks looked out of place, really, or she did until she moved between the others and transfigured her robes into something more formal. They were also getting a lot of odd, appraising looks from more than one group, each of which had their own guide. "So, what, we're on display because our very being here is thanks for the spot of action with the Truthspeaker? They're showing off to their own people that they reward such actions? Or…is this showing any Shinra supporters that the government has external allies it can call upon?"

"Actually, I don't think that's it. Oh, I agree this whole night is because we helped oust the Shinra clan and what it was doing in the Onmyodo magical observation system, whatever its name was," Rias replied, frowning as she tried to remember the formal name for that tower and what it had been a part of. "But they wouldn't want to be public about thanking us for that lest they lose face for there having been a problem in the first place. Face is incredibly important in Japanese culture. No, they would gift us in private." She frowned, looking over at Akeno, who, after a moment nodded agreement to her previous points, and Rias went on. "Our being on display like this is a side benefit."

Harry grunted at that, having become somewhat resigned to thinking about such things, but not liking being on display even now. _I've been an object of public interest far too often in my life._ Thankfully for Harry, the guide soon led them up a small side path out of the clearing. It led up the side of the mountain for a time, and eventually they came out of the woods into a small sitting area, complete with soft benches raised out of the ground in a half-circle facing out and away from where the path led into it.

The other side of the sitting area ended abruptly at an edge of large ravine, which almost, but not quite, looked natural. About forty feet below them a large stage began moving to the right of the area assigned to the Kuoh group, their seats being right over the front of the stage. At the back of the stage was a huge bell.

Moving forward, Harry could see several other small, private sitting areas to either side of their own, across and down below, carved into the rock face of the ravine. Below those, on the ground of the ravine, were lines upon lines of cushions, leading back into an area that was obviously made for standing room only.

As Rias began to explain about the kind of ceremony this would mean among the nonmagicals, Harry scanned the area, looking for anyone looking in their direction in turn, but set that aside save for mentally preparing a few defensive spells, just in case.

The others sat down, but they were soon joined by Mr. Husukai, who quickly engaged Tonks in a discussion. She had sent in her application to join the Shinsengumi, and he had evidently decided to take her on as a partner for a time. They would exchange spells, train together every other day, and he would be in charge of making certain she got up to speed on Japan's laws, both magical and nonmagical. Kala and Akeno both took an interest in their discussion, listening intently, while Rias was more interested in watching the crowd, and Harry split his attention between the two.

The crowd began to gather below them, the other small private areas filling at a slower pace, and Husukai took his leave. At nine sharp the ceremony began. Rias had been right: it resembled a traditional formal Shinto New Year's celebration. The difference between the magical and nonmagical was evident in a few ways. The first was in the special effects. The second was in who smashed the large log into the bell at the end. Instead of using a log, a half dozen men and women stood and cast a series of talismans onto the bell, each of them peeling off talismans already there before replacing them, and then activated them, each move ritualistic, their words amplified via magic.

The most amazing things were the dragons though. Each time a new talisman was added, an image of an eastern dragon would appear around the bell. Made of different colors of energy, the dragon would appear as if conjured by the talisman, circling the bell as the person emplacing it chanted. When he shouted the last word of the chant, the dragon let loose a roar and twisted away into the air, causing an ooh of sound from the crowd. Its tail would then smack into the bell as it left, causing a deep "BONNNNNNG!" The echoes of the sound built up in the stones of the ravine, held there by other talismans until the next dragon started to form.

All in all, it was an amazing ceremony, but far too long. _It was kind of boring to sit through at first, even with the magical effects, right up until the end with the dragons._ _Those were kind of fun—going to have to show Lily and the others that part of the ceremony in my pensieve, at least. But I'd bet they'd make a great distraction…_ Following that thought, Harry cast a spell and waited.

Halfway through the dragons, Harry addressed the air around him. "Can I help you?"

Rias, Akeno, and Kalawarner looked at him, but Tonks tensed, her hand filled with her wand a second later as she internally cursed. She turned slightly to see a faint shadow in the small trees surrounding their private booth. Before she could say anything, though, a voice came from the darkness. "Nothing is wrong, mistresses, master. I am simply here to make certain you do not forget all your belongings."

Rias quickly made a chopping motion when Tonks made to speak, smiling as she replied for them all. Her serious tone and action, though, was somewhat diminished by the gleam in her eyes and the fact a bright grin had begun to grow on her face. "Of course. Your diligence does you credit, as does your circumspection. Please be certain, though, that we will be most cross if anything has been added to our items that should not have been."

"You would not be the only ones annoyed by such an event, but I have it on the authority of the Truth Speaker and other good gentles that your belongings have not been tampered with in any way. They will…continue to aid you in days to come," the voice said, sounding somewhat grateful for Rias's understanding before going on. "There is another matter I wish to address now that my presence has been discovered. Another person wishes to speak to you at the end of the ceremony. My masters have stated that you will have the use of this booth for as long as you wish."

Harry exchanged looks with the others, but nodded. "Yes, I think we would like to talk to this individual as well. If you could convey our agreement, we would be grateful."

"I will do so." When it began again, a hesitant note had entered its voice. "Might this humble one ask how you detected him? We of the hidden order pride ourselves on not being noticed."

"A small bit of Western magic called Homenum Revelio," Harry replied. "I cast it and kept it going since I arrived, just in case."

"Ahh." The voice fell silent.

After a moment Harry nodded to the others, signaling that they were alone. With that done, he silently cocking an eyebrow at Rias, silently indicating that he wished an explanation.

She held up a hand, though, breathing in deeply before bursting out into a giggle. "Oh my word, a ninja! An honest to Maou ninja, eheheheh! Hehehe, I wonder if any of them has any desires or wishes they would be willing to become a Devil in order to fulfill. Heheheh… a ninja… in my peerage…" It was only when Akeno reached over and lightly slapped her forearm that she came back to herself, blushing at the fact the others were all looking at her in amusement.

"Ahem, um, well, yes." Rias coughed to regain control before replying seriously, though Harry's smirk was not helping, nor was Akeno's 'fufufu'ing in the background. "I did say they would be circumspect about giving us any rewards for our actions with the Truthspotter, Harry. Face, it's all about keeping face. If they gave us those gifts in public they would admit that outsiders were the ones who spotted a problem the government was ignorant of. If they didn't do anything, well, the loss of face would be a bit less and an internal matter, but still there. So they go out of their way to show us favor but then hide the fact that they are doing more."

Akeno nodded. "The fact that my family tried to launch their attacks on me is one thing, but the fact that they lost, and so very badly that the Shinsengumi were called in, no doubt smarted even worse. Appearance, face, they are much more important in Japanese culture than Europeans are used to normally."

"I see," Harry said, though his tone implied he really didn't. Rias chuckled at that and then turned her head back to the next dragon as it appeared.

The ceremony ended with seven dragons soaring across the sky and a final, booming bell note, the sound reverberating from all around them, followed by a moment of silence, startling in its suddenness. Then, at some unseen signal, the Torii gates at the end of the ravine shone, and the people standing at the far back of the crowd began to make their way out, small magical paper lights shining here and there, including right above the Kuoh group's head, giving them light but not carrying far to anyone else.

Harry and the others waited for a few minutes, looking over the items that had been left at the far back of the booth. One was a book, a huge one, about the length of Harry's forearm. The other was obviously some kind of clothing wrapped in a bundle. The third looked like a series of books, but how many, they couldn't say given the wrapping. The clothing read to all of them as something magical; the books didn't.

Before any of them could wonder about whether they should open the packages here or not there came a rustling, and a woman walked into the booth from the small trail. She was a woman who looked around Kala's physical age, that is, in her early thirties, and she wore a traditional kimono in dark blue and black with a flash of green here and there. This was paired with pale skin and long, flowing black hair, falling straight down her back, and violet eyes much like Akeno's.

To Harry's shock, however, the family resemblance didn't end there, because this woman's breasts looked to be the same size as Akeno's or perhaps bigger. _Bloody hell, I never even thought that was possible!_ While he kept that thought to himself, Harry couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "Good grief. If that's what you're going to look like in the future, Akeno, the man you settle down with is going to be truly blessed."

At that Akeno blushed so red she seemed a beacon in the darkening area, but she shook it off to concentrate on the older woman as she stepped closer. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to place the woman's face, which was a little thinner and with slightly higher cheekbones than Akeno's own, coupled with a beauty mark on one cheek.

Before she could try to remember where she had seen this woman before, though, the woman caught sight of her and smiled a joyful, happy smile as she stepped into the viewing area. "Akeno-chan!" With that she made to move forward, but Rias and Harry scowled at that, and she nodded, halting where she was. "Ah, I see. Yes, I doubt the Himejima clan has ever made the best impression on any of you. However, I am here to show that is a thing of the past. My name is Himejima Suzaku, and I am the new Himejima clan head."

"Suzaku, that… You babysat, I think…" Akeno said, tapping her lips with a finger as she tried to think. "And I think it was fun. I'm sorry, but I can't place you more than that."

"That's all right. I didn't think you would remember me very well. Yes, I babysat you several times. I loved you and Aunt Shuri very much."

At that Akeno stiffened. Anger and remembered hate and fear crossed her face hearing someone from the Himejima clan saying her mother's name, and her hands clenched into fists.

But Suzaku went on unhurriedly. "I was deeply saddened by the clan's attitude toward you both and tried to argue for you, but until recently I had little power to force others to listen to me." Suzaku's sad yet loving smile shifted, baring a few teeth in a smile oddly reminiscent of Akeno when she went into Sadist Queen™ mode. "Now I do, and that is something I have you to thank for."

Akeno looked away, not knowing how to answer, somewhat blindsided by this. The woman before her did fit into many of her few happy memories with her family, and being reminded that there were good moments even after her mother and she had had to rejoin the rest of the clan was throwing her off-balance. This was not helped by the look of unvarnished affection on Suzaku's face, a face so similar yet different from her own.

It fell to Rias to answer for her, and she did so, moving forward to shake hands with the older woman. "I'm Rias Gremory, as you no doubt know. Can I ask what you mean by that?"

"Of course I know who you are, Gremory-san," the older woman said, using the handshake to pull a startled Rias into a hug with a laugh. "You're the little redhead who helped our Akeno-chan when I couldn't. I can't begin to thank you for taking her in and even going so far as to say she is a Gremory as you did during that last bit of idiocy. Not even one of your favored servants, rather a true family member, that was amazing."

"I could do no less for a woman who I have grown to love as a sister," Rias replied, although, to be fair, some of her thoughts on Akeno were very un-sisterly over the years, although Akeno had never shown any interest in that direction. Now she hesitantly returned the hug, feeling the older woman's larger breasts pressing into Rias's own and biting back a bit of jealousy before moving away. "But, um, could you explain…"

"Oh yes." Suzaku stood back, moving to one side to face Akeno directly, something Harry allowed by stepping to Akeno's other side.

Tonks and Kala stood back, watching but not taking part in this odd bit of drama, if that was the right word. _Family reunion might be closer, even if Akeno doesn't seem to know what to do about it,_ Tonks mused idly.

"Ahem. To explain, you have to realize that face is very important and becomes more important the more powerful you are." As Rias shot Harry a small look he rolled his eyes, but Suzaku didn't show whether she had seen it, going on calmly. "The Himejima clan is allowed a lot of autonomy because our family magics set us apart, but with that independence comes some constraints, which the people who attacked you overstepped magnificently. And, even in internal clan matters, face is vastly important. The former clan head lost a lot of face having been the one to organize that debacle. His heir even took part, leaving the decision of who would next be clan head to a traditional method we have used to make that decision before: we asked our Sacred Beast to bond with the one it felt most worthy."

"What is a Sacred Beast?" Harry asked, his eyes gleaming with the desire to learn new kinds of magic.

"A Sacred Beast is a remnant of the divine, a representation of the ancient gods, long dead. There are few of them remaining in the world, but the Himejima clan met with and reached an accord with this one hundreds of generations ago when Nippon was new, Potter-san," Suzaku said simply, though her words left Harry more confused, not less. "It serves as guardian of our clan and can be invoked in moments like this, when our clan is in turmoil, as to its direction, place in our society, or simply who should lead us."

Suzaku smiled the almost vicious smile again, highlighting the resemblance between her and Akeno even more while she held up a hand on which a small image of a bird glowed briefly. "It chose me. It also expressed its displeasure with the previous head's lack of compassion and arrogance in no uncertain terms. Its name is the Vermillion Bird, and it is bonded to me now, making me the clan head. That rather neatly also saddled me with the need to make reparations to you, Akeno-chan."

She held up a large, thick scroll. "This was your mother's, Akeno-chan. She had developed an entirely new school of magic based on our family magics and the use of a whip and then entrusted it to the clan head at the time. He did not do as he ought to have, and I am here to finally hand it over to you."

Akeno slowly took it and then found Suzaku stepping close, hugging her even more tightly than she had Rias a moment ago. "Akeno-chan, I know I can't make up for not being there, for not being able to help you or Aunt Shuri. But I do love you and did love her. She and I were very close, and I hope to one day be as close to you. And to prove to you that not everyone in your family hated you for your mixed blood. Some of us could look past that to the wonderful person you are, to the amazing woman your mother was, and not judge her by her choice in men."

The younger Himejima's eyes had gone almost owl-shaped at the hug, but she returned it with slightly trembling hands as the knowledge that she had a family member, a blood-related family member rather than simply someone who she thought of and treated as family, who loved her. Who didn't hate her for who her father was. Who, in fact, was offering the kind of unconditional love she had been denied for so long. Tears sprang to her eyes as she felt something inside shift, almost, the last vestiges of self-hate disappearing from her mind. So she hugged back, while around her, her self-chosen family looked on with wide, accepting smiles.

The emotion of that moment couldn't last for long, and she stepped back, beaming a smile at the older Himejima woman. "Thank you for that, Suzaku-anee (big sister informal version). I, I think I really needed to hear that from someone." She smiled, looking around at the others, and then asked, "Um, that hidden ninja person did say we could use this space as long as we wanted, didn't he? I don't suppose you all would mind if I spent some time getting to know my anee-san for a bit?"

"Of course not," Rias replied, while Harry and the others nodded. "We'll all move to one side of the room so you two can have some privacy."

Harry simply gave Akeno a one-armed hug before moving with Rias to pick up the items they had been given. Tonks pulled out a book from somewhere and leaned back in her chair, while Kala moved to look at the items with the other two.

Turning to Suzaku, Akeno paused at the look on the older woman's face. "You have some very good friends, Akeno-chan. I'm happy for you." Akeno nodded, feeling a bit shy for some reason, but that didn't last long as Suzaku smiled at her, taking her hands and pulling her to the opposite corner. "Now, what kind of questions do you want to ask?"

While the two Himejimas got to know one another again after more than a decade apart, Harry opened up the cloth bundle first, having some flashbacks to when he had been given Weasley jumpers or had gotten the Invisibility Cloak in his first year at Hogwarts. Inside he found a note, which he read as he handed the package to Rias. "This is the kimono of Empress Suiko, who was the first woman and also the first magical to sit on the throne of Japan in 592 C.E. Huh, that's interesting. It's got a lot of spells on it, and they were recently renewed: protection, antiperspirant, a series of glamours you can activate on command, a small expanded pouch hidden inside one of the sleeves, a lie detector—huh, wonder how that one would work?—and, for some reason, a see-through function."

"Why do you sound so uncertain about that? I can think of dozens of positive reasons to have the ability to see through things," Rias asked, confused, while Kala lifted up the large book and began to remove it from its wrappings. She was also thinking that perhaps this gift was of particular import because the Onmyodo wanted to curry favor with them as well as thank them. Reared as she had been on politics, that meaning was obvious, whereas Harry's questioning of the see-through spell was not.

"I didn't mean the wearer, which would be you, would be able to see through walls. I meant the kimono itself becomes see-through." He smirked as Rias blushed hotly. "On the other hand, you're right. Why, I could think up a dozen uses of that spell right now."

Rias blushed, but actually thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "Right, well, that sounds fascinating, especially the spellwork. I've heard of those spells, of course, and know the devil equivalents, but I've never seen most of those placed on clothing before."

Nodding, Harry turned his attention to the book in Kala's hands, which she held out to him before moving behind him, leaning against his back and putting her chin on his shoulder. Her blue hair ruffled against his and the back of his neck, and the feel of her pressing against his back was all sorts of distracting, but he manfully pushed through it to finish the job of unwrapping the book, only to gasp as he stared at the cover. "Magics of Ancient China: What is Known, Hinted at, and Hidden. Hmmm, I presume that hidden, in this case, means spellwork that no one has figured out how to do since China's magicals were wiped out?"

"I'd say so," Kala said excitedly, while Rias too looked at the image on the cover. "I've heard about the terracotta soldiers, of course. But are they really magical?"

"Hmm, perhaps. There are a few mysteries about them and why they were made. If they were magical in nature, that could by why," Harry replied, thinking. "Hmm…"

"The Chinese specialized in Earth magic, from what I recall."

"Did you ever go into China in the centuries before you met Harry?" Rias asked 'innocently' with a wicked twist to her grin belying her tone.

Kala glared. No woman liked to be reminded of her age, even a Fallen Angel, but she answered Rias's question despite the desire to thump her one, pushing herself away from Harry and to one side. "I did, but I never stayed anywhere for very long outside of Spain and Athens in Greece. I do remember meeting a few Chinese cooks a time or two, but only a few magicals. Like Harry's wizards, they were able to hide from us, like we did from you all, far too well. But trust me, I'd remember anything about, about…what should we call these soldiers if they were magical?"

"Depends on the spells or, more probably, the runic arrays that were worked into them. If they could actually move fight and such, than I'd say the word golems make sense," Harry replied.

All three of them fell silent, looking at the image, then Harry blinked and used a silent _Accio_ to pull the last 'gift' towards them, opening it quickly. "This one seems to be the most unassuming gift. It's a series of the primers for Onmyouji-style magic, except for this one…" Harry pulled the bottom-most book out of the pile, looking at it thoughtfully. "It's a bit heavy and thick for the book it's supposed to be."

He pulled that book out of the pile, seeing a note attached. "'For the young lady who liked to play with lightning.'" He looked inside and smirked before shaking his head and looking over to Akeno. "Akeno, this is for you,", he said, tossing it in her direction.

Akeno looked up from where she had been giggling at something Suzaku had just told her and then grabbed the book out of the air, frowning at the weight of it. She curiously opened it, only to find that the book was hollow and had a hidden panel, which she had to twist this way and that like a puzzle box.

"Ooh, like some of those spy movies," Suzaku enthused, shifting around to stare into the box as Akeno opened it, smiling in delight as she saw what was within. "Fufufufu. Well, someone seems to have thought in a similar manner to your mother, Akeno-chan. That's a Lightning Rod. Don't be fooled by the blasé name, though."

Inside was a small handle, or what looked like a handle anyway, the sight of it almost making Akeno think of Star Wars. The handle-like object was wooden, but had two nubs on it that looked like buttons. But when she pulled it out and flicked the button, a long whip started to extend from the end. When she touched the next one, the whip receded, to be replaced by a long rod with a rounded tip on the end. "Fascinating."

"And useful too," Suzaku replied, but smiled as Akeno put it away and turned back to her. Their conversation from then on wasn't always happy, and many a tear was nearly shed, but, in the end, Akeno could honestly say she loved every minute of it.

Eventually, though, Harry realized that it was pushing midnight, and they had to cut it short. Moving over, Rias interrupted the two Himejimas, apologizing but saying that they had to get home. She needn't have bothered, though, since Akeno was close to falling asleep, and Suzaku looked much the same. Smiling, the older woman stood up, bowing toward Rias. "It has been a very emotional night for both of us, I think. Would you be willing to let us correspond together?"

"I would even like to invite Suzaku-anee to our home at some point," Akeno said, standing up and leaning on her friend as she yawned.

"I have no problem with that," Rias said with a smile, with Harry echoing her. "It's always nice to meet new friends, after all. Especially if they have replaced old enemies."

 **OOOOOOO**

As Harry and his extended family were welcoming in the New Year, the Khaos Brigade were welcoming back one of their members, who had headed home on both a honest visit and an information gathering trip. Le Fay Pendragon sat next to her brother, Arthur, happily holding his hand and leaning against his shoulder. She had gone home to her family and, after spending a few days with them, had disappeared into the Wizarding world, which her family, descendants of the original King Arthur, had known about since its creation, even though that knowledge had become severely limited among the current royal line sitting on England's throne. Indeed, many of the books and scrolls she had used to train herself in magic came from the Wizarding world.

"So, wait, there is an entirely different sect of magic users out there, and we've never even heard of them?!" Bikou exclaimed, looking shocked.

"You've sort of bumped into them occasionally. That one group in Russia when you tried to see if those magic bears were intelligent? They were a group called Aurors in England, magical police, though most Russian magicals were wiped out during the Communist era by infighting. But yes, for the most part the European wizards remain separated," Le Fay said with a nod. "Those wards they have up are ancient and powerful beyond belief."

She froze at that, looking over at Ophis fearing she would take that comment negatively, as if she had implied that they were more powerful than her. Oftentimes Ophis was touchy about such things, always remembering how the Great Red had cast her out from the dimensional gap.

But Ophis simply shook her head. "Not so much powerful as insidious. They could be shattered at any time by myself and many others. But you have to know where they are and then find one or two of the wards stones or ward pillars. Even for one such as I that would be difficult. The wizards do not have much power, even their so called Dark or Light Lords lack in that area to a High class angel, Fallen or Devil. Yet they have guile, or perhaps a better term is dexterity, in how they can utilize magic."

"Well, regardless, I fit right in," Le Fay said with a relieved giggle, touching her hat, which lay in her lap, and then her long robes, which were marked by several different glyphs: star and moon shapes. "In fact, I had several people asking me where I had bought my robes; I even had some people compliment me on my 'Dumbledore look.' But I did have to scramble for a reason to cover my not being in school. Apparently I should be in my fourth year or so at Hogwarts, but, of course, I'm not."

"There's actually a place called Hogwarts!" shouted Bikou with a laugh, while Kuroka giggled.

"Oh yes, I've even seen pictures. It's a magnificent castle," Le Fay said, almost longingly. "It probably wouldn't be able to teach me much about magic, but it would have been nice to interact with many other kids who are able to use magic in the first place."

"We are getting off track here, sister dear," Arthur said, gently thumping his head sideways against his sister's. "Perhaps you could tell us about Harry Potter?"

The two had not been more than a few feet away from one another since Le Fay had returned, causing Bikou and Kuroka to smile occasionally and think quite long and hard about teasing both of them about being sib-cons. But there was something almost sweet about their devotion that caused Kuroka, at least, to hold her tongue, while Bikou's tongue was held by Ophis's presence. She could see the numerous jokes piling up behind his eyes, though.

Le Fay frowned a little. "Okay, but I'm going to have to preface everything here by saying that I don't think everything I learned is accurate."

"Explain," Ophis said, leaning forward a little. "You were lied to, the information was not there, or is there some disinformation campaign at work? Was your identity discovered?"

"My identity wasn't discovered," Le Fay said, causing many a sigh of relief.

The Khaos Brigade had been dealing with their bases being hammered worldwide by Bikou's ancestor, the Monkey King, as well as a few others, and had lost more than seven bases in Japan thanks to the Onmyodo becoming aware of their machinations as well as their allies within the society being found out. Ophis's earlier comment on the wizards having dexterity and guile rather than brute power was entirely accurate, but a lot of their grunts, low level Sacred Gear users or magicians contracted with various Devils they had allied with, didn't have much in the way of power either, so their forces had been on the losing end of many a clash.

The last thing Ophis or any of the others wanted to do was to bring another wizard sect into conflict directly against them, especially one which seemed to be quite happy going its own way for the most part. _If they could perhaps aim it at one of the three factions, who most decidedly held the reins of power with a capital P in terms of magic, that could be interesting, though,_ Cao-Cao thought, leaning back in his chair and stroking his chin. But even as he was thinking that he also continued to listen to Le Fay, eager to hear more about the man who so disrupted his plans and the Khaos Brigade's.

"I do not think it's a disinformation campaign, or, if it is, it's one built upon rumors and hearsay rather than anything deliberate." Le Fay paused, thinking how to put it. "Some of what I heard was colored by simple dislike, in many cases, but that clashed with an almost society wide hero worship. And fear too. Lots of that in many areas, which I found strange."

"Hero worship?" asked more than one, and Le Fay smiled, a little blush appearing on her face as she poked her fingers together. "Harry Potter is seen as something of a hero, and I think he actually earned the title. You see, there was this Dark Lord who first rose to power about thirty years ago or so and launched his war against…"

From there Le Fay described what was known by the public of the story of Harry Potter from beginning to end. She prefaced nearly everything with the words 'what the public thinks happened is,' or 'what the storybooks said.' When she used that line the first time her brother couldn't help but interrupt somewhat teasingly, "Storybooks? Like those you bought?"

Le Fay blushed in embarrassment, smacking her shoulder against his. "Yes," she said, huffing and looking away. "They're cute."

"Of course," he said with a smile, moving an arm around her shoulders, which she promptly leaned into, her momentary irritation with him quickly forgotten as Le Fay continued the tale.

"Dementors," Ophis had asked later, sitting upright and almost glaring at the two Pendragon Siblings.

Le Fay nodded grimly, her hands on her hat, clenching it out of shape. "Yes, the description of them worried me too."

"It should," Ophis said with a shiver, something that everyone around her noticed.

When asked, however, she refused to go into any detail, simply looking at Le Fay and silently demanding that she go on. That left many questions in Cao-Cao's mind, because anything that could bother Ophis to that extent interested him greatly. _Yes,_ he reflected _, this wizarding world is looking interesting in many ways. The Khaos Brigade can provide the power if need be, but perhaps we need some guile, as Ophis put it, of our own._

Much of what Le Fay had explained was astonishing to many there, though not to Ophis. She had long known of the hidden wizarding world but had disdained it before this, believing that no wizard would be powerful enough to help her against Great Red, and even their vaunted spellwork wouldn't have bothered the Great Red at all, given his armored hide and magical power. Further, they had no information that would help her bridge the dimensional gap to get back home.

As Le Fay continued to chatter on excitedly about all she had heard about Harry Potter, though, Ophis was reassessing that thought. When Le Fay stopped to breathe, Ophis was finally able to get a question in.

This was an inordinate amount of time later, something Ophis didn't notice, but that Kuroka did. It looked to the stray Nekoshou that the young witch had become something of a fangirl towards this Harry Potter fellow, which made him all the more interesting in her eyes.

Yet Ophis's question grabbed everyone's attention. "How?"

That one word froze Le Fay where she was standing, and everyone else there who had been listening interestedly to the tale of Harry Potter's life, start to finish, which included even Herakles, looked at their patron. "How what, miss?" Le Fay said respectfully, going so far as to bow her head.

The Dragon God disdained that, simply asking, "How did this Harry Potter become a demigod? I have little respect for Devils, but they are good at analyzing the power of those around them, and if he was just a regular wizard, he would never be able to convince anyone he was a demigod. What changed? What is his patron deity?"

Le Fay frowned, tugging at the tip of her hat. "I don't know, miss. There are tales that he was able to match this Voldemort person power for power, and it's well known that he became a werewolf. In fact, for a time there was even talk about their werewolf laws being replaced and everything, but the fear of werewolves seems to have been too strong. Instead it's tainted a lot of people's thoughts about Harry, and his daughter too, for some reason. Which is weird to me, since the curse isn't supposed to pass on like that if both parents aren't were-creatures. I got the impression that Harry tried to change things in the society, but it didn't work so well or something. It was, um, just **really** confusing to try to get a handle on how Harry Potter was viewed by the society as a whole."

"These werewolves," said Bikou, coming in for a second. "How is it that we know about werewolves—hell, I think we've got a few in the Khaos Brigade; um…those Croatian guys, right?—but we've never heard of this 'wizarding world' before?"

"Wizarding world werewolves normally stick to themselves or the wizarding world itself," Le Fay replied knowledgeably, having looked up that very fact. "I doubt many of that sort even knows that other werewolves exist. And those that do keep the secret from everyone else. Or, or are obliviated."

"Indeed," Cao-Cao said, speaking up for the first time. "Remember how insular every pack is. Werewolves tend to stick together, and the older the pack, the more insular it becomes. We had a major issue when recruiting that Ukrainian pack and only did so by wiping out another pack they were competing with. But what is 'oblivated?'"

"Um, a kind of memory erasure and modification spell. It sounds really easy to use and kind of powerful, but not as useful for just modifying memories as Faction spells. But it might be just as good at getting rid of memories," Le Fay replied.

"Are there any gods associated with werewolves?" Ophis asked abruptly.

"There are gods of the moon, I believe," Arthur replied, pushing up his glasses thoughtfully. "I've not studied much in the way of mythology, however. Hmm…perhaps something from the Norse pantheon, or perhaps Lupa from the Roman? she was a minor goddess though. There might have been a tale about Zeus in the Greek pantheon and some king? At any rate, you're thinking that, if there is, perhaps he somehow was able to invoke him or her and gain power from it?"

"Yes," Ophis said with a nod. She looked over at Herakles and Cao-Cao. "Is there anything unusual about his werewolf form in comparison to others?"

Herakles grunted, but under Ophis's stare went on to describe Harry's appearance as best he could without any added embellishments or boasting. As he did, Arthur and Kuroka looked at one another in surprise, with Kuroka giving voice to their thoughts. "That's not a normal werewolf, nya. That does seem to imply something special happened."

"No, it's well known that the curse came from a Professor Lupin, who was a friend of his family," Le Fay interjected helpfully. "Apparently they were out of the castle at a time, and he had forgotten to take his medicine, attacked Harry and some other students, but Harry was the only one who was bitten. That kind of thing is used over there to offset Harry Potter's example, showing how dangerous they can be rather than people just afflicted with a sickness."

"It matters not," Ophis said, waving her hand to silence the other short girl. "There is cause there to believe that he had contact with divinity, if after the original curse, perhaps. Unless there is more known about this form?"

Le Fay shrugged apologetically. "There were some rumors going on that Harry had figured out some way of somehow bonding with the curse of the werewolf rather than having it take him over at turns. I don't know the truth about that; I'm sorry."

Ophis blinked and then, to the surprise of everyone there, said, "Do not be. In war there is something called the fog of battle: one can never know everything one wants to. We will continue with our plans to see if we can recruit him."

She turned to look at Kuroka, staring hard at her. "You will be our go-between." This caused Kuroka to wince, having no desire to attempt to enter Kuoh again after the creepy feeling of the wards from the last time she had tried to get close to her imouto. Still, she knew she had no choice and so nodded. With that Ophis abruptly left the room.

There was a moment of silence then Bikou turned and launched into a tease assault on Le Fay and Arthur, causing Le Fay to blush, and Arthur to start scowling, his hand reaching for his blade at his side. Kuroka sat back, pulling out a tub of popcorn from somewhere as she watched her friend at work, waiting for Arthur to take offense, or Le Fay to start shouting back.

None of them saw Cao-Cao leave the room, still looking thoughtful. "The world is vaster than I thought I knew," he said to Herakles who had followed them out. "This requires some additions to my plans. Perhaps a new recruitment drive is in order."

 **OOOOOOO**

Dawn broke over Kuoh and, as the light began to shine through a few of the loft windows, Harry stretched luxuriously in bed, cracking his neck one way then the other before looking at where Rias too was stirring. She smiled blearily up at him kissing his bare shoulder then up to his neck as her eyes cleared. "Hey," he said, his emerald eyes nearly shining with affection.

"Hey yourself," she said back, kissing his shoulder again, her own look an extremely cute mixture of sleepiness and love.

Harry chuckled and leaned down, kissing her. At first it was a very light kiss, and then, as the arm Rias had around his chest tightened its grip, Harry deepened it, their tongues beginning to play against one another. Rias thrust her tongue out into his mouth, but Harry pulled back slightly, leaving her tongue out in the air for a second before licking and sucking at it, causing her to moan.

He pulled away then, kissing her cheek then her neck, pulling her up slightly in order to do it. Her breasts rubbed against his own chest, her nipples hardening at the contact, and she slowly started to undulate against him. A second later she returned the gesture, kissing the side of his neck before nibbling at his ear, which caused him to growl, and Rias smiled in delight. She had found out that Harry's ears were especially sensitive, along with his neck and a few other places.

They kissed again, tongues out once more and questing. Harry's arms went around her, hugging her onto his chest, then twisting them around so that he was above her. Once above Rias he pulled back from her lips, trailing kisses down her chin neck and into her breasts, which he began to play with, licking and sucking at each and every inch of them for a few moments, luxuriating in the feel, the size and heft of them.

When Harry's fingers began playing with her nipples, Rias moaned louder than before, tugging hard at his hair pulling him back up to kiss her again. As they kissed she ran her hands and nails up and down his back, feeling his muscles move and shift under her touch a shiver of delight going through her. When Harry began to rock against her, Rias opened her legs slightly, allowing him to move in between them, his rising manhood sliding along her cleft.

This was how the mornings always began with them: slow, languid, ecstatic lovemaking. Both of them simply enjoying waking up to one another and also greatly enjoyed starting the day with lovemaking. "It's better than coffee, both to wake you up and to put a smile on your face," Rias had said at one point, to which Harry had laughingly agreed.

Now Rias shifted her legs further apart, looking down while Harry kissed her neck and collarbone, one hand rubbing through his hair, the other having traveled down to his rear as Harry rested his manhood directly upon her moistening crotch. Rias always marveled at how large it was, how deeply Harry's staff would embed itself within her body when they joined.

However, both of them had neglected to remember at that moment that it was a school day, the first such since they had taken the step to full lovers. And, just as Harry was about to pull his hips back in order to slowly work his length inside of her, his alarm clock decided to go off, reminding them both of this unpleasant fact.

With the noise of the alarm going on to one side they both looked at one another, then down to where Harry's hardness was still resting lightly along her cleft. Then they looked over towards the alarm clock before groaning. Rias actually went so far as to thump her head back into the pillow as she repeated the phrase "Darn it!" several times.

"That is a remarkably blasé way of putting it, but yes," Harry said, **very** reluctantly pulling back. A part of him just wanted to say screw it and then screw Rias down into the mattress, but that wouldn't do. Even a quickie would take a while, and Harry wasn't going to let his time with Rias mess up his time with the rest of his family or his job as a teacher. _Damn it._

Rias was thinking much the same and gently pushed him off her, moving over to the side of the bed and sitting up. Harry stopped her, though, one arm going around to her waist and pulling her back into his chest as he kissed along her collarbone and up to her ear, whispering, "I love you, Rias."

Rias giggled, kissing him. "Mmmm, I love you too."

She then hopped to her feet, very deliberately shaking her rear at him and stretching before running her fingers through her hair and then giving him a look over her shoulder. "Nothing more would please me more than to call in sick, but I suppose my public image wouldn't survive it."

"And I surely can't," Harry said with a sigh.

With that Rias turned away and began to use a few spells to pull items of clothing towards her. She dressed quickly but with much bouncing and swaying in order to give Harry more of a show, which he wordlessly sent a note of approval for as he looked at her.

Eventually, though, even Harry had to get out of bed. Rias waited by the hatch, staring in turn as he got dressed, licking her lips as she looked at him from top to bottom. "Suddenly the idea of heading back to bed has even more going for it," she murmured.

That, she thought, was putting it mildly. Making love to Harry was the next best thing to intoxicating, calling out to a part of her devil heritage she hadn't ever consciously acknowledged before. Lust was a very tough thing to break out of, and that part of her, aware that they had to head to school, also wanted to show off in a very exhibitionistic kind of way.

Rias found herself fighting the idea of going to school after a bout of lovemaking in which Harry left a few hickies here and there or even going around with his load still inside her, kept there by her panties, an idea that somehow made her shiver at the sheer Sinful nature of it. But that would be more than a little beyond the pale. That didn't stop it from being very tempting, though. Yet eventually Rias shook herself. _No. I may be a Devil but my Sins do not control me; I control them._

That thought was helped a moment later as she heard the pitter-patter of feet below. With a sigh Rias opened the hatch and slowly started to descend. She spotted Lily and Kunou exiting their room and racing downstairs while the smell of breakfast, held at bay thanks to the closed hatch, wafted upwards. She called back up, "Yasaka is here and seems to be making breakfast."

"I can smell it too, love," Harry said with a laugh before appearing in the hatch and following her down. Down below, they did indeed find Yasaka cooking in the kitchen, with Lily and Kunou sitting at the dining table already in the next room over.

Smiling, Harry moved up behind Yasaka, hugging her around the stomach. "MMmmm, smells good. Is that salmon and rice? What, no fried eel?"

"That's a stereotype, and I don't think you're reacting to just the smell of the food, Harry. Or is your wizard's staff really reacting to the smell of salmon?" Yasaka quipped, feeling her heartbeat starting to race as she slowly moved her rear against his still turgid length, feeling it jump in his pants.

"Heh, just a bit of coitus interruptus, nothing I'm not used to. One of the few downsides of kids, I guess," Harry mumbled. One hand moved her hair to one side as the other arm tightened around her, followed by Harry nipping at her neck, his teeth grazing her skin between each word, leaving bite marks. _After all, Yasaka doesn't have to worry about anyone's reactions to that kind of thing._ "Although, seeing you standing there in that housewife dress complete with apron is a more than a bit of a turn on. HHrrrmmm…."

While Rias grinned and began to make up plates for the kids from the rice balls, fruit and sausages that had already finished cooking, Yasaka chittered in pure kitsune delight as she rubbed her rear harder against Harry. _Yasaka, old girl, you did a yeoman's job when you convinced Harry to let loose more,_ she thought excitedly. _Pity only Rias has benefited so far, but that won't last forever. Although, I wonder if it'll be me or Kala who'll be the next recipient of his now-released affections?_

Both of them stopped as one as Koneko and Asia's smells came down the stairs, signaling the end of their little moment. Harry resignedly moved away from Yasaka, moving to prepare drinks, while Yasaka moved back to her cooking of the salmon, and Rias moved to start work on the lunchboxes. Akeno, too, came in, moving to join her King quickly, the two girls talking, with Akeno teasing Rias on the fact that she still looked a little flushed and red in the face.

Koneko and Asia sat down at the table with Lily, Kunou, and a newly arrived Teddy. While Teddy looked just tired being up this early, Asia looked as if she was hyperventilating. Though it was somewhat against the rules of the house, she had pulled out some of her books and had begun to go through some of her notes as she sat there.

Starting by ruffling Koneko's hair, Harry moved around the table before resting both his hands on Asia's shoulders from behind. "Asia, calm down. You're ready for this. All of your studying will pay off. You were able to take all the placement tests and score very well. You'll fit right in," he said quietly but firmly.

At the touch and the reminder, Asia slowly started to calm down, yet even so one problem continued to reverberate through her mind. "But what if they don't like me?" she whispered, giving voice to that thought.

Lily laughed. "Who cares? A lot of kids at school still don't like me, and you wouldn't believe the stuff girls say about people they don't like behind their backs. But Rias and Akeno taught me what to do about that, and I can fight fire with fire now with the best of them."

"And it's not like you won't have friends there," Kunou said with a smile, pointing at Koneko and then over to Rias and Akeno, all of whom nodded in turn, the latter two turning from their work on lunch to do so.

"You'll also make new friends," Harry said soothingly. "The girls will love you almost immediately; you're just too likable for any other response. The boys, you've seen how Issei and Saji act around you. They like you a little too much, in my opinion."

She blushed at that, her fingers starting to do that twiddling thing that she always did when she was embarrassed.

"They're right," Koneko said with a firm nod. "You won't have any trouble school-wise or social-wise." She then smirked. "And if anyone tries to bother you or take advantage of you in any way, I get to try dwarf tossing, only with normal people instead of dwarves. That might actually be fun."

Asia actually laughed at that before remonstrating with Koneko about being mean to people like that. But Koneko was unrepentant, and Harry smirked, reaching over the table to high five Koneko.

While Rias and Akeno continued to work on lunch, Yasaka and Harry transferred the rest of breakfast to the table, where Harry and Yasaka started to make certain that the three youngsters had all of their homework and such like prepared. Teddy had been assigned several pages of homework in order to bring himself up to snuff, but while Tonks was no Hermione, she had made certain that Teddy, at least, was ahead of his age group in reading and writing. Math was a different matter, and he would struggle for a while to catch up in science and social studies, but his basic reading skills were good, although writing in Japanese was surely going to give him conniptions.

All three had, of course, finished their work before the party the day before. But twice Teddy and Lily had to rush upstairs or over to the boys' townhouse to grab their work and stuff it into their bookbags.

As they were doing that, Yasaka made certain that her daughter remembered that her ears and tails could not be shown at school…again. She had gotten into the habit of letting them both out over the holidays, simply because being in her kitsune form was more fun than being in her human form, giving her faster reflexes and a better sense of smell and a bit more in terms of strength. Lily wasn't quite the same in that way. She, like Harry, was often confused by what their noses were telling them, and a goodly portion of their strength and reflexes carried over, so Lily kept her werewolf form for roughhousing with Koneko and her father or running through the woods in Kyoto.

Looking at how excitedly her daughter spoke to Lily about heading back to school and seeing their other friends, Yasaka could barely keep herself from being misty eyed. The amount of changes that Harry and Lily's friendship had wrought in her daughter was profound, and she absolutely **adored** seeing it. She treasured seeing her daughter light up as Harry patted her on the head, smirking at his own daughter about some homework or other that Kunou had done better than her. _Good Lord, he really is filling in for her father, isn't he? Is it any wonder I've come to lo…_

Yasaka's thoughts stammered to a halt, and she looked down at herself in shock for a second. Thankfully, no one else noticed _. No, this quickly? Affection, yes, but, but, yes, that's all it is. It's affection, not, not love,_ she thought, very, very firmly to herself, banishing a sense of guilt that she felt as she wasn't really certain if that could be the case. _No, I loved my husband. I can feel affection and a heaping of desire towards Harry, but that depth of emotion, no._ _It would be a betrayal of my anata's_ (darling's) _memory, especially to feel it so quickly._

Eventually the breakfast was finished and everyone was ready to go. Yasaka, still unable to stay away from Kyoto, prepared to leave for the day. Kunou kissed her mother goodbye before standing aside to let Lily do the same on the older woman's other cheek. After the two of them were done, she received an awkward blushing hug from Teddy before Harry swooped in, holding her by the sides of her head and kissing her very, very thoroughly, leaving her blushing and a little wide-eyed.

"That wasn't very nice!" she said after a moment. "Now I have to go back to Kyoto and do all those fiddly bits of leadership that I have to with your kiss on my mind! If I get propositioned because I'm blushing and staring off into the distance and the idiot I'm meeting with thinks it's because of him, Harry, I'm going to blame you."

Harry smirked unrepentantly, while Rias muttered something about Yasaka knowing her suffering as she led Lily out the door. She would take both Kunou and Lily to school that morning, with Harry walking with Asia to school, and Koneko walking with Akeno from the girls' house.

Rias walked with Lily and Kunou to school, the two little girls chattering excitedly about seeing their friends again so excitedly that Rias reflected, _It seems like that they have forgotten the fact that they will actually be forced to do work at school._ _Now if I was Akeno I would point that out to them. As it isn't, and I'm not, I think I'll wait until they figure it out on their own. On the other hand, Teddy, at least, seems fully aware of that, if his forlorn expression is anything to go by._

She spent much of the walk to school keeping the young boy's enthusiasm at just above lukewarm, and the four of them reached the elementary school quickly. Rias, though, had forgotten that she had only been seen picking up Lily and Kunou before a bare handful of times. Her being there in the morning garnered a bit of attention, particularly from parents who hadn't seen her before.

But Rias ignored them for now, figuring that if anyone spread any nasty rumors, then that was what memory charms were for. Instead she knelt down in front of the three kids. "Now, remember what Yasaka-chan said, Kunou. No letting your other form out," she whispered. "Lily, no punching boys just because they're annoying. Even if you've gotten used to roughing around with Teddy and Loup you have to deal with normal boys just the same as you would with a girl. Teddy, don't be afraid to hang out with Kunou or Lily just because they're younger than you. Don't let peer pressure get to you like that."

Lily rolled her eyes _. As if I'd ever let something as weak as peer pressure get to me_ , she thought. This, of course, showed that for all her intelligence, Lily retained the shortsightedness of her age: she had forgotten that, indeed, peer pressure and rumors certainly had impacted her thinking for quite a while until she had come clean about it to Harry and Rias several months back.

For his part Teddy simply nodded and hugged Rias around the shoulders. The young, somewhat handsome (if in a shaggy kind of way) foreign-looking boy was already getting some looks from the other kids around them as well as from the parents, who were still looking at Rias in particular speculatively. Again, she didn't care, exchanging hugs with Kunou, who raced off to join Teddy as he entered the crowd around the entrance way.

Lily, though, stayed behind, hugging Rias tightly around the neck. "Thanks, Rias," she said before racing off, linking arms with a young, black haired girl who she quickly started to chatter to excitedly, pulling her over towards Kunou as Rias turned away a wide smile on her face.

She soon met up with Akeno and Koneko, and all three of them entered the school as a group, where they were, of course, met by the usual whispers, calls of delight, and side comments. Koneko, in particular, was amused by a few she was overhearing about Rias. "Wow! Gremory-sempai looks even prettier than normal!"

"I know. That smile she's wearing, it looks, I don't know, more real? No, not quite. It's always been real; what am I thinking? More heartfelt, maybe?" said a second girl

"Whatever it is she did, it looks amazing. I want some," said a third, slightly whiny-sounding girl.

Knowing precisely what, or rather who, had made Rias's smile become so much warmer caused Koneko to nearly collapse in laughter, but another conversation quickly caught her attention. This was coming from a few of the older third-year students who were rumored to have long term boyfriends off campus. "That is the look of a young woman in love."

"Screw that!" said the other one more coarsely. "That is the look of a woman who has recently gotten laid! That is the, 'I got laid, and it was good,' smile."

Scowling slightly, Koneko elbowed Rias lightly and then whispered, "There're rumors about you starting up. What do you want us to do?"

Rias looked at her quizzically, and Koneko pointed to her own face. "Your face is showing a lot of real happiness, and there are a lot of rumors about why."

At that Rias looked over at Akeno, who shrugged and then offered a solution. "Perhaps start a rumor in turn about a bit of the truth? We could mention you getting out of your arrangement with Riser, or at least something to that effect."

"That makes a lot of sense, Akeno, good idea," Rias said with a nod. "Okay, we'll talk to Sona and the others, perhaps pass along the rumor that I had been forced into an arranged marriage but talked my parents out of it. That will work."

Akeno nodded. Koneko was a little more dubious but agreed.

 **OOOOOOO**

By this point Harry and Asia, of course, had already reached the school, where Harry had been walking her around, helping her through some last minute paperwork, and, in particular, working with Sona to help Asia pick out a club she could join. Asia did not have to join the Occult Research Club, obviously, since she basically lived with the vast majority of the club.

At that point, though, Harry had to leave Asia with Sona, as the intercom went off asking him to come and talk to the principal. "I wonder what that's about."

Sona winced. "It might be a lecture about proper conduct. The principal here is a joint client of both the Gremory and Sitri Clans."

Harry's eyes narrowed at that, but he nodded. "I'll be back to walk Asia to her first class," he said, with a ruffle of Asia's hair. "And if you come by during lunch time, I think we need to talk about adding some more to the warding scheme."

"Hai. Rias already explained how all of you figured out a way to bury the ward stones for those gateways of yours. It's a good thought and removes a bit of weakness in their design," Sona said, pushing her glasses up her nose as she looked at Harry.

"Exactly," Harry said with a nod. "I'd also like to borrow Momo and Tsubaki. Kala said something about starting a new project that sounded extremely interesting to me. She'll need help with it, but I don't think we'll have the time to devote to it."

"Certainly," Sona said with a nod, understanding that that probably had something to do with the New Year's Eve celebration that Harry, Rias, and Akeno had been invited to. Tonks had gotten her own invitation, but Kala's going as Harry's plus one had been a bit of a surprise. But it was true that she had evinced a lot of interest in weapons and rune craft in the past two weeks.

Harry walked through the school, exchanging hellos with other teachers and the students who had already begun to arrive before he entered the principal's office, finding the older man behind his desk, typing away at something on a computer.

"Sit down," the old man said without looking up. Harry did so and then basically zoned out, waiting for the man to acknowledge his presence. This waiting game was obviously intended to intimidate, but it failed horribly.

The older man finally looked up, and pinned Harry with a glare. "I understand that a certain number of our students here are of Devilish origin. I understand they do not share the same sense of right and wrong, legal or illegal. I understand that, and I understand that you too are connected to that world. However, this is a place of learning. If I even hear a hint of anyone catching you and young Gremory-san doing anything you shouldn't on school grounds, I will be forced to take action against you. Given our unique situation, she would probably be exempt from any such move. You are not, Potter-san. Do not assume your relationship with Gremory-san gives you any special status."

Harry rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't even know about our relationship if not for your own Devilish connections, so I think we've both proven that we can be professional and properly formal in public."

The man glared at him, obviously affronted that he hadn't even seen a hint of their relationship himself before he learned about it from Lord Gremory. "See that you keep it that way," he said warningly.

"I understand and accept your warning in the spirit is given. Don't worry, neither of us have any interest in being public with our relationship," Harry replied in a slightly more conciliatory fashion.

The man thawed noticeably at that and nodded. "I understand, and I do see how it could have occurred. Gremory-san is a gorgeous woman, after all. But the school does have a reputation to uphold."

Harry nodded, and the two of them talked about Harry's upcoming classes for a time, allowing the tension between them to ease before Harry left to pick up Asia.

He dropped her off at her homeroom with a kiss on the cheek, nodding slightly over towards where Koneko was already sitting before sending a smile at the homeroom teacher. "Here is your promised transfer student, Mrs. Tachibana. Be gentle with her would you?" he said with a wink to the older woman.

She smiled in reply and indicated that Asia should come in. Asia gulped as she saw all eyes on her, then saw Koneko giving her a surreptitious thumbs-up and felt Harry's hand on the small of her back, pushing her in gently. "You'll do fine, lovey," he said one last time. "We all know it, and we're all here for you; remember that."

With that thought Asia straightened her shoulders, smiled, if a little tremulously, and entered the room. Harry gently closed the door as the teacher began to speak. "Good morning, everyone, we have a new transfer student here. Please introduce yourself, miss."

"Hello, I'm Asia Potter. My transfer papers finally arrived, and I was able to test into joining you all this year rather than being forced to wait until the next school year. I hope we can all get along," Asia said with a smile and a bow to applause and even a few whistles at the hot foreign girl.

 _She'll be fine,_ he thought to himself, heading to his own first class of the day.

 **OOOOOOO**

Throughout the day, Harry and the others settled into the groove of school once more with varying levels of difficulty. Harry had the easiest time. He enjoyed teaching, and even teaching a larger class like this rather than the more intimate setting of the family was still fun for him.

In contrast Akeno and Rias had the hardest time of it. Koneko simply had to deal with rumors about Asia and glaring a few students into submission when they asked questions during class, forcing her to wonder if maybe she should stick a sign on her back saying, 'Ask at lunch!' Koneko took her studies seriously.

But Akeno and Rias had to deal with a few issues. For one thing, they obviously had to address the rumors going on about Rias. That was a little harder than they had expected, simply because there were more older third-year students who had boyfriends and thus thought they knew what they had seen in Rias's face as she entered the school than they thought there would be.

Akeno also found herself out of sorts for an entirely different reason. And, as they were walking down the corridor to their science class, she voiced that reason. "It's boring."

Rias nodded slightly. "The classes?" This was one of her three major issues with being back in school again too.

"That and everything else." Akeno smiled blandly as they passed by a boy, shifting her body just slightly as if one of her shoulders pained her. The little jiggle this caused in her breasts made the boy nearly run into another student. "It's just boring," she muttered, moving on. _There's no challenge here, no real joy in teasing someone who responds so easily. It's going for pure quantity of teasing over the quality of the tease._

"There's no challenge here?" Rias supplied.

"Exactly, yes," Akeno said with a nod. "Most of the students here aren't any real challenge to get to react in a certain manner. The girls are easy to manipulate, one way or another, and the boy are just that: **boys**. Not men, if you understand what I mean."

"I think I do," Rias said somewhat sensually, causing Akeno to look at her and then giggle and link arms with her friend as they moved down the hallway. The smiles on their faces caused many a blush among both the male and female population. Yet despite their pleasure in one another's company, being back at school was not nearly as much fun as it had been before.

 **OOOOOOO**

Lunch for Asia and Koneko was a bit of a circus. No sooner had the teacher left and the bell rung to signal lunch, every student in the room had leaped out of their desks and rushed towards Asia, shouting questions at her. These ranged from the ubiquitous, "Are you really related to Potter sensei?!" to, "Are you really blonde; did you dye your hair?" And, of course, a few of the boys even felt daring enough to shout out that she was cute and offered to show her around the school.

The doorway even filled up with other students looking in on Asia, rumors of her having spread throughout the day. This included the Perverted Duo, but thankfully they couldn't get through the press of bodies into the classroom. They had a lot of fun trying at first, and their screams after the girls got fed up with their wandering hands were music to Koneko's ears.

"What's living with Potter sensei like?" One girl asked.

Another one shouted, "Have you ever seen him come out of the shower or something?"

This caused several others to look at her, but she just shrugged. "Come on, I can't be the only one who wonders what Potter-sensei looks like under those shirts he wears. I swear he's got to have at least a six pack!"

That caused Asia to blush hotly, and Koneko growled, pushing through the crowd until she stood like a sentinel in front of where Asia still hadn't been able to get out of her own chair. "Ask questions with your mouths, not your body; no crowding," she said, her voice and face still deadpan, but her body language radiating anger.

That shocked the class unto silence, and the class rep finally got some control in the classroom, and she too started to glare around her, pushing the others away. "Nonetheless," she said, turning back to Asia "could you explain the adoption process and your actual relationship with Potter-sensei?"

Asia nodded and then started the spiel they had come up with, which she had practiced several hundred times to get just right. She didn't like lying like this but knew it was necessary when dealing with those who had no knowledge of magic or the occult world. "I come from Italy originally, so if any of you are thinking about taking Italian as a third language beyond English, I can help you there. I can even help you with English. I've learned quite a lot of it from Potter-sensei. A, ano, I am actually Potter-sensei's cousin twice removed. It took him a while to find me because I had been taken in by a Church-run orphanage, and their paperwork isn't very organized. The Church also had trouble passing along its paperwork to here in Japan, and I only joined Harry two and a half months into the school year."

From there the story became easier, mixing truth with fiction, her tone becoming less rote. "My Japanese wasn't good at the time, so we made the decision to hold off on my joining the class until I was ready. We also ran into issues because I didn't have Japanese citizenship yet, but Harry was already pushing to become my legal father, and he only had a work visa. But it eventually went through, and now I'm living with him along with Lily and a friend of Lily's that Harry is watching as she goes to school here for her commuting mother, Yasaka. There was some issue at her older school with bullying she wanted to get away from."

"Are Potter-sensei and this Yasaka involved?!" shouted more than one voice, leaping to that conclusion with all the speed of a teenage girl sensing romance in the air. A response which could, Koneko mused, put a striking cobra to shame.

Asia blushed, poking her fingers together and looking up at Koneko, who shrugged her shoulders. "A, ano, hai," she said hesitantly. "That is, I think they are seeing one another. They're not… They don't do anything around us kids, though." That wasn't quite true, but beyond kissing and hugs, all the adults were careful to keep their relationships behind closed doors. The most they did was kissing, as Harry had done earlier that day.

There were a few squeals at that of, "How romantic," and, "Wow, that's awesome!" A lot of them had already seen Kunou around the place with Lily, of course, the two of them routinely being brought back to the Academy by Harry or Koneko. But they hadn't heard about Yasaka before. And to all of the girls of this freshman class, this sounded incredibly romantic, a single father and a single mother getting together through their kids.

After the squealing subsided, one of them asked again, "How is it, living with Potter-sensei? And do you like living with him over living where you were?"

Asia smiled brightly, nodding her head. "Hai! It's great. Tou-san is the best, and I love Lily and Kunou-chan," she said, glancing apologetically at Koneko for not being able to say her name there.

Koneko simply shrugged her shoulders a little and then began to take charge from the class rep who had just pulled out her own lunch. She did too, including the bag of ever-full candy that Harry had given her. After dealing with this, she figured she'd earned a few pieces. "One question at a time," she said, sitting down next to Asia. "No perverse ones, nothing about asking her out either. Get to know her first."

She finished that last sentence with a glare at the boys who had said how cute she was before she went on, a tiny uptick of her lips signifying a smirk. "Remember who her father is and what he did to the Perverted Trio a time or two."

That caused the five boys in the classroom to back off, scratching at their cheeks or looking away sheepishly. Was it their fault they had been completely blindsided by the cute transfer student? It was like something out of an anime to all of them.

Thankfully for Asia, after lunch ended the students went back to normal, and the day continued with her making several friends right off the bat, including the class rep and several girls who were interested in studying Italian. She left the school with Koneko to pick up Lily and Kunou before heading home with a happy smile on her face. The school day had been fantastic, everything she had dreamed about.

 **OOOOOOO**

After school Rias flopped down onto one of the couches in the ORC room, pouting furiously as she lay out on her stomach. Rias was a very unhappy young woman at the moment. She didn't look up as Harry entered, though her pout turned into a smile as she felt his hands caressing the back of her neck and shoulders. "Rough first day back?"

"Not rough physically or anything like that," Rias said, though she did arch a bit into his touch. "It's just, I missed this. I missed this a lot more than I thought I would after we sealed the deal, to put it crudely."

"This?" Harry asked with amusement, moving up to one side and sitting on the table, looking at her thoughtfully.

"Exactly. **This,** " Rias emphasized, gesturing between them, though she didn't sit up, simply waving the hand nearest Harry lazily. "I missed acting openly, the little touches when we're around each other. You had to walk past my desk in class, and you treated me just like another student. You couldn't look at me or even smile at me as you normally would during PE. A part of me is happy for that—I certainly know being open about our relationship would cause issues. But I really, **really** enjoyed those little touches and caresses, those looks, and I'm missing them far more than I had thought I would be."

 _And I_ _ **really**_ _missed this morning's love-making,_ she thought irritably. Starting a day after a session of lovemaking really was the best way to start any day. But getting up two hours before they had to get up for school, which was around six thirty in the morning as it was, was not a viable option.

Harry somehow read her mind. "And you didn't like the fact we couldn't make love this morning. I can't say I am in favor of that either. Having some fun like that as a start to my day always puts a bit of a spring to my step and helps with my urges in that direction quite a lot. In fact," he said, leaning down to nuzzle into the side of her face, pushing Rias's hair aside with his nose to whisper in her ear. "It's taking all of my willpower not to simply take you from behind right now."

Rias shuddered at that, but it was a very good kind of shudder. _Thank you, Yasaka! By Lucifer, but I am going to have to give her a gift of some kind. Harry was a flirt monster before, but this is just…fuck! It feels so good to hear that, to hear him talk about me like that. It's empowering in a way I never thought it could be._

"Or to simply sit here with you," Harry said, pulling back and taking her hand in his. "Holding hands, with our friends and family around us."

"And that's the other thing," Rias said with a nod. "School is boring now. I'm not… I'm not getting as much fun in simply being a normal student any longer as I did before. Part of my reason for coming here to Earth at all has fallen by the wayside, in a way, and I suppose my perception has changed dramatically in the past few weeks."

"That makes two of us," Akeno said as she entered on those lines, sighing and moving to make the three of them some tea. "Something is most definitely missing, a bit of magic, perhaps."

Harry shrugged his shoulders at that even as he and Rias chuckled at the line, though he had to admit he'd felt somewhat the same before he got into the groove of teaching again. "I'm sorry to hear that, but hey, at least you'll get your magic quotient filled after school." With that he moved over into the small kitchenette, moving around Akeno to create a small plate of snacks.

As he did, Akeno smiled, calming down further. She wasn't certain why, but something about that act, making tea and having Harry working beside her, calmed her down a little. Rias, watching this, noticed, even if Akeno did not realize why it was happening, and smiled faintly.

The three of them didn't have to wait long before Sona and Tsubaki arrived, whereupon Harry began to explain what they wanted to do with the ward scheme. The five of them spoke about that issue for a time as the girls devoured Harry's snacks, then they moved down to the basement where they found Harry had set it up once more as they had when working on the wards and began to get to work. If there was any way to bury the foundations of the runic array, the pillars, as it were, then they wanted to do it, just like they had done to the Ankhsera runes Rias and Sirzechs had used to create the permanent gateways connecting the compounds.

 **OOOOOOO**

Perhaps because of this work, for Harry, Rias, and Akeno the next two weeks passed relatively quickly. Rias and Harry's irritations at no longer being able to be open about their relationship didn't go away, though Akeno slowly started to get used to her general disappointment of the level of the boys in school. She did so by going back to flirting occasionally with Harry very subtly, something Harry noticed but also responded to with looks, eye-rolls, and perhaps a bit more of a smirk than he should have as a teacher, something that Akeno was amused by.

It wasn't as if they had been going out again. No, it was as if it had been at the start of Harry's time at the school, when she had been trying to get his attention. Doing this gave her quite a lot of pleasure, and Harry was actually willing to go along with things more than he had been back then, though he didn't realize this consciously.

But three things happened during those two weeks that stood out. For one, Asia had her first gym class that Thursday. This in and of itself wouldn't have been anything noteworthy, except that Harry had, of course, prepped her for it and gotten her clothing for it. The clothing was a bit baggier than most of the other students, but that simply made the girls laugh about Harry being an overprotective dad.

He simply looked at them and said blandly, "This surprises you?" to gales of laughter. His picking Asia up and dusting her off when she fell over her own feet a few times also won a chorus of 'awws' from the girls.

Harry had been popular before the break, but after coming back, all the students had noticed his more laid back manner, and his teaching was still very student-oriented and just plain fun. Akeno teased that his fan-club had grown, but now it didn't just consist of girls who fantasized about him as a man. Rather, they just really liked him as a teacher, which was much more wholesome in his opinion.

However, after the class ended was when things started to go a little sideways. As he was cleaning up after a class spent going through various track tests, Harry found his cell phone beeping. He looked down at it, somewhat irritated but praying that it wasn't an issue with any of the kids. He didn't think it would be: Teddy was a young boy and had dealt with issues like that before in a typical Tonks manner, by laughter and low-key violence when authority figures were looking elsewhere. He pulled it open and was surprised to see Issei's phone number.

"Issei," he said mildly, "don't you have class right now?"

"I'm in the bathroom," the other young man said in a whisper. "Listen, you know I'm still kind of sort of friends with Matsuda and Motohama?"

"I would say that on a scale of one to ten I think you're a four in terms of friends with them at this point, whereas before you would've been a ten. Still, yes, I know you talk to them. Is there a reason why you're calling me?" Harry asked, frowning openly now as he moved away from the freshmen girls and boys still around.

"Well, yeah, I guess I'd rate myself around there too. But anyway, they were talking about wanting to see how Asia looked under her clothing before. I figured I'd give you a heads up and sort of, um, beg you not to kill them?" Issei asked. "Er, I know they don't have many redeeming qualities, but, like you said, they were my friends once. But um, this time I think they are going to go a bit too far, even for me."

"Consider me warned," Harry said, his voice now glacially calm. "And don't worry, I won't kill them. I won't even do anything physical to them beyond dragging them to the principal. After that, though, I am afraid your friends might find that certain policies have changed."

In the bathroom stall, Issei winced but slowly nodded. "I suppose they have to learn sometime, sensei."

"Good attitude and well done here, Issei. You've come a long way." With that Harry hung up and moved around the gym quietly, covering himself with his fog of invisibility, sniffing the air, and finding the scent of two dirty, if physically washed, young men on the breeze. In the small back alley-like area between the gym, the back of the gym, and the pool area, Harry once more found the thorn bushes there that were supposed to block the area off.

Looking at them, Harry crouched down and stared at the roots but didn't see anything that would tell him that they could be pulled out. _I wonder how they got through them?_ Further examination revealed that they hadn't, and he slowly backed away, looking around thoughtfully and then up to the away, Harry then leaped into the air, flying up onto the rooftop, which was not designed to have any rooftop access.

He moved across the roof quickly and then looked down between the two buildings. Sure enough, he found the two perverts there, staring into the window of the girls' shower area. Both of them had heavy cloths around their mouths and noses and even wore sunglasses in an effort to hide their identities if they were spotted. And hanging to one side of Harry's current position was a rope leading down. _Impressive, or it would be in the pursuit of anything but spying on girls,_ he thought dryly. But what was really telling was that one of them had a phone in his hand and was taking a video.

Snarling at that sight, Harry moved back slightly, thinking about how to deal with this. _I could deal with this right the bleep now, but unless I really wanted to use some spellwork to take away their ability to get a stiffy or something similar, I couldn't solve the issue permanently. No, best to use the system to deal with this. I did promise Issei that I wouldn't do anything too horrible, after all._

With that thought Harry backed away, pulling out his cell phone once more to call the principal. Then he moved over towards the other side of the area. "Yubelluna, could you come to the school right now? I need a bit of your Bandrui magic." Harry's own magic could, of course, grow the entire bush, but for this he wanted something a bit more subtle than that…

Several minutes later the two perverts became aware that the rope had fallen behind them. "How the heck did it do that without us hearing it?" whispered Matsuda to Motohama.

"I don't know, but look at it! It came loose from its claw! We're so screwed!"

"We'll have to go through the brambles," Matsuda said, shrugging his shoulders. "Think of it as just a little pain for what we've seen this glorious day."

Motohama nodded, pushing up his fake sunglasses to further cover his glasses. "True."

But when they tried to push through the bushes, the Perverted Duo found that the bushes had changed from what they had thought they would be like from the last time they had tried to do this trick several months ago. The thorns had grown several inches longer than they should have given the size of the bushes. When Matsuda tried to push through he suddenly screeched in pain, quickly pushing back out, shouting angrily, "Holy hell! Those are painful!"

"Let me see if I can get through," Motohama replied worriedly, looking back over his shoulder. "That shout might've told the girls we're here!"

He tried to go under the bushes only to find his way blocked, the same thorns Matsuda had run into also blocking his way, with several of the bushes' lower branches having warped around one another, creating a natural barrier. "W, what in…? That's weird; I thought it took years for that kind of growth to occur."

He pulled back, not noticing that he had dropped his cell phone. A very low-powered **Stupefy** shot at his hand had seen to that as Harry moved from where he had been hiding to one side of the entrance to the small alley-like area. Before Matsuda could grab it, Harry's hand reached in from the other side and pulled it out, seemingly unharmed by the thorns. "Well, what do we have here? Not only are you two caught trying to peep on the girls again, but you even brought a recording device. Even if I can't actually access this phone without erasing everything, that means you both were caught red-handed."

The two perverts paled behind their disguises, and when the principal moved around from behind Harry they backed away, but there was nowhere to run now. Behind the two teachers, more and more girls exited the gym and came around the corner.

The principal slowly shook his head sadly. "Boys, the word disappointment cannot begin to explain what I feel right now. We have given you every chance, every chance to move beyond these perversions, this desire to break the law and invade the privacy of the young ladies among your fellow students. However, this is the final straw."

He took the cell phone from Harry, shaking it angrily while many of the girls gasped, staring at it in shock. "What you have been doing is criminal. This is a criminal offense! I have no choice now. Strike three, boys; you are expelled. And if, after talking with your parents, they do not have any solid idea on how to stop further occurrences like this from happening, I will turn this cell phone over to the police and let them deal with you as you should be."

The two perverts looked absolutely crushed, and the principal turned to Harry. "Now, Potter-sensei, if you please?"

Harry pulled out a pair of heavy duty gloves from around his waist and reached through the branches of the bushes, pushing them this way and that to let the two young men out. By the time he had finished creating a path through the bushes they looked properly mangled, but the two perpetrators were free. The instant they were out they were both accosted by the principal, laying a firm hand on their shoulders and pushing them on.

The rest of the students, boys and girls both, watched stonily as the two perverts were led off. Not even the boys in this, the freshman class, said anything, simply shaking their heads. The girls looked properly affronted, and more than one looked at the cell phone in the principal's pocket, hoping he'd wipe it quickly, embarrassed and furious.

Asia was the exception, looking on sadly at the two boys who had let their base lusts overcome the goodness she felt was in every child of God. She was even about to step forward and plea for the two to get a second chance, when Koneko took her by the shoulder and leaned in, whispering. "They had way more than two chances. Besides, what they were doing is criminal, like the principal said. Better they learn they can't get away with it now rather than later when they might end up doing jail time."

At that Asia subsided, but she still crossed herself, bowing her head over her joined hands. "I will pray for their souls regardless."

Koneko shrugged at that but led Asia away along with the other students.

Soon enough the area was empty, and Harry turned to a seemingly empty section of the school lawn next to the gym building. "Thank you for your help. That worked quite well, I think."

"It certainly did for everyone but those two idiots," Yubelluna said with a chuckle, coming out from under a cloak Harry had put up, the cloak fading away like mist around her, shifting towards Harry as it did. "But did you have to treat those poor plants so horribly? They were only doing their job, after all."

Harry blinked at that and then chuckled as Yubelluna turned towards the plants, touching them lightly on their leaves and gently reforming them while whispering that the bad man was sorry and that they could now grow to their hearts' content. The next day, when someone came by to look at them, they would be astonished by the fact someone had already filled the entire area between the gym and indoor pool with more thorn plants. There was no way anyone could get back into that area now.

 **OOOOOOO**

The next incident of that first week back happened on Saturday, when the group working on trying to shift the anchor points underground met up once more in the occult research club's room. Although the incident didn't actually start there…

Tonks cracked her neck and shoulders, rubbing at somewhat bleary eyes as Lily, Kunou, and her son walked around her. They were heading to check in at Kuoh with Harry before heading home, but she was, despite having volunteered to pick up the kids, dead on her feet. Her mind was just overloaded with the new laws and regulations she was expected to memorize before she could really start her job as a Shinsengumi.

 _Dammit, can't we just get to the actual solving crimes part of this already?_ she whined mentally _. This Metamorph needs some action, darn it! And where's old Husukai? I thought we were supposed to be partners, training one another, not me training with these young newbs. Despite doing so in a setting straight out of an action flick, learning spells from them and vice versa is not interesting enough, and it's all so bloody slow! Bloody hell, if I'm being put through this due to some Zen rubbish, I'm gonna hit the ponce in the nose._

Her thoughts juddered to a halt as she watched Sona racing from the main school building towards the ORC building. "Wonder what's up with her?"

Around her the kids shrugged, but then Kunou and Lily gasped and raced forward, shouting, "A magical girl!" "Oh look, it's Magical Girl Levia-tan!"

The girl in question turned, and for a moment Tonks had to stop herself from using her Metamorph powers to compensate, because, while short, this girl was quite stacked and very pretty to boot. She looked vaguely like Sona, but that was the last observation she could make before the two girls had raced over to her, while Teddy followed slightly slower, a faint flush appearing on his face.

The girl had stopped at the two kids' shouts and smiled, waving a wand around as she posed. "Hello, dear fans, how are you all? I don't suppose you have seen my darling Sona-tan around, have you? I'd be willing to part with some official Levia-tan wands if you have."

"Sona-tan?" Tonks asked querulously. The cutesy nickname did not fit her image of the cool, almost regimented student council president at all.

"Hai. She's my little sister," the girl said simply.

As Tonks goggled at that and internally wondered which of them was really the older sister, Lily smiled. "Ooh, does that mean you're here to put on one of those live action shows? We haven't been to any of those yet dealing with magical girls, but we saw a few dealing with ninjas and stuff in Kyoto."

At the mention of Kyoto, Serafall's eyes widened and she put that and Kunou's presence together, figuring out who the two young girls had to be. "Ooh, well we can't have that can we?" she said, and then a great idea came to her. "Actually, how would you like to be magical girls for the day with me? We can all search for Sona-tan together."

"Um, I hate to say it, but I'm not a girl, and I sure am not going to dress as one. I'm not Gasper," Teddy said very firmly. He had the typical young boy's views of boys dressing in girls clothes: they were weird, plain and simple.

"Oh, don't worry! I have the perfect role for you. In fact, in many ways it's the most important!" Serafall said, eagerness gleaming in her eyes, the eager joy of a prankster on full attack.

That look roused Tonks's interest and energy level, and she grinned. "Don't suppose you have one of those getups for someone my size, do ya? If not, I can always change…"

At the clubroom, Rias, Harry, and Akeno were there first as usual. Rias was telling the other two about an anime that had just started which she thought the entire family would get a kick out of as Akeno prepared tea and Harry made snacks, also as usual.

This normal scene was interrupted as the door opened soundlessly, and Sona came in looking extremely harried. Her hair was looking out of sorts, and there was a kind of wild look to her eyes that Harry had never seen before. She quickly moved through the room then and, as the three of them watched, dove behind Rias's desk, poking her head out for a second to stare at the startled trio before she whispered, "Whatever she asks, you didn't see me!" With that she covered herself with a **Disillusion** charm, one of many spells she had begun to learn from Harry's books.

"What is that about?" Harry asked. "Who is 'she?'"

Rias began to chuckle, looking over at the doorway as Akeno giggled. "Well, you've had the pleasure of meeting one of the imouto-obsessed Maou. I think you're about to meet the second, Harry."

Harry barely had time to blink at their reactions when the door was smashed open with a bang, the hinges becoming dislodged. In walked a girl far shorter than even Sona, who was only of regular height herself. But while this girl looked marginally like Sona in the color of her hair and eyes, their body types were very different. Sona had a sprinter's build, with thin hips, small bust, and long legs. This girl was exactly the opposite. She had wide hips and a large bust, far larger looking paired with her small frame, something like Yasaka if a bit less so.

Further, while Sona was rarely ever seen outside of her school uniform, this girl was wearing a pink version of what Harry had come to know of as the normal cosplay version of a magical girl. Although this version looked intended for more adult audiences with the amount of skin it showed, not covering the girl's stomach and showing quite a bit of under-boob to go with a short skirt. The fact that she had long gloves and stockings on really didn't detract from the amount of skin on display. She even was waving around a wand, one of the large, sparkly pink things with a star-shaped knob on the bottom that always made Harry chuckle when he saw them, the pink of the rod matching her outfit's main color.

To Harry's surprise, behind the newcomer came Lily, Kunou, a wildly grinning Tonks, and a shame-faced Teddy. The two little girls and Tonks were not wearing the outfits they had had on this morning. Rather, they too were wearing magical girl outfits. Thankfully for Harry's blood pressure, the version the girls wore was not as sexualized as the lead girl's, though Tonks was wearing something similar to her. She had shifted her body to match the lead girl in size and bust. Her hair was also practically glowing neon green to match her outfit. It was almost blinding in its intensity, but not quite to the point of being painful.

Teddy's outfit took the cake, though, and Harry heard Akeno and Rias start to giggle at the sight of it. Indeed, even Harry had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. Teddy was dressed in the sort of shorts a young boy of the gentry class would wear in the Victorian era, paired with a tuxedo top complete with tie. A half-mask covered the top of his face. In one hand he held a wilting rose, and on his head he wore a top hat at a jaunty angle, which did not match the scowl on his face or the slump of his shoulders at all.

"Oh ho! Here are the villains who have stolen my sweet sister away!" the girl in the lead shouted, pointing her wand at Harry. "Hand over my Sona-tan, you foul beast! Never will you use her to sate you unwholesome desires, for I, Magical Girl Levia-tan and the Heroes of Justice, will save her from you!"

"Right!" Lily shouted, with Kunou echoing her and Tonks flourishing her play wand. "Release your prisoner, Dark King Potter, Red Witch, Sado-Queen, or face the consequences!"

Now, Harry could have played this two ways. He could simply have stared for a bit and then ask where his daughter had heard the meaning of the word sadist, especially to the extent that she could shorten it and use it as a title for Akeno. He could have been the cool, professional teacher and adult while helping Sona deal with her apparent older sister who had apparently come along to bother her. Or he could go along with things, possibly making Sona's day even worse while also giving his daughters a fun time after a hard week back to school.

Really, for the son of a Marauder, especially one being challenged by Tonks's wide grin, there was only one way forward. With a gesture, Harry shifted his clothing to that of a long, sinister looking cloak while Answerer appeared in his hand in the form of a staff topped by a large crystal mace-head, which he whirled around dramatically as he declaimed, "MWHAHHAHA! Foolish heroes, you should know never to beard a true Dark King in his lair!" From the tip of the staff came a series of flashes which filled the area, while Harry transfigured the sofa and the rest of the furniture bar the small table with the chess set on it into a series of large dogs and cats made of the same material the original furniture had been. "Now go, my puppets, and defeat them!"

The lead girl's eyes widened in surprise and delight, and she leaped to the side, pointing her wand at one animal. A blast of magic lashed out and froze it in ice, showing both the girl's basic magical attribute and the fact that Sona had already written her into the warding scheme, since that attempt hadn't backfired or caused her any pain. "Hah, that's what you think, Dark King! Feel the power of the Heroes of Justice!"

With that command and with grins on their faces, the two little girls quickly moved into the room and began blasting out spells, or, rather, waving the wands frantically, the wands creating splashes of color and tiny, finger sized ice bolts. Tonks too got into it, her hair flashing through a rainbow of colors as she had some good, kid-type fun to liven up a week out of her personal version of hell.

Harry noticed that Teddy, for some reason, stayed in the background. Over the flashing of spells he could hear him saying something that sounded like an inspirational speech in a monotone, his heart definitely not in it. Then he was tackled by one of Harry's conjured dogs, who prepared to lick him to death. That seemed to break him out of his shell, and he started to wrestle around with the conjured dog, growling.

To one side Rias stared wide-eyed at this for a second, but quickly got into the act too. She stood up but didn't quite trust her transfiguration spells enough to change her outfit, instead conjuring up a cloak to match Harry's and a long pointed witch's hat. The sight of Rias using conjuration like that also drew a wide-eyed gaze from the so-named 'Levia-tan,' but she didn't stop her attack.

"You don't only face the Dark King, though, you also face his loyal servant, Red Witch!" Rias shouted. With that she started to launch tickling charms and tripping hexes indiscriminately into the melee at the other end of the clubroom. She then locked eyes with the girl in the lead. "And I'll have you know, Levia-tan, that Sona certainly wouldn't be used to slake the Dark King's unwholesome desires! That's what he's got me for, after all."

"EEEWWW!" shouted three voices, one male, muffled under the body of a leather sofa dog, while Levia-tan looked affronted for some reason.

She didn't have the chance to speak, though, as Akeno had decided to get into the act too. She had stepped back into the tiny kitchen, where she started to try and transfigure her clothing into a suit suitable for a Sado-Queen. It wasn't perfect, but, as the 'battle' raged, she was pleased with the results. Her skirt was much the same as before but had become much shorter, and black gloves covered her hands up to her elbows, while her blouse had shifted into a loose, leather dominatrix outfit, though Akeno hadn't gotten it quite right. There were no tie downs going down the center between her breasts, and it wasn't as formfitting as she had wished.

When she was done, Akeno decided to use this rare opportunity to tease Sona. From one hand a glue spell flashed to where the girl was hiding. The next second Akeno raised her hand to her mouth and thrust her shoulders back, channeling a character she had seen in an anime last night with Rias. "OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO, OHOHOHOHOHOHO! Indeed not! Your darling sister is not for the Dark King, but for me, the true power behind the throne, the Sado-Queen. I will instruct her in the ways of Sado, and then she will turn to the Dark Force willingly! Come ye all, Heroes of Justice, find the pleasure in pain!"

"Never!" Tonks shouted, moving to engage her by sending out tickling charms and blasts of colorful light from the hand holding her kiddy wand. Akeno replied by concentrating on her over the others, while Harry and Levia-tan began a mock duel in the center of the room.

Sona was now stuck against the far wall, the glue covering her entire body in a somewhat lewd manner, though thankfully it was more solid than viscous, saving some of her dignity. "Damn it, Akeno! When I get out of here I swear I'm going to get you back for this!" she roared.

"Don't worry, Sona-tan! I'll save you and your tight little body in just a second!" Levia-tan shouted, pushing through a series of color change spells, batting them to the side even as others hit her arms and face, changing her skin to various different colors.

Lily paused from where she had been about to tag Rias in the back with a spell. "Um, for some reason when she says that I'm not certain we're fighting on the right side any longer," she said to Kunou.

Before Kunou could reply, she was mobbed under by tiny furry cats, who sat on her while Lily was hit by a tickling charm from Rias. That took both of them out of the mock-battle, not that either were complaining.

Rias then turned her attention to Tonks, then fake-collapsed as a stray spell seemed to hit her. Harry too took a fall, collapsing next to his daughter and winking at her. This left Akeno against Tonks and Levia-Tan, and after a few more dramatic shouts from all side, she too fell, canceling the spell on Sona as she did. At that Harry, still on the ground, did the same, transforming the animals back to what they had been before, minus the cats and the sofa-dog. Those he ordered to back away, returning to their original position as he lay there.

"As always the Heroes of Justice have prevailed!" The now neon green, blue, and dark purple Levia-tan said with a grin, moving over to pick Sona up from the ground, hugging Sona to her. "And now I will claim my prize: Sona-tan snuggle time!"

Waving his hands, Harry canceled the final few transfiguration spells and stood up, discarding his cloak as he did so before pulling Lily to her feet. Setting her down on a sofa, he then did the same for Kunou before watching in amusement as Tonks tried to lay out over both of them only to be smacked with their toy wands. Turning away from Lily and Tonks starting a mock sword duel, he looked over to Sona and the new girl. "Well, are you going to introduce your guest, Sona?"

Sona was too busy glaring at him and the others while trying to push the other girl away to do that, so it fell on Rias to do so. Moving over to help Teddy to his feet, she called out, "Harry, meet Maou Leviathan, or Serafall Sitri when she's not being formal. Serafall, meet Harry, my lover. Sona had told me that someone from her family was going to stop by today, but I didn't know it would be you, though I should have."

"Ara. "'My lover,' you're so possessive, Buchou," Akeno said with a laugh, half-teasing in delight and half something else she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Not so much possessive. After all, I'm not his only lover. I'm just very certain about my own position," Rias retorted, causing Akeno to laugh again.

Serafall laughed too, letting Sona go for the moment as she turned to the older redhead in the room. "Rias-chan, you were so awesome during that rating game, using your family's powers like that. And the way you and your peerage fought together showed a lot of forethought and intelligence along with new kick ass powers!" the girl whooped, throwing the hand with the wand in the air.

"Thank you, Serafall-san. That is most kind coming from you," Rias replied with a curtsy before she sat back down where she had been before the excitement began. "But may I ask what brought you to Kuoh today?"

Serafall blinked, then waved her hand around at them, not airily, rather, expressively. "Oh, Grayfia mentioned the wards you all had put up, and I was interested in them. I also wanted to talk to Sona-tan about this whole agreement she and you made with Yasaka." At that she swooped in again, lifting Sona into another hug, squeezing her like she was a plushie. "Oh, I am soooo proud of you, Sona-tan! You have no idea how amazing it is that you were able to get the Youkai Association just talking to us again, let alone the rest of it!"

Harry smiled as Kunou crawled into his lap, leaning back against his chest as her ears and tail popped out, stroking one hand down her ear lengths tenderly as she spoke to Serafall, a little tired from the bit of excitement. "Mmm-hmm. My momma was really happy about that too. Recently she said something about getting the rights to some kind of plant seed, that it made the formerly Indian Youkai clans really, really happy."

"Well, I'm just happy we became friends in the first place, hmm, Kunou?" Harry said, leaning down to kiss her ear tip, causing the young kitsune to let loose a truly foxlike rumble-purr.

Serafall laughed, then blinked as Lily and Teddy sat on either side of Rias, with the littler redhead laying her head against the taller one's side, her eyes on Serafall. That last bit Serafall didn't see anything odd about. After all, Serafall knew she was awesome. It was the closeness between the two that was startling. _I knew coming here that Rias was in a relationship with Harry Potter, the wizard that started all these changes, but to see it is something else._

Setting that aside, she addressed Kunou. "Yep, and believe me, it worked out on our end too. That seed is from a plant in the Devil part of hell, the Underworld, that is sort of like a shrub weed. Its properties are nothing we can use, so it was really cheap to gather and pass on, and then she can sell it to those clans at whatever price she wants. Apparently it's something like turmeric, a kind of spice thing, but only Tiger and Elephant Youkai can taste it. So the trade aspect between the Youkai and the Underworld keeps growing, moving money around and making more. Plus there's the way a lot of Youkai are now available for recruitment into peerages."

"And did you find out what you wanted about the wards?" Harry asked, looking between Serafall and Sona.

"Yep," Serafall said as Sona nodded imperceptibly. "Oh, the other Maou or I'd be able to overpower them with a lot of effort, but I'd say they'd just reform later. And Sona-tan said you were thinking of modifying them further?"

"A bit, yes." Rias replied before thanking Akeno as she handed her a cup of tea. Akeno had not yet changed back to her normal school uniform and, indeed, seemed quite comfortable in the half-uniform, half-S&M ensemble she was wearing. Rias noticed that Harry seemed accepting of it too, making no comment about it being inappropriate around Lily, which was somewhat amusing. _Although I suppose in comparison to a lot of the outfits she's seen in anime, Akeno's outfit is rather tame at the moment._

"Heheh, playing your cards close to your chest there, aren't you, Rias-chan?" Serafall replied with a laugh. "Well, whatever." She then clicked her fingers. "Ooh, by the way, with Sona-tan's debut in the Rating Games coming up, I wanted to ask if you could create a banner like the one you used during Rias's game against Riser? One that was just as large and charmed against damage?"

Sona's eyes widened and she frantically shook her head from behind Serafall, her worst fears coming to life right in front of her. But Harry simply smiled beatifically. "Certainly. Stop by before the event, and we can work together to create a design, and I'll make the banner to order."

While Sona slumped in mixed relief—the timing meant she wouldn't see the banner until the event at least—and anger at Harry's encouraging her sister's attitude, Serafall laughed, clapping her hands together. "Great! I knew I'd like you the moment you chose to play along with my game, Potter-san!" Then she became serious. "But don't think that just because I like you you can court Sona-tan! That tight body and those sensitive curves are all mine!"

"GAHHH, onee-sama!" Sona squeaked with a rosy blush to her cheeks, while Harry blanched and Rias and Akeno started to laugh.

"Ahem, um, sorry, but that idea never even occurred to me," Harry replied. It was true, too. Even back when he had been affected by the devils' auras, he hadn't reacted to Sona or Tsubaki's bodies. Moreover, he felt their personalities were very different.

"WHAAT?!" Serafall spluttered, her face going red with anger as she shook her wand in Harry's face, an angry aura beginning to surround her, dark blue and laced with red. "Why not!? Is my little sister not good enough for you, Potter!?"

While Sona's head whipped back to stare at her sister, Harry shook his own. "No, nothing like that. But I think our personalities are not very compatible. Sona's more business oriented, and I'm very much family oriented."

Sona nodded at that very firmly. Unlike Rias, who wanted to be a mother as much as she wanted to become the strongest head the Gremory clan had ever seen, Sona wanted to become successful in business and diplomacy, and pure strength, to the point where she could eventually take over Serafall's position as Maou. Despite her attitude towards Sona herself, Sona deeply respected her older sister and wanted to stand at that same level of political and social power, if not magical. She had no time for family, little time for romance, and, to be honest, didn't like kids all that much. The idea of having some of her own while so young was practically anathema, one of the many reasons she had discouraged Saji's initial interest in her—Saji had an impregnation fetish, although he was a lot better at hiding it than Issei was about his fetishes.

"Aww, but don't you see, that would make you perfect!" Serafall teased before abruptly changing the subject, her tone somehow serious despite still being upbeat and cutesy. "Still, I'm nearly done here; I have to get back to hell. Something's going on with the Church. Heck, it's been going on since I returned that holy sword you passed on to me. Don't know what, though." She then whined and flailed her arms around, dispelling the serious image instantly. "All I know is it's making more work for me! Mou, and here I wanted to spend more time with Sona-tan!"

She reached over and once more pulled in a feebly fighting Sona, rubbing her head against the side of the younger girl. "Mmmmm, but first I need to recharge my Sona batteries."

"Gah," Sona gurgled as she was squeezed. The odd thought, _I'm not thin, I'm compressed,_ went through her mind before she was let go, set down on another of Rias's sofas. She had added two more to the original two, both love seats, in order to accommodate more people.

"Well, I'm off, then!" Serafall chirped hopping to her feet, her body practically glowing with vitality as if hugging Sona so often had indeed helped her refill some kind of internal energy. "See you all the next time I stop in! Oh, and girls, you can keep the outfits."

Tonks, who had remained silent after the game had ended, laughed. "Heh, now that's right nice of you. These outfits might come in handy when I'm in that weird place over in downtown Tokyo, um Akibahara or something like that? It'd definitely be a hiding in plain sight sort of deal. Although, I think you should probably take back the suit ya had for Teddy."

"Yes, please!" Teddy said fervently, a large pout on his face. "I don't care if it's necessary that every magical girl team have a single uselessly weak male member. I'm a wizard, not a magical boy. I'm not useless, and I definitely can do more than 'inspirational speeches.'" He groused, holding up fingers to indicate the last two words were a quote.

Serafall pouted at him but nodded, and Teddy scampered off into the small bathroom set to one side of the ORC's main room. A second later he was out and huffing irritably as he tossed the prince costume to its owner. Serafall caught it but couldn't help teasing him again. "It's a pity, especially since you made it look so good, Teddy-chan."

Teddy flushed at that and then blushed even hotter when Serafall pulled him into a tight hug. She was so short that his head came up to her chest, and he found his face buried within that large chest, only barely able to turn to look over at Lily, wondering how she was taking this. Lily, though, wasn't even looking in their direction, having turned her attention to the tray of sweets.

"Oy, yah can't have me kid; go get your own," Tonks said, pulling Teddy out of the chasm he had found himself in.

"No, he looked so cute! Let me have him! With Teddy in my show, I could seriously hit the shota market!" Serafall replied. The slight flush on her face seemed to hint at the fact she would rather like that for her own purposes too.

"Hah, I don't know what that is, but I seriously don't think so!" Tonks retorted.

After a few minutes of tug-of-Teddy, Serafall finally let the young boy go. With a final sigh and another tight hug with Sona, she stepped into the teleporter. "Bye-bye, everyone. Sona-tan, I'll see you some other time!"

A second later, and the energetic, childish Maou Leviathan was gone. Sona breathed a sigh of relief, slumping down into a sofa as Teddy did the same. The two of them shared a glance and nodded at one another in commiseration before looking away, both embarrassed for reasons out of their control.

"So that's your sister. Funnily enough, I think she was bang on to how I imagined her after hearing her description from you three," Harry said with a smirk, leaning back and still holding Kunou against his chest. Using a spell to grab a sweet from the tray on the table, he split it in half for the two of them as he watched Sona for any reply.

"Yessss…." Sona groaned, then glared at him with honest fury in her eyes. "And if she shows up on Parents' Day with a banner like you were describing, I swear to Lucifer I will roast your balls over a low fire!"

"Please don't; I rather like them where they are," Rias said with a sinful little smirk, leaning against Harry's shoulder while he laughed and Akeno giggled.

"You walked right into that one, Sona," the Sadist Queen observed, sitting down next to Sona.

"I know," Sona groaned again, leaning back. "But she's so embarrassing, so childish, so clingy and energetic, and I just can't handle it! I had to deal with it for years before coming up here! I like my normal, staid, calm life, thank you freaking much! And there is absolutely nothing calm about being around Serafall onee-sama at all!"

"I liked her," Lily said with a grin. "She was fun, she gave us these outfits, and they are so cool! Plus that little mock battle was fun as heck!"

"Ugh," Teddy groused. "I think she'd be okay, but I don't like the fact she made me dress up too and act the part! I hated the idea when I saw that Kamen guy in that Moon anime Lily made me watch, and I hated acting out the part worse."

"Aw, come on, kiddo, don't every boy dream of being a prince? Now you have experienced it, and ya had princesses fighting for you too," Tonks laughed, ruffling his hair.

Kunou too spoke up in favor of Serafall, and Harry chuckled, finishing his tiny cake and then using both hands to stroke the tiny kitsune's ears and hair, turning her into a tiny ball of bliss. "Well, there you have it, the two tyrants have spoken. We're going to have to put up with her antics, then, every time she comes by."

"Actually…" Rias said musingly, "I think we can make a deal here." Sona looked at her quizzically hope blossoming in her eyes, and Rias went on. "You know that she's going to show up randomly, right? Unless, of course, we want to block her out entirely."

Sona winced. "No, I don't want to do that. I love my sister, and I respect her too. Negating her access like that would be rather hurtful, especially after allowing her through in the first place."

"In that case, whenever she is around, why don't you make your way over to our compound? There will certainly be someone there that she can hang out with, the walk with you to the compound will feed her imouto-obsession, and then she can have fun with her other obsession, that of playing magical girl, while you get a break and don't have to be embarrassed in public here in the Academy."

"No, just walking her through the town…" Sona drawled before she shook her head. "Well, I suppose that could work, but what's in it for you?" It took both sides gaining something to make a deal, after all.

"There's a walk in chef competition over on Honshuu that Kala's mentioned she wants to take part in. And I remember your family owns a vacation home there," Rias said. "Give us access to it, and we'll call it even."

Sona nodded in agreement, and the deal was made. After which, much to her relief, the others took pity on her and moved the conversation on to the wards.

 **OOOOOOO**

Somewhere in France, a young blonde girl lay out on her bed. _That party tired me out something fierce, but it was a glorious break from my work._ She looked over at the piles upon piles of notes, smiling brightly at the tight red binder to one side of them that was half-full. She was about three or perhaps four more days of hard work away from completing the analysis which would earn her a potions apprenticeship with Madame Rosenthal, one of the premier potions experts in the world.

Gabrielle Delacour desperately wanted to earn that potions apprenticeship, having had a passion for them since she was twelve. But they didn't grow on trees, and the best out there were, of course, the hardest to earn.

 _That is why I never bothered trying to convince my parents to let me go to Hogwarts, even if it would have let me be closer to Harry Potter,_ she thought with a scowl. Severus Snape had been a god-awful human being, let alone a teacher, and the standards of potions and potion makers in the United Kingdom had yet to recover from his years at that post.

 _Speaking of Harry, I wonder if he liked my present this time more than the others_. _It is the first time I've sent him something so risqué. Perhaps it will be enough to break through his self-control. And he's no longer married, too. There's nothing morally wrong about using my image to…relieve some stress any longer,_ she thought, a sinful little smirk appearing on her face which would've horrified her father. The poor dear still thought of Gabrielle as his little angel, alas.

At a noise from one side, Gabrielle looked over at the large portrait of herself set to one on one wall and was astonished to see that the image from the postcard was there, leaning on the chair that routinely held the image of Gabrielle from when she first became old enough to go to Beauxbatons, her first wine cup set to one side of the image, the engraving the Delacour crest prominent on the side of the cup.

She wasn't certain how the magic of portraits worked, that subject being one she hadn't much interest in, but an image of a person could not occupy the same space as another image. The most recent image would take over that picture for the time that 'it' was using that picture before disappearing again, leaving behind the original. Or they would merge or some such, something of that nature, anyway.

At the moment, though, Gabrielle wasn't thinking about that, she was thinking about why the poor dear looked exhausted. "What is wrong?" she asked, moving over to look into the image. "Take some of that wine and calm down. Whatever has occurred, it cannot be nearly important enough to kill yourself over."

The image looked at her wryly through a waterfall of sweat-matted hair. "You know that I am just a portrait, correct, silly girl?" she said between gasps as she reached for the wine cup and slumped into the chair at the same time, spilling some of it onto the table. "I can't exactly kill myself, ma petit."

"Figure of speech," Gabrielle said tartly, glaring at the image of herself, who shrugged back unrepentantly. That was a problem with talking to images, of course: they were often rather stroppy.

"What day is it?" the image asked. "And let me tell you, it is **so** nice that this portrait at least lets me talk. You really should splurge on the spells that would allow your postcards to do the same. Don't tell me you haven't thought about being able to whisper sexy nothings in Harry's ear occasionally over the years."

Gabrielle flushed at that because she had, but figured that would have been a step too far. _Besides, it wasn't so much splurging as buying far more than the original postcard's worth._ A personalized postcard cost two galleons, complete with the spellwork on it to allow the image to move, four if the image was sexual in nature as this last one had been. If you wanted an image to speak, however, that was thirty galleons, and Gabrielle did not have nearly that much money. She would've had to ask her sister or her parents for it or save up. And one thing Gabrielle was not was very good at saving her money.

"It's the first Saturday of January," she said in reply. "Why?"

The image blinked. "Interesting. I think I left my original postcard on the twenty-seventh. So distance really does have an impact on traveling through this…picture world…I suppose, though not as much as in the physical world." She grimaced then. "And if I ever see another wolf, tank, or Slavs of any stripe it will be too soon! You would not believe what I had to put up with passing through other magical portraits to get here!"

"Surely you're exaggerating," Gabrielle said with a shrug, giving the portrait a look that said get on with it rather eloquently in her opinion. "You wouldn't have been in that much of a rush if there wasn't something wrong."

"Oh, there's something wrong, all right! You missed your shot, you, you slow limace (slug)!" the portrait growled.

"What?" Gabrielle asked, blinking

"Harry's already moved on," the image spat. "He's taken up with this…this redheaded tart, this putain (slut)! And they were all over one another! And it certainly wasn't the first time either!"

"Start at the beginning," Gabrielle said, slowly sinking into a chair and glaring at the image, crossing her arms over her modest bust.

She stayed that way as the image explained what had happened since Harry had pulled her out of the envelope, activating the magic on the postcard. She spoke about how she had been set aside almost at once, while Harry went through a lot of other correspondence, and then had been picked up causing the moment of surprise Gabrielle had hoped. Then things went wrong as this redheaded woman rested her head on Harry's shoulder to look down at the image.

Then she explained how the redheaded tart had teased her, rubbed it in her nose that Harry was with her, and then made love to Harry in what was obviously a shared bedroom. "At that point I left," she confessed. "There was nothing I could do there. I couldn't speak. I tried to get out of the portrait but that didn't work either, of course."

"And, and she's our age?" Gabrielle asked.

"Yes, I think so, at least that's what her face seemed to imply, or perhaps a bit older. But you wouldn't know it if you looked at the rest of her!" the image said, gesturing with her hands to something like three or perhaps a little more times Gabrielle's own chest size. "She's got a chest out to here, hips and rear to die for! She literally can't be human!"

"Yes, I got that, thank you," Gabrielle snarled, looking down at her modest chest in irritation.

She would never be called voluptuous and knew it. Gabrielle, standing at four feet nine inches, had a gymnast's body, a discipline she had followed for years. Her older sister had inherited their mother's bust, while Gabrielle resembled more the other side of the family. Yet she was very, very flexible, which Gabrielle had hoped to show Harry at some point.

Now Gabrielle leaned back, thinking about the emerald eyed wizard for a moment and why she had latched on to him so many years ago. It wasn't something as spurious as believing that Harry had saved her life in the lake at Hogwarts. The hostages hadn't actually been in any danger, something she and the other hostages had known along with their parents, even if the champions hadn't.

No, it came from two factors, one, being more general than the other. Veela powers were nothing to Harry Potter. He could see them for who they were, something that was very rare and very prized among Veela. It was why her sister went for that oaf, Bill, although why Fleur had decided to go for Bill rather than Harry was utterly beyond Gabrielle. Gabrielle liked Bill well enough, but in comparison, well, there just wasn't any comparison in her opinion.

And second, Harry was a natural born hero! There was no other way to describe him. Harry was simply that good, that kind of larger than life character. Gabrielle had wanted him because of that for so long, but he had never looked at her in that manner, not when she was younger.

This was why Gabrielle had started her little game with the postcards, trying to get Harry to notice her. There had also been a certain risqué aspect about it when he had been married. Sending postcards of herself to a married man had been illicit, taboo fun, something that she had greatly enjoyed even before she had decided to make this last one so sexual. There had been many a night after she had gotten home from school or had come home from a silly stupid date with some little boy that she had thought of Harry the married man using her pictures to gain some relief. Of course he had never really used them as she had hoped, but he had certainly looked at them very carefully several times, which the images had relayed to her. That had been often enough. _Still,_ she thought, looking at her image. "And you're certain this wasn't a one-time thing?"

"She had her own dresser, her own mirror, her clothing was hanging around the room, the bed was large enough for the two of them, and there was a simple bath in one corner. Nothing I saw seems to indicate that she was intruding in any way. Rather, that room was as much hers as it was his," the image said wearily.

Gabrielle winced at that, shaking her head. _Merde! I really did miss my chance, then. He's already in love with someone else. And I'm not certain I want to share, even to get a piece of someone as magnificent as Harry._

"Worse, he's in Japan now, and I'm here in France. Setting aside my family's, even my country's issues with him, what are the odds of us even seeing one another ever again?" Gabrielle growled crossly, flinging her arms over her head and nearly upsetting the chair she was sitting in in her irritation, causing the image of her to laugh. That in turn caused a flaming row between them, which did nothing for Gabrielle's current mood.

 **OOOOOOO**

With work on moving the ward pillars continuing apace and all of the kids getting back into the swing of things, the second week back to school went a bit better for everyone concerned. Kunou and Lily had once more learned that school didn't equate to fun and had buckled down to the workload, although Teddy was still having trouble. He wasn't quite as intelligent as Lily, nor did he have as much actual knowledge, not having had as much interaction with Hermione or Luna, growing up. He had a lot of trouble at first getting into a groove at school, and also trouble getting up in the mornings.

But Teddy was also a likable boy, very easy-going and not nearly as prickly and defensive as Lily had been when she first started there. So he didn't have much in the way of trouble with the other kids. It was simply the workload that was getting him down. Harry quickly took to helping him in the evenings, while Rias helped Lily and Kunou or helped them teleport to Kyoto to get help from Yasaka. Each of them tried to make it as fun as they could, with various levels of success, mostly predicated on the class in question.

Tonks was nowhere to be seen for any of this. Indeed, the most interaction she had with anyone that entire month was during the mock fight with Serafall. With her job, Tonks was out the door almost on the heels of everyone else in the morning, and she would come back very late at night, dead on her feet and with her head ringing from monotonous spellwork. She barely had time to do anything more than just wave at Teddy at night before heading to the girls' dorm, out like a light.

A few of the others frowned at that a time or two, but Harry told Rias that was simply Tonks. "There's no wand back home I'd have rather have at my back, and, Lord knows I love her, but Tonks isn't really a natural mom. She needs to stay busy, and she **is** a natural policewoman. She likes solving crimes, helping people, and getting it stuck in, and she excels at all three. But she isn't really good with kids, generally speaking, not unless they're having fun, and even then, well, the less said about Teddy's baby and toddler years the better," Harry said with a chuckle.

"Tonks loves Teddy, and the time she does spend with Teddy, she's pretty good with him even now. But helping with homework, being around to be a role model in anything but what's right and wrong? That's not her way of doing things." Harry's chuckle became a wry laugh. "Mind you, I think she'll be great to have around when they all get to their teens."

"As an example of what not to do, you mean?" Rias asked in amusement.

"Pretty much," Harry relied with another laugh. "But seriously, she's still a good mom; she's just more of a workaholic than she is a mom."

"So you step up to the plate instead?" Rias asked. "I'll also note, Harry, that your own work ethic is rather on the high end."

"We all have our strengths," Harry replied. "Mine is dealing with family and death defying adventures, although I like to think the first is something I come by naturally, while the other is more a product of my environment growing up."

Rias thought about what Harry had said, and much of her irritation with Tonks disappeared. Harry was obviously fine with it, and if Teddy also had no problems with it and didn't resent his mother not being there, then really no one else was in a position to comment. All Rias could do was what Harry was doing already: being there for Teddy if he needed parent-type help and being there for Tonks when she tried to push herself too hard. That last job she handed over to Yubelluna and the others who lived in the girls' dorm, who took it upon themselves to make certain she didn't drink much at night, got enough food, and so forth.

Akeno's solution to her time in school continued to work, though she wasn't quite as happy as she was on the weekend surrounded by her friends and family. Any lingering sense of being uncomfortable or resenting the happy family atmosphere Harry had built with Lily in comparison to her own father who had abandoned her had disappeared in the months since she and Harry had broken up. She had settled into her natural position of teasing older sister figure and enjoyed it immensely.

Moreover, Harry's view of her had also changed over time. This was something he consciously realized that first Sunday after school had started up once more.

Saturday night Harry had put up several magical spells on the bottom of the hatch to the attic, and he and Rias spent more than half the night and most of the morning up there, making love, although one round, at the very least, could have more precisely been called screwing one another's brains out, as Rias had pointed out afterward in a rather ecstatic tone. Since during the week they had only been able to get away with a single round every night before needing to get some sleep, this was a complete delight.

As the day wound to midmorning, Harry left Rias on the bed, still recovering from her last orgasm and smiling blearily up at him as he kissed her on the forehead and pushed himself out of bed. "I'm going to go check on the little monsters, make sure they're not getting up into any trouble."

"And if they aren't? Or, as is more likely, they are already being watched by someone else?" Rias asked, turning slightly to take his hand in hers, giving him her best bedroom eyes despite her body still trembling with aftershocks and biting her lip for good measure.

"If the others are looking after them," Harry said, feeling himself rise to attention once more as he leaned over to kiss her tenderly, "I'll be back, and we'll have round seven. It is the magical number, after all."

Rias giggled at that and then leaned back into the bed, watching him get dressed and humming appreciatively at the sight. But she closed her eyes as he made for the hatch, wanting to take a brief rest before her next bout of exercise.

Downstairs, to Harry's surprise, Lily and Kunou were still around. He had partly expected them to head to Kyoto to spend time in the forest with Yasaka. Then he remembered. _Oh yeah, Yasaka had said that she was going to be in an all-day meeting today and wouldn't have been able to spend time with them anyway. And on a Sunday too, ouch._

Tonks and Teddy were out on the town, as were Kala and Yubelluna, Harry knew. The two women had bonded over shopping and were off to get Yubelluna some more clothes, while Tonks and Teddy were having some fun somewhere, just the two of them, before Tonks had to report back to work. Kiba was out with Tsubaki, Loup might be out with Sona or elsewhere, and Mittelt had proven her utter disdain for the idea of watching the kids several times by this point despite the fact that she could so easily blend in with them, appearance-wise.

Instead, Akeno had taken it upon herself to watch the two girls and was teaching them a few tiny house cantrips, to help them clean up after themselves, in a very fun, Akeno-like manner. With the music of Fantasia playing in the background, she had the two kids clean up the main sitting room, standing in the center and pointing them this way and that to direct them cracking a tiny ribbon like it was whip.

Dust bunnies appeared and chased one another around the room, combining as they caught one another. The game cartridges, DVDs, and their boxes flipped end over end in the air until they smacked into the shelves. Stains were wetted down, then came alive and pulled themselves out of the various sofas and bean bags. Board games came alive and started to move, colliding and joining together before shutting themselves away in their boxes.

And, in the center of the room, the girls worked, waving the toy wands Serafall had given them this way and that, directing their magically imbued mess creations. It was a sign of only a few spells, but they were using those few spells very imaginatively, and Harry could barely keep the pride out of his voice as he asked, "And what is happening here?" from where he leaned against the door jamb.

Akeno had been giggling as she watched her little minions at work but smirked over at him evilly. Taking a page from Serafall's book, she pointed at him dramatically and shouted, "There he is, the dread tyrant of cleanliness! Will you two join me in rebellion with your soldiers, or will you send them to their deaths, all uncaring, in the Eternal Wash?"

"Down with the clean king!" Lily giggled, turning her hands and gesturing. The dust bunnies coalesced into several vaguely gorilla-like monsters and charged forward, followed by several liquid slimes created from the various spills that had accumulated over the week.

"Down with the king!" Kunou shouted, turning and directing the game cartridges at Harry as well as everything else that she could levitate into the air. This included Titan, who spread his wings and roared towards Harry, the roar rather respectable given his size, and her own Okuri-inu, who barked excitedly as he found himself in the air.

"Rebellion, is it?" Harry said, making his voice deep and dark, once more playing along. "Well, we know how to deal with rebels around here!"

This attempt at rebelling ended with a slightly sticky, quite dirty Harry sitting on Akeno and tickling her mercilessly with one hand, while the other directed Lily in a loop, via a levitation spell. To one side Kunou was buried under a teddy bear he had hit with an _Engorgio,_ while the two familiars hung nearby, unable to move.

As he tickled her, Harry reflected, _I think my relationship with Akeno now is sort of a microcosm of what Tonks said Monday evening. I really have mellowed. I… I hate to say it, but I think part of it is that I'm no longer looking at every girl around me as potential mother figures for Lily, since Rias is filling that role so well. Nor am I judging them in a subtle way, either, for their positive or negative influence on Lily beyond that. I'm not even reacting negatively to the idea of someone being a bad influence any longer in the first place._

Moreover, Harry was coming to like Akeno as Akeno, rather than as simply a sexual object or a friend of Rias's. Her teasing was no longer able to get under his skin when directed at one of the kids, something he had seen several times over the last month or more. And he no longer held her interests in bondage and pain against her.

That had, oddly enough, not had anything to do with Yasaka's help in getting to know his wild side after he woke up from magical and soul exhaustion. No, it had more to do with her controlling those urges more, only letting them out in their training sessions at semi-appropriate moments, and the fact that even Rias had shown that she liked a little bit of bite and smack play in the bedroom. There really was a difference between causing pain to add to pleasure and causing pain to hurt.

Akeno gasped for air as Harry stopped and stood up from her, pulling her to her feet. "And that, I think, is enough of the rebellion. Now, who's hungry for lunch?"

As for Harry and Rias, while they didn't have time for the morning lovemaking Rias had wanted, after that Sunday they decided on a solution…

Rias smiled as she woke up a minute before Harry this time. Even as she felt his body start to shift next to her, she slowly moved so she was lying on him, her breasts pressing against his chest. Rias then began to kiss him, first on Harry's lips, causing a smile to appear there, then on his chin, on his neck, and then moving down his body, stopping to bite and lick at his nipples followed by his navel. While Harry's nipples weren't sensitive, the area about his navel was, surprisingly, and Rias loved the feel of his muscles under her lips, the shiver she caused as she raked her nails down his chest, moving further down, her back lifting and pushing the blanket back as she did so.

Realizing what Rias was about to do, Harry reached down, gently stopping her with a hand behind her head, his fingers moving through her silken hair. "Rias, I thought we learned last week that we don't have the time to make love in the morning."

Smirking, she captured Harry's cock in between her breasts and began to move, winking up at him. "Yes, but doing this would be faster than going all the way, wouldn't it?"

The look in Harry's eyes as her large breasts trapped his shaft between them made her shudder and bite her lip in pleasure. He was already at full mast, and Rias shuddered, feeling her own body reacting to the desire in Harry's eyes, the love and need. Knowing she could do this, could bring out that look from the man she loved, made Rias smile. "You just lay back, Harry, and let me do all the work this once."

Those loving eyes narrowed. "Oh hell, no!" With that he reached forward, his arms on her biceps, and pulled Rias up into a kiss that nearly overwhelmed her in its intensity, but Rias quickly began to give as good as she got, and then he pulled back. "If we're going down that route, I think it only fair we see to one another, all right?"

Biting her lip and pulling back slightly, Rias felt herself moistening further at the look in Harry's eyes and unconsciously humped against his shaft, longing to bury it once more within her. But mindful of the time, she just nodded and slowly shifted herself around so that her rear was facing towards Harry's head, raising a leg over so that she was straddling him but looking in the other direction. She had to cinch herself forward a bit to bring her breasts once more into play, but that was just fine by Harry.

Thus they both started the day with the taste of the other on their lips. Yasaka noticed this when Harry kissed her that morning and pouted outrageously at Rias throughout breakfast but promised herself she'd get some of that soon enough.

 **OOOOOOO**

Two weeks back from vacation, Harry looked at Rias as she settled into her chair across from him at lunch time in the room in which he had been teaching the period prior to lunch. It was raining heavily outside, and the cafeteria was, perforce, quite crowded. So Rias, Akeno, and the others joining him in a classroom for lunch didn't raise any eyebrows even from the principal, who was still looking at both of them for any signs he could use to get rid of Harry, absolutely mortified by the fact that he had missed his and Rias's relationship. The face that Rias was currently wearing, though, was a little confusing to Harry. "So, what's wrong, and what's right?"

Rias smirked. "That's pretty much how I feel at the moment, yes. My brother contacted me and passed on a bit of an issue that's going on at home, one that is going to pull me away at an irritating time next month on the twenty-first."

Harry thought for a moment and then frowned, gesturing over to Akeno. "But isn't that the weekend when Akeno has her debut meeting with your… what was the company name again?"

"Soundbites, and yes," Rias said with a sigh, looking over at her friend apologetically. "I'm sorry, Akeno."

Akeno raised an eyebrow but indicated that she wanted to hear the full explanation before accepting Rias's apology. Rias smirked back at that but didn't object. "Actually, this is something all of you should be amused by. Apparently, Harry's show of mercy actually had a negative impact on more than a few of the watchers."

Harry groaned. "Let me guess. There are devils in the Underworld who felt I was weak for showing mercy. So they wanted to try to push us, to see what would happen when we were challenged for real rather than in a controlled setting? Or perhaps thought I was so soft a touch that they wanted to try to take hostages against me or both of us?"

"Pretty much. One of them was even from my own family," Rias said, her smirk turning into a snarl that was, oddly to Harry, rather sexy. "A distant cousin three times removed. I barely remember his name, but I know he had a scar going from here to here," she said gesturing to her bicep and then down to her elbow.

"Oh, him," Akeno said with a nod. "I remember him. He had wandering eyes."

"Not hands?" Harry asked. "Because, if so, I would imagine that you would have dealt with him in no uncertain terms, which would've made him far more memorable."

Akeno laughed at that, nodding her head enough to send her ponytail quivering. "Indeed I would have. And indeed he would have been."

"I believe you were saying something, Rias?" Sona said quickly, cutting off Akeno before she could elaborate on what she would've done to the man, her face a little flushed as she thought about all the ways she could have punished him.

"Most of those devils simply hit the teleportation lock and bounced. Two of them attempted to force their way through and burned out all of their magic accidentally. Another was so furious at us, his thoughts so negative, I think, he actually died. The ward let him through and then…didn't let him out the other side." All her listeners winced at that, and more than one reflected that the only good thing about it was that the man probably died before he could feel any pain. "And one other, my brother tells me, is missing after attempting something besides just using our own interdimensional teleporter."

"Idiots," Sona and Tsubaki both said as one, which caused everyone else to laugh.

"At any rate, my distant relative was found out and had to cover for himself. Obviously my family wouldn't have condoned any attempt to challenge me in such an underhanded manner, so he has been forced to issue a formal challenge to the Heiress position in order to save a bit of face. I'm going to destroy him," Rias said simply. "I've worked far too hard, learned far too much for him to even have a hope of beating me, and I won't give up my heiress position for anything. But I might let him live…maybe. If he was just being an idiot rather than working as someone else's dog."

"Is that why the wards activated a few days ago? Some devil traveled overland rather than through the dimensional teleporter to try and get into our territory?" Harry asked. The feeling had been so brief that it hadn't even pulled him from class. He'd felt the wards activate, a flash of bright power and energy, then nothing.

"It probably was. Whoever it was didn't leave much in the way of a body to investigate, though," Sona said. She had been the one to send out her familiar to scout the area at the time, all the others being in class. Examining the area in person later hadn't shown anything her familiar hadn't seen: a long, wide smear where someone had attempted to enter Kuoh with murderous intent directed at one of the people specifically protected by the wards.

"Well, that's probably the good news and the bad all in one, but it isn't enough to make that confused expression appear on your face, Rias. So what else is going on?" Harry asked shrewdly.

"Well, my mother and Onii-sama are going to be stopping in this weekend after school. My mother apparently wants to see where we're all living now, as my brother told her about the work we had done on the teleportation doorways, and she wants to come and see. Onii-sama said something about you asking about training?"

"…I did send him a message about it a few days ago. I didn't except him to respond so quickly, though, seeing as I mentioned it was Sacred Gear training rather than your training," Harry teased, causing Rias to poke her tongue out at him. "At any rate, we seem to have hit a brick wall on the whole Balance Breaker thing, and I figured he'd be the one to ask about training. After all, you've told me numerous times that he is the strongest of the Maou, and his peerage is known as the strongest as well." Harry had felt Sirzechs power a few times during and after the Riser issue had been dealt with, but hadn't really seen him in action, so to speak.

"Point," Rias said with a nod. "He says he'll meet you in the club room after school on Saturday with Mother. But he can only stay for a few hours before he has to get back to the underworld."

"That probably means that Koneko and I will the only ones there," Harry said, clicking his fingers. "Yubelluna told me she was going to plant a few more trees in the backyard around the edge of the boys' townhouse. Something about blocking one of the second story windows?"

Tsubaki coughed, looking away from everyone with a blush on her face, and Akeno, Rias, and Sona all turned to her, truly devilish smirks appearing on their faces. "Is there something you want to share, Tsubaki?" Sona asked, nudging her Queen with the end of her chopstick.

"No there isn't," Tsubaki said repressively, pushing Sona's chopstick away with her own. "In point of fact, that's the entire point!"

All the other girls laughed, while Harry just shook his head. "Ahem, back on topic, ladies? Kiba is busy doing something at college that day with Loup."

"He said that Loup and he are dealing with a few issues there, yes. Kiba apparently met someone he calls an arrogant ass of a kendoist, who thinks that, just because Kiba is younger, his comments on the ass's style doesn't really matter."

Kiba had taken to going to college with Loup at times to challenge the kendo teams there. Mostly observation, admittedly, since training with the others helped him in every way but with his personal style. Plus, though the girls didn't know it, he was preparing something with Loup's help for a date with Tsubaki near the college, using hanging out with Loup as an excuse.

"Ahh, and if there's one thing that will irritate Kiba, it's someone talking down about his swordsmanship. But what about Saji? Can't he join us for this training?"

"I'm afraid not," Sona said hurriedly. "Thanks to his training after school with you and the others, he performed very badly on a test last week, and I have demanded that he receive an A on a physics test this coming Monday."

 _And I in no way want him involved in any training with Maou Lucifer!_ That thought was, of course, known to the other women who knew Lucifer well enough, save for Rias who had a bit of a blind spot to her brother.

Akeno too understood this and smirked slightly behind her hand, wondering if Harry understood what he had basically volunteered for. _I wonder if I can set up cameras? Some kind of magical recording device perhaps? Or I could always bribe Sirzechs for the memory. Hmm, I wonder what he would do for a Rias plushy or something similar…_

So it was that, of the people who had Sacred Gears, only Koneko and Harry were able to meet with Sirzechs that Saturday. Sirzechs and his mother came through the teleportation ring.

Sirzechs immediately shot towards Rias, hefting her up in his arms in a tight hug around the middle before she could move. "Rias-chan, it's been too long! You seriously have to let me stop by more often, say, once every week, no, every other day! I'm going into imouto-withdrawal!"

"Oh, by the fallen tower of Babylon, hell no!" Rias growled, grinding the knuckles of both her hands into her brother's head from both sides. "Never! I love you, Nii-sama, but I couldn't possibly stand more of this kind of thing! Now, get, off!"

Pouting, Sirzechs deposited her on the ground, and now it was Venelana's turn to greet her daughter, having already exchanged hugs with Koneko and Harry. The older woman smiled and held out her hands in a hug towards Rias, who smiled back rather wanly but returned the hug. Her relationship with her parents had not truly improved since the meeting with them and Harry, but it hadn't deteriorated further, at least.

 _And she's here to try to further mend things. I need to remember that,_ Rias thought to herself. With that thought she temporarily read Venelana into the wards before the woman could even realize they were there before pulling back out of the hug.

"Where is the rest of your peerage, Rias-chan?" Venelana asked.

"Everyone is out doing their own thing most of the time on Saturdays after school. Sundays are the big all together day, but Saturdays we each do our own thing for the most part. Or everyone else does," she corrected herself. "Harry, myself, and one or two of the others always watch the kids after school."

"And whose turn is it today to watch the kids, as you put it?"

"Mine, of course," Rias said with a chuckle. "But I'll not be picking them up, at least. Kalawarner said that she would need the extra hands to bring in some groceries, so she's going to pick up the trio before heading home."

"Three? There's another child around the place? You're not talking about young Gasper, are you?" Venelana asked, looking worried. At that Sirzechs also turned from where he had begun to exchange a high five with Koneko.

"No, unfortunately Gasper is still far too shy to join us most of the time outside his room. We have, at least, begun to talk to him online in real time via video chat, and we've gotten him used to seeing unfamiliar faces," Rias replied before giggling. "Although, I have to say, he always wears a box over his head when he's talking to everyone."

"I rather think you simply extended the familiar faces he's used to," Harry said with a chuckle. He wasn't quite certain what to think about Gasper, frankly. The bishop's odd powers aside, Harry had met several vampires and killed more than a few, but he didn't hold that against Gasper. Rather, it was Gasper's odd crossdressing issues that bothered him. Harry was very afraid that the moment Gasper built up enough courage to join everyone else he would become Lily and Kunou's dress-up doll, which would do nothing for his self-esteem or his odd gender issues.

"The third child I'm speaking about is Teddy. He is the son of Tonks, my new Bishop. You remember her, surely," Rias said, rolling her eyes at Harry's interjection.

"Oh yes, the one with the odd changing hair and the large number of spells. I wonder, have you thought about the full extent of that, what was it called, her Metamorph powers?" Sirzechs asked.

"Full extent?" Harry and Rias asked as one.

"Ah, so you haven't," he said with a laugh. "I might stop in to talk with her about that if I have time. After all, if she really is a full-body shape-changer, then she doesn't really need to keep to merely a human or a Devil shape. She could come up with a kind of souped-up combat form."

Harry thought for a moment and then nodded slowly. "That could maybe work. Still, I understand that you are under a timetable, Sirzechs, so perhaps we should adjourn to the training area?"

"Certainly, Harry," said Sirzechs with a smile, gesturing him forward. "I've heard a lot about it, but I wasn't able to stop in and see it while I was helping Rias-chan with her projects."

"Why did a shiver of fear go up and down my spine just then?" Rias asked as the door closed behind the three of them.

"I have no idea what you mean," Venelana said insincerely. Artfully, Rias would recall later, rather than truthfully. "Now, how about you show me around? I haven't actually come up to Kuoh before."

 **OOOOOOO**

"This is an amazing training area," Sirzechs said pleasantly as he entered the dimensional gateway, carrying him from the basement of the occult research club room and into the training zone. "And you say that this took, what, three, four days of work?"

"Barely half a day for Rias and Sona to create the dimensional pocket, the rest of the time was spent creating all the other spells to go along with it. In comparison to the work on the wards, though, that was downright easy," Harry said dryly.

"Yes, those wards. They are formidable," Sirzechs said with a chuckle. "I had thought my wife had been exaggerating, but having felt them when Rias called me help create those doorways for her, I realized the reality was exactly as she said it was."

"Surely that's not a surprise?" Harry asked cocking his head thoughtfully. "Just from my brief interactions with her, I don't think Grayfia's the type to exaggerate."

"She isn't, and that was a figure of speech, and you know it, Potter," Sirzechs said, giving him the finger.

Harry chuckled and gestured around them as the desert setting appeared everywhere. "So, how are we going to do this?"

"Let me set this up first," Sirzechs said, moving to one side of the entrance to the dimensional bubble. He knelt down and pulled out a large square thing that looked like a Steampunk version of a magical tome, leather, paper, and steel all mixed together around a large red ruby set into a pentagram. He pressed his hand onto the ruby, pulsing some unformed magic out into it, and the pages began to flip quickly. Runes started to appear in the air all around them, spreading out and disappearing.

"Ahem, and, um, what might that have been?" Harry asked.

"Ah, this is a gift from Adjuka. He says it's one of his finest creations, a sort of time dilation array. Essentially it will enlarge time in a set area. He says that it will make every two hours in here the equivalent of thirty minutes outside. Adjuka told me he got the idea from my Rias-chan; she's so smart," Sirzechs said proudly.

Harry just nodded, having some experience with devices which could affect time, though the idea of one being able to effect the time of a set area rather than an individual was different. Koneko, on the other hand sweatdropped slightly, knowing exactly where Rias had gotten that idea.

"Unfortunately, this is the only one he's been able to make. The ingredients are impossible to get. I mean, a jewel heart given freely by a Fairy of the Seelie court coupled with wings of fairies ground into paper?" Sirzechs shook his head. "Those two things would seem to directly contradict one another, and Fairies all retreated into their own pocket dimension along with the True Elves. I don't even know how Adjuka gained the gem in the first place; bastard just looks smug whenever I ask."

Shaking his head, Sirzechs returned his attention to the here and now, pulling off his cloak and setting it aside, revealing himself standing in slight, formfitting armor, something like leather armor, almost, with his arms free up to the elbows. His shoulder pauldrons were large with several spikes thrusting up from them, and his boots also looked like something out of a devil king's wet dream. "Anyway, that will let us have a lot more time for this training. But I think you need to understand exactly what this training is going to entail. To reach Balance Breaker with any Sacred Gear, you have to look at the one thing for which they are all known: the individual using them has to be pushed to the point that his or her life is in danger. You don't do that, you won't reach Balance Breaker.

"Harry," he said, his tone still pleasant while he rose into the air, an aura beginning to appear around him. "You probably have never felt that since training with the Boosted Gear simply because you were mostly on the other side of the training, being the one controlling it. And Koneko most likely knows and understands that you won't push her to that extent, so while she'll feel frustration, she won't feel honest to goodness fear. But fear has to be part of it."

Koneko whimpered at that, getting an inkling of what was about to happen here. At the same time Harry looked down at the gauntlet on his arm at the moment, hearing Ddraig telling him to run, and run quickly.

"And I have some issues to work out too," Sirzechs said, thrusting his hands forward with his fingers entwined as he cracked his knuckles and then his wrists, one after another.

"After all," he went on, his smile disappearing as if it had never been, "you are the young man who defiled my sister! The teacher who defiled my sister after I got you the job! I thought you would join her peerage but certainly never become her lover like this! And you, a grown man! How dare you, how dare you take advantage of my sister!"

As he spoke, Sirzechs let loose another aura, but this one wasn't based off magic at all. No, this was based off his sheer presence and was far more diffuse than the first. It blasted out around him, pure killing intent that made anyone who felt it fear for their lives, knowing they were against an enemy they could not defeat.

While Koneko whimpered once more and began to back away rapidly, already pulling in her Senjutsu power and shifting into her Nekoshou form, Harry prepared several dozen mental spells and several different scenarios in his mind. However, rather than being terrified like Koneko was, he was becoming excited. "Gryffindors charge," he muttered to himself, and then, in a louder voice, said, "Well, if we're being honest with one another, I have to say that Rias was fully onboard with her 'defiling.' In fact, you could say that she was the one who pushed for it at every stage."

"Liar!" Sirzechs bellowed. "My sister is as pure as the driven snow!"

Even Koneko couldn't let that one go, and she and Harry said in the same deadpan tone, "Are we talking about the same Rias/Buchou here?"

"Enough talking; time to die!" Sirzechs bellowed in fury.

Harry thrust out his hand and created several dozen protective shields, one after another, while his other hand worked in a few gestures, creating a fire dragon using an Onmyouji spell, which he sent roaring around in an arc to attack Sirzechs from behind. _Need to work on cutting down on the movements. Silent casting is a good start, but fewer movements is the next stage._

At the same time he tried to teleport away. However, the shields he had thrust up didn't last even an instant. They shattered under a blast of Power of Destruction that was both faster and more powerful than any he had seen from Rias. Harry was barely able to dodge to the side, calling upon his werewolf form as he did so for the added speed and durability it gave him.

In that form he put some distance between himself and Sirzechs, casting spell after spell, most of them near invisible charms, at the floating Maou. At the same time Koneko tried to circle around Sirzechs as well, but both of them watched in shock as the fire dragon Harry had launched dissipated several hundred yards away from Sirzechs as if it had never been. At the same time none of Harry's spells were able to hit the devil.

Two of them had been rather high level spells too, and Harry frowned. _He's using his Power of Destruction as an aura, and it's affecting my offensive spells, destroying the actual spells. I didn't even know that was possible_.

"The silent casting's a nice trick, as is the dual casting, particularly from two different magical schools. The invisilibility charms are interesting. But there is one thing you lack to truly fight me, Harry Potter. Power!" Sirzechs shouted. "You may be a demigod, Harry, but in the great swing of things, that doesn't really amount to much. I've fought ten-winged angels and Fallen! I have fought gods! And you think you can protect my little sister!?"

"First you're angry at me for defiling your sister, and I do truly resent the implication, because everything I've done to Rias she has most certainly enjoyed, the next you're talking about me not being able to protect her. Which is it?" Harry growled out, honestly curious, before he covered himself with his cloak, the fog suddenly billowing out around him, covering both where he was and thousands of yards in every direction.

"Father, stop talking!" Koneko shouted, dodging to one side as Sirzechs roared, the Power of Destruction flaring out in a wide corona that ate into the fog.

But it protected and hid Harry just enough for him to gain some more distance, and he launched several more spells at Sirzechs, followed by several dozen conjuration spells that created lions, tigers, and flying eagles, which he sent towards Sirzechs at the same time as two more high-end spells, followed by a low-level spell chain. The spell-chain was mostly charm work, but all of the spells in it were invisible and silent, whereas a few of the transfiguration spells hadn't been.

Yet, invisible or not, none of the spells impacted Sirzechs. He simply waved his hand, and a blast of Power of Destruction flared out from him, destroying Harry's incoming spellwork before going on to slam into his body before he could dodge.

"GAAHHHH!" Harry howled in pain as he was flung backwards, rolling across the sand of the desert.

Koneko had closed, by this point, from behind, but even as she launched her fist, Sirzechs dodged to one side. The next instant Koneko huffed as a blow like that of a Rook on steroids took her in the chest, hurling her backwards to land next to Harry.

She looked over woozily to see Harry's body already slowly regenerating, but he had lost his arm up to the elbow and his leg down from the thigh on that side of his body. Both were regenerating at an insane rate, though, and a second later he twisted his new arm this way and that, glaring up at Sirzechs.

"You see how seriously I am taking this training! Come at me with everything you have, or else you may really die here!" Sirzechs shouted, his presence becoming even more powerful, making his words sound almost like certainty.

Grimacing, Harry conjured up Fragarach around the arm that didn't have the Boosted Gear on it, creating the chain form that he had used against Riser to finish the battle against him. He looked over at Koneko, nodded once, and then charged forward, flinging the gauntlet off of his one hand towards her as he charged forward with Fragarach shifting into a massive shield with barbed edges and a sword's blade actually sticking out of the top. As he raced forward he lashed out with spell after spell from his off-hand.

This time he went for spells whose angle of attack he could control, sending them around the avenue of his charge. But they were all low level, more to distract than anything else. Behind the kite shield the fingers of his other hand moved in a series of gestures, creating another several dozen fire beasts followed by two metal ones which bound along beside the werewolf before he sent them roaring forwards.

But just as Sirzechs launched an attack towards him, Harry disappeared under the cloak. _Not by power, but by guile,_ he thought grimly. _I can't match him blow for blow, the idea's ridiculous, but I wonder if he really knows what to expect from Fragarach._

Just as Sirzechs was dealing with those beasts, Koneko was in his face, having bounded forward through the use of her Senjutsu speed. "GRAH!" she yowled, the roar of the Boosted Gear sounding off at the same time with a " **Boost**!"

Yet Sirzechs just held up a hand and stopped her blow cold. "Very nice power there, Koneko!" he said, actually smiling pleasantly. "I see you've learned to embrace your Senjutsu side to a certain extent, but you should look into the ways it can actually add spells to your repertoire in the future. Sad to say, right now you're in over your head."

But then Harry was behind him. He had apparated back to the original position he'd been in at the start of the fight and turned, leaping into the air. Fragarach was coming around in an arc, this time in a large glaive form, the blade nearly as tall as Harry and the shaft shaped to resemble dragon scales, tassels flapping at the end of the shaft where it met the blade.

Sirzechs, however, flashed out another Power of Destruction blast which created a shield almost like those Rias had done via her crystals. And, just like against her experiments, the edge of Fragarach penetrated this shield, forcing Sirzechs to float backward, staring at it respectfully. "That's intriguing. A finite yet infinite magical loop," he said mildly before sending another burst of Power of Destruction straight into Harry's face, sending him flying backwards. That had been low powered, but it still seared Harry's face and eyes. "Not good enough, though."

Then Koneko was hurled after Harry to land next to them. "Good tactics and decent teamwork. You didn't even have to talk to one another. But again, it's going to take more than that to beat me!"

Koneko growled, standing in front of Harry protectively as his face finished regenerating before he put an arm around her waist whispering out his next plan. Alas, while this one was a bit more complicated, it ended up the same: the two of them were hurled away by Sirzechs, his overwhelming power overcoming their tactics and teamwork like a pair of infantrymen armed only with rifles against a super-heavy tank.

Despite that, Sirzechs began to respect Fragarach, staring at the weapon each time it broke through one of his impromptu shields and nearly tagged him. But nearly was only useful with hand grenades or area of affect spells. And neither was able to get through Sirzechs's shield. Four times Koneko tagged him with a Senjutsu infused punch, but each time Sirzechs took the blow and returned one that hurled her away, the Nekoshou's punches or kicks just not enough to penetrate.

"Is that all you've got! Is that all the two of you can do!" Sirzechs bellowed after their sixth attempt, staring down at Koneko as she pulled herself out from a large crater that he had created when he'd smashed her with a blast of Power of Destruction.

That was a revelation to both Koneko and Harry: that Sirzechs had so much control over his strength that he could change the Power of Destruction into a physical force rather than a ravening beam of energy that ate everything it touched. Like this it hit like a bullet train going full speed, and Koneko was certainly feeling it, causing her to spit out blood as she felt her Rook durability pushed to the limit.

For his part, Harry was also feeling it. The number of times he'd been struck had pushed his body's regeneration several times, and he could feel his body beginning to give out along with his magical reserves. But that didn't mean he was giving up.

Pulling Koneko to her feet, Harry nodded grimly at her. He pulled off Boosted Gear, which he had used this last time, and handed it to her. "Take your time, let Ddraig build up at least four Boosts, and then get close and hammer him with everything you've got. I'll keep his attention centered on me."

Koneko looked at him worriedly, and Harry flashed her a grin. "Don't worry. Remember, Rias likes me. If he kills me, he'd have to deal with a seriously pissed off little sister."

"That's not nearly as reassuring as you think, Harry," Koneko said, using the word for the first time, which caused Harry to grin at her and ruffle her ears before he turned around and sprinted straight towards Sirzechs.

As he did so, both of his hands were moving as he dual cast, first a giant fire dragon which roared towards Sirzechs, then a metal giant which followed after. Sirzechs, however, dealt with them both in the same manner as he had every spell, simply raising up his Power of Destruction and aura around him and then sending it forward. However, those two spells had been simply to block his view for a second as Harry roared out "Fiendfyre!"

The black and red flames of the most dangerous fire-based spell Harry knew flared forward like a demon conjured into being from Harry's palms, its wings spreading up into the sky and its arms to either side, hands of red and black fire reaching for Sirzechs, each inch of its front marked by a different ravening soul.

Sirzechs blinked but sent forth his own Power of Destruction in the form of a hand which slammed into the oncoming fire Demon's chest. He blinked again as the fire seems to fight against the Power of Destruction for a brief second before he pulsed a tad more power into it. The area of the spell his attack hit dissipated after that, but he had to use his power several more times, the Fiendfyre spell an almost living thing as it tried to regrow until it was all gone.

This had bought Harry enough time to spread out his fog of Invisibility, blinding Sirzechs to Harry's current position. In its fog form it also covered a large portion of the battlefield, making it possible that he could escape Sirzechs's senses entirely.

 _That fog of his is quite irritating. Hiding even from my senses is no mean feat,_ Sirzechs thought to himself, even as he lashed out, destroying the fog and dissipating it. He spotted several hundred Harrys racing off in every direction, but again, Harry's power of illusions was such that even Sirzechs couldn't figure out which was which without being close enough to touch. All of them were also casting spells at him. But those spells were just lights and fireworks, further illusions which could do no damage even if Sirzechs let them hit.

 _Misdirection again, Harry?_ he thought, blasting out at ten at a time, tiny tendrils of Power of Destruction coming from each finger, and two from his eyes _. It's honestly speaking your only viable strategy against me, but that doesn't make it any more effective. Now, which one are you?_

In point of fact, Harry wasn't any of them. He had hidden himself not under the fog, as Sirzechs thought, but under an illusion spell that covered a crater Sirzechs had created earlier in one of their encounters. One that, as he moved forward, Sirzechs placed himself directly above.

Once Sirzechs was in position, Harry moved like lightning, dissipating the illusion around him and thrusting upward with Fragarach. The blade of the weapon, which was now in the form of a large pike for more reach, cut through his aura and into Sirzechs's ankle, causing him to hiss and pull back.

But it didn't really do any debilitating damage, and Sirzechs's aura dealt with all of the other spells Harry sent at him in that brief second of weakness. And Harry had no defense whatsoever against the vast pillar of the Power of Destruction that Sirzechs sent crashing down towards them.

Yet just before the blast would have landed and possibly fried Harry beyond recognition, Sirzechs suddenly redirected it, smacking out with a lesser wave of destruction at Harry with his other hand. This sent him hurling backward, his body burnt and blistered. But the larger attack twisted around until it was aimed towards Koneko, who had just come out of her own Senjutsu-based illusion directly behind Sirzechs.

Koneko saw it coming and knew she was going to die. Her King's own brother was going to kill her in a training accident. He would probably be very sad about it afterwards, but that wouldn't matter much to Koneko's ashes after this attack hit, if it even left any, which was doubtful. That knowledge, however, didn't mean she was going to go down without a fight. She reached deep, grabbing at the magical core within her, grabbing at the power of the Boosted Gear as Ddraig roared in her mind to take it, and thrust a hand forward with a yowl on her lips. "Break!"

A deep rumbling roar shook the entire underground training area, and Ddraig's voice was added to Koneko's howl. " **Balance Breaker**!"

From the Boosted Gear's gauntlet red light streamed, covering her arm from the elbow up to her face and then moving up and over her body so quickly it looked instantaneous. One moment she was standing there in her normal fighting outfit, a magically enhanced and slightly shorter than regulation school uniform, and the next she was wearing a full body suit of armor.

The armor was made out of red scales of metal, with gold and green highlights here and there in the form of golden spikes at the joints. The green highlights came from a large gem set in the chest between Koneko's modest breasts, and two more were set on the backs of her hands. Those hands were now covered in long, metallic claws which moved as her fingers did. From her rear came a long, whip-like tail, several yards longer than her own, the end barbed and pointed, the entire thing made of smaller red scales. The crowning change was in the helmet she now wore, which looked like that of a dragon's maw shifting back into cat ears sticking out from the top of her head and covering her real ones. The eyes of the helmet gleamed yellow, adding to the effect.

Koneko's armored palm thrust slammed into the incoming attack from the Power of Destruction and actually succeeded in knocking it to one side. Then she was in Sirzechs's face, her other hand thrown backwards. "Fly away!" she roared, her voice sounding oddly discordant, like it was multi-layered rather than coming from within the helmet. The attack, accompanied by a blast of magic of four Boosts and Koneko's Senjutsu and Rook strength, smashed through his defenses and slammed into Sirzechs's jaw, hurling him backwards and down into the ground.

"' **Fly away?'"** Ddraig asked incredulously in her head. " **Fly away, really? The most powerful attack you are going to launch for a good while and you call it 'fly away?'"**

"I didn't call it that," Koneko muttered as she landed next to Harry staring out to where Sirzechs had created a large crater of his own just then. "That was more in the lines of a heartfelt wish."

" **I suppose that makes more sense, but when you attack like that you're supposed to shout out some kind of special phrase, like a spell,"** Ddraig said, sounding almost affronted **. "There's a certain formula to follow for these things."**

Koneko grimaced at that, having learned from Harry that shouting out spells was silly, and not at all necessary in the long-term. She was about to reply but then Sirzechs appeared out from the dust his impact had caused, waving his hand to dissipate it and smiling at them, his other hand touching his jaw gingerly. "That was a good punch! Even stronger than one from my own Peerage's Rooks could have given me! Very damn good, Koneko!"

Koneko smiled at that, and the Boosted Gear power dissipated from around her. The cost of the Balance Breaker hit her instantly, causing her to collapse. But Harry caught her around the middle, lifting her up easily into a princess carry before moving over to one side and laying her out gently. "You did good kid."

"Of course," Sirzechs said from behind him, "that only leaves you who needs to reach his Balance Breaker status."

Sighing, Harry pulled the gauntlet off of Koneko's arm and slid it onto his own. "What do you think, Ddraig? Are you up to doing Balance Breaker twice in a row? Hell, is it even possible?"

" **This is all new territory for me, Potter, but…maybe? I, hmm… I might have to take more of your energy, merge it into my own spell, as it were, but yes, I think it's possible."** The eyes of the gauntlet lit up eagerly. **"Let's do this!"**

Harry sighed, moving his neck and shoulders as he let loose a low rumble. "That was what I was afraid you would say." He then grinned, wolfishly, of course, his fangs gleaming. "Once more into the breach, then!"

"Well, are you done trying to give yourself a pep talk?" Sirzechs asked, laughing. "Don't think you're going to be let off so easily as Koneko did."

"I'd say go fuck yourself," Harry said mildly, racing away from Koneko in order to let her rest more. "But that seems to be your wife's job anyway."

"I'll have you know behind closed doors that **I** wear the pants in our relationship!" Sirzechs bellowed back as he roared in on the attack.

"Just not anywhere else, then?" Harry deadpanned, adding more fuel to the fire.

It took three more near death experiences, one of which nearly had Harry's head completely blown off. Each time Harry and Sirzechs clashed, Harry tried new spells, new strategies, and every time Sirzech's sheer brute power stopped them. A few high-end spells got through, and the one time Harry tried to weaponize the **Patronus** spell, it had an impact, but not anywhere near enough. It turned out that Ddriag's Boosts could actually enhance certain spells, but in the heat of battle Harry couldn't find a pattern to which they would impact and which they could not.

Still, eventually Harry too was pushed to the limit, staring certain death in the face. Harry reached deep inside, not to his own reserves but to Ddraig, and pulled out all his remaining reserves to defend himself before he, too, achieved Balance Breaker.

But when he did, it wasn't anywhere close to what it had been with Koneko…

Sirzechs stared as the dimensional bubble around them collapsed around a hole that had just been torn inside it and the blade that was stuffed well into the roof of the ORC building's basement. Then he looked back as Harry collapsed to his knees, Balance Breaker form disappearing around him. "Well now, Harry Potter," Sirzechs said mildly, feeling blood dripping down from a deep cut on his arm. "That, that was quite something. You are a very dangerous young man, I have to say."

Harry smirked up at him before unsteadily pushing himself to his feet. "Coming from you, that's a compliment I'll treasure."

The two of them looked at one another, then laughed and moved over to where Koneko lay, her eyes wide at what she had just seen. Harry reached her and lifted her easily onto his back, giving her a kiss on the forehead before doing so. "Are we done here?" he asked, looking over at Sirzechs, not at all surprised to see that his wound was already closing.

"Oh, I think so," Sirzechs said with a chuckle, hefting up the device he'd brought along, which was sputtering and sizzling. "I think we've both learned things today, and I need to drop by Adjuka's to explain how I just broke his fancy toy before going home to Grayfia's tender mercies. Even with this thing I'm going to be several hours later than I told her I would be."

For a moment the walk out of the basement was silent, then Harry quipped, "So, I was right about Grayfia wearing the pants outside the bedroom, then?"

"Gah! Enough of that, damn it!" Sirzechs shouted back while Koneko giggled against Harry's neck as they continued up the stairs, the two men now exchanging good-natured insults instead of spells.

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time that Harry and Koneko were being put through a series of life-threatening battles, Rias was showing her mother around town and then to the compound. Unlike the semi-easy camaraderie of Harry and Sirzechs walking down to the training area, the conversation between the two women was rather stilted, neither of them quite knowing how to break the ice between them. Eventually they reached the house the Gremory clan had bought for Rias when she moved to Kuoh.

"That was interesting," Venelana said with a smile as they stepped from the back yard of the house into the main backyard of the Potter-Gremory compound. "Some of you and your brother's work, I presume? That was as smooth a transition as I've felt from many of your father's experiments. Well done."

"Thank you," Rias said, smiling politely, and then ducked underneath a flying griffin as it rocketed through the air after a book that whizzed through where her mother's head had been a moment ago.

From where Rias was crouching, she saw Teddy, Lily, and Kunou tossing things into the air and across the ground for the Okuri-inu and Titan to pounce on. Even Raiter had gotten in on the act, but he stayed still on his small perch, flinging his neck around and blasting at the books as they soared past with bolts of lightning.

"Tough day at school?" Rias asked dryly, not getting up from her crouch until the trio stopped, looking at her in surprise.

While the other two looked a little worried, Lily just nodded, a growl in her tone straight from her werewolf side of things. "Irritating! Very irritating." She then flung a flute as if it had personally offended her through the air, watching as Titan soared after it, catching it in his forepaws.

"What exactly happened?" Rias asked as she stood up, moving around the kids while Venelana did so too, stiffly glaring at the little ones.

"We're supposed to pick an instrument and start to learn how to play it," Kunou said, shuffling her feet a little as the two women looked at them.

"But we don't get any of the fun instruments, nooo! We get cymbals, simple flutes, and fiddles, of all things. Come on! What's the point of those? They're so boring!" Lily groused.

Rias laughed. "Well, I suppose that and those quizzes they sprang on you the other day would eat into any child's self-control no matter how saintly. And you, by gosh, are not a saint, are you, Lily?"

"Nope, not a saint, not a lady, just Lily," Lily said with a chuckle, picking up another book, having taken Rias's words for permission to continue their play.

"And I presume you're all prepared to practice your repair spells later?" Rias asked crossing her arms and looking at them sternly, keeping her eyes primarily on Lily, knowing she was the ringleader here.

That caused Teddy to pale, staring at the destruction of several of his schoolbooks in chagrin, while Kunou also frowned, pouting as she thrust out her bottom lip. Lily, though, simply nodded, though inwardly she quailed a little at that.

"In that case, crack on. Just be prepared to deal with the consequences~," Rias said in a singsong voice as she turned away.

"That's it?" Venelana asked incredulously. "That's all you're going to say to them for nearly beaning us with those books and destroying school books and school property for no good reason?"

Rias shrugged. "They've had a rough few weeks coming back to school, and Teddy in particular has had issues with the school work. No, I'm fine with them having a bit of an outlet. I would've preferred that they had waited, and we would've taken them on a trip to Kyoto tomorrow or something. But this seems to be as decent a way of getting their irritation at being back in school out as any.

"It will also be a lesson on how their actions can have consequences. When they have to go back to school and explain what happened to their books… Well, in Japanese culture books, and schoolbooks in particular, are supposed to be treasured, so it will be an interesting experience for them."

Her mother frowned. "That's not how I would have handled it."

"Well, I'm not you," Rias said, with a bit more snap in her tone than she had meant to use. She could see the hurt in Venelana's expression and sighed. "Sorry."

"No, I should apologize too," Venelana replied, looking away. "It will take a lot of work for us to get back to where we were, won't it?"

"Where we were? I can barely remember where we were before Riser," Rias said with a laugh that wasn't really humorous at all. "So yes, I think we can say that."

Venelana winced but followed Rias over to a lounge chair where they lay out, watching the kids have fun for a bit as the two of them searched for another safe topic to talk about. "So, how is Yubelluna fitting in here?" Venelana finally asked. "I have to admit to having some reservations about how you and Harry Potter simply took her with you all, but seeing the remains of her Queen piece, I knew, at least, that she had no further connection to Riser."

The Gremory clan servants had found a pile of dust under where Yubelluna had been Blessed by Harry long after the party had ended, gleaming with residual magic but otherwise unremarkable. It took more than a week for anyone to figure out what the dust had been, but Adjuka had eventually identified it.

"Very well, actually," Rias said with a smile. "She designed all of this, you see," she went on, gesturing to the trees and the bushes that dotted the backyard and created a barrier around the edge of it that provided a physical block to anyone trying to look in, though, of course, the wards around the area made that a near impossibility. "She lives with the ladies over in the girls' dorm, and beyond a few…call them teething troubles and personality clashes, it's been going well."

"You don't live over there any longer?" Venelana asked surprised.

"No," Rias said with a smile, one hand going down her body once and then back up to her lips. "I live here. I've moved into the same room as Harry, sleep in his bed, and I haven't looked back since."

Her mother giggled a little at that, amused by how proud and happy Rias sounded at that. _It is like looking at a mirror into the past,_ she thought with amusement, remembering how she and Zeoticus had been after they had gotten over their relationship jitters and the fact that their own marriage had been arranged, just like they had tried to do between Rias and Riser. Mind twitching away at that thought, Venelana asked quickly, "And Kiba lives in the other dorms?"

"Kiba, Loup, and young Teddy live in the boys' townhouse, yes. Issei also sometimes hangs out over there, but he's the only one among us with an actual family beyond our little compound, so he doesn't spend as much time here as the others. He trains as hard as anyone else at school however," Rias said quickly, defending her young pawn. "Mittelt is much the same. She's not very much of a joiner, but both of them join us at least three times a week for dinner. And Kala's food is to die for! She's such a good cook," Rias ended with a wide smile.

"Better than yourself and Akeno?" Venelana asked. She had never had to cook in her life, but both girls had shown a marked interest in cooking since an early age, if for very different reasons.

"Much better, unfortunately," Rias said with a small scowl at the admission. "But, then again, she's been around for far longer than I have."

She looked up as a shout of, "I heard that!" and a spoon whirled past her head. But Rias caught it easily as she laughed.

"And you allow her to talk to you like that?" Venelana asked incredulously. From what she had gathered, Kala was something of a servant, after all, a Fallen Angel serving the Potters in return for her life, like Mittelt had joined Rias's peerage. And while the House of Gremory taught their children to treat servants as family, there was a line servants just shouldn't cross.

 _Whatever Grayfia's attitude to the contrary,_ Venelana thought with weary amusement, having long gotten used to the dynamics of her firstborn's marriage _. But this Kalawarner, she's a Fallen Angel to boot! Surely…_

"It was a spoon, Mother, nothing dangerous," Rias said with a laugh, tossing it back through the open door before it could close. "Besides, she knows I meant it in good taste."

Venelana shook her head, then they both looked over as Yubelluna moved over towards the kids from where she had been helping another tree grow in the boys' dorm area. One of the books had flown over the teleportation zone, and she picked it up from the ground before corralling Okuri-inu with her other hand, hefting him into the air.

"I believe these are yours," she said dryly, dropping them both in front of Kunou. Like Rias, she then asked what had sparked this bit of destruction, and her eyes narrowed dangerously when she heard about the straw that had broken the camel's back. "Say that again," she said dangerously.

"I said they're boring!" Lily said, gesturing down at her flute, pulling it away from Titan who had been playfully gnawing at it with its beak. "And cymbals and fiddles, come on! They're all so boring. Give me a drum or a guitar any day!"

Yubelluna's eyes narrowed. "Challenge accepted," she said calmly, moving around the trio of kids and entering the girls' dorm through its gateway, coming back with her fiddle, and raising it to her shoulder. "Prepare to eat those words."

Despite how confident she appeared on the outside, though, inside the purple-haired woman was quailing. _Fuck, Yube, you put your foot in it this time. I'm only an amateur; how am I going to pull this off?_ But anger at the insult given to her instrument overrode that moment of hesitation, and she put bow to string, beginning to play a song she had listened to several times over the years.

 **{Check out Lindsey Stirling's Master of Tides}**

As the kids looked on and began to clap their hands, Rias and Venelana both watched, wide-eyed. There was some kind of magic at work there that they could sense, feeling deep and ancient. Rias felt that it tied into Yubelluna's new bandrui powers, but not quite _. Could the bandrui have worshiped through song as well as through working with nature? But then why didn't Yasaka and Tiamat tell us about it?_

The answer to that would later be all too obvious: they hadn't known. Tiamat had very little interaction with the Irish pantheon, and most of what she had was antagonistic. Yasaka, in contrast, had never left Japan even before becoming the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and her family had never been abroad either.

At the end of Yubelluna's song all three of the kids were looking wide-eyed at her. She was breathing heavily and trembling a little, but she desperately kept her own eyes from showing any of her own shock. _I've never been able to play that well before_ _!_ Instead of voicing that thought, however, she reached out with her fiddle's bow and pushed lightly at Lily's chest. "Well?"

"I'm sorry I said it was boring," Lily said, downcast and looking down at her feet now.

Next to her Kunou looked up at Yubelluna with new hope in her eyes. "Do you think you could do the same with a flute?"

"Ah, um, no." Yubelluna shook her head. "Not me, but I bet we could find a video online that would show you that it could be exciting."

"How about cymbals?" Teddy asked sardonically, holding up two tiny cymbals. His expression, though, showed that he didn't think it likely.

As he had predicted, that stumped Yubelluna, and she frowned, staring at them thoughtfully. "Those, I'm afraid, you're probably stuck with being boring. But at least they're easy to play and rather loud, right?" she said, figuring that would be something that would appeal to a boy.

The kids laughed at that but then twitched as Rias coughed gently, clapping her hands. "Thank you for that amazing display, Yubelluna, on many levels." The former Phenex Queen bobbed into a curtsy, hearing the many levels of meaning in Rias's tone, and Rias smiled before turning her attention to the kids. "However, right now I think it's time for these three to start practicing the **Reparo** charm."

She moved over to stand in front of them as Yubelluna moved backwards, her mind still reeling from the music she had found flowing from her fingertips. "Now, the repair charm is simple, **Reparo** , and the gesture is this way." Rias gestured with her fingers in the same manner she had found in Harry's books. "Concentrate on the image of what you want the spell to do, concentrate on it, and the spell will superimpose that image over the reality."

Kunou whined a little, her fox ears dipping as she poked her fingers together, but Lily rolled up her sleeves and pressed forward. That didn't mean she was any good at this spell, though. There was a reason why European wizards began magical training so much later than the Onmyouji did: the kids could better visualize the effects with their more formed minds. Onmyouji, though, started at Kunou's age, and they had had instruction before this. But the charm was a bit more like a transfiguration spell rather than a charm like the ones the girls had used under Akeno's instructions.

Of the three, Teddy was actually able to produce the best spellwork. But even so, after they broke off, gasping in tiredness, none of their books were in any shape to be seen in public. Teddy broke off first, his books looking like they had been attacked by a dog. Kunou and Lily took nearly twice as long to tire, but their books looked even worse.

Rias cocked one eyebrow, looking at the crestfallen redhead in front of her, the now openly whimpering kitsune, and the chagrined and quite guilty looking Teddy. "I believe we've all learned a lesson here, haven't we, about treating one's property well? And," she went on more softly, getting down on her knees in front of Kunou and gently chucking her on the chin to make her look up, "something about peer pressure? Just because Lily says you should do something doesn't automatically mean you should follow along." She winked. "Most of the time, from Lily, it's a good idea, I'll admit, but not when she's throwing a temper tantrum, darling."

Lily twisted in place guiltily as Kunou slowly nodded. But then Lily surprised her with a hug. "That's true," she said, then pushed forward resolutely to face Rias from closer. "It was my idea," she said stoutly. "I was the one who pressured both Kunou and Teddy into joining me."

While Rias hadn't seen anything of the sort, she had to approve of Lily's spunk and her willingness to stand for friends like this. Then her smile widened slightly as Kunou tried to push Lily aside, saying that it had been both their idea as Teddy did the same.

"Well then, in the spirit of the friendship you're showing, I think…" Rias trailed off gesturing with a finger towards the books. " **Reparo!** " she shouted from where she was kneeling. A second later all of the books were back in the one piece. A few were dented, and the flute still looked as if it had been chewed on, but that was all, since the fiddle hadn't been thrown yet, and the cymbals were undamaged. She then turned back and winked at them. "I think you all deserve a do-over. However, this is the only time I'm going to do this. You will treat your schoolbooks and school materials with respect from now on, or else we will be talking about timeouts and losing privileges, am I clear?"

"Yes, Rias," Teddy and Kunou said, with Lily nodding vigorously. She then reached forward and hugged the still kneeling Rias, kissing her on the cheek. "Thanks for not being so hard on them, and, um, I'll, I'll watch what I'm doing more carefully from now on," she said, pulling back and winking before racing inside, shouting over her shoulders at the other two kids. "Come on! If we hurry we can put the books back, shower, and still have time to play some games before dinner."

"That was magnificent," Yubelluna said, smiling at the younger girl.

Rias nodded with a pleased smile. "I thought it went quite well too." Her mother also looked on proudly, her earlier doubts having been completely dissipated by that little show. But then Rias turned back to Yubelluna. "So, that song, there was something going on there. Do you have any ideas what it could be?"

Yubelluna shook her head, and the two of them fell into a conversation about what it could mean, though their ignorance about the bandrui kept them from coming to any real answers. They stopped talking about it after writing down some notes on what they had sensed during the song, but unless someone else had some ideas about what it could mean, they were stumped.

Venelana continued to mostly watch Rias interact with the rest of the extended clan. She watched as Rias helped Kala cook while striking up a conversation with Venelana and Yubelluna on the latest fashion trends down in the Underworld.

Others came and went, including the little Fallen turned Devil who had been so instrumental in the Rating Game. She stuck her nose in, asked how long would be for dinner, and then disappeared again. Akeno came home and joined the two cooking quickly, sliding in between Kala and Rias with practiced ease, all of them working well together, the two devil girls taking instruction from the blue-haired fallen with no sign of resentment or irritation that Venelana could detect.

Harry and Koneko returned home soon after Akeno arrived with Harry carrying Koneko on his back, having teleported directly into the entryway of the main house. "We're home, and, may I say," he said as Rias poked her head out from the kitchen, "that I am very happy we can do that these days. I really don't want more rumors to start with me carrying Koneko home like this."

"And how did training go?" Rias asked as the two of them entered the sitting room, Rias quickly following and looking on in concern at her utterly exhausted young Rook. There Harry laid Koneko out as they both gave her thumbs up. "Really!?"

"Your brother is evil," Koneko said, almost glaring at her King. "Truly evil." Then she relented a little. "But his training works."

"It even gave me some more ideas for Kiba and the others too," Harry said with a small smirk.

"My heart just quailed there when you said that, Harry," Yubelluna said with a drawl in her voice.

"Oh now, don't be like that, luv; it won't be anything you can't handle. And the upside will be truly bloody amazing," Harry replied.

His tone changed slightly to a flirtier sort of tone when he addressed the purple-haired woman, something that caused Venelana's eyes to widen and Yubelluna to flush. But when Venelana looked around from the table she saw that no one else, not even Rias, was reacting to that. So, with a shrug, she turned her attention to the rest of the growing crowd.

Sitting there observing everything as she almost faded into the background, Venelana could only smile wanly at the homey, family-like atmosphere that permeated the entire place. She could almost sense a different kind of magic in the air here too, a very odd sort. It was something like what most people would have assumed Holy magic would feel like: loving, giving off an almost uplifting power. Of course, Holy magic wasn't like that at all, but that was the only way Venelana could think to describe the feeling in the air.

But, more than anything, she saw how Rias interacted with everyone else, how she fit in. She saw how everything revolved around her and Harry. In some cases it was subtle, like with Kiba or Loup, who came in together, and in some cases it was much more overt, like with Kala, Asia, Akeno, and the kids. But, whatever it was, Harry and Rias were the center of it all, the ringmaster and his assistant, the two people around which everyone else revolved.

Whatever the dynamic, what Venelana was seeing was a clan, a separate entity created through fusing two different groups, then adding others into it. And nowhere was there room for her or Zeoticus. _She really has made an entirely new family of her own here. And the only place left, I suppose, is the grandmother position._

She blanched visibly at that, but she was broken out of her thoughts by Kala setting a plate down in front of her. "Don't make that kind of face until you try my food first," Kala said firmly.

Looking up at the blue-haired fallen, Venelana smiled wanly. "I apologize. That wince wasn't about your food, that was about my own thoughts."

"Deep thoughts for later, food now," Lily said as she scooted up into her chair next to her daddy.

Venelana smiled politely at that, and, as everyone began to eat, took a bite herself, only to pause and stare down at her plate before chewing enthusiastically. "This is excellent! Can I get the recipe for this?"

"I'm afraid not," Kala said with a chuckle. "Most of my dishes I make up on the spot. And this, in particular, is something I was testing tonight for a cooking tournament on the first of February that I want to take part in. I take it this meal meets with everyone's approval?" she asked.

She was answered with a chorus of yeses and smiled as she sat down across from Rias, who was sitting next to Harry. Akeno sat next to her, and soon the long table, which had enlarged itself at some point to allow for the number of people, was full.

Later that night, Rias escorted Venelana home. She had noticed her mother was silent during the meal for the most part, but with everyone there save Yasaka she hadn't been able to concentrate on what her mother was doing.

"I'm happy for you," the older woman said as they reached the entrance to the Occult Research Club room. "I'm very happy for you, though I am confused about why you are allowing Kala and Yubelluna around. It's obvious that both are interested in Harry, after all."

Rias shrugged. "If Harry comes to love them as they seem to be coming to love him, or does love him, in Kala's case, I'll welcome them into our relationship. I'd come to respect Yubelluna long before we freed her, and Kala and I have long since buried whatever hatchet we had in the beginning. I think it's only a matter of time before she breaks down and decides to take the risk to be with Harry, and the chemistry between Yube and Harry is obvious. As long as I can get along with them and no one tries to push me out, I'll be fine with them joining."

 _Heck, I think that other one might actually be coming back into the fold in the future too,_ Rias thought with some amusement. _But we'll see. I won't make the same mistake as I did before, trying to push them together when they weren't ready for it, if for very different reasons._

"Whatever happens, it won't wreck my and Harry's relationship. I know that here," she said, tapping her chest, "and here," tapping her forehead. "That is enough."

"I'm proud of you," Venelana said again, pulling her into a hug. Rias stiffened slightly, but returned it quickly, squeezing tightly. "And I will say again, I am sorry about what we did. I'm proud of the young woman you've become, I'm proud of the family you've built, and I am sorrier than I can ever be that I wasn't there to see you do it. But I'm still around, and I will keep trying to bridge this gap between us, Rias. You have my word on that."

"I'll try too, Mother," Rias said with a smile, pleased with this less formal, more heartfelt apology and talk than she had been from the initial talk with her parents before they met with the Phenex clan. "I really would like you back in my life in some fashion."

"But I will not assume the grandmother role in regards to your family," Venelana said firmly. "If you even hint at that kind of position for me when it comes to Lily and the others, I swear I'll turn my Power of Destruction on you. Sirzechs has followed the path of wisdom there, and Milicas always calls me Auntie, that is the oldest mode of address that I am comfortable with."

Rias laughed, and, after a moment's stern glaring, Venelana started laughed too. It was going to be a long road, but both women felt that eventually everything would be all right between them again. _Now to just get Zeoticus here to talk to her in turn._

Unfortunately, this somewhat staid, safe life was about to be interrupted in a big way…

 **OOOOOOO**

Rias had decided to head to Kyoto after school the Friday of their third week back to talk about the trip to the cooking competition and whether they would be able to take Kunou with them. She had taken Kunou and the other two kids with her, but Harry stayed at school that evening with Akeno, Yubelluna, and Kalawarner, who had come over to use the sand boxes in the planning room. Momo was there too, working with Kalawarner, and occasionally Harry broke off working with the others to look over their work.

Thanks to the book Harry had been given from the locals as recompense, he and Kala had started an entirely new project. But while Harry would have to be the one to get involved in the final result, as it were, Momo and Kala were the ones working on it for the most part. Harry had given them a few suggestions and had basically put his foot down and told them to go for quality over quantity, but the two of them were the ones working on the nuts and bolts of the project. Kala was also working on creating various types of magical weapons and items that could give their users some help in a battle, but was running into many issues there, though Harry suspected that was because she had decided to run before she could walk in terms of the effects she wanted to create. Still, the two of them were making swift progress on the main project.

Until Yubelluna's little moment with her fiddle, that would have been the exact opposite of the work of shifting the ward pillars underground, which was what Akeno, Harry, and Yubelluna were working on. No one wanted to take the wards down, but everything they had worked out via the runes and arithmetics said they would have to. If they didn't, the first time they tried to move one ward pillar the others would be unable to connect to it, and that break would cause a reaction. What that reaction would be varied, but it began at explosive and went up from there.

However, the magic Rias had seen in Yubelluna's music had allowed them a way around this property. Essentially, the magic she played worked almost like prayer did for the Church: it called on her god's magical core and filled the surrounding area with his magic, acting something like a force multiplier. Learning that she could pull at his magical core like that had been something of a shock for both Yubelluna and Harry, but, as Harry put it, "I don't want worshippers; I want friends. So long as you treat me more as your friend rather than your god, we're golden."

But the big thing about Yubelluna's songs was that they created a large amount of ambient magic, making spells easier, and, and this was the important thing, created what Harry thought of as an extension cord, taking any nearby spell and just keeping it going for longer than it normally would. In this manner they could figure out a way to allow the other pillars to continue to contact the one they were moving until they were done moving them. They would have to be quick about it and use speakers and other means to carry the sound of the music to each position, but it was still doable now, where before it would have been impossible.

They were all hard at work with Harry leading Yubelluna and Akeno in the arithmantic equations through which they would devise the song to best achieve the results needed when the door slammed open, and in walked Sona and Tsubaki, both of them looking worried and grim-faced. "Damn, here I was hoping Rias would also be down here. Can you get in contact with her? And Harry-san, we'll need you for this as well."

"What exactly is 'this,' and is it an immediate threat?" Harry asked promptly, standing up and moving towards the door with the others doing the same, leaving their work as it was in the various sand boxes.

"No, not immediately, but it is a major issue. My family just informed me that our agents have discovered that the Church has sent two representatives to Kuoh, either to infiltrate the area and spy on us or to contact us directly. We're not certain which, but this is important enough I feel we need our peerages and you here to greet them."

Harry frowned. "Hmm, I wonder if they'd even be able to operate at all, to be honest. If they feel a lot of animosity towards Devils, it's doubtful they will able to stay in Kuoh for long. Or would even that cause a diplomatic incident?" His voice was entirely analytical. Harry honestly didn't care about the Faction politics and wouldn't until it started to threaten his family. Then he would deal with it, one way or the other.

"That's true, and yes, it would cause a major incident even if we didn't actively do anything. That means we must have someone meet them at the outskirts." Sona said with a sigh. "Tsubaki, can I count on you for this?"

"I'll go with you," Yubelluna said, nodding to the younger woman. "If there are two of them, there should be two of us there too. And it should be people who aren't easy to anger either. Even Church diplomats tend to be very arrogant and prickly."

Harry's eyes narrowed at that and asked, "Should we keep Asia away from them?" A part of him thought that meeting these Church people would help her grow in a way, help her to put the past even further behind her. The rest worried that the Church representatives might just attack her, given the way the Church had turned on her.

"Hmm, I would say keep her away but tell her they are here, let her make the decision to face them," Sona replied. "Now, where is Rias?"

About two hours later, Tsubaki and Yubelluna brought two young women into the ORC clubroom.

They were of equal or near to equal height with Sona, wearing robes that obscured most of their bodies. As they pushed their hoods back they revealed rather pretty faces of girls perhaps the same age as Kiba. One had blue hair, chopped short, the other brown colored hair in twin-tails, disappearing into her cloak. Their eyes were also somewhat unusual: violet colored for the longer-haired girl, and a yellow approaching that of Koneko's in the case of the blue-haired girl.

Both of them stiffened, seeing the sheer number of people waiting for them. Sona stood there with Saji, her two Knights and two Bishops, though her Pawns were nowhere to be seen, having been ordered to wait out of sight and trail the two Church reps once they left. Rias's whole peerage was there bar Mittelt, who, like Kalawarner, was being kept under wraps. Church people had an easy time discerning devils and Fallen from normal humans, and no one wanted to complicate an already volatile situation.

Harry and Asia were also there, the young girl having decided to confront these people as a part of her past she wanted to leave behind. They stood to one side of Rias's peerage, and Yubelluna moved to join them, stepping behind and to one side of Harry. When he looked at her questioningly she shrugged her shoulders and smiled, indicated that the two Church reps hadn't said or done anything offensive yet.

That ended now as one of them, the blue haired girl, spoke, gesturing to herself and her companion. "This many devils here to see just the two of us? Well, I suppose it is only natural, given your weakness to Holy magic, that you would feel the need to stack the deck. I am Xenovia, this is Irina. We are here to tell you we will be entering your territory to conduct a search for Church property. We are not here to fight unless we find evidence to link you to the theft of the item in question."

Kiba growled, but Tsubaki gave him a look as did Harry, and he subsided. Rias simply smirked, amused at the arrogance of the twosome. " **Telling** us, are you? This is our territory, Xenovia, Irina. You do not come here to **tell** us anything. Rather, you need to ask permission, and I rather think your higher-ups told you that. Indeed, if we had not been warned to expect you, you would never have been able to enter Kuoh at all, given that attitude."

Both Exorcists looked confused, and Sona smirked. "You are currently under a very strong set of magical wards which defend those read into them from those who have not been by magical threats, including magical weaponry. Please don't try anything against anyone here. You might die before we can stop it."

Xenovia scowled, reaching for a large covered item on her back, and then gasped as the wards activated all around her, watching, waiting for her to do something. _Wha, what is this feeling!?_ It was like being a mouse facing a tiger. It was not really interested in you, but if you were cheeky it might decide to squash you all the same. _What have these devils wrought here!?_

Shaking her head, Irina held up her hands, moving around Xenovia. "We really aren't here to fight, please. We are merely here to search for an artifact stolen from the Church. We don't intend nor want violence with anyone here."

Her eyes had flicked to Issei when she said that, so fast it looked more like she was trying to look at everyone at once, but Harry had caught it anyway. _Huh, I wonder what that's about?_ Regardless, the blue-haired woman slowly removed her hands from her sword's hilt, and the feeling of being targeted by a tiger went away.

"The Church is still looking for your stolen Holy Swords?" Rias asked, almost but not quite solicitously. She had even kept the contempt out of her voice, a remarkable feat in her opinion.

"Ara, and that after we went to all the trouble of returning one of them to you after finding and defeating the thieves who had stolen it," Akeno mused, shaking her head. She hadn't kept as much of the contempt out of her voice as her King, alas.

Both Exorcists flushed at that, but Irina continued to be their spokesperson and spoke calmly. "We are indeed in search of the last Excalibur Sword, and the Church thanks you for your peacekeeping gesture of returning it through diplomatic channels once you had retrieved it. But while the Church was able to track the last sword, it led us a roundabout route: first into Russia, then China, then across the ocean into America where we nearly lost the trail, then back to here in Japan. And here the route seems to indicate that the thief was making for Kuoh, although we can't be certain. The Church doesn't have many resources here in Japan."

"Indeed, heathens vastly outnumber the true believers here in Japan and most other Oriental countries," Xenovia cut in, frowning and pointing at Asia, which made Harry tense beside her. "But there seems to be one here, yet standing with Devils? Is that just an ornamentation, girl? If so, it is in poor taste."

Asia flushed, but Harry put his hand on her back, patting it lightly and she firmed her shoulders and replied stoutly, though carefully removing the word 'God' from her words as she spoke. "No, my rosary is real, as is my faith in the Most Holy. I give homage to Him and His laws, as I have always done, following the sense of the law rather than the letter. And I judge people, men, women, Devil, Fallen, or believer by their actions rather than what race they are."

Xenovia's eyes narrowed at that, while Irina frowned, looking at her closely. "I, you look somewhat familiar, but…could it be that you're Asia Argento? But she was completely blonde, not with just a streak like you have!"

"I am Asia Potter now," Asia replied softly, yet there was steel in her voice. "I left the Argento name behind. The Church cast me out, but I found a home with my new family eventually."

"Ah, now it makes sense! The girl whose holy power was discovered to be fake, a tool of the Devil with which she healed one of the unholy," Xenovia said, while Irina scowled at Asia. "Yet you still attempt to say you believe in God?"

All the devils winced at that while Asia simply sighed and shook her head, holding her rosary. "For how thou dost treat others wilt reflect upon thee in turn.' Kindness and a desire to help others, both things I was encouraged to feel by the Church, were why I helped the man who later turned out to be a devil. I had no prior knowledge of that, and yet, despite that, the Church still kicked me out. They did not even listen to my reasons, despite knowing for a fact that all Sacred Gears come from our Lord. That is why I still believe in Him, but not in the Church created by fallible men."

"You dare to question his Holiness and his Church!? You are not just a heretic, but an arrogant one!" Xenovia barked, reaching again for the hilt of her massive sword.

"If you touch that hilt you will not live to draw it," Harry said coolly as he put a protective arm around Asia's shoulders. "Asia has already told you she has become a Potter. She no longer answers to the Church and certainly not to you two attack dogs. Leave her alone or you won't like the consequences."

The two exorcists looked at him, and after a moment their senses told them what he was. "Werewolf!? What is an unaffiliated werewolf doing…"

"None of your business," Rias replied blandly. "Suffice it to say that Harry has done enough for Kuoh in general and for us to give him equal say in what happens in our town. And you two are **not** making a good impression. I also have to inform you that the same wards you felt a moment ago mean there is no chance of any magical item like a sword going unnoticed. Nothing could be hidden in our area without us knowing about it."

"That is precisely what the Church is afraid of," Irina said softly, looking back at Rias earnestly.

That caused Rias and Sona to both frown, while Harry scoffed, instantly getting it. "Someone thinks we pulled a feint? Gave back Excalibur Transparency so you all wouldn't suspect Rias or Sona of having the other?"

"They are devils, creatures of deceit and Sin, much like you are a vile corruption of the image of man and beast," Xenovia said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Truly Argento has chosen the correct group to join, given her own lies."

"Potter," Asia said before anyone else could respond to these insults. "I am Asia Potter. The least you could do if you wish to insult me is to use my proper name."

Xenovia scowled, but Asia simply stared back at her, unafraid, one hand clenched on the rosary, the other pushing Harry back to face the two exorcists alone. There was no hate in Asia's eyes, no condemnation or regret, simply acceptance and stern resolve. And eventually it was Xenovia who looked away, her hands falling to her sides.

Pushing her glasses up her nose, Sona bit back the urge to sigh or curse, she wasn't certain which. The idea that the Church suspected them of keeping a holy sword for themselves was something new which none of them had anticipated. _And how do you disprove something like that? Prove the nonexistence of the sword? Damn it._

She exchanged a look with Rias, who nearly glared back at her before relenting, nodding her head. _There's really no choice if we want to keep the peace._

"But really, I'm sad to see Issei-kun here. When did you become a Devil, Issei-kun?" Irina asked, interrupting the thoughts of the two Kings.

"Huh?" Issei said, jolting a bit at being put on the spot like that. "Um, what do you mean? Why would my being a devil bother you?"

Irina pouted. "Issei-kun, I thought it was the case, but you really don't recognize me. And after we used to play all the time before my father's job took us back to Italy. Still, that was years ago," she went on, seemingly becoming a little depressed. "I guess it's only natural that you forget your childhood friend, Irina Shidou."

Ruruko's eyes narrowed, and she slipped an arm through Issei's, smiling somehow sharply at the other woman. "Yep, totally natural. I'm sorry if you were hoping for some big reunion or something, but Issei, **my boyfriend** , has moved on."

Irina's eyes narrowed, and her pout hardened into a frown.

Blushing a bit at Ruruko's possessiveness while also wondering how to break the news to her about his dream of creating a harem, Issei blinked. Then, as her last name registered, he shouted in shock, pointing at Irina. "Eh? But, I though Shidou-kun was a guy! When did you grow such, um, I mean, were you always a woman? You um, didn't have a, um, a change there?" He tried to cover himself and even succeeded to most, though Harry and Akeno both knew what he had been about to say.

"Ugh, no! Do you have any idea how blasphemous even the idea is? I've always been a girl, darn it." Irina pouted even more and looked away, obviously trying to set aside some old, fond dream of some sort.

Rias rolled her eyes but looked over at Sona. "What should we do?"

Xenovia made to open her mouth, but Harry had had enough of her at this point and flicked his fingers lightly at her, encasing her head in a **Muffliato**. "Shush, the adults are talking." To Irina he added, "I'll remove the spell after you two leave, but I don't think she can offer anything constructive to any discussion at this point.

"Um, I suppose you're right," Irina replied, a little worried at the speed of that spell from the werewolf and the fact there hadn't been any warning either. "And for what it's worth, I'm rather sorry the higher ups are basically accusing you of this. But we do have a holy duty to retrieve the Sacred Swords."

Kiba's eyes narrowed dramatically at that, but he said nothing. Harry and Tsubaki had gotten him over much of his anger at the Church for the Holy Sword Project, though he would never look at them as anything more than threats.

Smiling at her Knight's self-control, Rias looked over at Harry. "Harry, do you have anything in your bag of tricks to help us here?"

"As I understand it, the problem's twofold. We know that the sword can't possibly be here. The Church thinks it can't be anywhere else." Harry sighed. "So we need to work with these two, even the blue-haired one, though I reserve the right to remove her head if she threatens Asia again or acts like those crazy Exorcists did and attack Lily. If the wards don't kill them after that, I will."

Irina frowned at that, wondering who Lily was, but figuring it was someone else like Asia by the way the werewolf was talking. Further, the simple way he threatened to kill two well-trained Exorcists of the Church armed with shards of the Holy Sword Excalibur bothered her, as did the way everyone else acted, as if the statement was easy to believe.

But Harry went on, showing no sign of seeing her reaction. "Further, we have to think that this could be something from the Khaos Brigade or some other faction attempting to cause trouble between the Devils and the Church."

"Yes, and?" Sona drawled, her tone and body language communicating an 'of course we know that, get on with it' statement without her actually needed to waste energy saying the words aloud.

Harry chuckled but went on quickly. "There'd be no point to this alone. No offense intended, at the moment, anyway, to the two young ladies, but even if they disappear that can't be enough of a reason for the Church to start open hostilities. They're young, probably inexperienced, and were chosen for this mission because they were expendable as much as the fact they are compatible with those swords of theirs."

"The Church would never do that!" Irina barked, angry now. "How dare you say that?!"

Harry sighed. "Perhaps not the Church as a whole, but a small portion of it? Who cut your orders Irina, the pope speaking, um, ex-catheter, or someone else?"

"It's ex cathedra, and no, obviously His Holiness is far too busy with more important matters to bother with something like this," Irina replied, scowling now.

"Harry, stop, please," Rias stated, sending her lover a look, part commiseration and part plea. She knew he wanted an excuse to remove the threat to Asia, but right now these two weren't an honest threat, and they had to put up with them. "You were saying something about them possibly having more attacks ready to go?"

Harry looked at her, felt Yubelluna touching his arm and Asia moving back to take his hand, and smiled apologetically over at Irina, surprising her. "Sorry, Irina. I think this meeting has not brought out the best in anyone. Just…don't threaten my daughter or let that one do so either," he said, gesturing at the scowling Xenovia, who had quickly realized she had been silenced but had decided to not make an issue of it.

As Irina nodded in understanding, Harry went on. "Anyway, yes, I think they might have more to this plan. But forewarned is forearmed. I say we turn this around on whoever it is and set up an ambush if we can."

"Agreed," Rias said sharply before looking over at Sona, who also nodded.

"Very well. For now you two can stay in Kuoh," Sona said, taking charge for now. "Do you have the means to find temporary accommodations, or should we provide some funds for you?"

Irina's nose wrinkled at that, and she shook her head. "No, we have our own resources, thank you," she said stiffly. "If that is all, I think we'll take our leave. We'll start our own investigations tomorrow."

"Very well. But don't be surprised to find that we've had some of our familiars or people following you," Rias replied dryly. She looked over at Harry who removed the spell over Xenovia's head. With that and a final glare from the young, blue-haired girl, the two of them left, and Rias sighed, leaning back in her chair before looking over at Kiba. "Thank you for keeping your head, Kiba. I know it could not have been easy for you."

"Actually it was much easier than I expected. Although I will still destroy those swords if I get the chance," Kiba said thoughtfully, looking off into the distance as if he wasn't quite certain if he should be happy his anger at the Church had diminished.

Nodding at that and leaving her Knight to his own thoughts, Rias turned to Harry. "So, what should we do?"

Harry smirked, stepping into the center of the room and holding up his hands, tiny lights flashing from his fingers. "Maaagic…" At the boos and hisses this response caused, he laughed. "Heh, but seriously. There are a few spells we can put up outside the wards that could warn us of anything going on out there. I think if we can spot the trouble coming, we can spring our own ambush on whoever is behind this and turn it around entirely."

His smile turned wolfish, a baring of teeth that would have looked more at home on his werewolf body. "You do, after all, have access to myself and Yasaka, who both specialize at illusions. We can create any kind of scene we want to in order to elicit the response we want."

"Hhmmm. Tricky, but with the wards in place…" Sona began.

"Actually if we extrapolate that someone is targeting us, it stands to reason they might know something of our resources, including the wards. Is there any way someone could destroy them before attacking in force? Even against an army, the wards could mean the difference between life and death," Tsubaki interrupted her King, looking a little apologetic at having done so, but also very firm.

"Take out the ward pillars using nonmagical means," Akeno said promptly, nodding at her fellow Queen. "If they can find them, anyway."

"Regardless of if they can find them, we need to expedite burying the pillars. Can we get that done in a day or so?" Rias asked, smiling thinly when Harry, after a moment's thought, nodded, while Yubelluna winced, not looking forward to how much work that much fiddle playing would be. "Good. If we can do that, then I think whoever is going to try and attack us is in for a very big surprise…"

 **End Chapter**

* * *

As you can see this doesn't really start to move the combat forward as much as I had hoped but I forgot several things needed to happen before that: Asia starting school, the pervs being dealt with, Le Fay returning, Serafall's intro, and other things. Sorry about that, but I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway.


	13. Chapter 13

I can't draw boobs (or at all) and I am not a British matron.

This story was the winner of my large story poll with 1835, with 384 coming from here on fanfic. This beat out my choice of _Magic of the Force_ , which brought in a total of 1776, 282 of which came from fanfiction dot net. The third was _Horse for the Force_ with 1,439, sunk by bringing in only 88 here on fanfic. Ouch.

 **This has only been edited by myself and my DxD/story flow fella, Nad Destroyer. It will no doubt have small mistakes.**

Also beware, this chapter leaves up to the poll's premise. In fact, if it's pushing twelve at night where you are like it is here, I would recommend putting reading this off till tomorrow LOL. There are a lot of things going on here, personal, combat and general plot, and I wanted to put it all in this chapter since it's been a few months since this story was updated despite doing so well in every poll it was a part of. That… and my muse got away from me a few times.

Now with those warnings out of the way, here we go!

* * *

 **Chapter #3 The Surprise Attack Which Wasn't**

After the exorcists left, Harry, Rias, and Sona got to work, which at first largely meant giving orders to the others. Akeno and Tsubaki had other duties to see to. Tsubaki was sent out to grab Kalawarner and finish the arithmetic work needed to tell them which portion of the array could be moved in what sequence, which runes would have to be slowly erased and replaced with new ones having lost their efficacy in the move and quite a bit more. Most of that was done but going over everything again was more than a good idea on a project this large. When dealing with enough raw magic to blow the city up if they screwed up rechecking all their work was a necessity.

In contrast to that one large project, Akeno would be organizing a lot of little things, getting everything needed to make certain the pillar points could hear the music Yubelluna would be playing and the rest of the logistical work on both sides of that project. This meant getting the wireless speakers they were using working, with as little variation in the quality as possible, setting up the area under the pond where one of the pillars was located, and working with Yubelluna on her side of the project.

While the rest of Sona's peerage would be standing by for other orders along with Koneko and Loup, Rias assigned Kiba to keep an eye on their new unwanted guests. Rias knew that he would do so anyway. So instead of having him do it on his own, she ordered him to do so then assigned one of her bat familiars and two of Akeno's tiny Oni to help just in case.

As the two kings were giving out these orders, Harry stepped out for a moment to speak to Asia in the hallway beyond the ORC clubroom. She would be heading back to the compound soon, although Harry did give her some money so she could stop for ice cream she wanted. "I wanted to say I think you did a great job in there Asia. It can't be very easy to face someone from your past like that; someone who is condemning you for something you did which they think is so wrong and you believe you were in the right. But you took their accusations on and you responded by defending yourself and your actions and not trying to attack them in turn. I rather think that you showed yourself the better person there."

"Unfortunately Father, it is far too easy for those who have faith to believe that their faith always makes them in the right," Asia said with a sigh. "I wish I could have convinced the two of them that I wasn't a heretic simply because my Sacred Gear was able to heal a Devil and I did so out of ignorance, but I don't think it got through. And without that, I couldn't even begin to point out that just because someone is Devil doesn't make them automatically a bad person!"

Asia sounded more upset about that last bit than the first, which also said something about his oldest yet newest official daughter, Harry reflected. _Then again, given the so-called Cold War between the factions and how most Devils still live down to the reputation their name gives them, that is a valid point._

"Always be wary of people who are so certain in themselves Asia. The world changes us as we deal with it, in fact, you could almost say that change is part of life. And if someone is unwilling to change the way they think or see the world, rather they will try to view the world through their own conceptions, that is when we start to have trouble. Your religion isn't exactly alone in creating such people after all. Heck, a lot of the wizard folk I used to live with still don't believe that mankind has landed on the moon! 'It's just not magically possible, and if it isn't magically possible how could Muggles have done it?'" Harry said, rolling his eyes as he said the last sentence in an odd, stuffy accent.

Asia giggled. She knew Harry liked to rag on his wizarding fellows, although she thought some of it was simply a reaction to how he had been treated like a punching bag so often by the public of the Wizarding World at school and afterward. _One week idolized, the next week vilified with rarely an apology given,_ she thought, _that would wear on anyone_. "Thank you, father."

"Don't thank me, I just backed you up. You are the one that stood up for yourself first Asia," he said pulling her into a gentle hug while kissing her forehead. "I'm very proud of you." She hugged back, luxuriating in their familial relationship as she always did before reluctantly pushing out of his arms, smiling brightly at him as he said that he would meet her at home before turning away.

Back inside the clubroom, Harry found that Rias and Sona had rearranged the room somewhat, pushing the tables and benches out of the way so that they could look at a giant map of Kuoh and the area directly around it for several dozen miles on the floor. It was a regular map, a full city map showing every building, road, and park of the city, but there was nothing magical about it and he wondered aloud "Where did you get such a detailed map?"

"I copied all the maps I could find from the municipal building several years ago and then put them together into one map," Sona said with a wave of her hand. "I always felt that as the rulers of the magical side of things of Kuoh we should know everything about our territory. It was not nearly as helpful as I hoped simply because most of our influence never really extended that far before your arrival indeed even my peerages clients tended to be clustered nearer the academy. But it serves a purpose now."

She pointed down, as Rias took up the explanation. "If we're assuming that someone out there understands what the wards are, and where the outer edge of them is, we also have to assume they know that they can't get in or our magically, they have to come in the normal, nonmagical way. That means the subway, the train, the buses and even walking along some of the main roads. All of those things can be used to ferry people,. But, I don't think merely piling in people will be their plan. Groups of individuals sent here in small group can cause trouble, but not real damage."

Harry nodded. "We can't always assume that our enemies are stupid. As powerful as they are, our wards are obvious in their application. Any magical being should be able to spot them. Now there's a difference between spotting them and doing anything about them though. A powerful individual like Sirzechs could possibly take them down and still have enough energy left over to actually do something to the rest of us. But anyone less than that? They wouldn't be able to take the wards down through brute force. But the wards are still vulnerable until we move the pillars."

"Which means we know at least a few of their targets," Sona replied with her own nod, pushing her glasses up her nose. "But those targets can't be taken out by people, or anything one or two people could carry. I suppose the parts of a bomb could be bought within Kuoh's environs, but that is easy to watch out for. Beyond that, all freight comes into Kuoh via truck and train. The bulk freight station has its own security, but I'll send three of my peerage, with Reya in charge there. With that taken care of, we can narrow our concerns down to the roads, and thus have a limited number of places where we will need to set up your intent-based warning zones, Harry."

Harry nodded, and asked the two Kings to point out where they wanted the wards, slowly marking out different areas as he explained how they worked and why they couldn't be added to the runic scheme they already had in place, beyond the obvious reason of adding one ward on top of another normally being a very bad idea in any event. "Intent-based wards are normally used against magicals, to detect the intent they have imbued into their magic. If they are using nonmagicals, the wards needed for that are very different and would interfere with both the original intent-based wards and the active response wards. But I can still play with them a bit, add a marker to pinpoint which vehicle trips them, that's an Onmyodo trick, and set them so the intent is basically just trying to get to the places where the ward pillars are set."

"The problem is," Akeno said, coming in then. "What if the hypothetical people driving these trucks aren't intent on actually harming anything or anyone?"

"What do you mean?" Rias asked her Queen.

"What if these transport people are like those we have seen in some crime dramas? Go to such and such a location, drop off the truck, don't ever look inside. Many yakuza will take jobs like that without actually having any intent to harm or even knowing what they are carrying. The intent-based wards will miss that entirely."

"If they are thinking of the location of any of the pillars, we might be able to pick it up, but it's kind of chancy," Harry said with an approving nod at Akeno's point. "Wards have a very tough time picking out thoughts like that from the morass that is a normal human mind. So we'll need to have physical lookouts paired with the wards, at the outer edges of our territory, hidden but there to mark out any trucks coming through. Rias, you and Akeno and a few of the others have familiars, they can be used as lookouts right? Set them out on the perimeter of our territory and have them watching the main roads in and out. After that, we'll have to physically search the vehicle that trips them if we're really that paranoid."

"We're really that paranoid," Sona said shaking her head at Harry's weak joke. "This whole plan of causing trouble between the Church and the Devil factions smacks of the Khaos Brigade. And that Satan-blighted faction has shown a marked dismissal of collateral damage."

"On top of that, I'm wondering about the timing of this," Harry said. "Does the timing what we assume is going to be this attack matter? I mean, is there something special going on, some kind of event anywhere? And beyond that, how long will we need to be on watch for?"

Rias looked over at Sona, knowing she was a better diplomat than her. Rias was competent as a diplomat herself, but it wasn't her forte, which was business, stocks, bonds and trade agreements. Sona, on the other hand, wanted to follow her sister into being the Maou in charge of diplomatic affairs. She knew to a nicety the positions of the three factions at the moment, the diplomatic clashes, the various areas where they were in near direct competition, and the various nominally neutral Magician's Guilds, as well as the growing balance of trade and rapport they had begun building with the Youkai Association.

She had even gotten to the point where she felt she had a handle on the Wizards and their Onmyouji counterparts and how they figured into things on the magic/political level of the three Factions. Which was to say, not at all yet, but the potential was there for a **lot** more, so much so they could become a political/cultural entity on par with the Youkai association. Although at this moment that point didn't really matter in the current discussion.

"As far as the Three Factions go, there isn't anything important going on. The only important date or meeting of any kind coming up is among the neutral vampire clans, their yearly meeting to decide which clan will be their nominal spokesperson with the Factions," Sona said knowledgeably.

This made Rias stiffen for a moment in a way Harry and Akeno both caught but she said nothing, and Sona continued without pause. "As for the timing of the attack and how long we will need to be waiting for it, if they are attempting to ignite a war between the two factions, they will have to launch the attack while the two exorcists are still physically in attendance here in Kuoh. That means that it will happen sometime in the next week. By long-standing tradition diplomatic talks can only last for a week while occurring on one faction's territory and said enemy can only be diplomatically held accountable for the safety of the individuals for a week. Any longer would stretch the bounds of diplomacy, and if they attempt to stay longer than that, we would be well within our rights to kick them out."

"Now there's a most pleasant thought," Rias quipped, hiding the thought that had just occurred to her with ease. Like Harry, she had taken quite a bit of umbrage at the way the two exorcists had acted towards Asia, and even beyond that their attitude had rubbed her wrong.

"I doubt we'll have to wait that long," Harry mused. "Think about it, the longer the exorcists stay, the less likely it is that there'll be some kind of blowup between the two of them and us. Anyone with a brain should be able to figure that out, but whoever is planning this attack would also know the timing of their movements and want to strike at the most opportune time. I think we'll see an attack in the next two days, maybe three, no more than that. But changing the topic slightly, could we find whoever is planning to attack us?" he asked.

The two Devils looked at one another, thinking hard before Rias slowly shook her head. "I don't think so. Perhaps we could get the Onmyouji involved, to help in searching outside our territories, but I don't think we could find them. If it was that easy, they would have been spotted entering Japan already either by one of the factions or the Onmyodo government. Remember, our territory isn't the only Faction territory there is, there are Fallen, other Devils and even a few Church-based areas of control. We've all got our spies too."

She looked at Sona, who shook her head quickly. "If either of our older siblings had any hint that some large force of one of the other factions had moved into Japan, they would've told us about it already. No, if they're hiding from everyone already, we won't be able to find them, unless you have some kind of spell that would it be able to do that?"

"Not without knowing their names, or having some item or apparel of clothing," Harry said with a shrug. "And even then, I would have to be close for most of those spells to work. I just don't like the idea of being on the defensive for so long. It brings back bad memories."

Rias smiled, tucking her arm around Harry's. "Don't worry Harry, you're the one who's taught us all tactics, so you should know that there is nothing more dangerous than having a surprise attack turned on itself. We'll be ready for this, whatever they throw at us, we can be ready for it. Although," she said more seriously, "The fact that they are confident enough that they could take us out, even if they could somehow negate the wards, speaks of confidence and power."

"Also reach and numbers," Sona said with a sigh. "We're assuming this is the Khaos brigade again which means they have the scum of all three Factions and the neutrals out there to recruit from, but even so, they would need to have a very large force. Damn it. Why do I think that the Three Factions still aren't taking them as seriously as they should be?"

Harry looked at the two of them, then smacked his forehead, and pulled out his cell phone. Rias asked the obvious question of what he was doing, and he replied, "I'm calling Yasaka of course. She's our ally remember, heck, we wrote up mutual defense treaties and everything. If we're going to be dealing with numbers, we need to even the playing field as much as possible."

Of course, Yasaka was both more than willing to help, and a little irritated that they hadn't actually thought of calling her right off the bat. She soon joined them physically within the clubroom, dealing with the issues of being away from Kyoto in order to take part in the planning session and to express that irritation in person.

"I'm actually honestly angry right now," Yasaka said, pacing in front of Sona, Harry, and Rias. "It took until now for you to want to involve me in this planning? Ah," she waved a hand airily. "I wouldn't be able to add anything really to what you've already begun to plan, but I can add troops! Remember this attack is probably going to come from the Khaos Brigade, the same group that tried to mess with me and mine already. I can supply three dozen or so Youkai that really want to get it stuck in with that group for various reasons. Furthermore…" she turned, spearing Harry with her gaze. "The kind of illusion you're talking about is a lot more difficult than you think."

"I know that," Harry said mildly his emerald eyes dancing merrily at her attitude, which was so different from Yasaka's normal laidback persona when they were alone. "That's why I asked for you to be involved."

"That's sweet lover, but I mean that one person can't do it," she said flatly. "Not over that wide an area. Yes, the dimensional bubble spell gives you a strong starting point. However, to really fool people into believing that the bubble is the real thing, you'll need background noise and movement. The noise of traffic, of people moving around the city, of birds, the noise of the wind. The smell, all of the people moving, the train moving, the traffic, everything moving! I could maybe come up with one or two of those senses over that wide an area, but the entire thing?"

"Would information on the lay of the land, pictures of various people, and important sites and such like help?" Rias asked, holding up a hand hesitantly. This kind of affronted professionalism was something she hadn't seen yet from Yasaka, and while it was somewhat amusing, it was also a tiny bit intimidating.

"Yes, those would help immensely," Yasaka said calming down slightly. "But it still will be very tough, especially to create the illusion in such a manner that it will fool powerful, experienced opponents which I am positive we all are thinking we might face here, correct?"

Everyone nodded, and she went on. "In that case, the key to a successful illusion of this scale is to build it upon layers. Something like a multilayered cake almost. We will need to start with the actual dimensional bubble, and then from there we can…"

Eventually, they had an overall plan in place. First, of course, what they would have to capture or otherwise neutralize the non-magical threat to the wards, which they had already gone over. After that, however, their plan got trickier. Yasaka and Harry would work together to create an illusion set into the dimensional pocket which Rias and Sona would create. The dimensional bubble would give them a battlefield. The illusion would imitate Kuoh's daily life so precisely that no one would be able to tell physically or by any other sense that there was a difference between the two.

Rias and Sona would work on the spell to shift people wholesale from the real world to the alternate zone, making it so smooth that no one would be able to tell. That would be hard to get right, but it would be doable for the two of them together. After that Harry, with Akeno and Rias's help, would create a series of traps within the dimensional bubble ready to activate at need.

"But the hard part will be shifting them from the real world into the bubble on top of our illusion. We can't let a single hint of our plans out, or else whoever it is might just retreat and attack us in a way we're not prepared for. Remember we want them all," Harry said. As the most combat-experienced among them, he had taken over the planning session shortly after Yasaka arrived. "Never do an enemy a small injury, they can just come back smarter and better prepared. Trust me, that happened all too often to me."

"We might also want prisoners," Rias said, equally calculating now as she and Sona nodded, understanding they wouldn't be able to ask for aid from their families or more importantly their siblings. The arrival of a Maou would certainly make whoever was planning this to back off, possibly permanently. There was also their Sins of Pride showing in that decision to a great degree. Neither was willing to run to their siblings for aid or even the rest of their families, their Pride would not allow it, not when they had created the alliances they had already. "If they really are part of the Khaos Faction and we can take some prisoners, who knows how well we could roll those terrorists up."

Rias would be in overall strategic control as it were. Her teleportation power allowed her to exert control from a far longer distance than anyone else's, and because of her teleportation ability, she could also both send and pull people back from the fighting. And among the three of them, she also had a better idea of the layout of the city, thanks to her earlier retraining after talking to Harry about tactics and the importance of the environment in warfare. Sona might have had the foresight to take the map, but she hadn't studied the area in detail. There was a vast difference between looking at things on a map and seeing them in person.

And while Harry had a vastly greater experience than either of the two young heiresses, he didn't have the knowledge Rias had of the territory or the long-range striking power. Instead, he would be in charge at the front and would lead the rest of their main combatants to hit any large concentrations of enemies and pin them down so that Rias could redirect aid to them. Sona, Akeno and Tsubaki would be a single group, added in with Harry wherever they needed to bring down the biggest hammer.

"Although I probably won't be able to be here physically for very long or perhaps at all depending on the battle's timing, we'll also add in a few dozen Youkai. Although I will warn you, a few of them will be extremely belligerent towards either Fallen or Devils. I'll put them under the command of Captain Montoya, you've met him already. He was the Monkey Youkai that Kiba struck up a conversation about old movies with at the Swanhilde's river.

Harry nodded, and said, "I'll also ask Tonks to bring in the locals. It might not be there fight yet, but it is their country, and I hope that they have enough basic intelligence to realize that if they don't fight this fight now, they might have to fight it later. For now, I'm off to see a certain dragon lady. Perhaps I can get her involved as well."

All three women around him winced, although Yasaka's was more theatrical than anything else given she rather liked Tiamat and felt her spiky, standoffish personality was more an affectation than anything else. "Are you sure that's wise, Harry?" Sona asked.

"Yep. There's no such thing as overkill Sona, only dead and not dead enough."

Rias nodded as she rolled up the map and put it to one side, revealing the transportation array to Hell. Once through into the Underworld, Harry would then be able to teleport to the Familiar Forest on his own, but he couldn't cross the dimensional gap anymore than anyone else could. "Actually that might be a very good idea, though don't be discouraged if she doesn't agree with you, Harry. From what I know dragons are rarely willing to offer aid unless in the most serious circumstances, even to those they have made agreements with like you."

To that Harry could only shrug and say he hoped to be convincing enough to get her involved. Several minutes later he was walking through the Familiar Forest, using the connection between himself and Tiamat to find her and his werewolf form to run through the forest as quickly as possible. Eventually, he found himself outside the large warren of caves deep in the forest where Tiamat made her home.

"I know you are there, Harry Potter. Is there a reason you have come to seek me out rather than communicate through our bond or simply pull me to you through it? Although to be fair I might not have replied to such an abrupt summons unless your reasons were both serious and immediate." Tiamat's voice asked, echoing from deep inside the cave. But even with the voice echoing off the walls, Harry could tell there was something off about that voice. It wasn't as deep as it should be, indeed, it sounded almost like a normal woman's voice rather than that of a dragon.

Despite that hint, Harry was still surprised when Tiamat emerged from her cave, but given her current appearance, Harry felt his surprise could be excused. Because as the voice had warned, she was human now. Or rather, close to it.

Tiamat's features were that of a middle-aged human woman, her face regal with thin features and high cheekbones coupled with a somewhat longer than normal neck. She had long ears, almost like the type elves did in fantasy novels Harry had read to Lily occasionally. She had a decent bust to her, somewhere between Tsubaki and Kalawarner in both size and perkiness. She did not have a bra on so this last observation was actually quite clear to see as she walked forward. Her feet were still dragon paws though, and her legs were scaled from the knees down. She also had a tail sticking out of a large hole at the back of her pants, swishing as she walked.

And then there was her hair, skin color, and clothing. Tiamat was a blue-scaled dragon in her normal body, and that seemed to have carried over. Her skin was blue. Her shirt was blue. Her pants were a lighter color blue, as were her eyes. Finally her hair, which was long and flowed down to where the bottom of it barely missed the ground, was blue, several dozen different shades of blue.

All in all, she was an extremely striking and highly unusual sight and it took Harry a few seconds to get over his surprise. "Huh, I see you've been working on something since last we met in person."

"Since long before that actually." Tiamat preened. "You know how much I dislike having to shrink myself to meet you or the others beyond my forest. This seemed a solution, one I had experimented with before, several… Oh, it must be a few centuries ago by this point." She twirled in place, an odd thing to see given her draconic legs and tail. "Do you like it? This form is fully functional too. I have often wondered about how humans mate, it should be fascinating to experiment."

"Should Ddraig be jealous?" Harry teased. "As to your form, you seem to have a few additional bits here and there, but it's quite decent for a first attempt."

"Hmmm, no, I'll just force him to change forms too. The number of things you humans can do with your mouths and tongues alone could pay for the amount of time it took me to perfect it." She opened her mouth and flicked out a tongue that was quite a bit larger than the norm, smirking at Harry before becoming serious. "Still, you didn't come to see my magical experiment, what brings you here?"

Harry explained about the exorcists' arrival and what they feared they might face soon, how they were busy preparing and had even reached out to Yasaka and their other allies. He finished by asking if he could convince her to join them for this conflict.

Tiamat listened, cocking her head in such a way that it was clear it had a greater range of movement than any human neck should. Then she slowly nodded. "I will come along I suppose. But do not expect me to do your fighting for you, Harry Potter. I will step in only if my aid would make the difference between victory and defeat."

"A trump card should always be used thus Tiamat," Harry replied with a smile, earning a laugh from the transformed dragon woman. "Only, if you do come by in this form, put some more work in your legs if possible? I don't know if our floors would be able to take it."

 **OOOOOOO**

While Harry and the others were making plans, Kiba was following the two exorcists, trailing them through the streets just out of sight, sometimes using his greater knowledge of the area to circle to one side or the other of their meanderings. He paused several blocks away though, looking to his right and groaning slightly before moving directly behind a bush that for some reason was hiding behind a trash can.

"While it may not be gentlemanly of me to say this my friend, but you are truly not wearing the correct camouflage to trail someone in a cityscape," Kiba said as diplomatically as he could to the bush.

Issei pushed his head out of the bush, looking around and noticing people all around them giving him a wide birth, some of them even pointing and whispering. Sighing he reluctantly discarded the bush. "Yeah, well, it was the only thing I could get my hands on quickly Pretty-boy."

"Don't let Yubelluna see that you ripped up a perfectly good bush like that," Kiba said with a chuckle. "She might take it personally."

At that Issei shivered a little, shaking his head. "Yeah, she can be darn scary sometimes when her bandrui-side overwhelms her." He paused then, looking at Kiba. "I suppose you are following Irina and Xenovia? For your own reasons or under orders?"

"Hmm, am I that predictable, or do you just know me that well?" Kiba asked, rhetorically before shrugging his shoulders. "I would have followed them regardless. I might have been convinced that my anger towards the church was self-destructive and pointless, but that doesn't mean I like them very much. Especially if they really are wielding Holy swords, fragments of the original Excalibur. I still have a bit of an issue with those blades, the wielding of which was the purpose that gave credence to the Holy Sword Project. If they prove unworthy of them, I would dearly like to destroy them." While Kiba liked to think he was beyond hating both the Church and the Holy Weapons which had been the cause of his pain, he also was determined to eventually find out if there was indeed any reason for the torment he and his friends had gone through.

"Well in that case, could I just join you?" Issei asked. "I know I'm not good at this spy thing, but I figure between the two of us we could do the job.

"Why are you so interested in them? Is it because that one, Irina, is an old friend of yours?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah duh! I mean she is an old friend of mine, even if I didn't know she was a girl when we were younger. But damn I'm not going to make that mistake again, I mean, did you see how she's grown?" he moved his hands in front of his chest suggestively, winking at Kiba as if expecting the other boy to join him in on the joke, but Kiba simply smiled back placidly at him, and Issei groaned.

"Look, I just want to talk to her okay, Kiba? There's nothing major in it, nothing that could set off my girlfriend you know? I mean, I guess I don't like either of them either. I think they were way too certain, too arrogant by half. But I also understood from what everyone was saying that they were probably placed in a bad position on purpose, either by their own superiors or by someone using them to cause trouble. I just, I guess I feel sorry for them."

"I still rather think that this is like trying to catch one bird while holding another in your hand already," Kiba said slowly _. Really the idea of a Devil having pity for a church exorcist is rather unusual, yet also somewhat in keeping with the boy given his generally good nature, and his single-minded devotion to his 'oppai'._ "But I'll allow you to come along with me."

 _Although, I do have to wonder what his girlfriend would think about him spending time with two cute girls. Still, that can be something to hold over his head in the future if need be._ Whatever his knightly airs, Kiba remained a Devil after all.

"Great, so let's go do this," Issei said happily, bounding away without another word.

"Wait, what?" Kiba asked before Issei darted around the corner he'd been peering around and walked up boldly to the two exorcists.

The two of them turned to the two Devils, one glaring, the other welcoming Issei with a smile that dimmed only slightly at the sight of Kiba behind him. Of course, it was the glaring one who spoke up first. "What, have you come to make fun of us again, warn us we're not welcome once more? Or are you here just to watch us and make sure we don't proselytize or something equally dangerous to you Devils?" She asked snarkily.

Of course, proselytizing wasn't actually dangerous to Devils unless someone used the term God directly in front of them. And even the exorcists were not so naïve as to think that they could create enough of an upswelling of religious fervor to irritate them in a few days' time. But Xenovia was angry, angry the Devils had treated her so, and that she couldn't lash out at them physically being under orders to not start anything. So she took it out on the two Devil boys the only way she could, verbally.

Issei waved his hands wildly in front of him, shaking his head just as fast. "No, no, nothing like that! I'm here on my own, I just um, I just wondered if you knew your way around Kuoh? And, well I'd like to talk to Irina if that's all right? We might be on, you know, opposite sides of this Cold War thing, but as I understand it that Cold War's been going on for a lot longer than either of us has been alive, so why should that matter when it comes to our friendship?"

Irina smiled at that and nodded happily. "I'd love to get to know you again Issei-kun! Although of course, I will have to ask how you actually became a Devil in the first place. I would've never imagined you becoming a Devil, you were so nice and polite as a child, and a lot of fun too. Even if you were a little perverted even back then."

"And what about him?" Xenovia muttered, pointing over Issei's shoulder at Kiba who was currently torn between irritation toward Issei and amusement at the boy's expense. Given the blushing, half-proud, half-horrified expression Issei wore, amusement won out.

"I am here just to keep an eye on you, but, I won't cause trouble if you don't. I will simply ask if you have ever heard about the Holy Sword Project and then may ask for a spar later on." Kiba replied, smiling and shaking his head at his younger compatriot.

Both exorcists winced and looked at him with a mix of revulsion and pity. Irina took it upon herself to reply. "I, oh my… if you know that name then does that mean you, you're a survival of that cursed project?"

"It does. As far as I know, I am the **only** survivor," Kiba said, looking away, his fingers twitching.

"The church disavowed that project the instant Father Galellei's actions came to light. They tried to find him, to bring him to justice, but he was long gone and…" Xenovia's words slid to a halt as she stopped and stared at Kiba, true horror in her face.

"And the guards of the facility dead, along with the children, all of whom had been gassed." Kiba nodded. "Yes. If not for my King, I too would not have survived."

The two exorcists looked uncomfortable, but Irina finally said, "I, I can see why you have a problem with us. Even if such acts would never be condoned by the Church as a whole, it was created under the Church's name. I apologize on the Church's behalf, though I know those are simply words. If you want us to have some sparring matches, that can perhaps be arranged, though I do not know if that would help you find closure."

"Closure, no, but it would make me feel better to see what all the fuss was about," Kiba said, his words light even as he turned to stare hard at the two exorcists, his anger and pain plain to see.

"Okay, enough about this serious talk," Issei said, clapping his hands together. "Let's get going!"

After that, Issei began showing them through the city, stopping at an ice cream store where the two girls bought themselves some ice cream, and the boys, pretzels. Issei and Irina dominated the discussion, talking about what they could remember of their childhoods, comparing memories, and talking about how they had gone on from there.

At one point even Xenovia was giggling at the idea of the two kids having a pissing contest and Irina using a tube of all things to appear like she was a boy. "If that was the case, Irina, you can't then turn around and be sad he didn't realize you were a girl. Why ever did you go through that though?"

Irina blushed and looked away, embarrassed. "Thought he wouldn't want to be friends with me," she muttered so low the others had to strain to hear her. "Or worse, would get weird around me like he already was around a few of the older girls and mothers on the block."

At that two accusing gazes turned to Issei who withered under the astonishingly combined front of Xenovia and Kiba. "Rather quick to hit puberty, weren't you? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised how quickly you grasped the way of the pervert," Kiba said dryly, with Xenovia astonishing herself by nodding agreement.

However, as the story of how Issei became a Devil came out and what happened afterward, Irina became astonished that Issei seemed to have actually become a better person through interacting with the other Devils! That was a very odd thought to her, but it seemed to be accurate and she said so. "If you had remained with those two friends of yours, I'm really afraid that you would have become a danger to society in some fashion. Staring at a girl's chest is well, it's…" she blushed, poking her fingers together and looking away. Yet Kiba was amused to see she actually thrust out her chest a bit as she did so. "it, it can be understandable I suppose, given how little control God gave mankind over our Sins, especially the Sin of Lust. But going so far as to invade someone's privacy, recording them in their most vulnerable moments? That is well beyond the pale."

"Yeah well, I realized that eventually," Issei mumbled, looking around and suddenly desperate to change the subject. Normally he'd be happy to talk about his perversions, even to girls who might judge him for it. After all, spreading the wonder of the oppai was part of his life's goal of becoming a harem king. But it was true that interacting with the other two perverts had been leading him down a very dangerous road. Issei just didn't want to admit that he had been going down that road alongside them willingly.

Looking to one side he spotted a hotel and smiled grateful for the distraction. "Look, there's a hotel there. I hear they have really good lunchboxes they sell too, and their rooms are nice if a little expensive."

He turned back to the others, not noticing that the two girls were no longer meeting his gaze or that Kiba was looking at them speculatively, having caught a flinch from Irina a moment ago. "Let me tell you, I'm really glad that you both have money for room and board! Given the way your discussion with Buchou and the others went, it'd be very bad to ask them to put you up somewhere for the time you're here."

"I can see even Kaichou, er that's Sitri-san, doing that whole dangerous angry Council President look at you." he mimed pushing up a pair of glasses on his head and glaring at them, but when no one laughed, his own humor left him. "Um, you were supposed to laugh. S, sorry if my impression wasn't good or something."

Irina winced, looking over at her friend. "We, we sort of told a white lie there when we were in front of the Devils and that werewolf fellow. We, we actually don't have any money. Um, we've enough for food," she added hastily, "but not for board."

Kiba groaned. Having anticipated that it was something like that a moment ago did not make hearing it any better. "Do you mean to say that the church sent you here without proper funding?" he asked, unwilling to believe that even of the church.

"They sent us off with enough funding," Xenovia muttered. "But Irina here thought she found a painting of a True Saint, and just had to buy it, only to realize afterward that it was a fake!" She shouted the last words, glaring at her friend in what was obviously a restart of an old argument.

"Well, it could have been! The seller even said it was. How could anyone lie about having a painting of a true saint, and then think they could get away with it? God will punish him for that." Irina said piously. Both Devils winced, and she turned to them, her hands flying to her mouth "Oh I'm so sorry I completely forgot!"

Xenovia rolled her eyes. "Irina, do I have to remind you that we are not here to make friends?" though she had mellowed markedly during the walk, having come to realize that these two turned Devils were not cut from the same mold as those born to it, she wanted to keep a certain amount of distance between them even so.

"But Issei and I were already friends, right?" She asked, smiling at him and putting her hands together in front of her chest as she did so.

The look was incredibly cute, and Issei found himself nodding rapidly answering before he could think, something that was a bit of a recurring issue with him. "Sure, we're still friends! In fact, if you don't have any place to stay Irina, I bet my parents would be fine with putting you up for a few nights. For old time sake if nothing else." He paused, looking at Xenovia. "Er, I'm not certain that they'd be willing to put you up though, and I don't want anyone working more mind magics on them than we already have been forced to in the past a few times, sorry."

Kiba barely held back a groan, his smile becoming something of a rictus, as he took in the scene thinking aloud, "Oh, this cannot end well."

"In that case, perhaps we do have enough money for one of us to get a room," Xenovia said, actually smiling now it Issei. "Thank you, for putting up my friend. That shows good Christian charity, even if you are a Devil."

Issei smiled at the compliment, even as he sweatdropped at the wording. "Um, thanks, but you do know that the number of actual Christians in Japan is like barely more than two percent if that? Good Christian charity doesn't actually mean much here."

Irina laughed at her friend's expression, and took her arm, tugging her towards Issei. "Come on Issei, you were showing us around before this, let's keep going. Maybe we can find a hotel that has rooms which are less expensive than that one. And do you think your family would be willing to feed us as well? Then we could certainly afford a room for my friend."

"Oh, sure no problem," Issei said with a laugh. "They'll be happy to see you so much that I doubt it'll even cross their minds not to feed you. Heck, they'll be happy to see me for meals if I'm honest. I spend so much time over at the Potter compound I barely take one breakfast or dinner in five at home."

Kiba rolled his eyes again, but followed the group along, as the two friends once more began to dominate the discussion. This time it was Irina talking about what had happened to her since she had left Japan with her family. It turned out that her father was an exorcist, and a very good one, his first name of Touji actually startling Kiba to look at the twin-tailed girl in surprise. Touji had dragged Irina's mother and Irina herself around the world thanks to his job, time in Kuoh being among the longest they had stayed anywhere before he finally retired in Rome. Irina herself had begun training about two years after they had left Japan and had been utterly astonished to be nominated for the Excalibur program despite regularly testing out at the top of her training cadre.

She was telling Issei a funny story from her training about how she had gone from a being able to lift forty pounds to more than a hundred pounds and what that had entailed when they passed by one of the city's parks. In fact, it was the same one that the Potter family frequented. There they cut through the park heading towards a hotel on the other side. In fact, Lily and Kunou were there now, playing with dozens of other kids in a complicated game of tag or football, it was hard for the bystanders to tell which.

As she stepped back from taking her turn, Lily spotted Issei and Kiba and waved at them only to pause as she looked at the two new girls. _I wonder who they are._ Her curiosity piqued, Lily moved away from the rest of the kids, heading towards the two boys and the newcomers.

Kiba saw her coming and smiled, waving at her even as he wondered how this was going to go.

"Who's she?" Irina asked, waving back at the little girl. "She's cute! Is she another Devil though, with that red hair? Not that it would matter of course," she said hurriedly. "A girl that age, there's no way she could have any sins of her own, regardless of race."

"That is not what the book teaches," Xenovia muttered shaking her head. But even so, her face had slowly melted at the sight of the girl. "But then again, God seems to have neglected to think that Devils could breed true, so perhaps that could possibly be true. I would still rather keep her at arm's length though."

"Actually no, that is Lily Potter, Harry sensei's daughter. She's quite the rambunctious little girl," Kiba said with a chuckle. "Behind her is Kunou, a young fox Youkai, the daughter of Yasaka, the leader of the Youkai association."

Issei nodded with a laugh. "Seriously! She's so dang bright you can sometimes forget how young she is until she acts her age, and there are her werewolf powers too. I mean, she thinks it's fun to wrestle with Koneko, a Rook! And that's not even mentioning the time I saw her actually fight some older Devils."

At their words, Irina winced slightly at the memory of how Harry had dressed them down during the meeting earlier before blinking. "Wait, what? But unless… oh no, did he bite her!?"

"What, no!" Kiba exclaimed. "Wherever did you get that notion?"

"But, but the werewolf curse, unless… was his wife also a werewolf?" Irina mused, calming down slightly while Xenovia quietly simmered beside her. "Um, but I didn't see a ring on his finger earlier, and… oh dear, out of wedlock and a werewolf too? That is a harsh burden to lay on any child."

"His wife was human, a witch," Issei hastened to say before Irina could pile more misconceptions on top of one another and going on from that in an unusually delicate manner for him, figuring to try to bring this topic to a close. "They divorced though, not certain why. And um, he somehow passed on his curse to her too, again not certain how, but he did, she was born with it."

While this seemed to confuse and allay Irina's concerns, or rather redirect them, Mount Xenovia finally erupted, rearing her head back and staring at the little girl in growing ire. "Another werewolf? The werewolf race is a sin in the eyes of the Lord, and now one has found out a way to pass it on to his get rather than in a way that could be fought?! And as for the Fox monsters of Japan, do you not know that they have sometimes passed themselves off as gods?! Blasphemous! The entire race should be wiped out."

By this point, Lily had come close enough for her enhanced senses to hear this, and she growled, stomping up to the girl and glaring up at her. "How dare you! Just being born is not a crime!" She growled, reaching out with a hard thumb to poke the older girl in the stomach. "I don't know who you are, but if you're going to insult my friends like that, I don't think I want to. And if you even take a step towards Kunou I'm gonna thump you one, and I'll get Ddraig first!"

Xenovia scowled, but Irina got between them shaking her head. "Forgive my friend, please? In the eyes of our Lord, monsters like werewolves are, well abominations, the curse being caused by unholy magic. A lot of the lessons we are taught about werewolves and such do not take into account the fact that there could be children among them at all let alone one born to it like you. And of course, it makes no allowance for Youkai. I, I'm afraid being here, out and about, and interacting with everyone here is causing us to come face to face with our preconceived notions and how they might be wrong, and my friend is having trouble dealing with it."

"Hmmf!" Lily muttered, shaking her head. "I suppose I'll forgive her for saying that if she's just spouting what she's been taught. But blindly believing like that, that makes you sound kind of stupid you know? Form your own ideas and thoughts and don't just spout some books. If you don't, well, what you said earlier Big Blue, sounds a lot like racism and that's never a good thing." With that, she turned and ignoring the horrified look on both Exorcist's faces, sped off back into the weird ballgame she and the other kids were playing.

The group was silent and rather stiff towards one another as they moved away from the park, but Xenovia was actually looking more thoughtful than anything else at the moment, and she finally sighed. "I was in the wrong," she said simply. "While God's teachings should always be honored and followed, I should not use them as an excuse for stereotyping young children who do not know better, and whose sins were not their own. I suppose that I let my own beliefs get ahead of me, and I will apologize for it now _."_

 _I perhaps should even apologize to Asia, she thought; although I would sooner dance naked through the church then do so. "_ Further, I have… been off-balance mentally since arriving here, and let that color my words and actions when speaking to the Gremory and Sitri heirs." She finished.

"We're not the ones you should apologize to, Xenovia-san," Issei said, glancing over at Kiba.

"I'll accept your apology on behalf of my lady for your lack of manners in the meeting," Kiba said with a nod. "But I think Lily, and Asia in particular, deserve personal apologies," he said, not about to let Xenovia off the hook as she might have hoped.

"Showing no remorse and piling on an opponent who has already been forced to concede, you really are a Devil aren't you?" Xenovia muttered, but her anger had dissipated, and she nodded. "I will do so when next I meet them."

"I suppose that's as far as we'll get at this point," Kiba said chuckling ruefully. "However, I believe we should find you that hotel now, and after that, I will leave you, Shidou-san, in Issei's hands. Buchou might have need of my services later on."

Eventually, they found a small motel where Xenovia could pay for a single bed for three days lodging with what money she and Irina had. She would have to join Irina at Issei's for food, but that was no great hardship. Soon Kiba was set to leave, letting Issei stay behind to wave the Gremory and Sitri names to give the exorcist a discount, something he felt was the height of irony.

Still, by this point he was convinced that the two young women were nothing more than they had shown so far, simple exorcists sent on a mission because of their weapons and training rather than their experience. Neither of them were spies or the sort to act in a duplicitous manner. _Why look at the way they were utterly unable to lie when called upon it with their finances. And, it has to be said, Xenovia's ability to see she was in the wrong, no matter how long it took her, is positive. If they can curtail their arrogance, I don't honestly think they'll be much trouble._

But his plans to leave Issei to watch the two exorcists changed abruptly as a van pulled up in front of them with a squeal of wheeling tires. The side of the van opened and four people within opened fire with submachine guns on the four of them. Bullets shot towards them faster than any normal human would've been able to even track, let alone dodge.

But none of these four were normal. The two exorcists immediately went to ground, while Kiba leaped up high, landing on a lamp post above the action. Unable to dodge, Issei shouted out a protective spell, one of the ones he had learned from Harry which created a foot thick meter of condensed air, which stopped the bullets aiming towards him in midair.

Amidst the screaming of the passerby everywhere nearby, Kiba groaned, knowing how much work covering this up would be. That was for later though. For now, he pulled out one of his generic swords and leaped down, bisecting the front of the van and killing the driver. He then twisted around the truck and started to cut into the side of the truck that didn't have a door.

Another van pulled up nearby, disgorging four more men, and they too fired. But unlike the first group, two of these attackers had been stupid enough to load their weapons with sanctified bullets against their orders. They all fired on the two exorcists. But the weapons of the two who attempted to use sanctified bullets exploded the instant they tried to fire them.

The intent-based wards didn't care if you are using items, weapons or whatever. If it was magical, and you were trying to use it against someone within the wards, you would be shut down with prejudice. Those two men fell screaming as their weapons exploded in their hands, then Xenovia was on the two of them, pulling out a blade from somewhere on her shoulder.

The weapon the blue-haired girl pulled out was a huge sword, with a grip long enough Xenovia could have stacked three hands on one another before meeting the pommel which was in the shape of a cross. A guard that looked like the blade had been fused with an ax and a blade that ended with three points made the giant sword look very unusual.

"Excalibur Explosion!" her giant sword blasted down between them, creating an explosion as the name suggested, hurling them to either where they landed, their bodies shredded by the shrapnel and the explosive force.

The four attackers within the first van were now trapped, unable to escape thanks to Kiba and stuck between him, and the shield that Issei had just thrown up between them. Then Irina rolled forward under that shield and leaped into the van, her fists and feet lashing out with bone-breaking force. The attackers were all able to drop their guns and grab up knives, but then Kiba was cutting in from the other side and soon enough all the attackers were dealt with.

Scowlign angrily, Xenovia marched back toward the others, simmering in her anger, her voice formal as she raised Excalibur Explosion to point at the Knight. "You said that this was safe territory, and yet not six hours after our arrival here Irina and I are attacked. Is this your doing Devil?" .

"If we wanted to attack you, why would we use non-magical means?" Kiba asked slightly mystified by her accusation and thrown off by the events himself. The fact that they had avoided shooting at him was very telling and he said so aloud. "I think actually you are jumping to the exact conclusion whoever is trying to stir up trouble between the Devils and the Church wants you to reach.

Xenovia gritted her teeth but after a few tense seconds, Irina was there, touching her shoulder gently. At that touch, she slowly lowered her weapon, where it disappeared into a special magical pouch, invisible at her waist. "I, very well. I will not apologize for my suspicions, Devil, but you are correct, if you wanted to get rid of Irina and I this is not the method you would use. But know we will be watching you and yours."

At that, it was Kiba's turn to become somewhat angry. "Xenovia-san, you are in our territory, not the reverse. You are here to search for signs of that missing Excalibur fragment. Remember that, and remember you are here on sufferance. Diplomacy must flow both ways Xenovia-san." He kept up the glare, then slowly jerked a thumb out of the hole he had cut into the side of the van. "Now, are you going to help me modify the memories of the people who saw this little attack, and then search these people for clues as to why they attacked you two, or not?"

With Irina still holding her shoulder, Xenovia was forced to accede to this point, and the three of them moved off, quickly spreading out to start erasing memories. Issei watched them go then sighed and began to drag the bodies of the attackers together. "Well, this wasn't what I expected to be doing with my day, let me tell you."

 **OOOOOOO**

"So Kiba thinks that there won't be any further attacks like that. It was meant to simply point fingers, the exorcists were meant to be scared and worried that Devils were trying to attack them like that, but whoever was planning for didn't realize that we would have two of our own there to watch them," Rias finished.

"And if not for Issei we might not have," Harry said mildly.

Rias could only nod ruefully at that. "His desire to get close to a pretty girl actually worked in our favor this time yes," she said dryly. "I'll mark the date shall I?"

Harry chuckled and leaned over, kissing her cheek lightly. She nuzzled her head into his shoulder for a second, before they kept walking down the street, the two of them following Asia and Koneko who had gone out for ice cream together. Although the couple was covered in an illusion to keep anyone from noticing how close they were walking or anything else, while the two girls were not. They were heading home where they would meet Yubelluna, Kalawarner and the others prior to the start of the ritual. Kalawarner had finished the arithmantic checks, while Akeno had finished preparing each pillar sector for what was going to happen as Yubelluna prepared for her concert. Each pillar had its own speaker, connectedvia a wireless device to the sound system back in the backyard where Yubelluna would be performing.

When they reached the house, Harry opened the door for the ladies, bowing them in, causing them all to smile at him, and Koneko to sneak a little sideways hug before following the others in. Harry followed after her, staring at the back of Koneko's head thoughtfully. He had heard her calling him 'father' during their sparring match/battle of survival with Sirzechs but since she hadn't repeated it, he hadn't responded to it. It was more an acknowledgment of what he had become to the young Nekoshou than any world-shaking change in the relationship of course, but in hindsight, it had been very nice to hear. But he wouldn't push it. Until she said it in far less traumatizing situations, he'd let Koneko continue on as is.

Following the others outside, Harry was unsurprised to find Lily, Kunou, and Teddy there with their familiars along with Mittelt, Loup and Kalawarner helping to set up the backyard for the concert to come. What did surprise him was the sheer number of little speakers that were leading up to the central-most microphone though. _Then again, given the fact the microphone is a large tower, is it still a microphone?_ There were over a dozen small speakers in rows almost like an orchestra set to either side of the microphone, where Yubelluna would be performing.

"What are all these then?" he asked, gesturing to them while the girls waved at the others before going inside to change.

As Lily and Kunou waved at him, Yubelluna smiled, moving through the kids patting heads before curtsying before him. Harry looked at her quizzically, and she shrugged. "It seemed sort of appropriate, considering everything I'm going to be doing here is, in fact, a kind of prayer to you."

"As for the speakers," she went on turning and gesturing with one hand towards them. "Each of them is set up to play a different instrument from the ten songs I'm intending to play tonight. It's just a hunch, but I think… well the more music, the more power frankly. I've got recordings of the songs I'm going to use, all of them are Irish-based folk songs, simple tunes, none of them really anything special. But they do come from the same kind of tradition as," she gestured again with her other hand towards Harry somewhat haplessly, unable to find a simple term to encompass the connection between her bandrui powers, Harry, and the fact that he had absorbed the powers of Manannán mac Lir.

Harry nodded slowly. "Yes, that makes sense I suppose. However, I'm afraid I'm going to have to talk to your little helpers for a moment."

"Did something happen?" Kalawarner asked, concern in her voice as she heard Harry's tone.

Harry nodded and gestured the three kids over to him. After a brief hug with his daughter, Harry sat them all down on a conjured sofa for a moment as he took a seat on a conjured chair. Before he could speak though, Lily asked, "Daddy, do you know about these two very rude girls that were going around with Issei and Kiba? They were saying all sorts of nonsense about werewolves and kitsune and really irritating me."

"Yes lovey, I know about them, I am afraid their presence is part of what I want to talk to you three about." He sighed, shaking his head. "I'm afraid that your ability to leave the compound for anything but school is now curtailed. From now on until you we tell you, the three of you are going to be escorted to school by two of us, and then be escorted back in the evening."

Lily frowned at that while Kunou pouted. Sprouting her tales and Fox ears for a moment she pulled her fox tail around the front and chewed on the end of it looking up at the older man who had become her second father in truth if not yet in name just yet. _Uh oh, this sounds a little familiar to me…_

"What's going on Harry?" Teddy asked seriously.

"Is someone going to start targeting us again, or is this a whole group sort of problem?" Lily asked.

Harry sighed, ruffling his daughter's head. "I really do hate when you occasionally say stuff like that, it shows how used to the idea of being targeted you are, lovey. Still, it isn't you this time, it's all of us." From there Harry went on to explain in as basic a way as possible what was going on, and why they thought someone was trying to get the church and the demons to go to war again. The kids all understood, and Lily nodded seriously understanding that they too would be in danger if caught out beyond the Potter compound's defenses.

Lily nodded seriously, understanding everything her dad said and hopped up from her chair to plop herself down in his lap, reaching up and pulling his head down to her so she could give him a kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry Daddy, we'll be good. But can we still have fun tonight with the whole makeshift concert thing?"

"I'm not certain how much fun Yubelluna is going to have, but yes," Harry said with a nod. "I, of course, won't be here, along with Rias, Akeno and their opposite numbers. But most of the others should be in attendance."

"Cool," Lily said hopping to her feet. "She let me listen to one of the songs she intends to play, and the songs Yubelluna picked out are kind of cool, in a Renaissance Fair sort of way."

"I'm glad you liked it," Harry said with a laugh, ruffling her hair.

Sensing a cuddle moment Kunou moved over to join the other little girl in his lap. Behind her, Teddy smiled tolerantly, twisting around and laying out on the sofa. "So," the young boy said how badly are you going to maul these idiots for trying to attack all of us, Uncle Harry?"

Harry smirked at him, hugging the two little girls to him one arm around each, hearing their heartbeats as he did. "As badly as I possibly can," he said grimly. "As badly as I possibly can."

 **OOOOOOO**

"And exactly where have you been you wanker!?" Tonks asked angrily, crossing her arms and staring daggers at Husukai who had just walked up to her booth at the café where they had agreed to meet, valiantly keeping her hair from reacting to her emotions. Why they were meeting in person she didn't know, although she had to admit that the old man had shown a marked aversion to cell phones for some reason. He wasn't a technophobe by any means, but cell phones seemed to bother the heck out of him. He was alright with house phones and other kind of phones though.

Husukai smiled lopsidedly back at her, slipping into the booth across from Tonks as he quipped, "While I will hold my hand up to not being able to meet with you before this, I resent the name you just used to describe me. It has been a very long time since I could get up the initiative to look or be at all interested in the female form, let alone see to myself as you just implied."

Tonks rolled her eyes, but the joke did calm her down somewhat, and she leaned back before asking him seriously, "You're supposed to be training me as I was training you. What happened?"

The man winced. "Several things actually. Did Harry Potter and his ladies tell you about how they won such goodwill from my government in the first place?" Tonks nodded and he sighed in relief. "Excellent, I won't have to explain everything then. The search for the Shinra clan has not gone very well. In fact, it has not gone at all. Our search for them has, in point of fact, hit a brick wall so hard that everyone involved is now cursing the fact that they were assigned to it in the first place. That includes me. I was pulled in on the off chance that some of my contacts on the other side of the tracks would have some idea where the Shinra were based. They did not."

Tonks nodded, making no reaction to the tiny bit of corruption hinted at in his words. It was a very odd old copper who didn't have friends on the other side of the law and furthermore realized there would **always** be someone on the other side of the law. Mad-Eye Moody had had his contacts, even the nonmagicals knew they had to work with their opposite numbers occasionally. After all there was a certain level of acceptable crime, in comparison to say murder, terrorists, rapists, pedophiles on the hunt, or serial killers and such like. Tonks personally would put people who sold drugs to kids with that lot, but that was just her. There were worse things out there, if not many.

"There was also a certain amount of pushback from elements of our government that were not as happy to embrace 'you foreigners' like myself, and those who wished to befriend Harry Potter and his ladies. We, that is the progressive group and myself understand that we must move with the times, and also, to put it bluntly, that getting in the way of Harry Potter seems to be a very painful life decision."

"If you mean by painful it ends your life on that decision, you might have something," Tonks said dryly, her anger now gone. "So, since you are willing to meet with me like this, does that mean you **finally** got permission to help teach me?"

"That is the case, yes," Husukai said, smiling politely at the young woman who had just dropped off a glass of tea for him. She bowed back, before twirling away, her long ponytail flapping as she moved off.

Tonks watched the girl's hair for a moment before turned back to him, her face deathly serious. "That's great and all, but before that, I think we need your help. You know about the Three Factions and the Khaos Brigade already so this won't take long to explain..."

After hearing Tonks out, the old man nodded slowly. "I believe that both factions within my government will be quite happy to get involved with this. One will want to show our magical might, the other will wish to also make it plain where we stand in this alliance that has grown up in our territory." He paused then, sipping at his tea and smiling beatifically. "Isn't it nice when interests can coincide like that for the betterment of all?"

 **OOOOOOO**

As Harry flew over Kuoh toward his position for the coming ritual at the radio tower, he reflected that five had proven to be an incredibly good, solid magical number, beyond what his old knowledge of arithmancy would have implied. _Seven would have seemed better for its inherent magic multiplier, but not from a mixing magic point of view, when we put our various magical schools together._

Harry and the others had attempted to experiment with other ritual position styles that could be used for this size of a spellcasting, from the square favored in Europe to the circle of the Onmyodo school, and finally, the seven-sided star favored in the Ankhsera schools. But none of them had worked. Seven magical beings adding their power in would make the initial foundation as it were more powerful, but it wouldn't have the sustainability of five. And it wouldn't mix equally between all of the different magics. Five was best, and a pentagram was best for stability and mixing styles together.

 _Odd to think that the pentagram shape spread as far as it did, almost like the legends about dragons. Practically every continent had a legend that fit the dragon archetype, a giant flying, fire-breathing lizard._ Speculating about the why of that once more was a good way to pass the time for a few minutes he estimated it would take Rias and the others to get into position.

While he waited Harry hung his phone by his head on a nearby portion of the radio tower, looking over to the giant slab of granite that had been prepared for this nearby. He took one last look all around, then breathed out and said into his phone, "This is Harry, I'm ready here."

His words were answered one after another by the other four, starting with Tsubaki and ending with Akeno almost four minutes after Rias came on, which made some sense given that preparing Rias's portion of this operation/ritual had easily been the toughest job they had given Akeno earlier that day. She had to be able to hear the music, and the magic carried by the sound of Yubelluna's playing had to be able to affect the area around her despite her point in the pentagram being underwater.

Akeno had first tried to use the same wireless speakers they'd used everywhere else underwater, which didn't work. She'd then had to replace them with specially protected wired speakers, the wires running through the park and out towards a nearby electronic store. Of course, the wires then had to be covered by protective spells, making people not notice them and so forth, and since that meant they had to be on the road, that had caused other issues, for Rias and Akeno when she arrived to find her Queen still working on it. All of which Akeno now enunciated in detail, as she finally came on, grumpy and unamused with everything at the moment.

"Sorry Akeno," Harry said with sympathy plain in his voice. "But the added impetus of our elements to the ritual hasn't changed. That means Rias still needs to be underwater."

"I know that," Akeno said with a growl. "I just wish that we had figured out that the wireless speakers wouldn't be able to pick up the signal through the water before this."

"Well, wireless speakers are a new technology, we probably shouldn't have even used them for the rest of the ritual positions," Sona said with a shrug that no one could see but her. "Still, are you and Rias ready?"

Akeno muttered something under her breath before replying in the affirmative in a louder tone, while Rias just replied with a sighing yes. The black-haired woman then held out her hands over the central courtyard of the temple her pillar was hidden within as Harry and the others did the same, closing their eyes and beginning to concentrate on readying their magic, preparing to send it into the pillars of the pentagram that was the basis of their defensive wards.

A moment later, music began to flow out from the speakers nearby. At first, it was soothing just a fiddle playing low and slow, allowing the five of them to concentrate. But then, it slowly began to change, as more and more instruments began to the heard, the music of the song that Yubelluna was playing starting to be heard coming out of their own speakers and then transmitted through the speakers from the house to hear.

 **OOOOOOO**

For her part, Yubelluna wasn't honestly certain what she was doing anymore. _It's true that I once thought to be a professional fiddle player, but then I found my love for botany, and then there was Riser, so my life never really went the way I expected. And now I'm here. Here… here I am playing my heart out, which, apparently was always a problem before at least according to most of the people who told me I couldn't make a career out of this. Not any longer I suppose, though given where I have been and where I am now, should that really surprise me?_

That thought was given added impetus as she finished the first song and saw Lily hopping to her feet, out of the corner of her eye. She watched as Lily dragged the other two kids up, followed by Asia and Koneko. The irrepressible redhead then began to laughingly do a disco dance of some kind, and Yubelluna smiled. The song she was playing started to change as thoughts about where she'd been and where she was now, began to shift and sway in her mind, the change in the music affecting her.

When the second song began at first there was only the sound of the fiddle, and a woman's voice making "Da, Da, yaddiddity da" noises, which caused all the kids to stop and look at her quizzically before breaking out into giggles as another woman joined in making sharper noises like "ya Dayu, Dayu dayu," and acting as if they were having an argument. Then a third woman joined, seemingly trying to keep the peace.

After a pause, the voices began again and launched song, as all around Yubelluna, the speakers began to play Téir Abhaile Riú {Celtic Woman}. The voices all came from one speaker now, while the other speakers each played a different musical instrument from the song. That had been quite hard to set up, but it worked very well now.

Halfway through the song, Yubelluna realized that she was on her feet, but she didn't care. She didn't care when she started to high step, her skirt flaring as she pranced around the backyard while around her the dancing kids, who had been joined by Kalawarner, Ruruko, Saji and the Knights of Sona's peerage, dancing a jig around her. She didn't care that some of them had begun to sing along now. Her fiddle was playing, her fingers were moving, and her thoughts about Riser and her past were gone, replaced by thoughts of where she was now, how much happier she had been since waking up that time in Kyoto surrounded by Harry and the others. How accepted she was here. The friends and loved ones that she had met in such a short time.

It all came back to Harry though. Harry and home and just the feeling of what that word entailed, what it had been for her for so long the idea of what a home should be was a distant memory: protection, love and the hearth, the simple joy of life and living. All of that flowed into her from those surrounding her, from the very air of the Potter homestead, enforcing her own feelings. They then flowed into the music and out carrying the magic with it in a way she could feel, like a prickling on her skin.

But this was old magic, older and more powerful than any Yubelluna had ever known. It came from somewhere else she could almost sense it, but not quite, and when the music ended she would never remember. But it came from somewhere else and was renewed by her music and Harry's own internal magic and then was sent back again becoming stronger before it flowed out and away from her, creating the highly magical area they had wanted to create, ripe with potential.

She was uncertain how to explain it later on, but she knew it had centered on Lily, on Harry, on the kids and the others and simply the feel of them among the place. Magic as emotion, as feeling and desire, not the Sin of desire, as Devils would understand it, no, this was softer, more loving and far more potent, Yubelluna thought as that song came to an end. But then the next song began, her fingers moving of their own accord and the magic and the music washed away even that thought from Yubelluna's mind and she just **played**.

 **OOOOOOO**

After Kiba had left, Issei had invited Irina to his house that evening to meet his parents again after so long. To his dismay, Xenovia had tagged along essentially because she didn't know her way around well enough to start their investigations and, Issei suspected, she didn't want to leave Irina alone with him. He felt that was rather a slander on his character. _I mean I do have a girlfriend. Not that I'd say no to seeing her oppai, they are small but wow they look good, but I wouldn't, y'know do anything. Especially not in front of my parents!_

That last was not a small consideration since his parents had met Ruruko and loved her to pieces for seemingly calming their son's perversions down. She hadn't of course, but this was a misconception Issei was very happy to let them have. That, and the fact they remembered Irina better than he had, darn it!

Because of Irina and that fact conversation had actually been pretty smooth over the dinner table, his parents happy that their son had offered to put Irina up after she and her foreign friend had been taken in by a scam and lost their money. Xenovia stayed quiet, listening and smiling occasionally at the jokes his parents shot towards Issei, which was fine by him. Better jokes than swords, right? No explody sword at the table, thank you so much.

Then the two exorcists stopped talking, Irina doing so abruptly mid-laugh. His parents thought she had choked and she acted as if she had for a second, but she was also staring to one side as Xenovia did the same, her eyes suddenly serious. "What is that?" she hissed to Issei in a low tone as Irina quickly began to engage his parents in another story about their childhood.

"What is wh…ohhh…" Issei stuttered to a halt as he now felt the waves of something nearby, some feeling. "Um, I think that's Buchou and the others. They were doing something I think to the wards of the area, the stuff you felt earlier today." At Xenovia's glare, he went on hurriedly. "Oh, it's nothing to do with you, they were planning this long before you arrived. Erm, I think they were still worried that nonmagical threats could take out the pillars that hold the wards together or something, I didn't really pay attention."

"That's impossible," Xenovia growled. "I might not know much about heathen magic, but all magic must obey some general rules. Wards can't be just, just up and moved like that, even if they were created through ritual or God's grace."

Issei once again winced at the use of the G-word, thinking idly that these two really needed to stop doing that. "Um, I don't think it was easy or anything, but they figured out a way. Um… it had something to do with Harry technically being a demigod or something I think, and Miss Yubelluna, you haven't met her yet, being a druid, or the female version of one anyway."

"What?" Xenovia asked, restraining herself from shaking Issei. She tried to get more information out of Issei, but he honestly didn't know much more, except that Harry was involved or connected to the Tuatha de Danan, the heathen pantheon favored in Ireland before the coming of the True God.

But then the feeling of the magic hit them, and she fell silent, deciding that they should leave this topic for now. It was obvious there was a lot more going on here than they had thought, and even if the Devils weren't involved in the theft of the Excalibur Fragments, they were still up to a lot of magic that she hadn't ever heard the like of before. _The Church has to be informed of this._

 **OOOOOOO**

Harry could feel the tug on his magic this time. It wasn't draining or demanding or anything of that nature, but he could feel the magic within him pulsing, then being pulled elsewhere, away towards Yubelluna somehow knowing where it was going without even trying. Closing his eyes and momentarily taking his attention off building up his magic for what he had to do here, he tried to feel out if there was an actual connection there like there had been between him and the Hallows before he had absorbed them. He couldn't find it, which he supposed he was happy about.

 _But I cannot deny the tug is there. It's as if someone is requesting a bit of my magic like someone coming to the door and asking for a spot of tea or something. Is that what a God feels when someone makes a request of his magic? Or is this what they feel when they are being worshiped?_ Harry felt it was probably closer to the latter because he could feel his magic responding and then being somehow enhanced. It was a very odd feeling, and he wondered idly how much more about magic, the basic most fundamental power that could be called magic, he would discover in his lifetime.

For a moment his magic seemed to hover around him, seemingly waiting, and he finally pushed at it a little, as if hurrying it along with his will. _Since this is such a larger pull on my magic than Yubelluna's previous test runs I suppose I have to give my approval or something. That's actually a good thing really since I wouldn't want someone able to call my magic without my okay after all._

As he felt the air around him shift, shivering almost, Harry opened his eyes for the first time in about 15 minutes. When he did he saw that there was a silvery sheen in the air, covering everything, a silvery smoke in the air as the silver fog rose from the ground, the billows of it throbbing in time to the music. And Harry knew it was time.

So did everyone else put being part of the ritual. Despite not seeing one another they each raised their hands in unison, reaching out to touch specific runes on the pillars as they glowed. Wizard, Onmyodo, Anhksera, each of the runic schematics were touched one after another and then, each segment of the greater array somehow flowed through the silver of the air to the slabs of granite each of them had for this purpose. Like the one already being used in the pillar hidden under the pond, or on the teleportation gateways in the compound, these granite slabs were large enough to house the needed runic schemes.

Of course, each individual had to do this in a distinctly different sequence, since each ritual pillar's array was different and the five of them moved around their pillars, their hands flashing out as they stepped around it and the arrays flowed from the original pillar to its new home in the granite slabs in a sort of concentric ever-shifting spiral. And as it did, each of them moved on around the pillars, each of their movements precise, controlled by which section of the overall pillar scheme they had to touch.

 _It's almost like a dance_ _as if we too are just part of a greater ritual,_ Harry thought. Heck, he could almost even see Rias and the others in his mind's eye, performing their own dances around their separate pillars. And beyond that. There was a feeling of magic in the air. It was an amazing, euphoric feeling, softer somehow then the laying of the pillars during the initial ritual, and he could tell that everything was flowing much more smoothly than it had then, and as they had all wanted, there was no sign of the wards coming down or the various schemes starting to fight one another. _Good, we might be able to pull this off!_

 _No, we will pull this off! Harry_ corrected himself _. We will remove the final weakness in our warding scheme and the only way to take it down after that will be simple raw power, and even that will take its toll. This is my home, this is my family, and no one will threaten them through magical or non-magical means as long as I live! Never again._

 **OOOOOOO**

Magic was a powerful, wonderful, sometimes frightening, and rather mysterious energy. There would always be things humans, whatever their affiliation, didn't know about it. There would always be things Angels, Devils, and even Gods didn't know about it. Often, what magical practitioners thought were rules of magic turn out later to be mere guidelines, rules for a given value of the effect. Such was the case of the common misconception among wizards about active magic being unable to cross the oceans of the world from one continent to another.

Oh, you could use a portkey like Tonks and Teddy had to cross the ocean since the spell essentially ignored the intervening distance, opening a hole from there to here and removing the area between, like someone putting two holes in a piece of paper and folding the paper so the holes met, ignoring the original length of paper between them. But a wizard wouldn't be able to use a communication mirror to talk to someone in America from Britain or find someone in Siberia via a ritual or enchanted device from Japan, no matter how powerful the magic behind it.

This rule didn't apply when one of the individuals who was using such magic had the power of a God who had been so intimately connected with the legends of the ocean and the passage from one life to the next in the form of a river as Manannán mac Lir had been. Magic was here long before the first god was created by the minds of humanity. It would be there long after the last gods passed on, lost to humanities growing faith in science or simple human hubris. But Gods had certainly left their marks, both on the people they interacted with and the magic of Earth as a whole.

And Harry, for all of his knowledge of the wizard type of magic and his growing knowledge with the Onmyodo style, was still somewhat of a neophyte when it came to 'the god school' of magic. More importantly, he and his friend had no idea what it meant to have won the powers of a God through trial combat and the god's own approval. A God, furthermore, who had himself passed on, killed by the God of another pantheon, one of many who had died in such a manner.

And Harry was now the only one calling upon that latent power. A power there had once been felt in the hills of Ireland from one shore to another of the emerald isle. A power that still permeated the rocks the trees, the ground, and the streams. A power, that was once more responding to a will. That power then spread, awakening further ancient enchantments.

The United Kingdom had, after all, always been steeped in legends and magic…

 **OOOOOOO**

It had been forty-five minutes since she had started playing, and Yubelluna wasn't certain she could feel her fingers anymore as they gripped her fiddle and bow. Despite that and growing mental exhaustion, she was also exhilarated, and jubilant, her entire body thrumming, her purple hair almost standing on end like she'd been struck by lightning. She'd never been part of a project like this, never been part of magic like this!

It had been utterly exhilarating in a way that she had never experienced before even when using her bandrui powers to landscape the Potter-Gremory compound. The magic of Harry Potter flowed into her, the latent magic of the air of their home around her flowing into her, becoming music, and then flowing out, creating the setting in which the God (demi or otherwise didn't matter) she was currently worshiping and his aides needed to do what they wanted to do.

Those words in her mind were almost plebian in the way they tried to describe what was happening and failed so miserably. It simply felt like a miracle. That was the best way to describe the feeling. And who could describe miracles other than using that single, all-encompassing word?

The last song she had meant to play for this ritual, a song called Orinoco Flow, slowly came to an end, and she looked over at Kalawarner who quickly grabbed up a cell phone, dialing Loup, who was watching Harry. "Loup, do they need more time?"

Loup grunted, then replied verbally, an odd note in his voice. "No. They seem to be finished. They are wrapping things up now," he said, staring in something approaching shock as the ground underneath the radio tower simply seemed to **absorb** the granite slab. Like it was flowing into mud despite the ground being of concrete and metal here, the glow of the runic array on the granite seeming to spread through the ground almost. It was a very odd sight to see despite all of the magic Loup had seen in his life. He had seen similar things certainly, but it was almost as if the granite had become part of the ground, everything on it becoming part of the ground and then dipping deeper, hiding itself among the granite of the earth deep below, as if the Earth itself had been part of the ritual and understood what it needed to do.

As the granite slab disappeared and the silver tint to the air slowly dissipated, Loup stepped forward intending to catch Harry if he fell knowing that he should probably be exhausted after this. But to the other werewolf's surprise, Harry wasn't tired at all and he smiled at Loup, his eyes filled with a sort of wistful joy almost, as he grabbed Loup's forearm in his own. "We're done," he said simply. "Can you check in with the others?"

Loup nodded, letting go of Harry's forearm to do so, and moments later they and the others, along with their watchers, Momo, Reya, Tonks, and Kiba, were on their way back to the house. And just looking at his fellow miracle workers, Harry could tell all four of the ladies were filled with the same odd feeling of transcendental joy. Whatever they had just been a part of, it was bigger than the sum of its parts, and Harry could tell it had started and begun with the music, with the worship of their resident bandrui.

They arrived back at the house to find Yubelluna being almost dragged by Kalawarner and Mittelt to a picnic table set to one side of the yard setting her down there as if her legs had decided to stop working. Despite that, the music was still playing in the background from the sound system Yubelluna and Kala had set up. She smiled wanly at them, then gasped as Harry hugged her, followed by the others one after another, even Tsubaki and Sona. There were no words exchanged, they seemed unnecessary at the moment, almost trite after what had just occurred.

Then the moment snapped like a rubber band as Kunou raced up to Harry, holding a large plate of fatty finger foods out to him. Behind her, the other kids, with Asia guiding them, moved forward to the others with similar plates, although Lily did steal a bite for herself first. "Here Harry," Kunou chirped, "We know you all must be hungry so dig in."

The rumbling of six tummies at once signaled that this supposition was quite correct and Harry laughed, reached down and took the plate from her, stuffing a bite into his mouth before he ruffled Kunou's head with his free hand, and looked over at Kalawarner. "I take it we have you to thank for the food, Kala? Can I presume we are all welcome at your table?"

"My table is currently over there," Kalawarner said with a wry smile, pointing in the direction of the yard at one side of where the girls' house was connected to the backyard of the Potter house. She, Mittelt and Tonks had cooked, then brought out the food and set up the backyard further with lights here and there and several conjured benches and tables, figuring it was only a matter of time before the five pillars and the rest of them showed up. "And why you are even asking I don't know, of course, you're all welcome to eat as much as you want."

"It's always polite to ask before being allowed to the table of a beautiful woman Kalawarner," Harry said with a wink at her which caused Kala to blink in surprised pleasure at the compliment. She watched as Harry moved toward the food with Kunou beside him, a lightness to his step, almost as if he was still dancing to the music. She looked at Rias and was relieved to see a small, understanding smile there, as well as her mouthing the words 'we'll talk later' to which Kalawarner could only nod.

After that, perhaps it was inevitable that the group's recovery from their exertions shifted into a party. With Lily, Kunou, and even Asia encouraging people to eat, dance and be merry, could it have been otherwise? Mittelt and Kalawarner also helped, Kalawarner plying people with food, Mittelt with drink, with Harry and Asia taking turns to make certain Yubelluna ate and rested.

And then Issei arrived on the heels of everyone else, with the rest of Sona's peerage. Harry quickly conjured up some lights as the evening light began to fade, and once more the backyard of the Potter-Gremory compound became a place of merriment, music, and laughter.

Finishing a plate of food, Harry paused in his conversation with Lily about what she had been feeling and sensing during the ritual as the background music changed, from a fast Irish drinking song sung by four men to a slow dancing song. He looked up as he felt rather than saw the crowd parting and saw Rias across the way at one of the other picnic tables, looking up from her own conversation with Koneko and Asia. He winked down at his daughter and set his plate aside saying, "excuse me lovey, but I think Rias wants to dance."

"Rias always wants to dance Daddy don't you know that by now?" Lily asked mock-seriously, then when he laughed, she pushed at his side. "Go on!"

With that, she backed away and watched as Harry approached Rias, hopping on the balls of her feet as she did so. She **loved** times like this! The music, the fun, and all of her friends there with her. _What more could a girl ask for? Ooh, where's Teddy, now I want to dance too!_

Harry approached the three girls at the other picnic table, then held out his hand, bowing grandly towards Rias as he did. "Might I invite you to dance with me, Rias," he said softly, his eyes gleaming with pleasure at her.

Rias curtsied, and Harry realized that somehow during the party she and many of the other girls had changed. No longer were they wearing simple utilitarian jeans or pants, but rather skirts. Rias's was a little longer than she would normally wear, but it was very… swirly was the best way, Harry could think of to describe it as she stood up and curtsied, before taking her hand and hit his hand in hers. "My Love, I would be delighted," she said, her voice both formal and yet also mocking that very formality, yet her own blue eyes were soft and loving as she looked back at him.

As Asia and Koneko watched giggling to one another at the sight Harry gently pulled Rias towards him until their chests were touching, putting an arm around her waist, and twining his other one with hers. They then began to move, dancing around and through the party, which slowly began to expand around them, creating a clearing for the two of them.

 _Perhaps the magic of the ritual isn't quite done with us yet,_ Harry thought in amusement, before setting that thought aside as he simply reveled in the sensation of holding Rias in his arms. The two of them danced around in a kind of formal waltz, but not quite. Their steps weren't all that intricate, it was more that they simply danced, with their arms around one another, their bodies flushed against one another, with Harry leaning his forehead against hers occasionally, just staring into her eyes as Rias was doing the same, a small, warm yet somehow alluring smile on her face.

As the song came to a close, Harry closed the distance between them, kissing Rias lovingly on the lips to giggles and laughter from all around and blushing sighs from many of the girls of Sona's peerage. He pulled back, his breath a whisper against her lips as he murmured, "I love you Rias," before capturing her lips again.

She pulled back after a second, "I love you too Harry," she whispered then kissed him in turn, before slowly, reluctantly withdrawing. "But I think," she said, glancing over to Yubelluna, "that other people deserve to have their chance to dance with you now."

She smiled at Yubelluna as the purple-haired older woman looked up, her brows furrowing as she felt eyes on her. Then her eyes widened in happy surprise as Harry approached her in turn, holding out his hand. "Might I have this dance My Lady," he asked, winking at her. There wasn't nearly as much affection or love in his expression when he looked at her as there had been when he addressed Rias, but again the way he used Lady when he talked to her and his British accent sent shivers up Yubelluna's spine.

There was only one response she could give, and as Rias had she curtsied, although unlike Rias, she hadn't had to change to a skirt for the party. She had started with an off the shoulder purple dress that matched her hair and fell to midway down her lower legs which emphasized her chest although it only really left bare her feet and shoulders. "I would be delighted, Harry."

Another song started up then named _Bean Phaidin_ and the two started a slightly faster but still romantic dance than Rias and Harry had done. They also had to move around other dancing couples now, as more of them began to get into the idea of dancing. To Harry's mild surprise, Issei was the first to follow their example, although it had been Ruruko who instigated things, pulling Issei away from the food and urging him to dance.

"Thank you for your help with the ritual," he said, his tone full of honest gratitude as he shook his head. "None of this would've been possible, none of this ritual, none of the magic of this evening would've happened without your Bandrui-based powers.

"Are you happy with what has happened?" He asked as Yubelluna simply smiled in response waving his thanks away. "You bring so much to us here, and we never even asked you really if you wanted to be here. I never asked you if you wanted to be a bandrui."

"Nooo," the tall purple-haired woman drawled, her full lips twisting into a sardonic smirk. "You just saved **my life** after my former King attempted to kill me in a fit of pique. Honestly, Harry, nothing I've done since then will match up to you saving my life like that."

"I saved your life milady, because it was the right thing to do, and because I refused to let you die like that. You deserved better," Harry said with a shake of his head. "And I wanted nothing in payment then, and I don't want anything in payment for that now. I certainly don't want your, your worship." Harry had said this to her before as they had realized the connection between her Bandrui abilities and his demigod status but to his mind, it bore repeating.

"I know that, and I don't think I worship you as you seem to fear I do, whatever the connection between Bandrui and the original gods of the Tuatha De Danan. I'm beginning to think it was a lot closer then legends might tell it. Especially among the female kind of Bandrui," she said with a wicked laugh that actually startled a blush from Harry much to her delight.

Feeling greatly daring she asked suddenly, "But if you don't want my worship, would you take my affection?"

Harry paused in his steps, then slowly continued, whirling Yubelluna around him as he stared into her purple eyes as he answered slowly. "Affection, perhaps, but where do you see that leading?"

"My heart?" Yubelluna asked, her tone serious as she too took a pause in the dancing to stare at him before going on. This conversation had taken a serious turn, and both of them were making it up as they went along despite the fact that Harry had acknowledged his attraction to Yubelluna long since and was not averse to seeing where it went. This was something he had already cleared with Rias a few days after they had woken up from the Blessing-induced exhaustion that had knocked him out after he had saved Yubelluna's life.

"If you would be willing to share mine with others then eventually… yes," Harry said with a slow nod. "I don't think we're there yet, but I can see that happening eventually."

"No, we're not," Yubelluna said with a nod. "But I could see that as a distinct possibility, and I think we both needed to acknowledge it."

"Well in that case," Harry said with a smile "consider it acknowledged." Still feeling almost high off the magic they had all created together Harry impulsively leaned forward only to pause, his head halfway towards Yubelluna's, waiting.

She blushed, looking around them, but then thought, _screw it._ With that, she leaned forward herself and their lips met in a kiss. It wasn't a deep kiss; it wasn't even a long one. But it was sweet, oh so sweet to Yubelluna. Like a promise given form.

But then the song ended, and Yubelluna quickly backed away, smiling at Harry and actually slightly blushing herself now to her astonishment. _Really, a woman of my age blushing! Will wonders never cease._ Then she looked over and smiled as she did.

As she did, Harry heard a pop of an incoming teleportation and turned to find Yasaka had made it to the party. She was instantly met by Lily and Kunou, who were shouting excitedly about everything that had happened, and the kitsune woman was grinning at them, her kitsune appearance on full display ears poking out of her light blonde tresses, her long blonde tails swishing behind her.

"I think however someone else deserves a dance with you.," Yubelluna said with a laugh and a gesture towards the newcomer as she unknowingly repeated Rias's earlier words.

With that, Harry nodded before he slowly released Yubelluna, and with a final wink sent her way he headed towards Yasaka. This time though he didn't try to invite her to dance in a romantic way. Instead, he simply moved between the two kids and picked Yasaka up by her waist, swooping her around in his arms as he shouted, "Good timing because the next dance is for you, my foxy lady!"

Yasaka chittered with laughter, wrapping her arms around Harry's shoulders and very intentionally thrusting Harry's face into her chest. "Aren't you supposed to ask instead of declaring such things my wolfy man?" she asked teasingly.

"Would you have said no?" Harry asked, looking at her face from between the amazingly comfortable prison of her breasts.

"Well… no," she said with another chittering laugh, "but it's the principle of the thing."

"I'll remember that for next time," Harry said, even as he set Yasaka down and the two of them began to dance to an even wilder sort of music than the last time. How Yasaka kept all her tails out of her own way and everyone else's way was a mystery, but she was able to do so, even as Kunou and Lily started a jig nearby.

After that, Harry had danced with Kalawarner, then Akeno, Koneko, and Sona. Sona was a blushing mess the entire time, but she was also very firm in keeping a distance between them, and she was looking around with both wonder and a distinct amount of interest, still feeling a bit of the earlier magic in the air, as too could Harry. He was just having too much fun to care about it at this moment.

When he and Akeno first started to dance, it was as part of a group, a circle of the group going through the motions of some kind of folk dance that Yasaka was teaching them, her and Kunou dancing across from one another and directing everyone in how to move their hands, their legs dipping occasionally but generally just moving around in a circle. Then that song came to an end, and Akeno found herself in Harry's arms. Memories of other times when he'd held her like this caused a flush to appear on her face and her heart to beat quicker as her body responded to those memories. But she womanfully beat it back, unlike, she had been amused to see at the time, Sona. _I doubt she is harboring some deep, well-hidden desire in Harry's direction, but the sight of her blushing like a young maiden was most amusing._

The fact her thoughts on Sona kept her from thinking about how nice dancing with Harry was did not consciously occur to her. But Harry could not help feeling much the same as he held Akeno against him. For just a moment all the reasons they had broken up in the first place seemed so petty and inconsequential in relation to how holding her made him feel. _We just pushed each other in different ways, pushed each other in ways the other could not deal with._

A thought then came, and he nearly tripped as it flashed across his mind: were those reasons still there? And if so, what did that mean? But Harry refused to think about that just yet. Not for a while, not until everything else had settled down. But even as he thought that he had to wonder.

Yubelluna picked up her fiddle again. As she did, a woman's voice began to sing another song from the speakers. Yubelluna joined in on the fiddle part quickly. The song Nil Se'n La began to play as Harry danced with Rias once more, this time in a jaunty swing dance, that both of them twirling around one another. "I came by a house last night, and told the woman I am staying, I said to her the moon is bright and my feet are still for playing…"

After that song ended the party slowly began to subside with Lily and Kunou falling asleep, curled up in Koneko and Yasaka's laps. Asia was on the outskirts of the cuddle pile leaning against Tonks, who had Teddy in her arms. Nearby Yubelluna was also asleep, laid out on a bench, the food and the drink which had sustained her now adding its own soporific impact.

The couples among their little community had also made their own exits, stage right. Issei had left to walk Ruruko home, and Kiba and Tsubaki were gone, having left the party a few songs ago. Loup too was leaving, having accepted an invite from Momo Hanakai for some late-night wine at her place. Where that would lead he didn't know, but since he and Sona had decided that while they were attracted to one another, they didn't have enough in common to date, he was free to flirt and date some of the other girls in their little group, and the silver-haired girl had caught his eye.

He doubted they would do anything tonight, but perhaps cuddling up with a movie would be an excellent way to end the night. She evidently seemed to think so, given her smile after he said this aloud, and Momo wrapped herself around one of his arms as Loup led her through the Potter's house.

Unfortunately, for Harry and the two Kings, their night was not yet done. Not even after Harry had put Lily to bed and said goodbye to Kunou, who was returning to Kyoto with her mother for the night, though Yasaka would return in a few hours to aid Harry in the next stage of their preparations. No, they had more magic to perform this night.

Leaving Mittelt and Sona's knights behind to clean up – after all, Kala had cooked the food in the first place, and Yubelluna certainly wasn't in any position to help clean - the trio and Akeno congregated in the Potter house's foyer. Rias was the last to arrive, having just helped Koneko change an extremely exhausted Asia into her pajamas. Harry smiled at her, putting in arm around her waist, then looking around at the others. "Are we all recovered enough for the next part?"

Sona stretched her arms above her head, cracking her shoulders and neck explosively before lowering them as she nodded. "I believe we can finish it tonight, yes. I want the dimensional bubble at least in place before tomorrow morning. After that, it will be up to you and Yasaka."

"Fufufu, my own part in the remaining business of this night is relatively simple in comparison to what I've already had to do today Harry, and I must say that party quite invigorated me. If either of you wishes me to step in because you are feeling too feeble Buchou, Kaichou, I am more than willing." Akeno said ending on a semi-formal tone.

"Hah!" Rias snorted, while Sona rolled her eyes at the sadist Queen's teasing habits. "If you think you can take over for me Akeno, please be my guest. I'll sit on the sidelines and cheer you on."

"Ara, but isn't this something you as a King should see to?" Akeno asked, changing tactics on a dime. "Don't sell yourself short, Buchou."

"Where's your confidence now then?" Rias shot back. "I thought you were offering your help."

Here Sona stepped, in shaking her head at the two friends' antics. "Ladies, the night isn't getting any younger. As fun as it is watching you two banter sometimes, let's just get this done please?"

At that, Rias nodded, and with a gesture and a blink of power she teleported the four of them to the occult research club room. From there they moved out onto the soccer field of the Academy, pausing along the way as they heard what sounded like a large splash in the distance coming from the school pool. "What was that?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes, you haven't been introduced to her yet have you?" Rias mused. "Well, it's understandable since she very deliberately stands apart from our peerages and the rest of the magical world. I might introduce our resident beast master to you when this is all over."

"Beast Master?" Harry asked, one eyebrow rising in surprise, barely visible in the light of the moon above as they reached the soccer field.

"Indeed, but as Rias said, it's not important right now, and she very much prefers to be separate from the rest of us," Sona interjected, gesturing Rias to join her. "Now come on, enough procrastinating Rias."

Sona and Rias moved away from the others, holding their hands out towards one another as they began to create another spell.

The dimensional bubbles that the Three Factions all threw around were several different spells all rolled into one actually amazing spell, Harry reflected, not for the first time. First of all, it covered everything physical and non-biological in a given area with a sort of magical sheen that then copied everything it touched. The trees, buildings, streets, stopped cars, road signs, lights, everything inside and outside the building was copied into the small bubble displaced from the rest of the world in its own separate dimension.

And they were all real, physically identical to the original, an amazing bit of conjuration, even if the dimensional bubble wasn't usually designed to last. That was why anyone within the bubble could interact with everything else in it.

Added to that could be added a minor illusion aspect on the 'surface' of the bubble which was designed to confuse the unwary into believing they were still in the real world, and of course a portion of the spell that allowed people to enter the bubble in the first place. The larger the bubble required, the more power needed both on the magical and mental side of things. All of which was well beyond the magic of Harry's own people, save the separate dimension concept, which was, in essence, the same sort of thing used in space expansion charms placed on pouches or trunks, if on a monstrously larger scale.

From an exterior perspective like this, the dimensional bubble did indeed looked from this a slowly expanding bubble, like a children's toy almost, that kind of soap bubble shimmer in the air, similar almost to the bubblehead charm. But when it hit something, even the grass underneath you, that shimmer was then transplanted onto the item, as the initial bubble continued to expand.

Harry looked on as it passed him in amusement, noticing that it wasn't on him, but it was on the grass beneath them, and the buildings he could see from here, including the soccer posts. Shaking his head, he turned to Akeno, asking dryly, "So, how have you been doing with that spellbook your cousin Suzaku gave you? I understand that you were able to perform one of the spells we forced the rest of your idiot family to give us?"

Smiling at Harry's attempt at small talk, Akeno replied in the affirmative, then smiled as Harry conjured up a few soft chairs for them. He did the same for the two Kings but given the size and complexity of the bubble they were creating neither could turn their attention back to the world around them long enough to sit down. Despite that, Harry and Akeno moved their chairs directly behind Sona and Rias, then went back to their own chairs, talking about the spells Akeno had been practicing lately.

As they talked the bubble expanded, then expanded more, covering everything he could see of the Academy, and then expanded out of sight. At that point Akeno excused herself with Rias's trio of bats as they zoomed out in opposite directions, pacing the expanded bubble as it went. Harry was left behind and idly closed his eyes, preparing himself mentally for his own spellwork to come.

The bubble continued to expand as Akeno paced it, covering the district of Kuoh from one end to another out to the limits of the wards. There it stopped, and the Akeno and the bats moved around the circumference of the area, double checking that it had covered everything and had gone the proper distance before Akeno came back to report that they were done, saying it in a quiet, calm voice so as to not startle the two Kings out of their concentration.

At Akeno's report, Sona and Rias tied off the spell, then slowly re-shrunk the dimensional bubble until it was the size of a room, then the size of a large table. Later, after Harry and Yasaka were done their part, they would shrink it to the size of a snow globe, which would then be stored for a time in the student council room until it was ready to be used.

The instant they were done Rias and Sona both fell backward, stumbling into the front of the chairs Harry had created then flopping back with grateful grunts of pleasure. Creating a throwaway dimensional bubble was relatively easy magic for the three Factions. Creating one to re-create a real setting, and not to overlay it immediately, but to prepare it for a future time, that changed the spell and the mental requirements of the spell significantly. Further, a dimensional bubble this size would, usually require a team of seven Devils to do.

But both of them were smiling as they stared at their creation, from opposite sides, taking the detail in from several conjured lights Harry had created while waiting for them. "It's ready for you Harry," Rias said with a grand gesture before leaning back in the nice, soft chair quite happy to stay there for the foreseeable future. The work she had just done on top of the earlier ritual had wiped her out, her earlier meal and the party notwithstanding.

Harry nodded and pulled out his phone, dialing Yasaka's number. The Kyuubi-no-Kitsune answered promptly, showing that she had been waiting for this call after having had to leave the party before the itching painful sensation of being away from Kyoto got to be too much. Having put her daughter to bed she quickly joined them In Kuoh, having teleported via the teleportation tunnel through to the initial Occult Research Club room.

Walking towards them over the grass of the soccer field Yasaka smiled at them all as she took in the dimensional bubble, the amount of detail she could see on this level. "Excellent work you two. Now it's up to Harry-han and myself. Come on lover-boy, this should be fun!" The kitsune enthused. It was a rare kitsune who didn't like the idea of using trickery and illusion against their enemies.

Nodding, Harry stood up from his own chair, gently touching Rias's shoulder as he passed her, feeling her hair against the back of his hand as he did so, moving to stand across from Yasaka. They put their hands on the sides of the large bubble between them and began to push their magic into the bubble, slowly creating the illusion.

Given the size and complexity of the illusion, the two of them had to do this in layers. First, they would create the sensation of wind, the movements of the plants and such like, adding more physical realism to the copy of Kuoh in the dimensional bubble. This was easy considering that the dimensional bubble had copied every physical structure that was physically connected to the ground in the original.

Then they would create the illusion of weather. At the moment it was night, but once they finished this portion of the spell that aspect would be self-sustaining and match the patterns in the real world: sunlight would appear, and would actually feel like sunlight on an individual's skin and act like it should, creating shadows for example, and any weather would also be replicated into the bubble.

Then, came the aspect Harry had no experience with. Creating actual people, cars, animals and so forth that would move around naturally within the illusion filling the dimensional bubble. Most of these were mere templates at the moment, the vehicles, pigeons and various animals being placed here and there in their dozens, ready to be moved into position, their faces and bodies ready to be molded like clay to match the realities imagery when it came time. Humans too filled the image, going about their nightly business. But their faces too were blank, their bodies simply ghostly afterimages of what a real person's body would look like.

All of this was incredibly tough, both magically and mentally intensive. It wasn't as tough as the ritual to create the pillars though, not yet. It might be when they went back to add details, faces, forms, and such like. But it was still very mentally draining and as they finished an hour later, Harry stepped back, stumbling slightly.

Coming out of their spell fugue Yasaka had it much worse. She grabbed at her head and nearly fell to her knees, only to be caught by Akeno as she moaned. "The, the pain from being away from the Dragon's Nest, I, I must return, it's tearing me apart, been here too lonngnnnnHH!" she moaned out, ending in a near cry of agony.

Harry quickly moved to support her on one side as Rias did the same on the other before teleporting them all to her clubroom. There Rias and Harry dragged Yasaka into the dimensional array, which carried them to Yasaka's palace in Kyoto within seconds.

Left behind in the soccer field Sona stood up on wobbly legs and moved around the bubble slowly. Conjuring a magnifying glass she gaped in near open-mouthed astonishment as she took in the detail. "This is, this is frankly astonishing. Magic on this scale, something so alive and active, able to change and shift and almost act on its own, that is beyond anything I've seen before." She shook her head slowly as she looked over to Akeno who had moved to shrink the dimensional bubble further. "What more can we all accomplish by further mixing our various magical styles, how much more will we discover."

Chuckling quietly at the obviously rhetorical question, Akeno smiled as she slowly began to shrink the bubble. To one side Sona watched, still somewhat in awe of what they had accomplished even as she wondered about the long term implications of it, of magic on this scale.

She then blinked. _I wonder what the two exorcists have made out of all this_? Sona had heard during the party that Issei had told them a bit about what had happened that evening, but she didn't know if they would have felt the expanding dimensional magic as it washed over them.

It turned out that worry was unnecessary. The two exorcists had long since been asleep before Sona had Rias had begun their magic. That at least was one complication they didn't have to deal with yet.

Back in Kyoto, Harry and Rias slowly helped Yasaka through the halls of her palace. The palace somewhat empty at this time of night bar a few scattered guards, which, Harry reflected, was a good thing considering Yasaka's current state would take some explaining. "Sorry I couldn't stay longer," the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune mumbled, feeling the pain receding now that she was back above the ley-lines she had bonded to.

"Don't worry about it," Harry soothed. 'You were able to help us, and you powered through it while we were creating the illusion, that was more than enough. Now, let's get you into bed shall we?"

Nodding over at Rias, Harry indicated he was able to look after Yasaka on his own, and Rias nodded, leaning in to kiss Yasaka tenderly before making her own weary way back to the teleportation ring, and then through it back to Kuoh. When Rias left, Harry turned back to Yasaka, still helping her along slowly. "Alone at last. This would be a perfect time to fool around a bit, but alas, I doubt you'd be able to reciprocate, and that's not as much fun."

"Ooh, just, just let us put this latest crisis or whatever behind us, I'll show you just how much fun I can be," Yasaka retorted, before wincing. 'But right now, I'm afraid you're right, I'm far too tired for anything more than light kissing. Darn it."

Harry chuckled and continued to flirt with her teasingly, one arm around her waist helping her along. When they got to Yasaka's room they found Kunou still asleep, curled up in the center of the bed, her tail tucked underneath her head like a furry, mobile pillow. The sight was so cute Harry couldn't hold back an "Awww…"

But then Yasaka, having been on the receiving of his teasing, decided to get back at him a bit. "Well, drat, with her asleep I suppose that you'll have to get me undressed Harry." Harry looked down at her, and Yasaka giggled. "What, you didn't think I'd go to sleep like this, did you?"

Harry flushed slightly but nodded gamely. "Fine, where're your pajamas?"

Those pajamas turned out to be a loose t-shirt and a loose pair of sweatpants, a hole cut out of the back for her tails. Harry got them out after propping Yasaka sitting up on the side of the bed and then lay them out to one side before starting the somewhat complicated procedure of removing Yasaka's current garb, a priestess garb with yellow and white colors to match her hair. The layers slowly came off, revealing the expanse of Yasaka's flesh underneath. Her skin was the color of porcelain, a shade lighter than Rias's, but was just as perfect, unblemished by any beauty mark or any other kind of mark beyond an occasional scar here and there, none of them large, and mostly on her arms.

Yasaka felt his gaze and she smirked. "Did you think the process of becoming **the** Kyuubi-no-Kitsune was peaceful or painless?" She snorted. "When it comes time to choose a new Kyuubi the candidates among the seven-tailed kitsune face one another in a series of contests, some of which are more like gladiatorial games than anything else. I won, but a few of the others did nip me a time or two."

"Grrr, that should be my job," Harry replied, a little growl in his voice as he leaned down, kissing each scar he could find. Yasaka sighed under his touches, but she really didn't have any energy for anything more, and Harry pulled back, finishing undoing her inner robe, pulling it off her body as Yasaka held her hands above her.

At that point, he paused staring as her breasts were once more revealed to his appreciative gaze. But the fact she was already falling back into the bed caused him to tear his attention away from them to grab her shoulder and gently lower her so that her back rested against the bed. Once that was done, he slowly pulled off the skirt she had been wearing underneath her robes setting them aside, followed by her sheer panties, taking a moment to study Yasaka's most private area. Since he had last been with Yasaka in a similar fashion she had waxed, not a hair left behind, revealing her pretty dark pink slit, the sides of it distended, glistening under Harry's appreciative gaze.

"Merlin, Morgana and Maeve, you are so gorgeous," Harry said throatily, fighting with all his hard-earned self-control not to jump Yasaka right then and there, aided by the sight of Kunou still curled up in the middle of the room. But his sudden desire for her came through his voice.

This caused Yasaka to giggle, but she slowly shook her head, rolling in the direction of her daughter. "None of that Harry, unless you want to take care of yourself before you go back? But even for that, I'm afraid I'd have to ask you to excuse yourself. I refuse to try to explain that dried squid smell for my daughter."

That thought sobered Harry too, and he smiled as he saw Kunou already nuzzling into her mother's side. He reached down and pulled up the covers over them both and whispered, "I'll see you late afternoon tomorrow alright, take it easy until then." With that, he leaned in and kissed her forehead lightly before doing the same to Kunou, putting a smile on both their faces before he left, whistling the tune from one of the songs he had heard that night.

 **OOOOOOO**

Arthur and his sister were taking tea, talking amongst themselves as was their wont. While Le Fay was quite friendly with a few of the other more easy-going members of the Khaos Brigade, her brother only got along with two of the others, the monkey Youkai Bikou, and the White Dragon Emperor, who was rarely around, sadly. Thus, they spent most of their time together here in the base, but that was fine by them. If the two of them could not be happy on their own like this, the two siblings would not have run away from home together.

Most of the time their teatimes went uninterrupted except for the extremely rare call for Arthur to head out on a mission. But even Ophis knew not to bother the two siblings when they were having their teatime. Unless she had been convinced it was an emergency, their patron would not bother the two siblings. Arthur was serious about three things in life: his swordsmanship, his sister, and tea. After one incident with Bikou about a month after they joined the Brigade all of their friends had realized this and taken onboard the idea that teatime was sacred.

Thus it was something of a surprise when Le Fay's cell phone rang, causing her to stare at it in shock. Pulling it out of one of the small, concealed pockets in her witch's outfit, she held it to her ear and asked hesitantly, "Um, yes? May I ask who this is?"

"And why are you interrupting our teatime?" Arthur said, sending his saucer and teacup down, one eyebrow rising behind his small wire glasses in irritation. Any further response on his part to this effrontery to all that was right and decent would wait until the reasons behind the interruption were known.

Le Fay giggled at him, and then she heard a chuckle on the other side of the line. "It's nice to hear that the two of you are still getting along so well."

"Cousin Daniel!?" Le Fay shouted in delight, causing her brother to allow a small smile to flash across his face. Daniel was one of their cousins, of which they had six, but he was the only other one on their father's side of the family which had gone into government work. Specifically, he had gone into MI6. Or something like that anyway. Arthur knew the man was a spy, working on internal counter-terrorism, but wasn't certain he remembered the designation of his branch of the government correctly.

"It's so nice to hear from you," Le Fay went on, hopping over into Arthur's lap so that he could listen in. "But, um, why are you calling us? I thought our parents were still keeping up the fiction that Arthur ran away from home and I chased after him?"

He put his arms around her, laying his chin on top of her head scowling slightly at that. Arthur had, at the time though he had indeed run away without his family's consent, stealing their sacred blade, Excalibur Ruler, as he did. It had turned out however that their parents were very understanding in his desire to find strong opponents and for Le Fay's desire to both stay with him and see the world. They had, according to her, removed many of the protections around the blade, letting Arthur take it without causing further familial conflict. Still, since this had indeed allowed him to test himself against strong opponents, and keep his sister close, he wasn't going to complain aloud.

"They are for any outsiders, but I wouldn't be a very good spy if my aunt and uncle could lie to me like that, now would I? As for why you are hearing from me now, I wish this was a social call Le Fay, Arthur, but I'm afraid it isn't. There's no soft way to say this, so can you tell me what is going on in the magical world?" Daniel asked, his voice a rich baritone, matching Arthur's image of the man, medium height but wide shoulders and a barrel chest. Despite that, both siblings could tell he was worried, almost but not quite frantic.

For a moment Le Fay blinked, then she giggled wryly. "Um, since I've only recently learned about the wizarding world, I'm afraid you're going to have to be a bit more specific cousin."

"Not that, or at least not only that bunch of backward… blokes," Daniel said obviously clearing up what he was going to say to not wound Le Fay's young feminine ears. "I mean what is going on with the magic!"

"Um, again cousin, you're going to have to be very specific." Le Fay replied shaking her head as she repeated herself while Arthur smirked above her head, gently squeezing her.

When she had gone home Le Fay had been surprised to learn that the British government had long known about the magical world, and indeed many of the world governments did, although the exceptions, America, Canada, Russia and Italy of the first world powers, did rather stand out. The British government, however, was one of the oldest in the world and had known about the wizarding world almost since its conception. They had never had much input into that world for good or ill however, although that was slowly changing as science advanced to where it could overcome or work around magic in various ways.

For those in the know, that meant that someday in about fifteen years perhaps, there would be an interesting reckoning between the various non-magical governments and their magical counterparts. Why, simply calculating and forcing the wizards to pay the amount of back taxes owed, let alone the issue of having a near to-sovereign nation in their own borders barely paying lip service to the laws of the parent nation, was going to be interesting.

The Pendragon family, or rather the Duke of Norfolk as they had been occasionally known, reemerging as such when needed or desired over the centuries, had long kept tabs on both. Indeed, several of the instructions books Le Fay had used when she was being taught magic by her aunt, the only other magic user in the family at present, had come from the Wizarding World, though she'd had no direct knowledge until her research into Harry Potter took her back home.

"Maybe I should start from the beginning," Daniel said, sounding much calmer now in the face of Le Fay's teasing good humor.

"That's always a good plan," Le Fay replied cheekily.

"Quiet you," Daniel replied good-naturedly, although some of the panic had thankfully leached out of his tone by this point and when he went on it was in a much calmer tone. "Okay about two hours ago, visible signs of magic being worked started to appear in Ireland, but they quickly spread throughout the islands. And I'm talking about magic that is visible enough that it causes a lot of trouble to clean up afterward. I have reports of Stonehenge, the Bethany Stone Circle, and other similar places lighting up and silver mist expanding out from them. And other than somewhere in Ireland, no one's been able to figure out a direct epicenter."

"The magicals moreover are utterly baffled. They are trying to cover it up, of course: the Unspeakables, and those scary memory modifying …chaps.. are all out in force, and there have been more bloody mental modifications done than we saw even during the site of the latest counterterrorist war they'd had to fight. They are all terrified and worried, and aren't telling us anything about what's been going on."

"We stepped in and helped without being asked this time, mainly so that we could get copies of some of the recorded data. Although of course, they turned on on our agents and tried to modify that information out of our investigators' heads. But we still were able to get some photos and one video recording, and it looked, I don't know, eerie. So we need to know what caused this."

"Umm," Le Fay replied with once more, though this time it meant she was thinking instead of being confused, a frown appearing on her face. "Again, I'm afraid I've got no idea what those that could mean. I'd had to witness it to say what could have caused that kind of phenomenon."

"I'll send an email with some of the scattered reports to go over, along with one video we were able to get away from the magicals," Daniel promised. "We need to know if there's likely to be a repeat of whatever this was."

"An email?" Le Fay asked wincing. "Oh dear, I'll need to get to a computer that actually works then. Hmm…oh, I've heard about these places called computer cafés, perhaps one of them will work." She finished, lighting up as she figured out a solution that would also take her out into Japan proper. No technology was going to work anywhere near where Ophis lived, the little loli dragon leaked more magic into the ether than a whole slew of high-ranking Devils or Angels.

"I'll have to sign up for an email, is it an address or profile, I can never remember which. I promise to get back to you within a few hours so that you can email those to me but off the top of my head?" When Daniel replied that yes he would like some kind of initial idea, she went on. "It sounds as if some kind of ancient magical device, being turned on, or a large-scale ritual being performed. I'm sorry I can tell you any more than that."

"All right, get back to me when you are at this café of yours, and I'll email them to you then. We really need to get some idea of what caused this luv, there's so much speculation about it on the internet despite our and the Magicals' best efforts, it is really quite disturbing."

With that, Daniel switched topics to a few family pleasantries, and he and Le Fay spent several minutes chatting as was polite before she hung up, leaning back against her brother who of course had heard it all. He looked down at her with a faint smile. "Aren't you going to move now?"

"Nope," Le Fay replied with a giggle leaning her head against his chest, feeling his arms tighten around her even more. "I like it here."

They spent several minutes simply snuggling like that not talking until Bikou came in and smirked, finding them like that. "Oh look at you two; you look just like a happy little couple!"

At that Le Fay rolled her eyes and hopped off her brother off Arthur automatically, knowing what was to come. And just as she had known her brother reached for Excalibur ruler, grabbing it up and hefting it in one hand. "It sounds as if you have lost your will to live. Is that the case Bikou?"

Bikou guffawed, flipping his magical pole around in an intricate display before catching it on one shoulder. "Well, I am kind of bored."

"Let us at least alleviate your boredom then. After which you will apologize for my sister for your misplaced sense of humor and your disgusting insinuations." Arthur replied coldly, gesturing the other man out of the room.

Le Fay giggled as she watched her brother follow Bikou out. _He'll never admit it, but Bikou has been good for him, and these spars of theirs are good for him too, giving him an outlet like that when he isn't on missions. Why one could almost think they were friends._ She nearly wished that was the case. Her brother really needed more friends than just her after all.

About an hour later, Le Fay was walking into a computer café, getting a lot of odd looks from the cashier and a few customers leaving the place as she did so. More than one head turned towards her as she entered the computer café proper, a blush on many a young face, causing her to blush in turn and look away, searching for an empty computer cubicle. Those looks were not because of her clothing though, but rather her gender and Le Fay knew it. Computer cafés, after all, were famous for their private booths, normally used by boys and other people who were living at home, and needed some… space and alone time. Most definitely not young girls like her. Some were better, more open to the public and so forth, but this one was the closest to their base, and she knew her brother well enough to know he would flip if she tried to go anywhere further away.

Moments later after calling her cousin, she was now staring at a few images taken from the events that he had talked about. " _Odd, the mist really is silver? The color of the most basic magics…_ "Daniel, what was the timing on this again? I mean do we know an exact timeframe for when it started and how wide it spread how quickly?"

"No, we only have a vague idea of when it was first noticed and reported, nothing more than that."

"And it happened at the same time across the islands?"

"It started in Ireland, or least that was where the first reports came in, but then we started getting reports from all across the western side of Britain, and then up into Scotland too."

"So it really was over all of the islands? That's not a good sign," Le Fay muttered. Most human magic could not transfer from one island or continent to another. Yes, port keys and spells like that could be used to travel long distances, but that was the difference between a lightning bolt and a sustained electrical energy. The lightning bolt would cross the sky without touching down, but the electricity had to have its lines across the intervening distance.

"That's not a good sign," she said again "But well, the United Kingdom has always been known as one of the most magical places on earth."

"Don't let a yank hear you say that," Daniel retorted, making his words into a joke, which caused her to laugh. But he went on more seriously. "What can you tell me about it?"

"At this distance not much," Le Fay said frowning. "Silver is the color of magic, and I am talking about it being the color that magic has when it doesn't have any spell component or overriding thought to shift the magic into the spell."

"You lost me there," Daniel confessed.

"Silver is the canvas and the pigments all in one." Le Fay tried to explain. "But, to actually make a painting, you have to add color to it in terms of your thoughts and the direction you wish the magic to go. Better?"

"A little bit," Daniel said with a sigh audible over the phone. "So the fact that this is silver, is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Well, if it doesn't occur again, it's possibly a good thing. I take it this magic dissipated or something? Nothing hugely tremendous happened?"

"Nothing that's getting reporting to us," Daniel grumbled. "But as far as my few contacts on the other side of the train tracks can tell us, nothing was done or accomplished beyond it spreading in the first place. This silver light and fog only seemed to hover everywhere it was seen, shifting and moving like a wave."

"Then someone called up a **lot** of magical potential and didn't use it. Nor could anyone else use it, which is almost as telling." She waved away Daniel's questioning grumble over the phone, not that he could see her movement of course. "That doesn't really matter, let's come back to this. On a scale the entirety of the British Isles, you'd almost have to talk to one of the Three Factions. In fact, some kind of religious ritual could perhaps create something similar. When worshipers pray to the Christian God, they create something similar, a potential that could be used to create miracles."

This time the groan she heard from Daniel actually made her rather worried about his overall health, and then she heard some kind of scratching noise, which she likened to someone scratching the side of his head, which made her smile. "Are you telling me, that there's some person out there who attempted to create some kind of miracle, and couldn't pull it off?"

"Maybe, your photos in this video don't show any kind of movement in the magic to give me an idea. And I certainly can't make out who could have caused it."

"So you can't even tell me if this could happen again?"

"Nope," Le Fay said with a perky chirp in her tone that Daniel felt was frankly offensive although she somewhat repaired that impression by her next words. "Sorry I wish I could be more help, but this far removed there's only so much I can tell you about it."

"You might wish to be ready to be called back in a moment's notice then," Daniel said, ignoring the 'Uggh' that Le Fay made at those words. "We might need you to get a handle on this. And if it turns out to be a threat, well don't be surprised if both you and your brother are recalled by word of the government."

"Double uggh," Le Fay muttered, not honestly knowing how her brother would respond to that. She knew she would probably go back, but what would Arthur do? While service to the government and military was ingrained at an early age into those of her family Arthur and Le Fay had both run away from that kind of life. But even so, Le Fay knew that if called home she would answer. Arthur though… that was an unknown.

Shaking her head at that, Le Fay answered a few more specific questions from her cousins about rituals, religious styles of magic and what she knew of the history of Stonehenge and the other places, which against wasn't as helpful as Daniel had hoped. Eventually about twenty minutes later Daniel made his excuses, and signed off, promising to get in touch again soon.

Glancing at the time, Le Fay saw that conversation had only taken them about forty minutes. She still had a good twenty minutes on her paid hour. Excitedly, Le Fay began to go to a few graphic novel websites, popping them open and perusing the context quickly a small smile on her face as she did so. She would get back to her brother soon enough, but until then her time was over, she was going to use it as constructively as possible.

 **OOOOOOO**

The morning after moving the pillars started out in a somewhat normal manner. Harry woke up to find his vision obscured by a wave of red fire and smiled. The night before he had found his bed occupied by not one redhead, but two, and that had put a slight damper on his night, but he had logically understood that Rias wouldn't have been up to any of their normal escapades anyway.

He somehow got one hand free from the two bodies around him to push the red hair out of his eyes, only to feel one eyebrow twitching as he realized that he had been pushed off his perch on Rias's breasts, which he had pretty much decided by this point were the most perfect pillows ever. Not only because they were comfy, but because it put his head at the most appropriate and comfortable point to start some adult-type fun, even covered by her lingerie as they had been last night.

But now Lily was there, her own head where his should be. He poked her in the side, then gently tried to push her off the taller woman in order to reclaim his position. But she growled, opening her eyes to actually glare at her father. Then she very deliberately nestled in, sighing happily.

 _Oh, it's like that now is it,_ Harry thought, poking her side even harder, only to receive for Lily to retaliate by poking him in the thigh with a foot. His eyes widened just a bit at that, but brushed her foot to one side, capturing it in one hand while continuing his poking assault on Lily's side.

But Lily wriggled free and brought up her other foot while flailing at his hand with her own, making no move to relinquish her position. In fact, she kept her eyes closed too, acting as if she was still asleep. Harry, in turn, released his grip on her foot intending to push up off the bed and bring both hands to bear on Lily pushing the covers down as he did.

But he was halted in this scheme as Rias mumbled something then put an arm around Lily, pulling up the covers back over both of them. "Cold," she muttered.

Lily took advantage of this momentary inattention on Harry's part by kicking him in the side. He had been perched in a somewhat ungainly manner, lifting his upper body off the bed with one arm, the other hand in the blankets. But now that cost him as Lily's kick caught him and tumbled him off the side of the bed.

He stood up glaring lightly down at his smiling daughter, her eyes scrunched closed, then he sighed. "Fine, be that way lovey," He whispered. "You get to be her cuddle toy for a bit. Remember to try and tap out if she squeezes too hard, she sometimes forgets her strength. But since you're a werewolf" _Or whatever we are now_ "you should be fine. Probably. So long as she doesn't roll over and put you underneath her anyway."

As Lily's eyes opened wide at that, Harry opened the attic's trapdoor and nursing his wounded pride and rear in equal measure, Harry exited the loft. After a trip to the bathroom, he soon found Kalawarner making breakfast. She smiled over her shoulder at him and nodded towards the side where she made room for him to join her in making breakfast. They were only cooking for Kala and the immediate family this morning, given how exhausted everyone had been after last night. Yasaka too wasn't due to return to Kuoh to help Harry until late this afternoon.

"The kids are still sleeping from their late night and I doubt anyone else will be up before noon," he whispered, "including Rias. She was still asleep when I left the bed, rather against my will it must be said."

"And so you were kicked out of the bed by Lily," Kalawarner replied, shaking her head. "Poor baby," She mock-cooed. "You have to get up with the rest of us peons to prepare for the day."

Harry rolled his eyes at that, moving into the kitchen slowly, taking in the view. After that last jibe Kala had turned back to the food, humming something under her breath, her body shifting this way and that as she went about the business of preparing breakfast. She was wearing her normal cooking garb, a white apron over a short skirt and light blouse that left her shoulders bare. The skirt too let her legs bare below the knees, the ensemble as a whole a thing of blue and black with bits of yellow here and there to match her dark blue hair.

While accenting her figure, certainly didn't do so to such a degree as a lot of the clothing she could be wearing from her extensive wardrobe. Despite that, there was something about the scene, a domestic sensuality to it that always called out to Harry.

Watching her move as he walked around the kitchen table, Harry was struck with an urge to kiss her and decided to act upon it. He moved up behind her, and kissing her bare shoulder, his arms going around her middle.

She stiffened and turned her head to look over her shoulder, a very complicated expression on her face. She looked almost fearful, hopeful, startled and worried all in one. "H-Harry?" she stammered. "What are you…"

"Tell me to stop," Harry said, his arms around her slowly hugging her tighter. "Do you want me to stop?"

"You, I um… I…" Kalawarner stuttered before she gathered herself, pushing her thoughts through her sudden emotional turmoil. "A part of me wants to see where this would go. But a part of me is fearful of the same thing. Will giving my Sin, the Sin of Lust I fell for a taste like this, will that let it take my mind over again? Will I be able to break free if it does?"

"Are you willing to take the chance?" Harry said with a sigh, backing away.

But Kala turned quickly, grabbing at his arms with her own, holding Harry still and staring into his face. She thought about everything that had happened since she and Harry had met, how much she had changed, how much he had changed and finally if she was willing to take this chance to find greater happiness than the happiness she had now. For a moment this conflict was plain on the Fallen Angel's face, and then Kala's beautiful face, a face like the rest of her built to entice the minds of men, slowly hardened and she nodded then leaned in to kiss him.

It was as if the floodgates had opened up at that act. They quickly went from just kissing lightly, almost like the kiss Harry had shared with Yubelluna, then Kala opened her mouth and her tongue darted out, licking at Harry's lips, demanding entry. Harry opened his mouth, and she grabbed at his head, kissing him as hard and as passionately as she could, their tongues twining around each other.

Harry kissed back just as ardently, his arms going around her, lifting her up by the waist and setting her on the counter table, where her legs went around his waist, and their kissing continued. When she felt his hardened length slowly pressing into her skirt and panty covered core at the same time she felt the cold of the kitchen counter Kala surprisingly regained some control. "Wait," she said gasping as she pulled back. Wait, we need to talk about this more. Where, where is this going?" she asked, sounding almost lost, but also yearning and hopeful.

"Wherever you want it to," Harry said simply. "I am done trying to fight my attraction to you, and you have long since atoned in my eyes and everyone else's eyes to how you treated me when we first attempted to date and what you almost let happen to Asia."

Kalawarner and Asia were very close, with Asia's relationship with Lily and Harry being the only ones that came close to it. The two of them prayed every morning when Asia woke (which meant this morning's prayer would more likely be a noontime prayer) and every night. They could even be found occasionally talking about religion and history and magic in that order... and cooking. Cooking dominated their discussions almost as much as the holy book. Asia was the most enthusiastic about learning that art among the younger set.

"And Rias? And Yasaka? Will they be happy with you adding another girl?" Kala asked. A part of her didn't care about the other women in Harry's life, her awakened Lust wanted her to continue, to make Harry desire her to the detriment of everything else in his life, to wallow in Lust. But Kala was pleased to find that was a small part of her mind, the rest had come to know the other girls, and didn't want to take away from their happiness.

"Rias and I have talked about it, and she knew that there was always a possibility if you and I getting back together. Technically speaking, you were here first after all," he teased, causing her to chuckle a little, although both of them remembered how poorly their attempt to have a relationship ended, since Harry had wanted an emotional commitment, and Kala, still under the control of her Sin, hadn't been willing to give it to him, instead wanting the two of them to simply take physical pleasure from one another.

"Yasaka also doesn't care, she too has long known this was a possibility and doesn't really care if I care for other girls, so long as she gets equal time and they don't interfere with my relationship with Kunou. Which you've proven isn't an issue," he finished dryly. Indeed, everyone in their extended clan seemed to love Kunou and Lily equally.

"And what about Yubelluna?" she asked archly. "I saw the two of you exchange a kiss last night."

"Her to," Harry said with a shrug. "If she and I do and up getting together at any rate."

"There is also another point we have to talk about, Kalawarner said pushing him away lightly and using a lock of her willpower to do so. Hell, a portion of her mind was telling Kala she should push him back he was sitting on the table and then ride him right there in the kitchen. But she wasn't going to do that. No, she was going to take this slow and lay down some important ground rules.

"I'm not, I'm not against joining you all. I, I think I had sort of Fallen for you back then and hadn't realized what the feeling was or rejected it or well, I just wasn't able to see it. But I do know what my emotions towards you are at this point, Harry. But, that's towards **you** ," she said emphasizing the last word and watching Harry as she went on. I may have come to like and respect Rias and Yasaka, even Yubelluna a little. But that's it, that affection is purely emotional, not physical. I do not find girls attractive. At all. I have been assigned seduction missions towards women occasionally over the centuries, but I never enjoyed it. I just don't find women sexually attractive."

"I love you. I have loved you for a while I think. But I will not share a bed with any of the other girls in your life except in a very literal meaning, as in sleep beside them rather than do anything with you and them at the same time." She said, her lips twitching at talking so clinically about something that was dirty as hell. _God invented marriage, but Lucifer invented the threesome,_ She thought with some amusement, repeating a bit of hyperbole that Azazel had been very fond of.

"I understand that. If I'm honest the fact that Yasaka and Rias both embraced one another as much as they have was a surprise to me really, when I thought about it at all anyway," Harry said. He had also thought occasionally that perhaps Rias's insistence on bringing along Akeno at times when they were making out had also been a factor in their breakup. _Hmmm, odd that I think about it now. It must be that dance last night._ "So that won't be a problem. After all, my bed is only so large," he said jokingly, "and sometimes one of the little ones joins us like Lily did last night, the little pillow thief."

Kala breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that Harry was serious. He didn't expect her to love Rias or Yasaka, as the two of them seemed willing to do. That was good, and it removed one of the final barriers to her accepting the idea of getting together with Harry once more. Yet, even so, it didn't remove the largest ones, and Harry could almost sense her fear.

"If you feel like you are going out of control, if you're Sin of Lust is threatening to overwhelm you, just remember that this is your home Kalawarner. You don't have to act like that to prove your self-worth, to make money, or anything else. Whatever you did in your past life is in the past, whatever Sin you fell for should not define you now. And maybe remember that Asia looks to you as a role model," he said with a faint smile, gesturing above them to where Asia and Koneko shared a room then mock-glaring at her as he added, "Up to and including her choice in literature."

That caused her to throw back her head in a laugh, knowing that Asia had a few dirty romance novels she had edited for accuracy and realism under her bed. Kala had given them to the girl after all. This let her neck unprotected, begging him to kiss it, which he did.

"Remembering that should help keep you under control," Harry breathed against her skin, licking and kissing along her collarbone. "And if you think that your lust can overwhelm me," he said, grinding slowly against her, as he pinned her hips to the kitchen counter with his hands so she couldn't writhe away. "You have another thing coming."

The two of them made out ardently for a time before Harry's enhances senses heard someone moving around above them. He reluctantly pulled away, gesturing over towards the breakfast ingredients. "So, let's finish this before anyone else starts waking up and wondering where breakfast is."

Kalawarner slowly nodded and was relieved to feel no sense of anger or anything more than a small passing amount of irritation at the interruption. "Sure," she breathed out, her chest heaving slightly. "That's probably a good idea."

She was about to step down from her perch on the counter when Harry leaned forward suddenly, not to kiss her on the lips, but to kiss her on the jugular, right where her neck met her chest. He nipped her there before pulling away, winking at her. Harry had left a hickey there visible for all to see.

After that, the kids started to rouse themselves, with Kunou being the first down to meet Teddy by the back door, and Koneko being the third. Asia came next surprisingly, she and Kala then heading back upstairs for their morning (nearly afternoon) prayer.

Harry said hello to them all, as surprisingly the boys and Mittelt arrived as a group, followed by Tonks who reported both Akeno and Yubelluna were still, "Lights out, dead to the world." Breakfast had become something of a communal meal for the compound as a whole, but he hadn't expected so many to be up and about and he and Kala had to scramble to feed them all.

However, Harry was eager to get stuff done today, and after helping Kalawarner with the meal, he bowed towards the others and told them he would be out for the next few hours. With that and armed with a map of the area with the roads he needed marked out, Harry spent several hours putting up the intent-based array just outside Kuoh at places Rias and Sona had chosen, roads which could be used by their enemies in various ways. As he did so, he saw members of Sona's peerage out and about, watching the train station, the subways, and buses in particular. He exchanged a nod with them as they came close but otherwise concentrated on his own work.

 **OOOOOOO**

Rias woke up early that afternoon, mumbling and cracking her neck and shoulders, then looking down finding Lily's head on her chest rather than Harry's. Looking out one of the small circular windows she could tell that the day was passing quickly. But she still felt a little tired. What had woken her up was Lily moving around on top of her, trying to get free of her grip. Rias instantly let her go, giggling sheepishly. "Sorry Lily-chan, sometimes I get really clingy when I sleep."

"Guh, thought I was gonna die," Lily said dramatically, flopping to one side of the bed of the older redhead's chest then smooshing her head against Rias's to show all was forgiven. Whether it was the little girl in her who loved the attention or the young werewolf/puppy in her who loved physical closeness, Lily always enjoyed cuddling like this.

"Mmmhm, and why exactly are you still in bed? At least I have an excuse," Rias teased questioningly.

"Meh, dunno didn't have a fun night, weird dreams, oceans and doorways, and just weird stuff," Lily muttered, pulling away from Rias. "That and trying to keep up with you on the dance floor wore me out! How did you do that, I mean I've got a werewolf's endurance right?"

"Practice and the fact adult type dancing isn't nearly as body intensive as your version Lily dear," Rias said, thinking back on last night, which had both been productive and fun, the fun stuck between the two work intensive moments. "And I think the music just sort of forced it out of me. Don't worry though; you seem pretty energetic, whereas I am still exhausted."

Lily blushed slightly at the term of endearment Rias had used, then both of them looked up at the trapdoor to the attic opened and Kala poked her head up. "Rias are you awake?" she said, before spotting both redheads on the bed. "Oh, Lily, I thought you'd be up and about already, sorry I only brought one plate up with me."

At that moment Lily's stomach rumbled, and she frowned, looking at the plate in Kala's off hand in consternation. "Ooh, hugs and more cuddling with Rias, or food… tough choice!"

"What!" Rias squawked in mock-outrage before starting to tickle Lily unmercifully, "How dare you, how dare you think you had to choose." With that the tickle became a hug as Rias sat up, pulling Lilly into her lap and over her body before setting her on her feet. "But for now, why don't you go get some food, the hugs and cuddles will still be hereafter."

Lily grinned, smooshing her head against the side of Rias's again getting a kiss on the cheek for her troubles before zipping past Kala and leaping down the ladder. Kala watched her go for a moment before moving over to Rias, who was still sitting up in bed but making no move to try and get up further. The blue-haired Fallen set the plate of lunch next to her on the bed, and then stood back she pausing trying to think how this conversation should go. _Darn it, I've been the other woman several times in my lifetime, but I've never actually stayed around to talk to the wife in question, and certainly never felt like I had to somehow win her approval._

Despite that, she opened her mouth to tell Rias what had happened this morning, but Rias beat her to the punch. "Did something happen between you and Harry?" she asked pulling off the tray top and revealing several rice balls and a set of sides. She looked up at Kala's silence and smirked. "You wouldn't be here waiting on me like this if there wasn't something you wanted. Since we already made certain you'd have a place to stay during that cooking competition of yours, so what else could it be?"

"Point. I just wanted you to know, he came onto me this morning, and I… I accepted. We're going to try and see where this goes." Kala replied slowly, searching Rias's face for something, some sign that she was worried about this or annoyed.

She didn't see one. Some wariness yes, but beyond that Rias seemed to take it in stride. "I knew from the moment you stuck around that this was a possibility Kala," she said with a sigh. "I wasn't willing to, to push for it as I did with Akeno or even Yasaka, because of your past and you being a Fallen Angel. But I knew it could happen, and I won't make everyone unhappy just to try and keep Harry to myself. Letting my Envy out like that, or letting my Pride rule my actions, it wouldn't serve anyone. Besides this way I can let my Lust out in a new manner."

"Not with me you can't!" Kala replied backing away slightly just to make her point. "I'm not into girls Rias. I've experimented in the past and I did not like it. Sorry. You'll have to satisfy your yuri desires with just Yasaka."

"Pooh," Rias muttered before becoming serious again, her voice turning cold and her eyes narrowing as she nearly glared at Kala. "Hurt Harry again or try to get between us or me and Lily and I will end you. Are we clear?"

Kala scowled about to retort hotly, but that response died on her lips. _After all, I already hurt Harry once, didn't I? Although…_ "It seems a little wrong for you to get on me like that since if I hadn't hurt Harry like that he wouldn't have broken it off with me, and decided to try and be open to you and your mutual attraction."

That caused Rias to pout and glare at the same time, an amusing feat. But it was Kala who looked away, nodding. "Message understood Rias. And you don't have to worry about Lily at all. I'm not mother material really, but nor am I the kind who ever hurt children. They… the innocence of the young has always been something I enjoyed."

"I don't think you would do either of those things Kalawarner not now," Rias said, her voice much softer as she reached out to grab Kala's hand. "You were given a second chance, and you've run with it ever since. Just don't let your own fears about falling into your old thought patterns drive you away. I think you and Harry could make each other very happy."

Kala nodded wordlessly, and the two of them stared at one another, wondering how this was going to work out, with Harry dating Kala while also essentially married, magically speaking, to Rias, and with the both of them essentially dating Yasaka. If it worked out it would be fantastic for Kala and Harry, and Rias and Yasaka's positions wouldn't be threatened. If it didn't though, well the least they could expect would be for the family to lose its main (and best) chef. But Kala faced that possibility head on, and after a moment of silent communion nodded again to Rias, who grinned back at her, squeezing her hand again.

The moment was ruined however as a shout from beyond the window reached their ears. Lily and the other kids had grabbed Loup, Mittelt, and Issei and had set up a small game of football. And Mittelt had responded with all the energy of a proud footy fanatic. "Break his legs damn it!"

The two women glanced towards the window, then back to one another and just laughed. Kala then turned away and headed back downstairs, leaving Rias to her food.

 **OOOOOOO**

To his surprise when Harry returned, Rias was still in bed. _Then again, so is Akeno and Yubelluna according to Tonks, and I haven't seen Tsubaki or Sona around either. I suppose last night's ritual really wiped them out more than it did me,_ he thought to himself. _Odd considering that most of the magic was supposedly coming from me. But, perhaps I was also being renewed by Yubelluna's 'worship' to a greater degree than they were. Hell, I feel fine really._

When he went up to her though, he found Rias awake in bed, leaning up against the headrest, smiling at him as he came up out of the trapdoor. "Hey love," she said with a smile, gesturing him over to join her.

He did so, sitting on the side of the bed, taking one of her hands in his and bring it to his lips. "Are you feeling better?"

She nodded, looking at him thoughtfully. "Last night moving those warding arrays like that and the dimensional bubble really knocked me out something fierce. Plus whatever power kept me moving during the dance disappeared sometime during the night too. But you seem to be bright and chipper this morning if your little play fight with Lily that she told me about was any indication. That, and that moment you had in the kitchen with Kalawarner." She finished leadingly, smirking at him.

Harry shrugged. "I think the magic both took from me and renewed me at the same time. It's odd, and I'm not certain how it works, but it certainly did. And as for Kalawarner, I felt it was time. Does that bother you, now that it's come to it?" He asked solicitously. Not that he was going to change his actions at this point. That would be immensely cruel to Kala, and this was, after all, something which Rias had pushed for in Akeno's case.

Rias idly noticed this, that Harry wasn't apologizing for kissing Kalawarner or asking for her permission again. He was simply waiting for her response, and she smiled a little inside. _Harry seems to have gotten over his handles about having multiple relationships at least. I don't think we could call it a harem at this point considering the fact that Yasaka and I have come to have nearly as much affection towards one another as we have towards him. Although his relationship with Kala is a step in that direction._

For a moment, Rias was indeed conflicted now that it had come to the point where Kala was almost certain to join them _. Is that really what I wanted? Is that really what I want?_ Then she remembered kissing Yasaka, some of her dreams growing up about Akeno, who unfortunately did not seem to share her affections, and some of her dreams since about Yasaka and Harry together. _So I'm a Glutton for what I want and Lusty too. So what? It's not like that's a bad thing for any of us._ She then remembered the house, all of the different aspects that Yubelluna, Yasaka, and Kalawarner brought to their family outside the bedroom, and nodded slowly to herself.

"Yes," she said decisively. "Yes. We are greater together, we each bring something to the relationship, to the family as a whole and everyone prospers from it. I'm a little annoyed that Kala has shut down the idea of all of us having fun together, but I can understand her position on that too."

Rias took his hand in hers' and brought it up to her lips to kiss, kissing the tips of his fingers, then the palm then the pulse point on his wrist. "I've known for a long time that you were attracted to Kalawarner, and I understood that you were attracted to Yubelluna too. I'm willing and happy to let them share in your love. Because I **know** I have your love too. I **know** they won't take that from me. Sharing is fine like that, so long as no one replaces anyone else in your affections or tries to get between you and the kids."

"Affections is it?" Harry said with a chuckle, before becoming serious. "You're right, there is no chance of that Rias. No chance at all of anyone trying to push you out of my life." He didn't even mention her last point. Anyone trying to drive a wedge between him and his daughter(s) would learn that was a Very Bad Idea.

"Good," Rias said, smiling, then reaching a finger up towards Harry's chin. "But I think I would like some more… reassurance. Come here, Harry."

Harry willingly allowed Rias to pull him into a kiss, which went on for some time, before she gently pushed him away, then tapped her neck with her fingers, at the same point where Harry had left a mark on Kalawarner that morning. "Now, kiss me here."

He did so, and she slowly pushed down the covers of the bed. This reveals that after her discussion with Kala she had gotten undressed completely, tossing her black bra and panties away.

"Now here," Rias commanded, she said pointing at the top of her breast. His eyes beginning to glimmer with lust, Harry did so, and she continued, pointing to her nipple. After a few moments she pushed his head away, her breath heaving slightly and her words coming out in a lower, throaty tone as she directed him down to her navel. "Now here, my love." And then further down, tapping the thatch of red hair sitting above her engorged lower lips. "Now here…go slowly," Rias whispered, reveling in both the actions and the fact Harry was willing to follow her lead like this. "So slowly…"

Several hours later, Harry and Rias walked outside into the yard to find Kiba, Loup, Tonks, and Yubelluna were the only ones there. The others had left the house for various errands, or to head over to the girl's dorm to do homework before they could watch a pair of movies Mittelt had found called Ghostbusters that the kids might get a kick out of, with Koneko in nominal charge of the kids.

"My word, and what you been two been doing all afternoon?" Kiba asked with a slight smirk on his face while Loup simply smiled and Tonks let out a wolf whistle.

"And what were you doing with Tsubaki last night?" Rias asked placidly, linking her arms with Harry's and using him to walk along. That session had been quite intense by the end, and she knew she was practically glowing as well as limping slightly.

Harry was also grinning like a madman, and Loup was surreptitiously giving him a thumbs up, which made Harry rolled his eyes.

"Nothing actually, she was rather too tired to engage in our normal bedroom activities. Unlike the two of you, who have a seemingly inexhaustible source of energy for such," Kiba shot back.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Rias said, with Harry chuckling alongside her. "Or perhaps envy."

"By the way, I didn't see Issei here for breakfast. He sometimes gets away from his parents for a meal over the weekend so I was wondering if something was up," Harry asked looking over at Kiba. Issei, like many of the other Devils, had become fanatical followers of Kala's cooking.

Kiba winced. "Ahhh, yes, there is something there. You see, he's sort of invited Irina over. To stay with him during her time here."

Rias blinked, then blinked again and put her head in her hands groaning. "That boy! He really has a death wish, doesn't he? Even after that confrontation, he was willing to invite an exorcist into his house? Does he have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever?!"

"Apparently not when blinded by breasts," Harry said shaking his head.

He looked up as the wards around the compound tingled lightly and Sona appeared there, having teleported in with Reya, one of her Bishops. Her teleportation was not nearly as neat as Rias's, creating a popping noise much like his own apparition. She nodded to them all and gestured at the time. "I believe it's another 30 minutes before Yasaka is due to arrive?"

"Just about yes," Harry said with a nod. That was why he and Rias weren't still getting their daily exercise after all. "Have you and yours noticed anything unusual?" he asked.

"Several groups of men and women who look like they are ex-JSDF,", said Reya, shaking her head. "But nothing concrete. We have several of our familiars following them, along with Tsubasa at the moment. But Tsubaki is still a little too exhausted to be of much use so we're down one member."

Of the five involved in the ritual, Tsubaki was the weakest in terms of magical reserves. It would be several more hours before she was up and about, whereas while Rias was a little sore from that afternoon's love-making, she was now fully recovered magically speaking.

"I asked Akeno to take her place in working with the rest of my peerage, along with her familiars and yours, Rias," Sona asked looking at her friend. "I hope you don't mind. Until the promised reinforcements arrive from the Onmyouji and the Youkai we are vulnerable."

Rias waved that off. "It's fine, in fact, it was a good idea." She looked over at Kiba, who nodded instantly, taking her meaning. She looked at Loup, Yubelluna, and Tonks but they weren't as experienced in deciphering her looks and she had to say her request aloud. "In fact, we don't really need all of us here to meet Yasaka or help Harry and Yasaka gather up faces and such to use in their illusion. Why don't you three head out and help Sona's peerage patrol the outer edge of our territory?"

At Harry's nod of agreement both Tonks and Loup nodded. "That'll give me a chance to meet the Onmyouji at the edge of our wards anyway, which is probably a good idea now that I think about it," Tonks said ruefully.

The four of them left quickly after that, and Rias turned to her fellow King and her husband. "Now, should we adjourn to the occult research club room to meet with Yasaka?"

"Actually, I'll just head to Kuoh now to see if she's good to go. We can also pick up Kunou, I know her mother wants her to watch us work on our illusions spells."

Rias nodded and smiled as he leaned down and gave her a light kiss before moving away, teleporting ahead of them to the Orc clubroom and the teleportation tunnel there _. By the Original Sins but I love that man!_

With Yasaka's help, Harry was able to create the third tier of the illusion spell within the dimensional bubble, creating faces, bodies, and the movement of people and cars as well as the noise of a district going about its business. The noises really gave him trouble for some reason, but Yasaka helped him find a starting point for them too. Soon enough, no one, not even a Rias or Sona or someone else who knew what they were looking for, could tell that what was within the bubble was an illusion and not a complete copy of the original reality.

And then they got creative. The two of them gleefully worked together to create traps, warded areas, and numerous little surprises throughout the district, ready to slay the unwary. Kunou interrupted them though, insisting her mother go back to Kyoto before too much longer, and she was right to do so, as the older kitsune had pushed herself too hard. The limit on how long she could be away from Kyoto was elastic to a certain extent, but the moment you went past a certain point, it hit back hard.

After Yasaka left, Rias and Sona began to help in her place. The three of them exchanged ideas in little near sentences, comparing plans and plots, as they did so, with many of the remaining powered jewels Rias had created, and even a few Sona had experimented with, going into the pocket dimension to be used as traps.

After another hour Harry smiled grimly and nodded at the other's who also stepped back. "I think we're ready," he said grimly. "Now we just have to wait for our 'guests' to arrive."

 **OOOOOOO**

As Harry had predicted, the defenders didn't have to wait very long, although even he was surprised by how little time between the exorcist's arrival and the first, aborted attack on them and the next wave of this plot. It was only a few hours after finishing the traps when Harry blinked, turning and staring off into the distance. "My intent wards were just tripped," he said tersely.

"Show me, Harry," Rias ordered, moving towards them, as he vaguely gestured in the correct direction telling her the name of the road he thought it was and she nodded, picturing the corresponding main road that was in that direction and a position nearby.

She then gathered herself and took his shoulder in one hand. An instant later the two of them disappeared from the ORC sitting room, reappearing on a tall building which gave an overlook of the road in question as it headed into their Kuoh.

As she released him, Harry shook his head marveling again at her powers of teleportation. It was so much smoother, so much faster and much more versatile than his own. He said so aloud now, shaking his head with a laugh. "In a way, I'm still getting over the fact that you can teleport like this without needing to actually picture the spot in Kuoh you're going to teleport into so well. It's just amazing."

Rias smiled and kissed his jaw before she moved to the side of the rooftop, staring down to see if they could spot the vehicle which had tripped his wards. "You're not so bad yourself Harry," she said over her shoulder with a laugh, and then a wriggle of her rear as she felt more than heard Harry growl a little, moving up behind her and putting his arms around her waist, holding her against him very deliberately, showing that despite their afternoon session he was more than willing to go another round. Yet even as he did, he turned his attention to the road below them as she did the same.

The only van on the road down below at the moment was a large moving van which Harry unerringly pointed towards as the vehicle which had tripped his wards. Cocking her head to one side Rias nodded at that, then informed him "I think that company is one that is owned by the local Yakuza, my family gave me a report on them before I took up residence in Kuoh. So they are trying to be as subtle as Akeno feared."

Harry twitched suddenly, letting go of her waist and moving away, causing her to pout briefly before she caught the expression on his face. "Another ward was just tripped."

Rias frowned, then pulled out her phone, as Harry leaped over to a nearby building and performed a triangulation to figure out which ward it had been that had just been activated. Then she disappeared, reappearing only a brief minute later, nodding towards them. I just dropped Sona and Tomoe on that one."

But Harry was already turning, scowling angrily. "And a third."

"Are they coordinating this somehow?" she muttered, even as she took in the information again, disappearing for a third time. Reappearing, she nodded toward him. "Tsubaki and Kiba."

But then she disappeared again as Harry once more informed her that another intent-based ward had been tripped, this time closer in toward the initial wards. This pattern went on for about 20 minutes, including two attacks that came in via the trains which Momo and Tsubasa dealt with. So many of the attacks were there, however, that the locals were spread thin within twenty minutes. Yet despite that, they were all able to get to the wards in question and identify the vehicle which had tripped the wards.

In the case of the train, they were able to identify the specific cargo container when it passed over the ward line. Once the train was stopped, Momo and her team used memory charms and other demonic spells to get the workers to leave that area of the depot and then moved in to open the cargo container. The individuals within, twenty human mercenaries of some kind, were stunned by Momo and what had been found within taken. But the others had to wait a bit for each of their targets to enter Kuoh letting them get inside far enough so that anyone outside their Kuoh wouldn't be able to see what was going on.

As they did, Tonks was not idle. She ported to Kyoto and told Yasaka what was going on, and then called in the Onmyodo government forces. Their arrival would take some time however, as, unlike the Youkai who came through the teleportation tunnel, they didn't receive a limited pass from the wards to perform magic. Harry too reached out for aid while they waited to strike at these nonmagical attempts at infiltration, though in his case it was purely mental, telling Tiamat that it looked as if the action was starting.

At that point the responding individuals moved in, taking each of the invaders out one after another. This took about another twenty more minutes, and near to an hour and a half after the first Ward had tripped, they had nine different teams of individuals ranging from regular yakuza trucks to vans and SUVs driven by the same sort of mercenaries that had been on the train. The prisoners were soon gathered up and awaiting questioning at the cargo station, a nice, open area where they could store the various vehicles and be out of the way without anyone noticing.

At that point, Tonks and master Husukai were called in. After all, as a trained Auror, Tonks knew what to look for to determine what they were dealing with here. Exchanging a high five with Harry, Tonks moved to the truck and leaped up into the back of it. She had barely taken out her want to start doing a scanning spell when she paused as the wards of the area activated a heavy pressure building up and then releasing as something within the truck crackled, then dissipated in the air. The Metamorph frowned, her hair shifting colors to black from her normal pink. "A magical tripwire of some kind?"

"If it was, the wards dealt with it," Harry said grimly. "Good to know."

"You're telling me. Well, no need for subtlety now then, is there?" With that Tonks stepped to one side and with a flick of his hand, used a simple Accio spell to rip the doors of the truck off their hinges and toss them to one side with a squeal of tortured metal.

Inside, they found what could only be a bomb. Tonks moved in quickly, she had taken a few classes with antiterrorist teams back in the UK and could recognize types of bombs and its parts even if she wasn't up to defusing them or anything like that. "Okay," she said, after examining everything for a few minutes. "What we have here are bombs, big ones. They're not nukes or anything like that, but this one is a fuel-air explosive. This is, this is nasty Harry," she said shaking her head. "This truck alone, it could blow up something like six city blocks."

"Jesu Christo," Montoya, the monkey Youkai in charge of the Association's reinforcements muttered shaking his head and backing away rapidly. He had arrived with over forty Youkai barely ten minutes ago, and been fully read into the wards then hurried to here for this meeting. This was the first words he'd said since his arrival.

"Yeah," Harry drawled "I don't think he had anything to do with these."

For a moment the others just looked at Harry, and then they understood his joke, breaking into laughter in a tension reducing act that Harry had sensed everyone needed. With everyone a little more centered now, Harry turned back to Tonks and asked seriously, "Can you tell what was supposed to trigger it?"

"You mean beyond the whole opening the door thing? Nothing from what I can tell. Have I mentioned those wards of yours are fantastic yet? I so would not want to be at ground zero this thing. No shield of mine would have been able to stand that kind of explosion."

"And there are what, eight more of these? Someone believes in redundancy and overkill all in one, lovely." Akeno muttered, shaking her head.

From where he had been watching this, Husukai frowned angrily. "Is this not against the rules of your kind? To involve innocents on this scale? Or at all actually? Surely if you did do so on a regular basis humanity as a whole would be aware the Three Factions, and perhaps by extension the rest of us."

"Quite," Sona said grimly, pushing her glasses up her forehead. "However, the Khaos Brigade has shown a marked disinterest in playing by our rules before this."

Tonks clapped her hands in mocking good cheer, forcing her hair to shift to bright yellow and pink. "Well, on to the next one."

It turned out that only four of the remaining nine bombs – yes they had all been bombs - had magical means to cause the explosions, although those explosions were of equal strength to the first one. All four were tripped the moment someone opened the doors to the trucks involved, and the wards slammed down on the magic, dissipating it in place, creating something like a feedback loop before the trap could create the effect it had been ensorcelled to do.

They did so with an almost frightening ease to Husukai and Montoya, who looked at Harry and the others who had created those wards with growing respect, even reverence in the case of Montoya. _And these are the kinds of wards Yasaka-sama is thinking about trying to put up in Kyoto?_

The last five had more conventional means. Two of them were set on timers, and Husukai quickly gestured to two other Shinsengumi to disarm those. Three others had radio controls, which again had to be removed, connected up to a dummy system by the Shinsengumi in question. When they found the first of those, however, Harry quickly turned to Rias and asked, "How long would these trucks take to get to our pillars? We have to assume they were the target, or the school perhaps."

Rias frowned thinking of a map of the area and these particular trucks all of which were larger vehicles, but not eighteen wheelers. Still, their size does hamper them. "I don't think they could get to the radio tower at all. It's centered in a communications compound, they wouldn't get past the gates, and these bombs aren't strong enough to reach it from outside the compound. Nor could they get to the temple, the roads over there are older, smaller roads. Trucks like these wouldn't be able to navigate them."

"That leaves the 'toy store' she said, making air quotes and looking over with something like embarrassment towards Tsubaki, who growled irritably at the very mention of the adult store that had previously housed Tsubaki's pillar. It wasn't their fault though, the arithmancy of the ritual had to place it there. "That leaves the park's pool, where they'd have to park outside, and Sona's position on the apartment complex at twenty-second and Hishigata. It wouldn't be enough to damage the pool really, but I doubt our attackers know its exact positioning. So that leave's Sona's pillar as a target."

She thought for a moment, nibbling on her ahoge until Harry reached out with gentle fingers and removed it from her mouth, squeezing her hand as he watched her think. "I'd wager that this group was the most trusted, and thus could choose their targets. But I also doubt they had all the information on the terrain they'd need. So they would each go for the closest pillars, try for a time to get to them, and only then move on. Two would have tried for the temple and the other for the radio tower, then they would have switched targets to the apartment complex, but it would've taken them more than an hour. they could navigate the streets there but it's the lunchtime rush hour now and that is the restaurant center of the city."

"Not the toy store?" Tsubaki asked. "Not that I would want an attack to occur, but if it had to occur somewhere…"

The other locals laughed, the joke went over the head of the Onmyouji and Youkai, who just looked quizzical. But Rias shook her head. "Two of them might go to that one as a secondary yes, but the complex would have seemed closer. If they determined they couldn't damage it, then trying to get to the adult toy store would have taken them another forty minutes, to drive there, at the least." She looked at the now bemused expressions on their allies and shook her head. "Don't ask, just don't."

Akeno nodded. "The mercenaries from the train, once they had an idea of the layout of the city, they would probably target the temple correct?" The temple was a cultural monument too and was well known outside Kuoh as an attraction. If the enemy had somehow figured out where the pillars had to be – the Devils and Harry didn't have a monopoly on arithmancy after all – then they would have known about the temple and the area around it at least.

"Let's find out for certain," Harry said coldly, looking over at their prisoners.

"Will you want us to wake them up so you can use that soul-controlling spell of yours?" Rias asked while Akeno shivered, her eyes glimmering in sudden interest. She'd heard of this spell but hadn't seen Harry use it. The fact that he could, and as Tonks once put it was 'scary good' at it, was somewhat surprising to her and she wanted to see it in person.

"Yes thank you," Harry said politely, something that was almost jarring under the circumstance. He pointed at the first prisoner, one of the ones that were probably working for the Yakuza. "Let's start with the simple ones first."

That prisoner was woken up by a slap upside the head from Montoya, who stepped back quickly as Harry pointed a finger at the man and intoned " _Imperio_. Tell us what you were doing with that truck. Leave nothing out, and include who gave you the orders and why."

Akeno shivered an atavistic feeling of mixed revulsion, fear, and desire going through her at the sight of Harry utterly dominating the soul of another person like that. The others had much less complicated feelings about it, they simply looked sick and horrified. Montoya even went so far as to look away and Husukai sighed shaking his head and mumbling a Shinto prayer, not for the victim's soul surprisingly, but Harry's for his use of such a spell.

Harry ignored all this as the man replied in the calm monotone of one under the Imperio that he had been given a task by his Oyabun, the leader of his yakuza clan. The clan had been given a large amount of money to simply drive these trucks into Kuoh. While unusual to take a job from an outsider the money was too good to pass up, considering their clan was in a war with another clan for control of a nearby district. That, and they felt that perhaps this could be the first step into setting up their own control in Kuoh.

Rias and Sona scoffed at that one, considering they would never allow organized crime into their Kuoh like that. But that man was pretty much a dead end, considering that he didn't know anything about his actual employer's. Harry asked dryly, "and did you know what you were carrying?"

"No," the man said shaking his head. "I am a good donkey, a donkey does not ask questions, a donkey simply obeys."

At that, Akeno and the other nationally Japanese people, even Koneko, simply nodded. Harry blinked and then shook his head. "That's got to be some kind of cultural thing."

"I'll explain it to you sometime, Harry," Akeno said with a chuckle. "It has to do with giri, the subservience of self to one's master."

Harry shook his head. "Whatever. On to the next."

The first man was knocked out again, and Harry quickly went through the other dupes. Each of them were Yakuza donkeys, given a task by their bosses for various reasons who just were paid for it. Master Husukai took notes of which Yakuza clans (there were three) were involved here and considered passing on that information to his friends among the non-magical police forces.

The mercenary forces were a little better. They had met in person with their employers, a man whose description matched that of a Fallen angel that Mittelt had once worked with, a higher up in the Grigori with eight wings named Chaaklur. "He was a bit of an ass, to be honest," Mittelt said, "and this is me saying it, so you know he was a complete and utter fucktard."

They had been given weapons, a lot of weapons, weapons they couldn't have found on their own, as well as bottles of holy water and even some impromptu training on how to fight against Devils before being told about their target, which was indeed the temple. At the mention of holy water, Rias frowned. "Would holy water trip the wards do you think?"

"I don't know," Harry said slowly. "We know that sanctified bullets do, and holy weapons certainly would, because they are magical. But holy water? I'm not certain how the wards would combat that if they could in the first place."

"We'll find out I suppose," Sona said with a shrug. A high-level Devil like Sona and Rias didn't have much to fear from simple holy water. Issei, Saji, and Ruruko though, did, not having built enough inner magical energy yet to ignore such. And even high-ranking Devils could have their spells disrupted or deal with an intense stinging sensation if they were caught in the eyes. "It will be something we'll have to be on the watch for."

"But Potter-san," she said glancing down at her watch. "If Rias was correct on the timetable, we're running out of time for when they might trigger the bombs."

"Right," Harry said with a nod. He turned to the last group, the group of individuals who had been part of the ones that had a radio trigger on them. "The _Imperio_ is too slow," he said aloud, then knelt down in front of one man, pointing his finger at his head. "Legelimens!" He shouted, the shout causing many of those around him to flinch or blink in surprise.

With that, Harry's mental probe flashed out into the man's mind. The man had no defenses, and it even if he had, Harry would've simply smashed through them such was the power of his probe. But he lacked control, hence the reason why Harry hadn't wanted to use this spell right away. When he was done there would be very little of this man's mind to be put back into place afterward. Better a clean death than that kind of thing in Harry's opinion, but at present, he had no compunction to hold back. They needed information, and he found it.

"This man was a scientist," he said aloud, "or something of that sort. He worked with another group of people to try and create…" he blinked, looking over at Kiba, his eyes compassionate. "To create multiple holy swords. Apparently, they have succeeded in replicating Excalibur Rapidly before we found the original and returned it, although they don't have many thankfully."

Kiba twitched, almost glaring back at Harry but Harry went on softly to describe the organization's leader. "They were lead by a priest named Valper and then another man, one with long ears, black hair and a sallow face with glowing red eyes and a perpetual… well, I would call it a grin only a certain American comic villain could love. This man didn't know his name though."

At that description, limited though it was, Kalawarner and Mittelt both stiffened in shock. "Holy shit, that's Kokabiel, that freaking grin of his always terrified me! He's one of the leaders of the Grigori! Why is he…" Mittelt began.

But then she was cut off by Kalawarner, her beautiful face twisted with fear. "He's always been a warmonger. He would no doubt love to use an attack here to restart the war. The big question is, is he working with the Khaos Brigade or on his own? And how much force can he bring to bear?"

"A lot," Harry said slowly. He had been continuing his mental assault as the others talked, getting as much information as possible. "This man, he apparently has met with your Kokabiel fellow, as well as his own employer in their base camp. He saw several thousand Fallen working with them and heard it called a Legion."

Husukai gasped, while everyone else looked in shock at the idea. "How could they bring such a large force into Japan without us knowing," the old man roared, slamming one hand against a nearby cargo container and looking a lot angrier than Tonks had seen him yet.

"I don't know," Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders. "That I can't find any memory of. But this man walked through their camp, he saw their numbers for himself." He looked over at Rias. "This man and the others were supposed to hide after setting up the truck and then to infiltrate further into Kuoh while the battle was going on. They were supposed to find Gasper and capture him; they have holy crosses and other things of that nature to control a vampire. Wait, do those even work? Wizards don't use them since we have spells designed to deal with the undead mosquitos."

"It depends on the religion of the vampire before he was turned," Rias said thoughtfully, while Akeno giggled at Harry's dig at the vampire race. "So they really are trying to restart a war here. That's, that's dangerous. And I don't like that they know about Gaspar's Sacred Gear. That implies a lot of penetration on their part."

Setting that aside, Rias checked the time then scowled. "Harry, I think you need to start creating the illusion of that explosion if we're still thinking about going through with our plan?" She asked. Rias didn't want to admit it, but the idea of facing several thousand Fallen and one of the leaders of the Grigori, even with their wards in place, was a little daunting. On top of that, with the information they now had, they might be able to turn the Grigori against Kokabiel. _If that is, he really is working on his own, and the majority of them haven't turned against Azazel and his peace policies._

Harry however simply nodded firmly. "We trick them in, and then we crush them," he said with a thin, cold smile that again sent shivers up Akeno's spine. "No one threatens me and mine without paying the price."

"Should we bring in the two exorcists, on this now?" Issei asked hesitantly holding up a hand. He knew that they were going to face an enemy that vastly outnumbered them and he still didn't quite have a handle on how the defenses of the area could even the odds that much so he thought the idea of bringing into others, especially two who wouldn't have the disadvantages the Devils would when faced against Light magic, was a good idea. The fact the others didn't seem worried was weird to him, but he supposed with all their defensive planning and Tiamat in reserve, simple numbers didn't matter much to the more experienced members.

Rias growled but nodded. "Go and find them," she ordered. "We don't have much time left though so we need to finish bringing in the Onmyouji and get everything else set up. Sona and Tsubaki can expand the dimensional bubble while Akeno exempts the arriving Onmyouji from the wards. Harry, you'll have to add the explosion on the fly once the bubble's expanded and then push down the wards until the enemy is inside." Deactivating the wards was no longer possible, but Harry or one of the other pillars could suppress their ability to act if they wanted to. "I'll set up my teleportation array when the bubble's been expanded.

As they flew to Kuoh Academy, Sona was shaking her head. "I don't understand it! How do they think they'll be able to hide all of this from the nonmagicals within Kuoh? Even someone like this Kokabiel fellow has to understand how dangerous it is for nonmagicals to be aware of the Three Factions at the very least! The amount of chaos that would cause…"

"I think you're confusing this Kokabiel fellow with someone who is sane," Montoya said from one side as he raced alongside them on some kind of enchanted cloud thing which he and a few of the other, older Monkey Youkai seemed to have. As the older Monkey Youkai spoke his voice was both world-weary and dust dry. "Don't. The man is a warmonger of the first degree. He wants blood, he wants carnage. The more witnesses the better because that will simply spread the carnage."

"We're going to have to deal with that though," Harry said, suddenly realizing a flaw in their plans. "After all, there are thousands of people inside and outside the district that will see or hear such an explosion."

"Don't worry, Rias and I already thought of that. The explosion will occur deeper in our Kuoh, so deep that most people outside of it won't be able to see where it occurs, other than the smoke in the sky. A simple spell to create that both within and above the bubble, and then another spell to create the sound of a distant explosion to anyone outside the bubble and we will be good to go, I think. But after the battle is joined, Rias and I will assign our familiars to make certain that no one is taking too much interest in what happens in Kuoh for a time, like reporters or police, just in case."

"That works," Harry said with a nod, as they saw the outer wall of the Academy in front of them. They flew over it, heading down into the Student Council room, where the small almost snow globe of the dimensional bubble was being kept on a shelf.

Sona grabbed it in her hands, lifting it up with some difficulty, the magic in it almost adding a physical weight to the thing, before turning and setting it on the ground, holding her hands above it. The bubble swiftly expanded, covering the interior of the room between one breath in the next, then moved on, enveloping everyone there, and then pushing out words.

 **OOOOOOO**

The two exorcists felt the magic shifting somewhere nearby and looked around warily. "Do you think it's some kind of ambush from the Devils?" Irina asked Xenovia. She didn't really think so, certainly not with Issei on their side. But even so, they **were** Devils, such things were their stock in trade.

"I don't think so," Xenovia said slowly. "This feels like a dimensional bubble, like the ones we create in order to fight someone without the public being able to see us do it. But it's a big one and it's coming our way!"

They turned just in time to see the bubble hit them, then blinked as nothing around them seemed to change. That was until Tomoe alighted in front of them, along with Issei, dropping the young boy to land on his feet before settling down herself, her Devil wings flapping once before fading away. While he was now able to hover somewhat, Issei had yet to do much more with his Devil wings.

Neither Devil made any move to erase the memories of those nearby and the two exorcists gaped at them. "What's going on? What was the point of that dimensional bubble? And why are you not worried about…"

"We don't have time for this," Tomoe said barking the words. "Listen, our territory is under attack. What you see around you is a dimensional bubble, yes, but it's filled with the illusion of daily life to trick our enemy into attacking despite the fact that our wards are still up. Do you want to be involved in this fight? Or would you rather claim diplomatic immunity, and we could help you escape out of Kuoh once we discover from which direction the assault is coming."

"Are you trying to be insulting?" Xenovia asked tartly, putting aside her anger at not being told about this and pulling out her sword as Irina did the same. "Who are we fighting?"

The Fallen apparently," Tomoe replied, gesturing the two humans to follow her. Since they couldn't fly, they had to run across the rooftops, but soon enough they were once more with the rest of Sona and Rias' peerages at the train station. Many of the other Youkai who hadn't been directly involved in capturing the first round of attackers were there already. A group of sixteen Onmyouji was also arriving as they did, the first of the reinforcements to come, though getting them into Kuoh was tough at the moment given they couldn't use magic to get there until after Harry suppressed the wards.

The two exorcists gaped at the gathering, stiffening at the sight of all of the Youkai and Devils who were now openly showing their origins, while the Onmyouji simply nodded to everyone, but kept to themselves, awaiting further instruction from master Husukai. Tonks tromped over to them, waving at Tomoe, who turned back to the exorcists.

"You will be taking orders from us, specifically Rias-Buchou. She's going to be our overall organizer and controller," she said, pulling out a bag and starting to hand out headsets to everyone. This had been Sona's inclusion on the strategic side of things, headsets which they could all use to communicate with one another and a larger, central device for Rias. "Will you be able to deal with that?"

"Yes," Irina replied easily with a smile.

Xenovia took it a step further smiling tightly. "To kill Fallen, those who rejected God's word knowingly would be even better than killing Devils like you who reject God simply by existing."

"My word you really do want to become a martyr don't you?" Akeno muttered from nearby. She had been talking to another, an older woman with a bust that looked a tiny bit larger than even Akeno's although that could be her choice of clothing, the same type of Shinto priestess outfit Akeno was wearing but with even more of her oppai exposed to Issei's gaze. He had not stopped gaping at since arriving, something that had instantly caused Irina to start pinching him, her grip increasing until he finally looked away.

"I would never aspire to reach so high," Xenovia actually smiled a little but shook her head. "Myself and Irina have imposed on you so horribly before this, what is one more measly word added to the tally?"

"Oh my, is there some kind of sense of humor there under your holier than thou attitude trying to peek out?" Akeno quipped

Whatever Xenovia would've said in reply, was drowned out by a booming roar of thunder from somewhere else in Kuoh, as the illusion of the explosion Harry created went off.

 **OOOOOOO**

" **YES**!" Kokabiel roared, holding up a fist above his head, as his followers all around them roared in approval as they saw the explosion in the distance. "Only one of them though, the Devils and their allies did a better job than I had hoped, but the number of attacks we launched won through, as I knew they would have to."

He turned to his fellows, pointing towards the distant explosion. "There, there is our pyre, there is our signal for the resumption of the war we have been craving forever! Azazel, those who thought as he did, they tossed away our advantage centuries ago, but we are still the strongest Faction, we are still the true inheritors of the Earth. Now, go forth and with the blood of our enemies start the war that will lead to our ascension!"

With that, he held up his hands up above his head, and summoned into existence his spears of light, both of them looking like massive broadswords. With one held above his head, he pointed the other towards Kuoh, where they could see a bit of smoke, hazy on the horizon. "Go!"

With a flap of wings that created a clap of thunder in the air to match the distant explosion, four thousand Fallen Angels rose into the air, following him forward, all of them hidden under an illusion of their own. More than one person down below looked up and saw the flapping of hundreds of pigeons and crows and wondered what was going on, but no one really took any interest one way or the other. Who knew how many pigeons or other birds there were in a city after all?

Kokabiel and his fellows hit the edge of Kuoh and the dimensional bubble and pushed right through not even noticing. Almost instantly afterward, however, Kokabiel paused, his senses telling him something was wrong.

While the strength of the wards was not quite as powerful in this pocket dimension, they were still there. And four thousand magic users of various strength had just entered their territory. The wards took note, they watched, and despite Harry suppressing them, they began to gather power. This was noticeable to those who had trained their senses enough to notice such things.

Kokabiel and more than a few of his chief lieutenants frowned staring around them and slowing their flight towards the academy, looking around them in surprise. "The wards are still up? They feel a little weaker than I expected my Lord but that might be all..." one of them said with a scowl on his handsome, regal features. It was the rare Fallen who was anything less than physical perfection, and this man was no exception.

"Perhaps a redundancy system built into the wards?" Kokabiel asked himself, frowning. "Or perhaps I was wrong, you have to destroy two pillars rather than just one to cause a full failure in them? Regardless, they are not strong enough to turn the tide."

"They might deal with many of our weaker brethren my Lord," said another Fallen angel, a grizzled veteran.

"If our objectives are taken, any blood spent in the pursuit will be worth it. In one fell swoop, we will have restarted the war, and taken two extremely powerful weapons from the Devils. We'll even have wounded the church, killing two of their precious exorcists, adding their Holy Swords to our own collection. Move forward," Kokabiel ordered, his voice brooking no argument.

Two blocks flight later, however, Kokabiel began to wonder if perhaps he should have been more concerned about feeling the wards up then he had been.

He saw several dozen people down below, turning and staring towards the explosion shouting excitedly and pulling out those idiotic cellphones that the humans were becoming so enamored with and laughed maliciously. "Kill them all, the more dead the better!"

He dived down and his swords flashed, decapitating several, only to pause as his swords went through the target like it wasn't even there. Then he turned as the boom of heavy magical warfare reached him, well before his people could have hit the academy. An instant later he heard several screams, abruptly cut off, and almost physically felt his troops recoiling all around him as his magic attempted to explode in his hand forcing him to let his Light swords go for a moment. "An illusion, they, they knew we were coming and blocked our initial assault entirely, then tricked us to attack anyway, the wards are working at full power! It's a trap!"

 **OOOOOOO**

While Kokabiel was starting to understand the depth of his folly, Rias had teleported several long-range attackers towards the outer edge of the Fallen Angels formation. This consisted of ten of the local Onmyouji, Akeno and the surprise addition of Suzaku Himejima, here ostensibly in an effort to show the Onmyodo that their family was ending its isolationist policies, but in reality here to help her young niece.

This had come as a bit of a shock to Akeno of course.

Flashback:

Akeno smiled politely as the second group of Onmyouji arrived. They had begun arriving quickly, with Tonks handing them off to her to be read into the wards for a limited amount of time. This was somewhat tedious work, but it was still necessary. Her tedium was interrupted as a woman's voice shouted out her name. A voice moreover, that she had only recently heard for the first time in years. She turned and her eyes widened as Suzaku Himejima led a group of six Shinsengumi towards her. "Suzaku-neesama, what are you doing here?"

Forgoing the normal demure attitude expected of traditional Japanese women in public, which she was dressed as and Akeno knew she had been trained to be, the new head of the Himejima clan crossed the intervening distance quickly, hugging Akeno tightly. Akeno hesitantly returned the hug, ignoring the looks they were getting from the crowd of Shinsengumi around them as she did. "Why wouldn't I be here when you and your allies ask the Onmyodo government for help? I'm here to help you Akeno-chan, as I should always have been."

That made Akeno's normal polite smile morph into a real one and her hug around the older woman's waist tightened. "Thank you nee-sama."

Suzaku pulled back from their hug, gesturing to the men behind her. "These men are Himejima members. Tell us what you want us to do and we will see it done. Though I must say, I'm surprised that you and your man, Mr. Potter, opted for such an aggressive response. And don't give me any of that nonsense about this being a purely defensive act. You could have warned these attackers off, whoever they are, or called in Rias-chan's older brother to deal with it. Instead, you're suckering them into the attack to crush them as much as you can. That is extremely aggressive."

"Hmm, perhaps, but I wasn't going to protest the label, Suzaku-neesama, I rather enjoy the idea of such aggressiveness," Akeno said, and the two Himejima women exchanged a smile that sent shivers down the spines of practically everyone around them. Then Akeno shook her head. "But nee-sama, I thought I said when we met at the New Year's celebration that Harry-san and I are no longer a couple. We broke up several months back."

"Hmmm…," Suzaku said but didn't reply more to that instead of turning her attention to the men around them, and in particular Loup, the large werewolf looking back at her and Akeno, watching them before she caught his gaze and looked away. "Well, never-mind that, for now, who is that rather large fellow over there?"

 **End flashback**

Now those same Himejima men joined the other Shinsengumi companies that had been sent to their aid. The Shinsengumi had also learned from the attacks on the various Khaos Brigade bases and had learned to overcome their lack of raw power when dealing with Fallen or other magical beings. They worked in squads of three, with two of them creating one spell based around talismans. The talismans floated in a moving circle in front of the third while that worthy's fingers were flying in a series of gestures as he or she intoned, a spell. The one nearest Akeno was currently nearly finished his spell. "Fire ignites from the Earth, fed by the air, controlled by the soul of steel, Arcing Blaze!"

The spell launched a fireball into the center of the spinning circle of talismans and grew tremendously, before being launched forward. It grew and spread its wings becoming a bird of fire and heat that was about the size of a building. It wasn't all that impressive in terms of impact or power, but it certainly was a decent size, and it at least served to scatter the Fallen.

In contrast, Tonks was a sniper. She and Husukai and a group of other Shinsengumi were nearby somewhere, and Tonks was using the direct attack magic of the European school of magic to devastating effect. Her spells lashed out at ranges none of the attackers could match, extremely well-aimed cutting spells, piercing spells, and two spells Akeno hadn't seen before all of them flying faster than any of the Shinsengumi spells as she raced around the current battlefield, never still. First was an area effect spell that made the wings of the Fallen become immobile for a second, sending them plummeting to the ground. The second was a blasting spell, one that exploded the target rather than merely hit him with an explosion, a slight difference. Though they demoralized the Fallen, that spell and many of the others faltered against the Fallen's natural magical resistance, but the cutting and piercing spells were able to punch through, bringing more magic to a smaller area.

As these attacks continued, Akeno turned back to face Suzaku, throwing her shoulders back and nodding firmly, putting aside her concerns about using this spell in a real battle for the first time and shutting away her growing arousal at the amount of pained screams in the distance and the idea of causing more of her own. _If my friends and our allies and our allies are doing so much, I cannot do any less!_ Clad in priestess robes they began chanting the spell, their hands flashing through the symbols for god, lightning, air, soul and back again, repeating the lightning symbol again and again . "Watashi-tachi no jōmyaku no chi ni yotte, watashi-tachi no tamashī no chikara ni yotte, watashi-tachi no kotoba o nikkō ni sarasa reta ten ni tassuru yō ni, Watashitachi no teki o uchi makasu Ikari no Raijin! (By the blood in our veins, by the power of our souls, let the covenant be acted upon and let our words reach the sundered heavens! Fury of Raijin descend and smite our enemies!)"

A giant ball of lightning about four blocks across exploded in the center of the Fallen angel formation, scattering them and electrocuting over a dozen in one go. But even running didn't save those around from it. When the lightning struck, it then simply bounced on to others, up to ten times before dissipating. And these attacks were deadly, the power of the divine, Light Magic, mixed in with the lightning making it deadly against the Fallen as it would any Youkai or Devil.

With the losses already sustained most human formations might have recoiled. But the Fallen were not taking this attack lying down. Hundreds of them closed, raising their hands and creating their holy blades as they tried to get in close while others hurled out their holy blades like spears or dozens of arrows or hurled swords. That was one aspect of the magnificence of Holy Magic. In the hands of a Fallen or an Angel, it could be any weapon that the user could imagine into existence. Sort of like Fragarach only in energy form and not quite as individually powerful.

But it was magic. Magic used in Kuoh by people who were not read into the wards. And Harry had stopped suppressing the wards the moment Sona had started her attack.

The results, for those who had seen the wards in action already, was predictable. For the Fallen using their Holy Spears, the results ranged from intense sudden flares of light in their faces if they were strong enough to still control the magic as it went haywire. If they weren't skilled enough, it was just a little below apocalyptic. Their own magic attacked them, blasting open hands up to shoulders, searing away fingers, or simply exploding, sending the people who attempted to use them crashing down to the rooftops below.

"What in the world is happening!" Shouted one Fallen, who was still holding onto his holy sword, clenching his hand and controlling the magic with difficulty. He had six wings and was the first of such that Akeno had seen.

She smiled viciously, raising a hand, then lashing out with a fire spell that she had learned from Harry. "Incendio!" The man squawked and blocked it, his holy weapon becoming a shield, but this opened him up for another attack from the nearby teams of Onmyouji. They peppered the enemy army with their own attacks spells: dragons made of fire, lightning, and wind in the form of a giant bird or other elemental attacks shaped like other, even more fantastical beasts, smashing into and through Fallen.

But that group was soon encircled as Kokabiel and his lieutenants got control of their fellows, and Kokabiel himself came forward to engage these defenders, flying up towards them from where he had previously landed, his swords growing so large they looked the size of buildings, his wings so black they sucked in the light.

Akeno was leading this group and barked into her receiver. "Rias, get us out of here!"

An instant later, she and the other locals found themselves disappearing, Rias teleporting them away. Another attack soon hit the Fallen Angels from behind, but this one was composed of Sona, Tsubaki, and Harry.

The two Devils gathered their magical powers and hurled out massive attacks, trying to catch as much of the enemy formation as they could before it finished spreading out. Sona's attacks were mostly based on her family's water magic. her Queen, in contrast, used a wide variety of direct attack spells. None were as dangerous as Sona's attacks, but they made up for being just a bit more lethal, able to punch through her victim's magical endurance.

At the same time, Harry gathered himself, and created a massive fire elemental, hurling it towards the attackers shaped in the form of a giant dragon. It seared through their ranks on that side for a time before the spells were dissipated by Kokabiel.

At that sight, a part of Harry felt an urge to challenge Kokabiel right now, but he was still somewhat leery about where he stacked up in terms of power to such an experienced and strong Fallen. Plus there are still way too many of them around, we need to cut down their numbers more before cutting the head off.

The Fallen were now spreading out, not allowing themselves to get bunched up again after Harry's attack had wiped out more than a hundred in one attack. More than half of their numbers were gone now thanks to the wards and the continued attacks. But the survivors were strong enough to overcome the impact on of the wards on their own magic or had enough self-control.

As he watched this new group of attackers disappear Kokabiel roared aloud in anger as he stared around at his now depleted Legion, shaking his head. He'd had an opportunity as the wards activated to use his magical power to blast through them, shatter them and then try to find one of the pillars to make that destruction permanent. But he'd decided against it after seeing the fact the wards had already done their deadly business. And now seeing the number of magic users on the other side he knew that had been the right decision.

 _Hmm, Onmyouji and wizards and Youkai, the Devils have certainly gathered some interesting allies. I may need all my power later on. Not that any of them could truly be a threat to a ten-winged Fallen like myself._ Kokabiel was arrogant and a warmonger, that didn't mean he was entirely insane.

"We were wrong, these are not children who stumbled upon some old knowledge on warding; there are combat veterans among them. Let's get organized," he said tersely. "Whatever happens, these Devils and their allies will not live through the day!"

 **OOOOOOO**

At the top of the pocket dimension Mittelt and Kalawarner were hidden under yet another illusion, this one much like the one their former brethren had used before they hit the outer edge of the dimensional bubble: that of a flock of birds. They were waiting there now, far higher than most of the Fallen Legion attacking their new home, waiting for a signal. Around them were the four Tengu and two Qilin.

Those were a kind of dragon-like Youkai with the heads of Asian dragons paired with lion-like heads and a single, horn with multiple prongs rising from the back of it' head. It had hooves instead of paws or claws and seemed to prance through the air like a horse, but the Qilin was just as intelligent as most humans and would provide the air corps? some lightning-based artillery of their own. Yasaka had chosen very, very well when considering what kind of Youkai would be sent into Kuoh to aid their allies, and these two, Li Yun, and Shu Singh, seemed to hate the Khaos Brigade, something that came through clearly despite Kala having known them barely half a day before the ball went up.

 _If not for Rias and her teleportation powers and Sona's headsets, I'd be a lot more worried about our coordination, but as it is, I think their numbers are the only major issue we're going to deal with here. Well, that and Kokabiel. He is not going to be a pushover,_ Kala thought, idly flipping her Light spear in her hands one to the other and back _. Still, I bet that between them, Harry and the other heavy hitters can take him_. Kala knew she certainly wasn't a heavy hitter, not yet. Although if her research into enchanted armor and certain ancient Chinese magic worked out, that might change.

Next to her Mittelt was looking oddly introspective for her as they awaited the signal to attack, flipping Light Spears in both glove-covered hands. She was dressed in a red goth loli outfit, white and red the deep color of blood, matching the occasion perfectly in her opinion. "Hey."

"What?" Kalawarner asked, not looking away from where she was staring down at the attackers. She was dressed, strangely enough in an outfit that Mittelt hadn't seen her wear in a long while: the long dark purple trench coat with the long v-neck and barely there skirt underneath. It had been her normal, everyday suit for decades before they had come to Kuoh, but Kalawarner hadn't worn it since she had been moved in with the Devils in the then-Gremory house.

"Do you think it was Kokabiel who sent us here all along? Not Azazel? I mean, there's nothing we could do to change that anymore, I can't go back from being a Devil after all. But still, I always thought we were, you know sold out by the big GG, not the War Crow." Mittelt said, scowling.

"I couldn't' care less." Kalawarner laughed harshly. "Azazel, Kokabiel, whoever sent me here I don't care. I'll thank them right before I punch them in the face! That whole situation was awful, but seriously Mittelt, when you think about it, aren't our lives far better now than they were when we were with the Grigori? I know mine is."

"Heh, I guess you've got a point, although I would say you and your whole 'kitchen marm' attitude was a surprise. I knew you could cook but the rest of it?" Mittelt cackled. "And then there's me, general purpose atelier, left to laze about instead when they need me to make something for them… or play football, one of the two. Yeah, I guess you're right, our lives are better among humans, werewolves, and Devils than our own kind. What does that say about them?"

Kalawarner shrugged. "That we've been given a chance at redemption and honest happiness?"

"Ugh, now that was a mood killer," Mittelt grumped. She lightened back up however as Rias's voice spoke into their ear, telling them to launch their attack.

The two of them dove down, flinging their Light Spears ahead of them, summoning up further spears and firing those off in a massive rain of spears. The Tengu also dove down, their wing tips glowing for a brief moment before they shot out in one of their race's basic magical attacks.

Of course, their enemies were veterans in aerial combat, a vast difference from the time when Mittelt used this kind of attack on Riser and Yubelluna. Many of them dodged, racing up towards Kalawarner and the others with them. Indeed, a second later one of them, with three wings showing over each shoulder zoomed past Kala, who barely dodged his Light Spear. As she did, the man summoned up another spear, which took a Tengu through the stomach impaling him and sending him out of the sky. "Traitors! I, Tokarel, will take great enjoyment in…"

That was as far as he got before Kala turned, thrusting out her hand, as she used a spell she had learned from Harry. " _Reducto_!" the man howled and fell away and Kala dove after him, her hands flashing as she launched Light Spears after him, small things that more resembled knives than anything else. "Dance you bastard, dance! I remember you, you asshole, always looking down on me and the other two wingers, lording it over us whenever you could during training and plucking our feathers when we lost! I'll fucking gut you!"

Mittelt looked after her, grinning a bit. "Ah, there's the old Kalawarner, I'd wondered if hanging out with Asia and cooking for Potter had spoiled her."

"Oh, you have time to worry about others in battle Mittelt, how you have grown…oh wait, you haven't." Said a drawling female voice from one side.

Slowly Mittelt turned, glaring at the person who had spoken. She was an older looking Fallen woman, built somewhat like Kalawarner, only shorter by a full head, and bustier by an inch or so. She was also dressed in skintight wraps around her chest and lower regions, an obscene version of the simple clothing they had all worn up in heaven.

She sent a smirk Mittlet's way and then screamed as one of the Tengu's clubs slammed into a wing. Darting in, Mittelt's spear took the woman high in the chest, causing blood to burst out in a geyser as the woman stared at Mittelt in shock. "Stupid cunt, this is a battle, not a fucking brawl! What is it with us Fallen that makes it impossible for us to fight and not taunt one another?"

Turning back down towards the main fight she barely dodged another Light spear as several dozen four-winged Fallen flew up towards them. None of them said a word other than a wordless battle cry, and she scowled, dodging this way and that. "Damn it, now I want the taunting back, geep!" she yelped as a spear nearly took her in the forehead, the touch of the side of the Light Spear causing her a lot of pain, showing the downside of being a Devil to Mittelt once again. But then she twisted around and launched not one but four Light Spears at one of them while using a wide area Stupefy on two more.

Against Fallen, who like Devils had natural magical defenses, the Stupefy barely made the four she caught like that falter, but that was enough for the Tengu to close, letting Mittelt finish off the one she'd targeted her own light spears on. With that done, and seeing Kalawarner above them launching another attack downward, she climbed for altitude again, shrieking out an order to the Tengu. "Fall back you beaky fuckers! We need to get space!" she then spoke into her headset, shouting, "Rias, we need to get out of here, we're close to being overwhelmed."

The instant the survivors of their group were together, she called in again, and Rias's teleportation power reached out, dragging them and their wounded away. A second later the Fallen who had gained the same height as the defenders had were wiped out by a shouted spell from Harry. " _Mico Ignis_ (flash fire)!"

 **OOOOOOO**

At Harry's orders, the heavy hitters had split up after the initial attacks rather than stay and hit the attackers again, anticipating the fact the Fallen legion would use their numbers to break apart and try to spread the defenders too thin to support one another. Each team was then assigned a different area of the city where they were teleported and once in their new position, they began once more to lob long-range attack spells at the attackers.

Harry's consisted of several long-range Bombarda, Reducto and several spells from both the Onmyodo and European skills, as well as simpler ones: Wide angle Stupefy and Expeliarmus. Since they could at least discomfort the attackers, halting them in place or smacking them around in the air slightly, this let them in a weakened position for the Onmyouji and various Youkai who had long-range attacks, including a few Monkey Youkai archers Montoya had brought with him. He concentrated on clearing the upper air of their attackers, in the hopes of keeping the Fallen from continuing to use their natural advantages in numbers and air power together.

The two queens worked together for a time with Suzaku at the same objective, knocking the Fallen out of the sky as much as possible. Lightning, Fire, and direct attack spells flew across the sky, killing dozens of Fallen then hundreds as the Fallen struggled to deal with the shock of their enemies hitting them and then teleporting away so quickly to just attack again from somewhere else, This was on top of the ongoing attrition caused by the wards which continued to take the less powerful among them or the unwary, those unable to feel their Light Spear spells suddenly getting away from them.

Sona, on the other hand, concentrated her efforts on the western side of the city. This area was the oldest section of Kuoh and the portion of the district nearest the temple. There were lots of small roads and double story houses there, but those alleyways could, eventually, lead someone who entered the area toward the academy and of course to the temple, though there was nothing there for them now. Those streets were soon flooded by Sona's magic, first slowing, then drowning and breaking walls and houses before being flash steamed with gouts of intensely hot fires, conjured into being thanks to spells she had learned from Harry.

Dozens of Fallen were cooked alive in the resultant steam explosion, and the few survivors quickly retreated back east as Sona cackled in her head. _Let's hear it for human science you black-feathered bitches!_ Of course, none of these thoughts showed on her face, Sona had a reputation to uphold and it wouldn't do to let people know she was a science otaku with a pronounced enjoyment of scientifically created explosions.

At the same time, the expanding Fallen assault started to run into the traps Harry and the others had set up. From small crystals set into the rooftops of a few buildings, Power of Destruction blasts flashed into the sky as the Fallen Angels flew over them. Elsewhere buildings exploded outwards, smashing a few Fallen attempting to get to the ground out of the sky. Manhole covers blasted up and out like rockets on gouts of water which quickly froze. While the Fallen's ability to fly impacted the various traps' efficacy at first, this did not continue as more and more of them attempted to try and seek out their enemies at street level. Here and there, dozens of talismans exploded or created other effects, freezing those within, electrocuting them impaling them with spears of stone while hidden pits opened or lamp posts transfigured and attacked as the Fallen came near.

While this was going on, Yubelluna and Sona's bishops got into the action at midrange, attacking the Fallen in planned ambushes at different points throughout the territory. Reya worked with the two exorcists and Issei for a time, while Momo, with her long-ranged magic, worked solo, with a Nue, a large Youkai that looked almost like a lion, ape, and tiger mixed, for close protection just in case. This proved needed, as, while her aim and breath of spells were better than Reya's – indeed, she had added almost as many spells to her repertoire as Tsubaki – Momo wasn't quick to react and lacked situational awareness when using magic.

For her part, Yubelluna was teleported to a park nearest the ongoing action. But despite that, she saw no way to use her newfound bandrui powers at first. So she just fell back on her old standby, her Sacred Gear, Bombardier. Her Sacred Gear translated her magic into explosive energy which she could then target in many ways or use even when in hand to hand combat.

This was the power that gave Yubelluna the hated moniker of the 'Bomb Queen'. But hatred for that nickname made her power no less deadly. Explosions abounded through the air as Fallen fell to her, then as they landed, they found the trees and even the grass beneath them turning against them. The grass grew, wrapping around their legs, the trees moved, smashing limbs into them. And then the explosions would hit, ending their worries forever.

At first, the attackers were able to completely disrupt the attackers like this. As experienced as most of these Fallen were, the wards had badly disrupted the attack, killing the weak almost instantly and continuing to kill the unwary among them. The wards would be an issue throughout the fight, but after dealing with such destruction right off the bat, the wards were slowly losing their stored offensive power.

Further, the Fallen Angels were used to facing Devils or Angels, where most combats came down to hand to hand, direct engagements, the equivalent of dueling machine guns at six paces. The attackers weren't playing that game for now, with Kiba, Koneko and their counterparts only hitting them here and there in small groups in aid of their allies, then retreating via Rias's teleportation powers. Instead, everywhere the Fallen turned, they were assailed by magic. Water dragons rose from the streams and sewers to assail them. Giant fists of concrete and stone rose from a few buildings to slam into them. Firebirds flew through the sky, targeting one Fallen, then flying on to more under the command of Harry and the Onmyouji. And everywhere they went, Harry's transfigured beasts leaped out of hiding behind Yasaka's illusions to devastate them until destroyed.

But as the battle dragged on, the remaining Fallen were able to adapt under Kokabiel. He started to create clear zones in the city, blasting apart whole blocks and letting his forces fall back and regroup. From that starting point, the Fallen swiftly sorted themselves out into teams of four, two shielding, the others launching their Light Spears as long-range attacks. These squads would then work with four other such teams and began to move through the battle in a more coordinated movement.

The shift from disorganized to coordinated caught a team of Youkai by surprise, and they were encircled and speared to death before Rias could pull them out. Two Onymouji also lost their lives in Akeno's team, but their fellows retreated after proving that Light-based shields didn't stop area-of-effect spells.

Even the rest of the defenders got into trouble, starting with Issei, Ruruko and the two Exorcists, although in their case, it was a simple case of biting off more than they could chew. Rias had held them back at first but now sent them in to help a group of Onmyouji who had been forced to take cover inside a warehouse.

"Right!" Irina shouted as she raced over the rooftops. "The Devils can't be allowed to have all the honor of dealing with our Fallen foes! Oh Lord God, please guide my hand and give my arm the strength to smite your foes, to send your debased children to the reward their betrayal has earned them!"

Stumbling at the use of the g-word, Issei stared after her, grumbling as Ruruko helped him up. Xenovia of all people shrugged in an apology at him as she raced past, a two-handed sword over her shoulder. Her own prayers were under her breath, but no less fervent for that.

Even as he raced after her, Issei muttered, "Huh, it kind of looks like Irina was gipped. I mean, Xenovia's got that huge blade and it's explosion powers, but all she's got is a katana?"

Irina was indeed using a long, twohanded katana with a gold guard but Issei's thoughts on that score did not last longer than their first clash against the Fallen attacking the warehouse where their allies had gone to ground. Irina's blade shifted, and suddenly there were dozens of Irina all running at the Fallen at once. Then she was in among them and the sword was back in her hands, the copies disappearing before her sword morphed again into a spear, then two swords, then a much larger broadsword. "Excalibur Mimic," the brunette girl said gleefully. "Feel the power of our Lord sinners!"

In contrast, the power of Xenovia's sword was more straight forward but far more devasting. "Excalibur Destruction!" Xenovia cried as the impact point of her sword against the Light Spear of a Fallen was a resounding explosion, which utterly vaporized the Fallen in question and the two nearest behind him where they had bunched up after Irina's attack.

But now the Fallen spread out quickly, more arriving as they got over their surprise at being attacked from behind. Issei started to launch low-powered cutting spells, which he had learned from Harry, at the attackers. Beside him his girlfriend too kept her distance, launching playing cards of all things. But each playing card then came alive in the air, multiplying and then cutting into the Fallen, or coming alive with the king or whatever image was on the card reaching out with mace and sword.

Their attacks were pinpricks though, and the Fallen had quickly rallied against the two exorcists, who by getting mixed up among the Fallen had forced Issei to forgo his personal spells. _Not that I wouldn't like to see them naked, it's just this is obviously not the time for it. Darn it, I knew I should have worked on conjuration more, that way I could have my fun and act all gallantly afterward!_

One of the Fallen was an older man with eight wings and a wide scar on his face covering his eye, cheek and down to below his jaw. He wielded a sword that looked like a long dagger of some kind with an odd diamond shape cut out of the center. He engaged Xenovia, his blade against her sword, somehow blocking it and forcing the explosions away when they occurred, other times just dodging so fast he seemed to leave an after image. Irina was dealing with a quartet of Fallen with four wings, who worked as a unit, seemingly telepathically so fast and quick they were able to deal with her sword's special powers.

"I suppose we should thank you for bringing your Excalibur fragments out to us like this," The older man said conversationally, his one remaining eye glimmering with something like glee. "They will be useful in the days to come, much like my own sword, Rapidly. It's a copy of course, but it still works well enough, don't you think? We don't have many copies of them yet, but it's only a matter of time. Both that and claiming that sword of yours, girl."

Xenovia grimaced angrily, attacking harder and harder, even as the Onmyouji broke out and started to retreat physically, Rias's attention elsewhere at the moment on pulling back Akeno's team and then bringing in more help Sona's, who had suddenly found themselves facing a highly organized phalanx of flyers and the danger of Kokabiel appearing again. The fact he could disappear like that from her senses was very worrisome and keeping a lookout for him was taking a lot of her mental ability.

"We're clear!" shouted the oldest of the Onmyouji, his combat robes marked by a white chevron on one shoulder denoting his rank as a squad leader. "Fall back!"

Instead of obeying though, both Xenovia and Irina kept fighting, forcing Issei and Ruruko to stay and support them. Xenovia got under her attacker's guard, smashing the street beneath him then lashing out with a thrust for the first time, catching the man in the chest as he had leaped into the air to avoid the initial explosion. Her blade blasted him into pieces, but this opened her up to a slash to the shoulder from another Fallen. Irina was performing little better, the quartet facing her keeping her in position and overwhelming her ability to use mimic.

Still, the two of them were doing alright, but several Fallen had moved around them to attack Ruruko and Issei. Issei dodged and rolled, attacking with his cutting spells as he idly thanked all the 'training' Akeno, Harry and Tonks had given him on just dodging. Then his eyes widened and he suddenly leaped, kicking off a trashcan set to one side on the road and then going sideways, tackling Ruruko in the side. This saved her life as instead of taking her in the back, the spear launched her way took her in the shoulder.

But it was a Light Spear, a Holy weapon and Ruruko a single, relatively newly made pawn. "AGGGHHH!" she screamed, and Issei, quickly cast a Protego over them both, blocking the next few spear thrusts.

At that scream, Irina and Xenovia finally turned away from their own fights and realized what was going on. They both twisted, coming back towards their allies despite Irina still being pursued by the quartet of Fallen she had been facing until Xenovia caught them in one of her explosions. They weren't injured but by the time the smoke cleared, the two Exorcists were by their Devil allies and a second later, they disappeared, teleported away by Rias.

 **OOOOOOO**

In the gym that she had turned into her central command and teleportation center, Rias grimaced slightly, concentrating through her teleportation array as she teleported a group of close combat Youkai into the portion of the battle which had just nearly overrun her pawn as the Onmyouji he had helped rescue turned back to offer their aid. The battle turned against the Fallen thanks to Montoya and their allied Youkai quickly and she turned her attention briefly to the world directly around her to glare at the pile of Issei, the two exorcists and the injured Ruruko which had just appeared before her.

As they realized they were safe and elsewhere than where they had been a moment before, she caught their eyes, first smiling encouragingly at the two pawns before glaring at Irina and Xenovia. "If you two could refrain from any more idiocy, that would be delightful. This is hard enough as it is. Honestly, you weren't even supposed to join the battle yet for Maou's sake! And this after you said you'd be fine taking orders from us. So much for the word of an exorcist."

Both exorcists twitched and looked guilty at having become overconfident. Rias saw this and was well pleased. She gestured to the side of the academy's gym, where Asia was standing by, the new Phoenix empowered version of Twilight Healing glowing red, silver and gold on the forefingers of either hand. "Now go get healed and I'll send you all out as soon as possible. Although I am splitting you lot up. I'll stick you two from now on with Master Husukai, maybe he can keep you both under control. Issei, I'll send you to Harry or Sona. Ruruko… stay here, for now, okay?" she added softly, looking at Sona's young pawn.

The younger girl just nodded, looking a little shell-shocked from her brush with real death. No amount of training could prepare you for that, that was for certain.

She bit at her ahoge, gnawing at the bit of hair as she turned her attention back to feeling out where her allies were, as well as imagining the general battlefield positions. Keeping all this in her head was taking all her training in the high-end mathematics and visualization necessary for teleportation to a whole new level, and it remained to be seen if she could keep it up. _Darn it, we didn't think there would be so many Fallen left after the wards went into action! Worse I, I think the wards are weakening. We knew they could be overcome by power, but this is more like someone trying to stuff a raging river with so many pebbles and succeeding!_

"Rias, we're ready to go again," Akeno's voice said over the intercom, her normal formality while in public gone under the pressure of the battle. Instead, her tone was a mix of sadistic pleasure and eagerness, something like battle lust only not quite. She was perhaps enjoying this a lot more than she should be, but the Sadist Queen was still in control.

 _That little pre-battle chat Harry had with her seems to be holding._ Rias had barely seen that as everyone came together for a final pre-battle meeting, but it seemed to have done the trick. Although why Suzaku was looking at Harry with such approval at that point was something she didn't understand or have time to care about right now.

"Roger that, Akeno. I'm going to teleport you to West and Houshen," Rias replied, naming the intersection of two streets. "You'll be by a group of around forty Fallen who are trying to break out from around Harry and Sona's position to circle in from that side."

"Roger, really? Getting into this whole army tactics and communication thing a bit too much aren't you, Rias-chan?" Akeno teased.

With a thought and a single snap of her fingers, Rias created a teleportation circle underneath Akeno and the ten Onmyouji with her where they had previously been standing on the roof of a clothing store. They reappeared where she sent them and she moved on, bringing in two more groups of Youkai on another angle of the attack. Another group of Fallen had taken to the streets in an effort to avoid Mittelt and Kalawarner's attacks and had nearly surrounded another group of Onmyouji who she barely teleported away before they were overrun, and still, they lost three of their number.

Another group, this time of Youkai, came face to face with Kokabiel and were mostly slaughtered before she could teleport the two survivors away. After he killed his last victim, she felt Kokabiel be hit by one of her POD crystals which slammed him into a girl's clothing store of all things, but did little damage, as did the resulting explosion from dozens of explosive talisman within the store. Every store and building had those talismans or their equivalent, the Onmyouji and Harry having been generous with them.

Yet the ten-winged Fallen's magical endurance was too much for these traps to overcome. And while his attack was the worst reversal they were currently facing, it was only one of a handful.

 _I, I don't know how long I can keep this up,_ Rias thought, biting through her ahoge and into her lip, slowly drawing blood. _Darn it, the battle's almost too big for me to keep track of. I'm in danger of losing the bubble here. We need to bring the rest of our forces forward, fast!_

As she thought this, Tiamat stood up from where she had been watching Rias, using her own magical senses to try and follow the battle. She sensed a dozen Fallen coming towards the school from the north, having just bypassed a Youkai hardpoint to do it.

With Rias seemingly unaware, she calmly walked outside and turned in that direction, opening her mouth, wider and wider and then blasting out a gigantic torrent of flame towards them. It seared through everything it touched, even melting concrete before impacting the Fallen and then seemingly spreading one to another like Akeno and Suzaku's ball lightning. Job done, she turned back inside the gym, smirking at the awed and terrified faces of the wounded or those waiting to be sent out again.

"No one will touch this place as long as I am here." She said calmly. "Keep it together Rias Gremory, do your part, and trust to everyone else to do theirs."

Face firming, Rias nodded and redoubled her efforts. _If my father could do this during the Civil War, then so can I! We're going to win this Maou damn it!_

 **OOOOOOO**

Harry could too feel the tide of the fight trying to turn against them. The Fallen still had a numbers advantage, he estimated about a thousand of them were still alive and fighting, and their light spears, while limited in power and scope, were very versatile and paired well with the greater experience each Fallen Angel brought to the battle. _But despite that, we've been able to mostly knock them out of the sky from what I can see. Time to change tactics._

"Rias, we need to change our attack patterns," he barked into his headset. All Onmyouji pull back, switch to aerial combat and help Mittelt and Kala clear the skies then divebomb any large groups you can! Yubelluna, Akeno, Tonks, go with them. Rias, direct the close combatants forward. Time to get it stuck in for real."

He barely heard their affirmatives before he had disappeared, whisked away to stand by Kiba several streets over. The Knight's normally urbane, gracious air still in place if somewhat frayed by the look of excitement in his eyes. Seconds later they were joined by Tomoe and Issei while elsewhere Montoya led the rest of the close combatants into attack another group of Fallen. "Shall we?"

Harry nodded, gesturing down at the nearest group of sixteen squads of four each he could see. "We shall. Issei, you disrupt them, then we close."

Gulping, the perverted pawn nodded and then gathered his magical power. Strangely enough, in terms of his magical power, Issei had made progress in leaps and bounds both before and after the Rating Game against Riser. But that and dating Ruruko hadn't done anything for his basic sense of decency. There were six very good-looking female Fallen there and he had been frustrated earlier thanks to Irina and Xenovia so it should have come to no surprise what his first spell was. "Hyoudou Secret Art, Weapon Breaker!"

Not against the Fallen Angel's Light Spears, of course. These weapons were solely Light-based and thus resistant to all Devil magic, and their wielders could also reform them almost instantly. And none of the remaining Fallen were inexperienced or without self-control enough to be bothered by their weapons being targeted like that, else the wards would have killed them off by now. Indeed, the wards were still causing them issues, occasionally causing their weapons to dissipate or implode in tiny blasts of magical power. But Issei's spell wasn't intended to disarm them, no it was intended to do what it had done in the Rating Battle against Riser: destroy their clothing.

One moment the group of Fallen was moving down the street, two squads on overwatch, another two on the roofs and two on the streets. The next, a wide-angle blast of near-invisible magic struck them from the side, catching one of the flying teams and both of the teams traversing the roofs. Their clothing disintegrated and they shouted or screamed in shock.

To Issei's dismay, few of them tried to cover themselves, they instead had simply been startled by the sudden loss of their clothing. These were Fallen Angels after all, and while only a few might have Fallen initially for the Sin of Lust, it was the rare Fallen who had any sense of body modesty.

But still, that was enough for Kiba to close with the afflicted and start slicing into them. "Sword Birth, Holy Eraser!" Using his Sacred Gear and his speed Kiba was in among the Fallen, his Demonic blade literally eating their weapons. Seven Fallen fell to his blade before the others realized they couldn't match him in hand to hand combat and tried to retreat. Kiba's chosen weapon made him almost unassailable in close like this.

For his part, Harry stayed where he was and struck the second flying team with an overpowered Reducto, smashing through their shields and splattering them all across the streets and rooftops. Then Loup, in his full werewolf body charged in, closing with the survivors. Like Kiba, he could overwhelm the Fallen if he could close with them like this, and his werewolf durability made their Light magic weapons less than useful.

Embracing this kind of close combat was a marked difference to how they had been fighting and it brought in attention from more than a dozen other teams of similar size, led by a group of twenty flyers who had stayed in the air under the command of a Fallen with four pairs of wings. But as they dove down on Harry and Kiba, they were engaged by the newly reinforced Mittelt and Kalawarner. Akeno, in particular, engaged the leader in an aerial game of tag, breaking their coordination.

The Shinsengumi could not fly like Harry and the other devils could, but while Harry would say that in terms of attack magic the Europeans were ahead of the Onmyouji, the Onmyouji were well-skilled at using talismans or enchanted items to give them an edge, as evinced by the teamwork of their attack squads earlier. This was shown once more when they fell back.

Beyond Husukai, who used a floating oar of all things, the Shinsengumi all pulled out small origami cranes from their pockets, enlarging them. Then the teams of three stood around them, chanting a spell and the cranes or other birds came alive, flapping their wings like the real thing. These cranes quickly proved strong enough to actually lift all three of the Shinsengumi involved in the enchantment. They weren't agile in the air by any means, but they had long-range firepower and could keep the range open in the air too, allowing the Tengu, Kala, and Mittelt keep the Fallen away from them.

Back on the ground, Issei grimaced, dodging behind an air conditioner or something on one of the roofs despite the fact the Fallen seemed content to ignore him, concentrating their attacks on Loup, Kiba, and Harry. "Ignore me, will you?" He growled, then smiled evilly as he saw that Harry and Kiba had retreated down into an alleyway for a second, leaving six groups of Fallen on the rooftops in plain sight from his hiding place. Gathering his magic, he leaped out again and shouted, "Hyoudou Secret Art, Rectal Destruction!"

At the shout, more than one Fallen turned and hurled their light spears toward him on general principle. But Issei ducked backward, avoiding the spears by the skin of his teeth, eeping in fear as one of them punched right through the cowling of the air condition to quiver to a halt a bare centimeter from his gut.

However, the damage to the Fallen had been done. All of them screamed in agony and grabbed at their rears as the gates opened, so to speak, their magical resistance doing nothing against this spell. They were still dealing with that when a fireball from above slammed into them, ending their pain. Two Onmyouji flew over to Issei with Mittelt in the lead, and the tiny terror scowled at him, ignoring the blood staining her clothes as she shook her light spear at him. "Issei, I'm only going to say this once. That spell might be damn useful and sort of scary, but if you catch me in it, I swear once it runs its course, I'm going to shove my light spear down your throat so hard you'll feel the pain you've just caused those Fallen. Understand?"

Gulping, Issei nodded, and a second later was whisked away along with the three flyers by Rias's spell. The Flyers regrouped with all the other flying teams before being sent out en-masse to attack the same group of Fallen flyers they had just dealt with from a different angle.

Behind them, Harry and Kiba also fell back, physically this time. It was important, Harry knew, to always fall back even if Kiba and he could have stayed and fought where they were. Until the chance came to take out Kokabiel, they had to show the Fallen that they were making progress, pushing the defenders back. If Kokabiel could get away, then this fight was next to meaningless. A part of him wanted to just have Rias teleport him right to the bastard and end it, but he knew that her power didn't work quite like that. Until someone else got an eye on him and survived long enough for Rias to react and teleport him in, Kokabiel could still move around like the other Fallen.

Still, for now, the reinforcements of the close combat specialists gave the defenders an edge again. The defenders would strike, stay and draw in more Fallen, then, when the numbers turned against them retreat. Even though the Fallen were slowly becoming more organized and starting to work together in larger and better-prepared teams, Rias's teleportation powers, coupled with the fact the defenders had the air advantage now, let them wipe out whole groups of Fallen.

Harry could almost feel the enemy becoming desperate, frantic, and worried. They couldn't' tell how the battle as a whole was going, but they could tell it wasn't going well, and that hampered their morale badly. Harry could almost feel the enemy becoming desperate, frantic, and worried. They couldn't tell how the battle as a whole was going in any detail, but they could sense it wasn't going well, and that hampered their combat ability. Better, the wards were still disrupting their magic at times as the wards slowly regained their power after their initial exertion.

However, while the battle as a whole was going their way slowly but surely, they still had to deal with Kokabiel…

 **OOOOOOO**

As Montoya led one attack group and Harry another, Saji was with Koneko were paired with a group of Youkai, attacking one side of a group of sixty or so Fallen who had taken to the streets, skirting around the growing battlefield in an effort to avoid contact with any of the defenders and then race to the school. It was a decent enough plan given the lack of information the Fallen Angels had on their opponent's numbers and the sheer chaos of the battlefield, which had now spread halfway across the district. Furthermore, it was being led by one of the two Fallen among the attackers who had eight wings they had seen in this fight.

Still, just because the plan was a good one didn't mean it was going to work. Rias had put Saji and Koneko's group in a position to ambush the group, as they moved between two large apartment complexes. Each complex had an outer wall separating it from the street, and four of the Youkai had been stationed up in the buildings, two to a side. Several others were waiting hidden inside a few of the apartments along the second floor, ready to leap down. Saji was there with them, while Koneko was outside on her own.

From her vantage point, Koneko smirked evilly - she was a Devil, Koneko figured she was allowed to smirk at the destruction of her enemies even if she wasn't going to go full Sadist Mode like Akeno - as she saw the group approaching. That and her battle lust was up, and this was going to be the largest clash she had yet been involved in.

Currently, the Nekoshuu was hidden under an illusion spell that covered her body with the image of her familiar, little Shirou, to anyone looking at her. It was a spell that she had learned from Harry and was one of only a few that she had been able to perform. Like Kiba, she had found that most of her magical reserves and natural ability with magic were bound up in her Rook classification, making it difficult to learn spells which didn't in some way help her durability or defenses. But she wasn't very bitter about that. After all, she had Ddraig, the Boosted Gear on her arm and there been so many other positive changes since Harry had come into their lives that missing out on learning how to do more magic was a small price to pay in comparison.

While waiting for the enemy to enter the ambush area, Koneko thought about Harry now for a moment, how she had accidentally called him Father during those training sessions with Sirzechs, how he smiled at her, gave her head pats, and how he treated Koneko as well as he treated Lily. But as those thoughts continued, they shifted focus without any input from her conscious brain. They became not so much about how important he had become to her, but how he smelled, how his arms felt around her, how she liked the feel of his chest against her own.

Her eyes widened under her disguise, and Koneko swiftly shook her head. _No! It can't be that time again!_ She pouted ferociously with no one to see, counting off weeks on her finger. _Darn it, it is. I will have to need to remember to take my pills again. But they taste so awful! Ugh, and to think about Harry like that is just… ugh! I mean, yes, he's the most powerful male I know, and his eyes are dreamy and oh god I'm doing it again!_

Just then the group of Fallen angels that they were there to ambush came into view, having taken to the streets to avoid a magical assault from Tsubaki's long-range tornado assaults. Grateful for this distraction from her thoughts, Koneko leaped out from her hiding place without even signaling the others to get ready. To the eyes of the Fallen below it looked as if her form shifted from that of a tiny almost unassuming little kitten into the Nekoshou right before barreled into the first few Fallen angels, getting in among them before they could bring their Light Spears to bear, and when they did, using Ddraig to smash them into pieces. The rest of the Fallen quickly encircled her, and would no doubt have eventually cut her down, but Koneko wasn't alone, and before the eight-winged leader of this group could shout a warning, the rest of the ambush struck.

"Absorption line!" Saji shouted, pushing himself halfway out the window to aim down at the leader and a few of his fellows. From his tiny draconic gauntlet shot a beam of blue light, which separated into several dozen smaller beams, impacting an equal number of the attacking Fallen angels. Three of them, each of them with four wings gasped, clutching at their chests where the absorption lines hit, swaying on their feet. The leader was able to take this attack with only a bit of dizziness, but this had given Koneko the opening she needed to get close to him. He looked up from trying to shatter the absorbing line with his Light Spears only to see a large red gauntlet coming towards his face.

" **BOOST**!" Koneko and Ddraig roared as one, and the blow caught the Fallen angel in the chest, hurling him back through his fellows knocking them down like ninepins and shattering his ribs. The Light spears of his own men cut into him from behind, finishing the job before they could turn them aside.

 ** _"Hahahaha, nice one partner!"_** Ddraig crowed in Koneko's mind. **_"Now, isn't it the most satisfying feeling in the world to smash your enemies in the face like that? I always enjoyed it when I was alive."_**

"Mmm, very fun," Koneko replied, before dodging away as several of the other Fallen that hadn't become a giant pile at the end of the street hurled their light spears at her. But then the other Youkai attacked from every side. Two Nue leaped down, one from each apartment complex. They were more animalistic than most Youkai, and roared and clawed at their enemies.

Above them, however, the Monkey Youkai took the attacking Fallen under fire from above with bow and arrows. Those bows looked like green wood almost instead of the supple worked wood a bow should be. But they were lined with Chinese writing, each mark blazing with magic, and where their hands gripped was a talisman, the marks on it made by the Monkey Youkai's own blood. Each arrow they fired became six, homed in on their targets, or exploded as the Monkey Youkai launching the arrow ordered it, and they could fire them almost as fast as a man could fire a pistol.

With the Nue came a weretiger Youkai, who very deliberately sniffed the air and then winked at Koneko as he neared her before joining the fight in earnest alongside her. At any other time Koneko would not have even noticed this bit of flirtation, or if she had would have been annoyed by it. Now however she flushed and had to fight her body's instincts. To her surprise Ddraig helped, shouting into her mind, **_"Focus on the battle girl! Time enough to get your pill or whatever after this is all over. Don't let your body's cycles control your actions."_**

"Right," Koneko replied, smashing a Fallen in the crotch with a vicious hit from her other fist, then spinning into a kick that caught another in the side of the head. Nearby, the Nue were tearing up the Fallen. Their hides were now peppered with dozens of cuts, but each cut only served to enrage them further, and while they suffered some of the same weakness to Light Magic that Devils did, it wasn't enough to slow them down in their berserker states. And despite his flirty attitude the weretiger seemed to be an incredibly capable fighter, easily up to Koneko's level in hand to hand.

 _The Fallen are falling like so many feathers from a plucked bird_ , Koneko thought as she ducked under a thrust of a Light Spear that had been shaped like a glaive, which would have taken her head off. Another hit to the crotch followed, causing the weretiger to wince and back away from Koneko slightly even as her thoughts shifted to the overall engagement. _We seem to have this battle well in hand. I'll have to get in touch with Buchou soon and warn her though to keep the Nue back and to let Asia have a look at them. We don't want someone to die because they were too stubborn to take a minute to heal._

Ddraig groaned. **_"Why did you have to tempt fate like that?"_**

Koneko blinked at that and then there was a shout from above her. One of the Monkey Youkai had taken a chance to look up as a shadow passed by his balcony perch and shouted a warning. "Incoming!"

From above came several more Fallen had appeared. Most of them had six wings, but they were being led by one man who had just calmly slid a short sword into a scabbard on his back, the scabbard hung sideways on his belt, the weapon almost invisible there along with one other sword, the hilt of that one peeking out behind his back on the other side. He wore a voluminous black robe over tight-fitting black cloth clothing and had ten wings spreading from his back, the most wings that Koneko had yet seen. Worse, she recognized his face, his long, pointed ears, and almost glowing red eyes set into a sallow, sharply angular face which could never pass for human.

"Kokabiel's here!" she shouted, only to realize her headset had been damaged at some point during the fight, the microphone arm sliced away.

Saji had also recognized the man from the description they'd heard of him and grabbed at his own headset.

But even as he did, two of those Fallen angels peeled off, closing with the archers from above before they could get away. The two monkey Youkai though responded with the skill of veterans. Their bows dropped from their hands and they grabbed at twin daggers from their waists, launching themselves upwards at the fallen, bouncing up and off the side of the building their blades glowing green.

Their blades stopped the spears of the fallen, and one of the three-winged Fallen fell, his throat open by a neat little twist as he had been pulled off balance by an adroit grab from a monkey Youkai's tail. The two Monkey Youkai looped tails and flipped in midair, hurling one another to separate buildings, bouncing off the walls and lashing out all around them into the Fallen.

But then Kokabiel closed through the mid-air melee. His Light Spear lashed out almost languidly, cutting one Monkey Youkai in two. His other hand grabbed the last one's tail and hurled him so hard against a building the Youkai Monkey actually splattered against the other wall. He sneered at his fellows shaking his head patronizingly. "Really, you had such trouble with mere beasts? Pathetic." His tone changed abruptly, his tone now sending a shiver down their spines. "Do better, or I'll kill you all myself."

At the same time, this was going on more of the Fallen stayed clear of the Monkey Youkai and launched large globes of glass containing a liquid of some kind down at the walk at the fight going on below. One of them nearly splashed Saji, forcing him to duck away with a yelp. The glass shattered, splashing the contents everywhere, and it was only when a bit of it hit his hand and started to burn like acid that he realized it was holy water.

As a decently powerful Devil who had taken five pawns to turn into a Devil in the first place, Saji could power through the pain of this and his body would heal from it quickly unless he got any in his face, but he was distracted long enough that he didn't see the fate of those below or even have time to think about them before a large broadsword of yellow energy sliced down at him from above. He felt it coming at the last second and dodged backward, landing on his rear such was his haste.

Saji then watched as the tip of that broadsword stabbed into the floor of the balcony he had just been standing on, cutting straight through. Then he was forced to scramble away as that same sword came up and around in a wicked arc, cutting through the walls of the apartment he was now hiding in, slashing through glass and concrete with equal ease.

"A, Absorption line!" he shouted frantically, thrusting his gauntlet-clad hand forward and shooting out another line of power like the one he'd used earlier.

But the blade of his opponent caught it, cutting through his attack, and Saji scrambled away again getting to his feet and lurching towards the door heading deeper into the apartment complex, hoping the man would come after him, which would trigger the talisman within to explode. To his chagrin, the man didn't try to follow, but that feeling only lasted an instant before a blast of white and yellow magic engulfed the apartment from his former position on down. He tumbled through the rubble for a few seconds before he and a bit of rubble that had just hit him, disappeared, teleported back to the academy's gym.

With one nuisance dealt with, Kokabiel waved a hand and sent hundreds of feathers from his ten wings down towards a building to one side, having seen a Devil girl and a weretiger retreat into it to get away from his follower's assault. The feathers hardened the instant they left his wings into something harder and denser than steel, and when they hit, they slammed like so many miniature cannonballs into the façade of the apartment. Such was the damage the attack caused that the entire face of the apartment facing him sloughed off towards the streets below, where it buried their corpses along with that of the two Nue and the Monkey Youkai.

As the ceiling above her caved in Koneko shouted " **Boost**!" along with Ddraig once more, bringing up her gauntleted form with all of her Rook based strength, smashing aside the rubble coming towards her and bursting back out of the complex. She was about to turn around and see if the weretiger had followed her out, but then was forced to dodge hundreds of feathers sent her way by Kokabiel.

She was doing well at that, her natural agility and speed as a Nekoshuu serving her well. But that just made Kokabiel grin viciously. Cackling in laughter, he raised his hand above his shoulder, letting his Light Magic gather there, creating a hundred large Light Spears. He then gestured down, the spears crashing down towards Koneko with all the force of a tsunami.

She met this assault, however, howling out " **Boost! Acceleration!"** Her words accompanied by the near roar of her gauntlet shouting in unison. The first few Light spears to hit were smashed away from her fist. The rest struck, but Koneko still was dodging around so fast, as fast as a Knight now. Only one out of every ten spears hit and thanks to her Rook durability, further enhanced by Ddraig, they weren't enough to kill her, though they were painful to an extreme degree thanks to the Light Magic that created them.

 ** _"We can't keep running forever,"_** Ddriag said, his tone indicating he was scowling as another spear nearly took Koneko in the chest, scrapping across her side and slicing through her shirt. ** _"Eventually his Light magic is going to break through our defenses. You need to go on the attack. We might not have a chance to really hurt them, but we can at least hold them here until one of the others arrives. I'd wager anything that's why the Gremory girl hasn't pulled us away yet."_**

Agreeing with this plan, Koneko twisted, so that she kicked off of the building whose door she had been rushing towards, then back up onto the side of the wall of the first apartment she had been crouching on when their attack began, which was as yet standing relatively unscathed. From there, however, she was slammed into the side of the wall, creating a dent there as a blast of unformed Light magic hit her, driving her back down toward the earth.

Yet even then, Koneko wasn't done. She thrust her hand forward into the assault shouting " **Balance Breaker**!" At that command the gauntlet seemed to grow, moving up her arm until it hit her shoulder, then it continued to grow in every direction until it had covered her from head to toe with red metal scales. Gold and green highlights gleamed in the sun, particularly two green marks on her and two larger emerald-like bits set on the backs of her hands, hands which ended in long, catlike claws which she used to batter her way out from the behind the beam of Light magic.

She then closed through the air, throwing out punches and kicks at Kokabiel, who calmly pulled out a copy of Excalibur Rapidly. "Ah, I see, so, you'd be the one bonded to the Boosted Gear this time? Bah! Give you another few months and maybe you'd be a threat Nekomata. As it is, you are not." With that he attacked the armored Koneko just as fast and as powerfully as Koneko was attacking him, cackling. "I'll peel you out of that armor and take your Sacred Gear for myself, as I always should have. I should never have trusted that task to weaklings like Raynare and her coterie!"

For all Koneko's growing skill and power when using Ddraig, Kokabiel was able to keep up with her easily, blocking her punches and kicks even as her gauntlet shouted " **Boost, Boost, Boost** ," adding to her destructive ability. The only time she landed a real strike was with her tail as she twisted in place, its prehensile nature catching Kokabiel by surprise and cutting open his lower leg. The wound healed quickly though, and he just laughed at her, moving faster all the while, his attacks accurate, his blows flowing from one to another in a show of experience and training she couldn't match.

In response, Koneko blasted out her own magical assault from the gauntlet, " **Nekoshuu's Fiery Blaster!** " While the name was a work in progress, the blast of magic was much like the one she had used to tag Sirzechs with when they were training.

But the man just dodged it at the last instant, faster than even Sirzechs had been or perhaps he had just read her body better, she didn't know. What she knew was that in her attempt to hit him had caused Koneko to overextend. The image of Kokabiel in front of her faded to be replaced by the real Fallen leader grabbing her arm right behind the elbow holding her in place. A palm strike to her head sent a flash of Light magic into her head like a cannon round, sending Koneko flying down into the building.

As she crashed into the building she looked up to see a massive blast of light magic following her down. She gasped and put her arms up above her head, but couldn't get out of the way as the massive blast of power slammed down into the building and her, sending her deep down into the building and collapsing it on top of her to seemingly join Saji in being buried alive.

Or at least, that was what Kokabiel had thought. An instant later he was disabused of this notion, as the same boy, he thought he had already dealt with shouted out "Black Magma Flame!" from a rooftop to one side.

Kokabiel barely had time to turn before a blast of black fire came towards him, and he roared, thrusting out his both his hands and sending a blast of his own light-based magic against it. "That's it, that's what I want to see, fight, strive, **despair**! Show me your will to live, show me your blood is worthy of being spilled by my blades! This is what war is all about!" But to his surprise, even as his Light Magic cut through the fires, the fire that it wasn't touching spread to either side, trying to encircle Kokabiel in a sphere of fire as he flew there.

But to Saji's dismay, a single flap from his powerful wings sent the flames skittering away, and he dove through them cackling as he raised his light-based broadsword again, racing towards his attacker faster than Saji could track, far faster. "Oh, that was very dangerous! Still, you'll have to do better than that!" Before he could cut the younger man in two though, Saji disappeared again, teleported back to headquarters once more by Rias's teleportation powers.

Scowling, Kokabiel looked around him. He saw that six of his followers remained, with none of them coming from the force that had been ambushed here. _Just as well, I'd have slaughtered them myself for walking into this obvious trap. Still, these Devils and their allies fight like demons, and their magical assaults were well beyond what I anticipated. Wizards and Onmyouji working with Devils and Youkai, and of course at least two traitors. And did I see that bastard Barquiel's daughter flying around earlier?_

He sneered at that thought, then his eyes began to glow even more brightly. _Heh, if so, I think I know my next target._ "We're done here. I think it's time we reclaim control of the skies."

Unfortunately for Kokabiel's plans, Rias had not only teleported Koneko and Saji out of the area. At his request, she had teleported Harry in. A younger Harry might have announced his arrival by a quip of some kind, but after hearing the report of how Koneko had been pulled back by Rias a bare second before the apartment complex could finish burying her alive, he was in no mood to bandy words with the soon-to-be-dead man.

Instead, he opened his assault by simply slamming a blast of lightning into the man as he came out from behind his mist of invisibility. Then he waved his other hand and reaching out to the rubble all around them grabbing at the metal within with his magic. "Kinzoku (metal)!" with that spell he took control of the metal all around, hurling it like so much shrapnel towards Kokabiel.

Yet despite being staggered by the blast of lightning, Kokabiel's magical resistance was enough to take that assault. Then seeing the metal beast lunging towards him, Kokabiel leaped into the air his wings flapping twice to send him zooming into the air faster than the beast could track.

The fact this attack tore through the three more Fallen who were still in the area was immaterial. Kokabiel was his target and when the Fallen Angel was about forty feet off the ground, the ten-winged Fallen simply blasted the approaching metal shards into smaller pieces. But since this was elemental control magic from the Onmyouji school those pieces reformed. The ten-winged Fallen scowled, before continually blasting away at the smaller pieces, stopping it from reforming as he reached once more behind him to the small of his back, pulling out the Excalibur Rapidly.

Harry was still able to get behind the ten-winged Fallen and launched another series of attacks towards him. These were direct assault spells, intended more to test out Kokabiel's speed and magical durability more than anything else while he prepared a more powerful spell.

But even though he was still somewhat off-balance Kokabiel twisted around faster than Harry had thought he could move, bringing up his hand and creating a shield of light magic which blocked most of Harry's spells. But one of them still got through, tearing into one of his wings, and sending him down to the top of an office building below them. He roared in anger, landing lightly on his feet and then blasting up towards where Harry was standing in midair. "Damn you, you'll pay for that!"

But instead of pulling back as he had expected, Harry shifted into his werewolf form, and met the charge head-on, with Fragarach in one hand in the shape of a longsword patterned after its original form of the old, battered but still sharp blade with Celtic runes down its length. Their blades met, and it was Kokabiel's which shattered in midair, somewhat like what had happened to the weapons of many of his followers thanks to the wards, although Kokabiel had been able to deal with it almost without thought. So he blinked in surprise now, but still recovered quickly enough that Harry couldn't take advantage of it, his Light spear reforming at his barest mental command.

He parried Harry sword away, then as his sword reformed again he smacked Fragarach to one side with his second blade, Excalibur Rapidly, opening the way to the werewolf's body as even as he created another Light magic sword in his other hand, thrusting it forward. The copied Excalibur fragment was able to do that and remain in one piece, but it still shook in Kokabiel's hand, and he could see a chip in the blade. _Whatever sword this werewolf is wielding it is a powerful offensive artifact. Excellent, it will be mine when this is over too, just like the Boosted Gear and the Forbidden Balor View._

Harry blocked the Fallen's attack with a Protego cast around his arm, sending the light sword skittering to one side but then shot a point-blank cutting spell at Kokabiel's throat with that same hand. His opponent somehow felt that coming and dodged but couldn't get out of the way when Fragarach changed forms into a double-headed spear, the new end of which slipped under Kokabiel's guard and clipped one of his wings lightly. This threw his balance off just enough for a blast of fire-based magic to slam into his chest and hurl him backward.

Grimacing, Kokabiel felt that his chest, the burn marks there already slowly receding, while the wounds to his wings had yet to heal, something he noticed, but which only served to make his battle lust grow all the greater. Like most high-powered Devils and Angels, Fallen Angels had something of a healing ability to go with their high magical resistance. But the werewolf's attacks had gotten through his magical durability and that fire blast had stung something fierce.

"Who are you? What is a human wizard doing involving himself in our affairs?" He asked, using the right term for someone using European style spells, which surprised Harry a bit, and when the gaunt, crazy looking Fallen went on, that surprise grew. "I had thought all of you pathetic wand-wavers had retreated behind those notice-me-not arrays of yours and would have to be dug out like so many rats in their holes."

"I am Harry Potter, and I live here asshole. Of course, I'm going to take it personally when you attack me and mine," With his lips pulled back in a lupine snarl as he spoke Harry moved forward, his speed allowing him to almost get the drop on Kokabiel despite his use of Rapidly. Spell after spell lashed out from one hand while he used Fragarach to batter aside Kokabiel's Light Spear looking to end this fight quickly.

But Kokabiel replied with a similar fighting style. His Light Spear wasn't up to taking more than one clash against Fragarach and Rapidly was too important to waste, forcing him to block the ever-changing weapon with his own. But he would simply reform it instantly afterward, sometimes changing its shape or composition in response to Fragarach's changing forms. And while he lacked the number of spells Harry possessed, he had a lot of magical power, which he lashed out with barely formed waves of magical energy which was just as effective against Harry as his own attacks seemed to be proving.

Seeing surprise on Harry's lupine features now Kokabiel laughed harshly, his laugh like that of a carrion crow seeing a feast. "You think you are the first wizard I've fought? Do you think you are the first demigod I have faced? I flew with the legions of Light before Father named you weak, simpering humans as his favored children! I helped bring down gods before this, and I can do the same to a jumped-up upstart like you!"

Harry used an earth, or body type spell for a brief second, flashing sideways and around Kokabiel's guard. He couldn't keep this spell up for long, the duration of the original spell was supposed to be short lest the user rip out his own tendons, and though Harry didn't have to worry about that aspect the spell wasn't very compatible with his werewolf form for some reason, the inhuman nature of his body fighting it.

But it was enough for him to get in a solid stab which Kokabiel was forced to block, and he still got a nick across his arm for a second, although the wound healed very quickly. "I'm hearing a lot of words, not seeing a lot of action, you fucking Mad Crow!" Harry goaded, intending to try and rile Kokabiel up so that the bastard couldn't think straight.

"Heheheheh, mad crow, that's a good one, I haven't heard that in at least, oh a week! The last person who called me that was another Fallen, and I couldn't punish him for it. You on the other hand you're fair game! I wonder what color blood you have, and how much I can extract before you stop being fun." Kokabiel taunted, losing himself more and more as the fight went on.

At those words, Kokabiel's light spear shifted from one hand to the other stabbing out from around the form of Rapidly and he stabbed forward, nearly catching Harry in the chest, opening up a long gash along his side. It closed instantly, even faster than the ten-winged Fallen's regeneration and Kokabiel's his eyes widened at the sight before he laughed. "Oh my, what fun we'll have!"

Cursing, Harry was forced to retreat as Kokabiel came on, both hands now filled with Light magic that started to shine a disturbing silver, his speed such Harry could barely tag him with one spell out of three, his skill level incredible. Despite his seeming insanity, Kokabiel was a veteran beyond anything Harry had ever fought. He seemed to anticipate Harry's every move, reading his body language with an ease that was scary. He moved faster and faster as they clashed, and seemed to almost have a sixth sense for danger. Taking him on hand to hand isn't going to work, time to fight as a wizard instead of a werewolf then.

With that thought, Harry used a Bombarda at his own feet to blow the two of them apart, even as he gathered the mist that had once been the Cloak of Invisibility around him. Before Kokabiel could close the distance once again, Harry was gone, invisible to his senses.

But rather than being dismayed, Kokabiel simply laughed again as he dodged a few spells, roaring aloud, "You think just disappearing like that is enough to confuse me!? How stupid are you human! I don't need to see you to kill you!"

With that, he began to chant. " ** _I am Kokabiel, the Angel of the Stars_**!" He shouted, his voice changing timbre and tone as he shifted to a language that was as much felt as heard. " ** _From the darkness beyond the stars was I made, my soul as empty as the night. To fight in war eternal was my purpose, my bloodlust never sated! It is I who took the greatest prize of all, I who became the son who killed the Father_**!" As he chanted his Light Magic began gathering around him in pulses waves, the dimensional bubble seeming to shiver around them such was the power of his growing wrath.

 _Well, cock, this is not going the way I thought it might_ , Harry thought ruefully while he prepared a heavy assault spell. He launched it into the air, revealing himself just as Kokabiel did the same, blasting down towards the ground with an almost raw mass of Light magic the size of a gas station. The two attacks exploded against one another, an insanely overpowered Reducto slamming into the Light Magic spell and creating a concussive force that lashed out in every direction as for just a moment a second sun appeared in the dimensional bubble.

 **OOOOOOO**

As this was going on, Rias was sensing all of this, and wishing desperately that she could pull someone else in to help Harry. But not only did she know that this would have been a bad move, but with Kokabiel so tied up now, the attacking Fallen had lost the last hint of their overall cohesion, and with that, the defender's advantages became insurmountable. Grimly she sent a prayer her lover's way that he could pin Kokabiel down long enough for them to finish off the rest of his forces, and they could all take him down together. _Odd, before Harry came into my life the idea of me and my peerage being able to fight a ten-winged Fallen would have been a ludicrous thought. Now, with him there and all of us together, I know we can win. Now to make certain none of the rest of these Fallen survive attacking our home!_

Sona's voice rang in her headphones. "Rias, are you seeing what I am seeing out here?"

"Not so much seeing as sensing, but yes," Rias replied with a grunt of effort as she concentrated on both her work and the conversation. "But I agree, with Kokabiel tied down and who knows how many of his lieutenants gone, we've got every advantage in communication, organization, and mobility. Let's finish this."

"Send me back," Koneko said, moving through the massive teleportation circle painted onto the floor of the gym. She was still wearing her Boosted Gear Armor, though it looked mussed and dented, and the normally almost unemotional girl sounded angry. "Send me back. I will help Fa, I will help Harry."

As a massive attack went on elsewhere in Kuoh, Rias winced, feeling the magic reverberate in the ether of the dimensional bubble. "No, I don't think that's a good idea. I think Harry's got Kokabiel covered, at least for now. We need to concentrate on the battle as a whole. Which means I'm going to send you against the largest remaining groups of Fallen." She said, biting on her lip to keep from smiling as she realized what Koneko seemed to have wanted to call Harry there. Now was not the time for such thoughts.

"Mm…umu," Koneko said, nodding her helmeted head gravely. "Then let's do this and then we will all pile on that ten-winged crow!"

She held out a hand, and Rias slapped it with her own, grinning now, elation filling her. _Oh yes, we're winning this!_

Over the next thirty minutes as Harry and Kokabiel shifted from their hand to hand duel to throwing out the magic that demolished whole blocks, Rias, with the aid of Tonks, Montoya, and Sona, slowly turned the battle into a complete rout for the attackers. Despite the ongoing drain on her mental reserves causing her a nasty headache, Rias continued to teleport their forces around bringing overwhelming force down to eradicate the few remaining large groups one after another. With a newly healed Koneko leading the way in her Balance Breaker form and with a rage on for having been beaten so easily, these fights were short and nasty, for the Fallen at least.

Fallen were not, generally speaking, fools. Few of them even among this group of warmongers were so lost to battle lust that they didn't know they were losing this fight. Seeing Koneko literally tearing their fellows apart and with their leader embroiled in his own personal battle, unable to bring his influence or will to bear, the Fallen angels broke Groups of them quickly began trying to escape the dimensional bubble, but they were being hunted down by Mittelt and most of the Onmyouji, all of whom were now flying using their Origami Beasts.

Kalawarner, Montoya, Tonks, Husukai, and Yubelluna lead hit and run attacks against the one remaining large group that still had any willingness to fight. As that group tried to split its attention between all the different attacks, Rias then sent Akeno along with Sona and Tsubaki straight in to kill the last Fallen who they had seen which had eight wings and seemed to be any sort of leader.

And even as the overall battle started to come to an end, two things happened. One, someone arrived outside the dimensional bubble and smashed their way into it with all the grace of an axe through a door. And two, the battle between Harry and Kokabiel came to an end in a rather abrupt fashion.

 **OOOOOOO**

Often in battles or even war, it is not the side which fights the best or is the strongest or better led. It sometimes comes down to endurance and the ability to take a hit and keep on coming. Thus it was with the battle between Kokabiel and Harry.

Twice Harry had attempted to disappear behind his invisibility. Kokabiel responded by zooming into the sky faster than Harry could track thanks to Excalibur Rapidly, then blasting out area effect spells, forcing Harry to either teleport away or counter, revealing himself. Several times he tried to use his own apparition ability, but Kokabiel's skill with his Light Magic allowed him to shift one Light Magic blade into a shield with the speed of thought. Tranfiguration worked to distract, but no beast he called into being could really hurt Kokabiel and his attemtps to use transfigured needles or swords as artillery hadn't worked, Kokabiel simply smashing them to peices or ignoring the wounds they caused, which healed an instant later.

Worse for Harry, Kokabiel had somehow added something to his Light Magic that caused it to sear into Harry's body like silver. He could overcome the pain of it, but it was causing him more pain than he had felt sparring with Sirzechs, making him barely able to formulate spells at times, let alone tactics.

His Light Magic also seemed able to just overwhelm Harry's low and mid-grade magic and he knew enough about Wizard-type magic to know when to dodge his more powerful attacks, up to and including Fiendfyre. The result of one such spellcasting was dancing merrily alongside Harry's current position, burning everything down to the bedrock of the ground beneath them as they continually clashed in the air above a series of offices and restaurants. And whenever Harry attempted illusion magic, Kokabiel would also disappear into his own invisibility, flummoxing Harry until another wide area attack spell flew out of nowhere to nearly blast Harry into pieces.

This wasn't to say, however, that Harry wasn't having any luck, and he seemed to be wearing Kokabiel down slowly, tagging him more often as the fight continued. Kokabiel's magical endurance was slowly being ground away. He had also, through the haze of his agony, noticed a pattern. For all his seeming insanity, it was Kokabiel's experience that was really letting him keep up with Harry. And when Harry did something he couldn't anticipate, his defense faltered.

The instant that thought occurred to him, Harry dropped all pretense of defending himself and flung himself towards Kokabiel as he came out from behind his invisibility once more. This allowed the Light magic blade and a few barely formed spells to hit him, but Harry endured the agony to take the offensive physically for the first time in this battle as he closed with Kokabiel through the Fallen's attacks, shielding only his face and chest. "AGGGHHHH!" Harry screamed in pain, even as he kept moving forward, bearing through the agony to keep his attention on creating a series of magical spells at the back of his mind to let loose in a massive spell-chain.

This seemed to throw Kokabiel aback, but then, just as he was recovering and looked to be regaining his equilibrium, Harry stopped and shifted entirely to the defensive for a brief moment, backing away and out of the way of a series of slashing attacks that would have finished him. Conjuring up a Protego in front of himself he shouted "Kinzouku Arashi (Metal Storm)!"

Once more from all around them bits and pieces of metal among the rubble flew into the air towards Kokabiel, and since the two of them had added to that rubble a lot, so this assault was far bigger than the one Harry had used to start the fight. He still redirected or simply melted most of them, but it took him aback. This let Harry land an actual clean hit, although the spell he used was anything but clean. In fact, if you asked a lot of people, certainly those who had been hit by it, this spell was rather Dark, for all you didn't need to feel hate or anger to use it. "Sectumsempra!"

The spell smashed into Kokabiel's hastily raised hand and splintered against his magical aura, his visible sign of his magical resistance only to keep it's cutting 'form', the magic splinters of it slicing into Kokabiel like hundreds of thrown daggers, shredding his clothing and a goodly portion of the skin underneath, as well as the Fallen's raised arm. Hissing in agony even as his healing ability went to work, Kokabiel stopped grinning his mad grin for the first time in this fight, his red eyes narrowing in his thin, sallow face.

He blocked Harry's follow up spell chain but was blasted back, nearly losing his foot and then crying out in real pain after he deflected one spell. The next spell-chain was aimed not at Kokabiel, but the weapon in his hand, the clone of Excalibur Transparency.

This was the only successful copy of that particular Excalibur fragment which Valper Galilei had been able to create for his master. Kokabiel had, of course, wielded it himself, and his use of it had flummoxed Rias's initial attempts at finding him, allowing him to move around the battlefield at will. The series of overpowered Bombarda and Reducto acid and rust creating spells smashed into the blade and the Light Magic surrounding it, blasting through into the blade. An instant later the copy of Excalibur Transparency exploded itself, it's bits and pieces melting into nothingness as it did.

At the same time, Harry tossed four talisman to the other side of Kokabiel, catching him by surprise even as he shielded his body from further direct attack with that hand. The talisman ignited in a single explosion, sending Kokabiel sideways while Harry prepared a more powerful spell, deciding to use Fiendfyre again. Only a wide area blast of his Light Magic saved Kokabiel, smashing out toward Harry and forcing him to cancel that spell in favor of a hastily raised shield.

When the smoke from the explosion cleared, Kokabiel stood there, his shirt and jacket gone, one of his wings a flaming mess of scorched feathers and a glare on his face that had sent lesser enemies screaming. He hefted two massive Light spears I the form of broadswords, crossing them in front of him as he glared death at Harry. "No more of your insults, wizard!"

He launched himself forward, cleaving, but Harry was not where he had thought, having used that moment to once more disappear under his mist, leaving behind an illusion. He sliced through the apparition in front of him only for it to disappear and for him to step on some kind of talisman. From the talisman below his feet came dozens of water tentacles, which tried to bind him in place.

From behind him, Harry struck before Kokabiel could recover again, getting in a single clean cutting spell which sliced off one wing from Kokabiel's back before he turned, smashing the next few magical spells to flinders, getting cut in turn as more than one had been the same Dark-aligned spell as before but also nearly cutting Harry in two. But Harry cast a shield in front of him, then caused it to light up in a blast of searing purple light.

When Kokabiel's eyes cleared, his enemy was gone, hidden under another illusion and Kokabiel screamed in frustration. "Damn you, wizard! I will have your blood for this!" With that last word, Kokabiel flew into the air, blasting his dwindling magic in every direction again sphere of smashing magic that impacted the rubble beneath them and shattered buildings, crushing them one into another for blocks all around. Only this time this attack caught Harry up in it, crushing his leg and hurling him backward with a cry of pain, the pain of it causing Harry to release his grip on Fragarach.

Instantly Kokabiel was on him, Excalibur Rapidly once more in one hand giving him an immense burst in speed. His silver-tinged Light Spear stabbed into Harry's side as he tried to roll away. But Harry's leg was trapped in the rubble that Kokabiel's latest attack had caused and he couldn't get away as Kokabiel carved his blade deeper into Harry's side. "Die mortal!" Kokabiel shrieked making to bring another blade down.

With the excruciating pain baring down on him Harry barely had a moment to think. He somehow created a Protego around his hand and reached up, catching the descending blade in his hand, grasping it there. This quickly became a contest of strength which Harry seemingly threw his whole body into it as Kokabiel did the same. But while Kokabiel was grinning viciously down at him, anticipating the time when Harry's Protego would fail and his hand cut in twain, while also working the spear already in Harry's side, Harry reached out mentally to Fragarach.

It wasn't after all, just a weapon, it was part of him, with its physical body only a representation of the image in his head. With a roar he thrust up with the hand blocking Kokabiel's downward strike, pushing himself off the rubble for just a second, his other hand up and aiming. "Grahhh!"

Even from so close Kokabiel somehow had time to react thanks to Excalibur Rapidly. He canceled both his attacks and leaped into the air to dodge over the attack, but it didn't come. Instead, Harry had faked that attack, then reached out with another magic spell and he shouted, "Crucio!"

This Dark spell was one Harry had no wish to ever use in front of anyone else outside the wizarding community, and indeed wouldn't have used it now, but he was angry and in a hell of a lot of pain himself, the wound in his side only slowly healing thanks to the silver element Kokabiel had somehow added to his blades. It targeted the soul, causing direct pain, agony in fact, to the target's soul, something that even most Devils or Fallen would have felt too vile to contemplate. Most magicals, wizard, Onmyouji, Youkai or of the Three Factions could not protect their souls from a direct assault like this, only the higher ranking among them knew to do so or had the power to.

Kokabiel had both, but as Harry had known when he launched his initial crazy attack, Kokabiel's magical endurance had been very close to breaking, whatever the Fallen might have thought himself. So while his magical resistance did block a lot of the spell, enough came through to cause him to scream in agony, his body spasming in in a rictus as if he had just been electrocuted, his wings no longer able to keep him in the air.

He crashed to the ground and as the pain faded, he dazedly took note of a streaking blue white form racing towards him in the distance coming towards them. Then, before he could push through the lingering agony Harry was above him.

Even as he looked up at the human through bleary, pain-filled red eyes, Fragarach slammed down towards him in spear form. "Peirce through, Fragarach." Harry intoned, his voice almost calm as he dealt what he knew would be the final blow with one arm while the other held his still horribly wounded side.

Desperately Kokabiel gathered his energies in an effort to block the blow head-on, having no chance to roll clear even if his tortured body would have allowed that. But as he had feared throughout the battle, this proved useless now.

The power of Fragarach was such that it could overcome any defense if the wielder so willed it as Sirzechs and Riser had found out before this. Now the leaf-shaped head of the magical spear of Manannan mac Lir punched straight through Kokabiel's hastily raised Light shield, piercing the Fallen Angel of the Stars right through the neck and out the other side.

 **OOOOOOO**

The artificial dimension's edge nearly shattered as Vali Lucifer slammed into it, almost popping it like a bubble it resembled. Then he hit the wards, which while painful didn't slow him down much, being badly depleted by the battle that had already occurred.

He neared the sight where he could sense the last of the Fallen Angels dying, and scowled pouring on more speed. But before he could get there, several Power of Destruction blasts flashed towards him from nowhere, little teleportation circles appearing in midair and then disappearing an instant later.

"Divine Dividing!" Vali shouted, slamming his fist into them one after another grinning as his powers halved, then halved again the destructive potential of the attack. What remained hit him, but barely knocked him backward in the air. But it did slow him down. Despite his speed, he barely arrived within sight of Kokabiel and his opponent in time to shout, "Stop!" Even as he launched a blast of magical power from one hand he knew it would arrive too late to stop Kokabiel's killer.

But Harry would not have listened even if Vali had been able to explain why killing Kokabiel was a bad idea. After all, Harry certainly didn't think it was. He simply continued his attack, the spear slamming into Kokabiel right through the neck. An instant later he tore the spearpoint out to the side, almost decapitating the former Angel of the Stars and dodged to the side as Vali's attack passed through where he had been standing.

As Vali stared at this sight, he felt excitement rising within him. Kokabiel's death could be bad news in terms of the Grigori and their reaction perhaps, to say nothing of the fact he couldn't sense more than a handful of lesser Fallen alive in the area. But this was what he wanted, what he wanted to see, violence, carnage, a challenge.

He twisted around though as a Devil suddenly appeared to one side glaring at him. Then others appeared one after another, all the survivors of the fight gathering, more than a hundred local Onmyouji, more than two dozen Youkai, and the peerages of both Gremory and Sitri heirs. Several of them, the Gremory girl and an armored form in gleaming crimson and red, moved to stand directly with the man who had just killed Kokabiel despite their seeming exhaustion, followed by many of the others while the rest moved to encircle him in concentric spheres, around and above.

The Onmyouji had brought more than two hundred men into this fight. Thanks to Rias teleporting them away from danger and Asia's improved Twilight Healing, more than a hundred and seventy were still alive. The Youkai had brought seventy men and women into the fight, and though their losses were worse for the side of their force, still more than forty were still alive.

But even that wouldn't have been enough to turn Vali's battle lust away. Even Harry turning towards him, his spear still black with the blood of his Fallen opponent wouldn't have bothered him, if anything it would've made him more excited to challenge the man in front of him. The sight of the Boosted Gear in Balance Breaker form on one of the locals was the cherry on top.

But then, another woman shifted to stand with them, one with blue skin and multi-colored blue hair, with a blue dragon tail lashing out this way and that behind her. She flew through the air hovering several feet off the rubble-strewn battlefield, her eyes blazing with power, an aura of blue-flecked flame around her as she glared angrily at Vali.

At the sight of her and the aura, she was putting out Albion started to shout a warning from where it was on the Vali's back. While DDraig was a gauntlet, Albion's Sacred Gear form was two white metallic-looking wings. Blue energy membranes in formed the wings, five to a side where they poked up and out from either of Vali's shoulders. _"Goddamnit Albion I'm busy, what's wrong!?"_ Vali growled mentally, his pulse racing, his eyes dilating in near ecstasy.

 ** _"We're not fighting here,"_** Albion said bluntly. **" _This is one fight I do not want to pick."_**

 _"What! They're weakened! We could take them. I might not have agreed with why Kokabiel wanted to restart the fight, but here they are, strong opponents for me! And you want me to back away!"_ Vali replied, incredulous.

 ** _We could beat her alone yes, maybe. We might beat that wizard alone yes, though he doesn't feel all that weakened magically to me, despite his wounds. But I've never dealt with an angry woman before who didn't have a power multiplied by a factor of fifty thanks to her rage. But they would no doubt work together and with everyone else here. This is not a fight we should be picking, not now."_**

For a moment Vali didn't understand why Albion was calling the spear wielder a wizard. Surely that was some kind of Sacred Gear, perhaps one of the Longinus?

But then Sona Sitri growled out, "What are you doing here Vali, son of Azazel?" pushing her glasses up her weary, sweat-streaked face as she glared at him. "Has the Governor-General joined with Kokabiel in his madness and sent you to help them? You're a little late if so," she said, her tone turning dry as she gestured towards the battlefield all around them.

"No," Vali said, holding up his hands peaceably, conquering his desire to challenge himself against tough opponents with a considerable amount of difficulty. "No," he said again. We learned of Kokabiel's attack on you almost the instant it occurred, and I was sent to take him into custody."

"Just him?" Mittelt taunted, gesturing around her at the battlefield as Sona had a moment ago. "Really? The lives of his Legion don't matter at all to the Great Pervert?"

"I believe he felt that if I captured the king, his pawns would surrender. Evidently, that is… no longer an issue." Vali looked around, carefully taking in all of the different groups and people that had taken part in this fight, shaking his head as he considered what this was telling him. Whether they had intended to or not, Rias, Sona, and Potter had created an entirely new power block here, one that his employer needed to be told about. _Both my employer's I think_. _I doubt that even Ophis knows about the true strength of this group._

In this, he was entirely wrong. Ophis had a very good idea of that. This was why Kuroka had snuck into the area and observed bits and pieces of the fight, including Harry and Kokabiel's showdown. She was currently nearby watching all of this with interest, hidden under her cat transformation and salivating, both physically and mentally, at the power Harry had shown her. Despite that, she had a little timer in her mind and was going to get the heck out of there before the scary wards recovered.

"What is it with you people and your obsession with chess?" Harry muttered shaking his head. The younger man in front of him was giving off very dangerous vibes, but Harry had dealt with such people his entire life, he wasn't about to back away now. "But you would be correct in that. I take it that your employer expects us to believe that you all just misplaced a full Legion?"

"Believe it or not, but four thousand Fallen Angels can slowly be pulled away from their various jobs worldwide and then gathered again without anyone really realizing why for a time. We're a very disorganized spread out group," Vali replied dryly.

"Then perhaps Azazel should be doing something about that?" Tiamat replied tartly. She had not taken her eyes away from Albion on Vali's arm, and the apprehension Albion was feeling at her presence was throwing Vali off.

"Lord Azazel will not be pleased with what happened here. Whatever his provocations towards you, Kokabiel was high up in our ranks. I was meant to take them back and try him under our laws." Vali said coolly.

"Why should we care about your laws when his offense was against us?" Rias asked tartly.

Sona nodded at that, gesturing at Husukai and then Rias and Harry. "Indeed. Further, what sovereign nation would turn over a mass murderer and attempted terrorist to his home country after he committed crimes on that nation's soil?"

"Because killing him could restart the war just as much as this attack could have if it had succeeded," the White Dragon Emperor stated. He didn't particularly care, but he thought that this one would. She smelled like a peacemonger to him. "There will be repercussions for this."

"We merely defended ourselves as anyone attacked could." Sona retorted. The fact that this attack would well have been overwhelming, almost utterly unstoppable without Harry Potter and everything that had shifted with his arrival and involvement with them, was niggling at the back of Sona's head, and making her blunter then she would normally be.

Rias nodded sharp agreement with her friend, adding, "Besides, this isn't the first time we've had to clean up your faction's messes! Do a better job of policing yourselves before pointing fingers at us. You can tell that old pervert that and remember that in the future if you attack us here, we won't be pulling any punches whatever the repercussions afterward."

At that Vali Lucifer grinned, which elicited a growl from Tiamat, causing Divine Dividing to pull him away backwards and causing him to stop grinning instantly. "I will remember that and relay your comments," he said calmly and. "But Lord Azazel would still like to know what exactly happened here."

"We can give you a memory of the battle from the perspective of one of the combatants, and his head," Harry said decisively. "Beyond that, this Azazael cock will just have to be happy for the fact that we do believe Kokabiel acted on his own and thus don't intend to demand reparations."

"I will convey that to Lord Azazel," Vali said bowing his head again. He then turned, moving over to the body and efficiently finishing the job Harry had begun chopping the head off with a single strike of his armored forearm. He dumped it into a bag at his side before turning to stare at the armor clad Koneko, though he could only vaguely make out the fact she was a female underneath the armor let alone her identity. "And you, you and I will meet again soon my destined rival. Grow stronger, it would give me no pleasure to crush a weakling."

"Fuck off psycho," Koneko retorted, her deadpan tone sounding almost sepulchral in her armor, aided by being amplified by Ddraig's power. "You might like fighting but that doesn't mean I want to become your enabler. Get your fix somewhere else." In her head Ddraig began to laugh loudly and Harry and Rias, who had both been about to move to defend her, stopped and laughed too.

Vali, however, just smirked. "So you have spirit at least, good! But no one can fight their destiny woman. As inheritors of the two Dragon Emperors, our fate is to meet in battle. Embrace it, or else you'll never survive." With that, he turned away from them, sprouting wings and flying off.

"Well that just happened," Issei muttered, touching his throat and shuddering as he stared to where Kokabiel's body lay.

"Could we have won against him if he'd fought us here and now, do you think?" Rias asked looking over at Harry.

Harry though looked over to the multicolored Dragon, who nodded. "He is strong, powerful, and Divine Dividing gives him an edge, but I think given our numbers, and the disparate types of magic and abilities we all could bring to bear yes we could've won. I personally have fought Albion to a standstill once or twice myself. Not often, mind you, but it can be done. This Vali though, he feels dangerous. I do not know enough about him, or his bond with the White Dragon Emperor to tell you."

Anyone wielding one of the Longinus type Sacred Gears was dangerous, deadly beyond all reason whatever his personal power before he awakened those weapons. But if Vali himself was strong as Tiamat was saying, that made him even more dangerous.

"Well," Sona said with a sigh. "Now that that is cleared up…" She looked over to Rias, who nodded, and gestured the two exorcists over to them. "I take it you've gathered your swords?"

Both of them nodded, but Xenovia said, "Indeed, we've claimed all the heathen copies of Excalibur Rapidly, all fifty of them." Those had been deadly in the hands of their Fallen wielders, but later in the battle, they had also been treated as magical items wielded against the defenders by the wards and more than one of them had simply melted, the magic in them going haywire when the wards slowly regained their power. We still don't know where this scientist or the human faction that was part of Kokabiel's legion is hidden, however."

"That is your business. They are not inside our territory, which means finding them is your job." Sona said coolly. "I trust however that neither of you harbors any concerns on our having been the ones to steal them now?"

Irina nodded, holding two holy swords before placing them into her special pouch and grinning. "Nope. And now that we've recovered them, we can even call home and ask for help in pursuing Valper Gallelei without being disgraced."

"How nice for you," Sona said rolling her eyes slightly. "Please do so as you are leaving our Kuoh. You have finished your objective, and to put it bluntly, despite the fact that you helped in this fight and seems to have mellowed, you have not made friends here." Her lips quirked. "In other words, your welcome here is over, get off our lawn."

As Sona finished speaking Rias sent Kiba a wink, something that calmed him down from where he was going to protest letting the two Exorcists alone try to find Valper and anyone else who might have helped Kokabiel in the background. No, Rias well knew that they needed someone along with the two bull-in-a-China-shop Exorcists on this search. But before that, they wanted these two exorcists out of their hair, and they would have to deal with the rest of the aftermath of this fight. Only after that was over would Kiba and a few others be allowed to hunt this Valper fellow down.

None of them, not even Vali, noticed the small black cat racing away through the shadows towards the edge of the dimensional bubble. Kuroka had a plan now to make contact with Harry Potter, it only remained to be seen if her read of the man was accurate.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

The Fight between Kokabiel and Harry was tough, but I feel that Kokabiel's experience, adaptability and his use of the Excalibur fragments would actually pair better against Harry's style than someone who uses overwhelming force Like Sirzechs. The battle was really in doubt numerous times, and it came down to who could bear the pain better.

I also gave numerous hints on how the overall plot is going to go, hope that most of you at least noticed those LOL, as well as Kala getting together with Harry and Yubelluna's worship-based powers.

As always if you liked the chapter, please leave a review.


	14. Chapter 14

Yo, so this story took second place in last month's poll, but then grew quite a bit. Still here we are. HOpe you all enjoy it, and the hints of upcoming events a sprinkle in liberally LOL.

This has been edited by **Michael Duggan** , **Nad Destroyer** , and **Primordial Vortex** has also given it a read through for me. Thank all three of them for their help, and I hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

 **Chapter 14: A Werewolf, a God, and a Priest Walk into a Bar…**

Whatever anyone was going to say after the two Exorcists left the immediate area was left unsaid for at least a few minutes because other things took priority. Specifically, Koneko took Harry's priority as she rushed Harry the instant the two Exorcists left, unable to hold in her reaction any longer. Harry gave out a loud "Ooof!" as the short but currently armored Nekoshou slammed into his waist, taking Harry off his feet, as he hadn't attempted to set his feet before she slammed into him.

Before they had settled the armor around her disappeared, which was something of a relief to Harry, given that Koneko was now sitting on his waist. The Boosted Gear shifted into its normal gauntlet form on her arm as the girl hugged Harry tightly, muttering, "I'm sorry; I'm sorry," into his shoulder. "Sorry I let you fight that asshole on your own. Sorry I couldn't get back to help. Should've done better!"

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Harry sat up as he hugged her back, stroking her back and the top of her head with gentle fingers while the Nekoshou settled into his lap, her legs on either side of his. His wry smile widened as he felt her body, almost against her will, untense at his touch, a purr building up, but she kept it from appearing just yet despite his fingers working their magic on her little cat ears.

"I never expected you to come back, Koneko. I knew the moment you left, that you'd have other priorities. You, like Rias, had to keep your eyes on the main battle." He shrugged then, his smile turning somewhat vindictive for a second. "Besides, when you come right down to it, I wanted to personally eviscerate him for his attack on you. It's a little selfish of me, I know, that his attack on you mattered more than the rest, but there you go," Harry quipped, winking at her.

At that the last of Koneko's tension left her body, and her purr became quite audible to Harry's enhanced senses. However, things got a little awkward a second later as she took a deep breath through both her mouth and nose. Doing so, Koneko couldn't stop herself from breathing in Harry's smell. It was a deep, heady, earthy aroma, an exceptionally masculine smell, which invaded her senses.

Koneko couldn't stop it; her body started to move of its own accord, her waist starting to shift and drive back and forth, humping her core against Harry's waist without any input on the part of her brain. The heat within her built instantly, and her purr turned deeper, her eyes becoming half-lidded.

To his credit, Harry realized something was off almost instantly, and, despite the rather pleasurable feelings radiating out from his lower half at this kind of contact, he pushed Koneko away, holding her upper body away from his at arm's length. "Are you all right, Koneko?" he asked, his eyes drawn together as her lower half continued to try to hump against his. This was not something he expected from the younger girl.

Standing to one side, Rias had sent everyone else a ways off to let Koneko and Harry have their private moment, but she was close enough to see what was going on. As Koneko began to color red in mortification, Rias quickly moved over and, with a barely whispered word of power, teleported Koneko off of Harry and into the girls' dormitory on the clan's shared property. "Sorry about that, Harry," she said, shaking her head. "It looks as if someone has forgotten to take her medicine. Ooh, she is going to be so embarrassed it isn't even funny."

"What?" Harry asked, blinking. "What does medicine have to do with…"

"Ah, um, well… Nekoshou share many attributes with cats, of course, including some body issues that are not as obvious as their physical characteristics. And Koneko-chan's springtime has come again this year," Rias said, as delicately as she could. Koneko was going to be embarrassed enough without her being blunt about her condition with Harry, of all people. Even Akeno, who had also noticed some of what was happening, wasn't so cruel as to make things worse for the young Nekoshou.

Harry blinked, then let loose a sound that sounded as if he had a frog stuck in his throat. "Rah…wh… um…"

Rias nodded, touching him lightly on the cheek and then down to his jaw. "I have to say, I'm quite happy that you have such tremendous self-control, my love."

"You know I would never!" Harry started, looking affronted.

"I know, Harry," she said with a faint smile, leaning down to give him a light kiss on the forehead on his lightning bolt scar before standing back and helping him to his feet. "I know. But even so, a bodily reaction wouldn't have been anything most could've stopped, especially after a fight, when your blood is already pumping hotly."

"Yeah, no," Harry said, shuddering. _That would've been the most awkward stiffy ever, of all time. Thank the stars that all the blood and dust around here has completely killed my sense of smell in human form. I don't know if I would have been able to control myself if I smelled someone in heat while in werewolf form._

With the awkward moment over, Harry and Rias had to turn to the serious side of things. She looked over at her family—minus Koneko, obviously—as well as at Sona and her peerage, and then around at their allies. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid that before we do anything else, we have to go around and gather the bodies. If we don't find them before this dimensional bubble pops, they will simply drop out in the matching area."

Everyone grimaced at that idea, and Husukai put it into words. "That is no fair way for those who died here to be treated." He looked around at the younger men and women around him, smacking his hands together. "Let us go and gather our dead, comrades, my fellow Senshi (warriors)." Montoya too nodded, and the two leaders turned away, organizing their people into search teams while also getting into contact with their remaining fellows.

The majority of those fellows were at Kuoh academy—or rather, the dimensional bubble's version—and were in no fair state to help. Indeed, there were far more wounded then those still combat capable, something only Rias, having been directing the overall battle, had understood until this point. This meant recovering the dead and, alas, their body parts, would be a long, emotionally arduous process.

As Harry turned to join this effort, though, Rias grabbed his shoulder, pulling him to a stop. "You realize that most of the people who died here were among the Onmyouji?"

"I know that," Harry said with a sigh. "They repaid our friendship and any kind of debt of honor they thought they owed us. Hell, they've put us badly in their debt. I realize, technically speaking, this area is part of Japan, but they had basically ceded it to you and Sona before I ever showed up. They didn't have to fight with us here, especially after the full strength of the attack became known. We, we owe them."

Breathing a sigh of relief that Harry understood that part, Rias nodded. "So we need to, to repay them somehow, to extend the communication between us, the **understanding** between us. And that has to come from you," she said, putting a special emphasis on the word 'understanding.'

Harry caught that and understood what she meant, but had to frown at the other aspect of what Rias had just said. "Why me?"

"Because you're one of them," Rias replied simply. "You're human, or, technically speaking, were, and are still counted among humanity, anyway," she corrected allowing a smile to flit across her face. "Sona and I are Devils. From the Onmyodo government's perspective, we're also interlopers, who, from a certain light, seem to have claimed a part of Sacred Nippon. Perhaps we could be seen as honored interlopers, but we are still outsiders. Trust me, I've made a study of the Onmyouji society since the New Year's ceremony we went to."

"But I'm a foreigner. How is that…"

"But you are human, as I said. And, Harry, you've stamped your personality on this in such a way that they can understand: in the wards we've put up under your direction. You, Harry, are just as much a leader here in Kuoh as we are. Furthermore, not to put too fine a point on it, you're a man. The Onmyodo are almost as male-dominated as the business world is here in Japan. Moreover, it's because of you that we have opened dialogues with them and with the Youkai Association. No, Harry", she said more softly, touching his cheek as she knew this went against how Harry really preferred to view himself. "It has to come from you."

Harry sighed, catching her hand with his and kissing her palm, looking Rias in the eyes. "I'd rather just be a father rather than anything else."

Rias smiled sadly as she leaned into Harry, her head against his shoulder as she felt his arms move around her, hugging her gently. "And I'd rather be head of my clan and a mother, but we can't always choose what hats we wear."

"No, we can't, can we?" Harry said with a sigh. "This attack, it was a hell of a lot bigger than any of us expected, but we still dealt with it. The wards, what we did there, the mix of magic that makes them so potent. The allies that we have created over time, starting with Yasaka and the Youkai Association and now the Onmyouji. We, we really can't just be parents or family or anything like that anymore, can we?"

Rias shook her head, and Harry sighed faintly. "How do you get me to agree to these things?"

"I don't," Rias replied honestly, leaning back and winking at him before leaning up and capturing his lips with hers as she whispered, "I just point things out and let your common sense do the rest. A soft sell, so to speak."

When they pulled back, Harry nodded at her, and Rias could see the new understanding, the new realization that he could no longer just be a father, teacher, lover, and occasional warrior sink in. That he once more had to assume a mantle of leadership, one that went beyond their extended family, or perhaps even beyond their little slice of earth here in Kuoh. He stared over her head in thought for a few moments while Rias observed his expression, smiling faintly at his intense look, pride in him filling her, as well as a renewed sense of love. He didn't want to do this, she knew, but she also knew that he would do it well regardless, and that made her love and respect him more.

Finally he looked down at her, his eyes smiling at her even as his lips formed into a small, grim line. "Leave it to me, love. I think I have just the thing. But can I borrow Akeno for a bit? And Suzaku? And I might have to ask you and Sona to prepare your own parts of this later."

"Certainly. As for Akeno and Suzaku, I believe they both went off that way," Rias said, pointing to the east of their current position.

Harry nodded, turned in that direction, and moved off, flying away through the air after the two Himejima women towards Kuoh Academy.

Nearby, Sona, who had arrived with her peerage on the heels of Vali's attack on Harry, had remained behind after sending the rest of her peerage off, coordinating the search efforts with Husukai and Montoya. Now Rias immediately moved over to help, also thanking their allies still present there for joining them. Montoya had left one of his fellow Monkey Youkai, and Husukai had left a young Shinsengumi, her arm in a sling, to help coordinate search efforts between their forces.

As she worked with them, Rias could see a growing sense of awe and shock in what they had done making its way through the two of them now that the battle was over, something she knew would be happening in practically all of their allies and, indeed, in many of the Devils and Clan Potter members themselves. No one had expected the sheer number of Fallen Angels right up until the moment it became too late for most of them to back out. They should have lost. A full legion of Fallen against less than three hundred mixed humanoids? They should have lost, or at the very least been forced to rely on Tiamat far more than they had.

But the wards had proved the tipping point, again and again coming into play. And further, the power of Sona, Rias, Harry, Tiamat, even Koneko and the rest, had proven to be more than enough to overwhelm the Fallen. It wouldn't have been if they had faced the Fallen Legion alone, but with their allies they had, and those allies knew it. They knew it and knew that they had been part of something amazing. They had lost people, friends, and even loved ones. But all of them knew they had died to stop even more people from dying in the future, and that was enough for now.

The search continued, moving out from the place where Harry and Kokabiel had had their battle. About fifteen minutes later word spread slowly to take all the dead to the Shinto temple in the west that was one of the five pillars of the ward system. The Shinsengumi and the Monkey Youkai Rias and Sona were working with left at that point to help further there.

This left the two Kings alone for a moment, and Sona slowly pulled off her glasses, wiping away at them with a piece of cloth for as she stared at her friend. "I am, of course, happy that we won and gleeful that we won in such a manner. But I'm also concerned. With this the Onmyodo government might be forced to choose a side or stand on its own, a fourth side, with the rest of the wizarding population of the world coming in with them, learning about the Three Factions and vice-versa. That could be dangerous, very dangerous."

"There is already a fourth side, Sona," Rias said with a sigh. "The Khaos Brigade, remember? Besides which, I think we've already formed our fifth power bloc, haven't we? Our two peerages, Harry and his family, and the Youkai Association. And now…the Onmyodo."

"But the Onmyodo don't have any formal agreement with us," Sona said, still looking worried even as she acknowledged Rias's points. "And I don't know if they have much love for us either. The Onmyouji will wake up from their isolation due to today's work, and the world will find that they are stronger than we gave them credit for, those who knew about them at all. But it is what they will do with that strength that worries me as much as the reaction from the Three Factions to that knowledge."

Rias, however, simply smiled at her friend, patting her gently on the shoulder. "Don't worry. Let Harry handle it; he's got a plan."

"And do you have any idea what the plan is?" Sona asked.

"Nope," the statuesque redhead said with a grin. "I just know I trust him to figure one out."

With that, they too left the area of the initial search effort, moving out to aid in carrying the dead and wondering what would happen from here on. "After all," Rias said during a lull as they moved on from one small battlefield to another, "it isn't just the Onmyouji but ourselves which will be put on the map by this day's work. An entire legion of Fallen not only defeated, not only beaten off, but annihilated? There are, as far as I know, only ten legions worth of Fallen to begin with, which mean they just lost a full tenth of their population. _"_

"Admittedly, the Fallen don't really constitute a nation or anything so organized, but even so there will be repercussions for this amount of violence," Sona said, nodding to indicate that she too understood that number to be accurate. "We have created a power base here that is well beyond anything else on Earth. Oh, Rome, of course, with all of the holy magic contained therein, could be likened to it. And in Hell, perhaps the Grigori's position in Malebolge and the Congress of Clan's Basilica."

That edifice, which was designed somewhat like the Coliseum of Rome, was built on top of a giant citadel, a copy of the tower of Babylon. It was built, rumor said, over the resting place of the original Lucifer, the first Devil. The rather gaudy structure was built in the direct center of Hell and thrust up through three of Hell's levels. It was where meetings between the Devil clans occurred and where much of the bureaucracy that truly ran the Devil-controlled portions of Hell was housed. As such it was the central position of the Devils' government.

"But there is nothing else which the three factions are aware of that is as powerfully defended as Kuoh is now," Sona continued, thinking, _And Rome is the only such position on Earth proper, something that might have been somewhat deliberately planned before this. That too could have interesting implications._

"I would argue that the wizarding world in Europe that Harry comes from would be the same," Rias replied with a slight shrug of her elbows.

"Perhaps defensively, considering that no one outside of those hidden wards of their can find even their more isolated places," Sona replied, having asked her sister to look into that very thing. To hear that even Serafall, who for all her silliness was just as skilled as she was powerful, could not find those wards let alone get through them, had been somewhat disturbing. "But offensively?"

Both heiresses looked at each other and then stopped on a nearby rooftop. There they reached out with their magical senses out past the bubble that they were still within to the real world beyond, feeling the wards already growing back to their original strength. "The wards we have helped to create here are like a giant slumbering dog," Sona said thoughtfully, looking at Rias with her eyes twinkling behind her glasses. "Tired but slowly regaining energy and getting ready to wake up again."

Rias giggled at that, but her giggle ended abruptly as the two of them moved over to a nearby building that had been destroyed utterly, where several Onmyouji were trying to pull bodies out of the rubble. "True, but even with them, we still lost people. We can never forget that."

Elsewhere, Husukai was also thinking about the wards and what they could mean, not only for the locals, but for himself and his fellow Onmyouji. Rias had been correct when she had said that the Onmyouji had not really fought because they thought they still owed Harry, Rias, and Akeno. Nor had they fought because they thought war against the Khaos Brigade might again spill over into their own world. No, they had fought because, while Harry, Rias and Sona might have claimed ownership of this land, this was still Japan. Still their land, and the Shinsengumi would sooner die to a man rather than see such as the Fallen take this land by force.

But it was already too late for that, in a way. Oh, they had certainly beaten off the Fallen Angels, but those wards, they implied a sense of ownership that was far beyond anything a conqueror could have done. The land itself had welcomed them on a magical level, and the Onmyodo would have to acknowledge that in some fashion.

 _And yet, and yet, if I have read Harry and Rias correctly, there might be more here for us. There might well be a future here, one our people need to be a part of. Or else we might be left behind by young Harry and his new power bloc, and that would never do._ That need to progress was why the Onmyouji had always embraced the use of technology and could work a few wonders with it, although even with that, there had been little true change on the magical side of things _. And even in comparison to that, even working with the non-magical government, this, this mixing of different magics, this mixing of people, it could be something great!_

A moment later Momo found Husukai and relayed Harry's plans for a group funeral to him. He agreed to pass on word to the families of the dead, wondering if, perhaps, this could be what he was hoping for.

 **OOOOOOO**

Arriving at the copy of Kuoh to look for Akeno and Suzaku, Harry found Asia outside near the football field. She had stayed in the gym the entire battle, healing wounded that had been teleported away by Rias during the battle, including the mortally wounded: men and women who should have died and would have without her ministrations. Indeed, at present there were a lot of those around the place, slapping backs and exchanging stories as soldiers would after a hard-fought battle.

All told, more than half of the surviving Youkai and Onmyouji owed Asia their lives. There were even some among the Devils who did: Tsubaki, Reya, and Kiba, who had been overcome near the end of the battle by a building collapsing under him at a most inopportune moment. All of them had been healed by Asia, and, to Harry's quiet astonishment, the quiet, gentle, former nun didn't even look tired.

Instead she looked mournful as she stared at the bodies of the gathered dead on the football field. Rias had begun to teleport them here before she had sensed someone blasting through the wards toward Harry's position, and a few others had already been delivered here since. But it was evident that Rias hadn't realized how many of the heretofore wounded were back to a hundred percent, or else these men and women would already have been ordered to join the ongoing efforts

Even as he watched, though, other people were arriving and putting them to work, but Harry left them to it, instead moving toward Asia. She was kneeling in front of the dead, clasping her hands together as she began to pray for them, her face tear-streaked.

She twitched as Harry knelt next to her, putting an arm around her shoulder and pulling her into a hug. She struggled for just a second, then turned and leaned into his shoulder, bawling her eyes out. "I, I should, I should have…" she sobbed incoherently. "I should've done more!"

"Hush lovey; you did all you could. Thinking like that, thinking you could always do more's well and good, but you couldn't have done any more than you already did. Don't blame yourself for something you couldn't control. No one here, not me, not Rias, not even Husukai or Montoya, would have asked you to do more than you did here. Darn it, I'm proud of you, Asia! You saved so many lives today. You did as much as anyone to turn the tide here. Think about all the lives you saved, not the ones who you never got a chance to," Harry murmured into Asia's hair, stroking her back gently with one hand while doing the same thing to the top of her head with the other.

He kept on repeating these and similar statements to the gentle girl for several minutes while, around him, the Onmyouji and Youkai looked on. Some came over and thanked Asia for her efforts, while others left to join the search efforts, and then Reya and Tsubaki came over too, murmuring their own thanks. Eventually Asia just fell asleep in Harry's arms, wrung out by the emotions of the battle, the number of horribly wounded people she had seen today, and the horror of her first full scale battle.

Lifting the girl in his arms, Harry carried her away to the ORC clubroom, conjuring a blanket and pillow for her. He stayed there for a time, just stroking her forehead and whispering the words, "Remember lovey, I'm proud of you; we're all proud of you," until he saw the frown on her face smooth away slightly.

Knowing that this would be the best he could get for now, Harry left her there for the moment and outside found Momo and Ruruko, having returned from some of their own search efforts, and suborned both of them. He sent Momo off on one errand, while asking the younger Ruruko, who was now looking rattled herself after coming down from the adrenaline rush of her first large scale battle, to watch over Asia.

With that done, he was grateful to see Yubelluna, Akeno, and Suzuku arriving, with the two Himejima ladies moving towards the gathered dead, and Yubelluna coming over the school's outer walls carrying two wounded Onmyouji. They had been trapped underneath some rubble while searching for their dead but had come through it miraculously unharmed.

As he gathered the other three to him with a hand wave, Harry noticed that one person he didn't see anywhere was the human form of Tiamat. _Hmm… It looks as if my so-called familiar has decided to return to her forest. I'm not honestly happy with that. If she wants to keep our agreement, she needs to contribute more to our knowledge base, if nothing else. Still, there's time to talk to her after everything else has been seen to._

As they were moving towards him, he asked one of the Youkai, "Do your people have any burial rites you wish to see observed for these brave men and women?"

"Actually, there we and the Onmyouji are quite alike. We are both more Shinto based than anything else," the Youkai, a Qilin replied, tossing his lion-like mane in an oddly human seeming shrug.

"Ah," Suzuku said with a nod as she came close enough to hear that, smiling. "It occurs to me why you seemed to want to talk to me and Akeno." Even Akeno nodded at that. Her mother had trained her to be a shrine priestess before she had died, and Akeno had kept up her training with the Himejima clan before it had become known that she was a half-breed. They would need to cast preservative spells on the bodies, those that were whole, and make certain to keep the various…bits together while preparing them for eventual cremation. In the Shinto faith the bodies of the dead were cremated in a sacred fire.

"They died for us," Harry said simply. "They should be laid to rest as they would have wished to, in sacred ground."

Suzuku nodded. "It will take us some time, but I believe we can prepare a suitable mass funeral. So long as the families are told what we are doing and accept it, of course."

"I will see to that aspect," Harry replied firmly. "I will speak to Husukai and tell them what we plan, as well as work with Loup and Yubelluna to prepare the temple. I just wanted you two to please see to the bodies as best you may."

Akeno smiled, moved by Harry's understanding nature and his desire to see to the souls of the dead just as much as the bodies. "We can see to it on our end, Harry, if you can reorganize where the bodies are sent? The school, after all, is not sacred ground." The temple was still sacred ground, having been dedicated to the fox god, Inari Okami. Despite that, because Inari Okami was a neutral deity from an entirely different faith, none of the Devils had any trouble being there, unlike if they entered a church. "But, I am afraid if we are to hold a ceremony, if must be soon."

In the Shinto faith, in ancient times, a spirit of the dead had to be appeased as quickly as possible lest it come back as one of the dozens of vengeful spirits that Japanese mythology had created over time. As a Himejima, Akeno knew that that was actually true. Finding and putting to rest those spirits was the bread and butter of their clan in this day and age rather than hunting full blown Youkai or other nun-humans, as had been the case in decades past.

"Already done; I sent Momo to relay that. And I know. I don't like it much, but I think we can prepare the setting quickly enough. It's still only evening, after all." With a nod of thanks, Harry ruffled Akeno's hair before moving off to speak quietly to Yubelluna. He would need her help for several portions of what he had planned.

Suzuku looked between Harry and Akeno with a smile and then led Akeno off away over the rooftops towards the temple that was one of the five pillars of the wards. They would need time to get their formal priestess clothes ready, which were very different than their every day priestess clothes such as their current garb. "A very thoughtful man, that Harry Potter," the older woman said aloud, looking at her young cousin. "And a good man too."

"Yes, he is, one of the best," Akeno said with a faint smile.

Hours later, Rias and Sona allowed the dimensional bubble to collapse. They had found all the bodies and pieces of bodies they could. Thankfully, things like blood, like the damage which had been sustained by the copy Kuoh, wouldn't transfer over. Once they removed body parts and bodies, the blood would simply become part of the landscape, which would be erased with the bubble **.**

The instant the bubble collapsed, Yubelluna, who was sitting across from Harry in the ORC clubroom working on some paperwork with him, could see the look in Harry's eyes change. She smiled, realizing what he wanted to do, and gestured him away. "Go on; leave this to me. You told me what you wanted, and I can do about half of the paperwork on my own. The kids deserve to know that we're all alive."

"Thank you," Harry said, smiling at her before leaning forward quickly and giving her a light kiss. There was nothing extraordinarily passionate about it. But like the kiss they had shared at the impromptu party after the ward anchors had been moved, it felt right. It felt like a promise of more things to come, and Yubelluna returned it eagerly for a few seconds before pulling back, shaking her head, and going back to work on the legal document the two of them had been working on.

Within minutes Harry had used the teleportation array set into the clubroom to head home, where he found Lily, Kunou, and Teddy. Tonks was already there, having been headed there overland at the time the bubble had burst, and all three kids looked up as the two of them entered the house as one.

"Hey, Daddy," Lily said with a wave and a relieved smile, while Kunou hopped up, sniffed the air, and then raced over and hugged both of them, one after another, surreptitiously checking for wounds. Unlike Lily, who'd only had to deal with enhanced senses since the incident with the ex-exorcists, Kunou had had her entire life to get used to the fact that she had a **very** good sense of smell and was able to take in that information. She knew that they had both been hurt, but she couldn't find any wounds now and soon calmed down, smiling as Harry picked her and Lily up, hugging them both to him.

Teddy looked on and then smiled and raced to his mom as she opened her arms. "Hey, kiddo," she said into his hair, lifting him off the ground and into a fierce hug that might have bruised a normal boy's ribs. Tonks sometimes forgot that part of being a Metamorph was an enhanced muscular structure, and that had been before she had become a devil. Teddy, however, said nothing, simply hugging his mother back.

This wasn't the first time his mother had gone into a fight. Heck, Teddy knew his mum went looking for fights a lot of the time. There had been many times over his young lifetime when Tonks had worked with Aurors to take down a dangerous criminal, and there had been her misadventures with Harry, which he could only slightly remember he was so young at the time. So Teddy knew that his mother was someone that would always throw herself into danger if needed, regardless of her own safety. That was hard for a child to bear, knowing that when his mother walked out the door, she might not be coming back.

Tonks, despite not being the best person when it came to being a role model or anything else needed as a mum, was a master of body language, and she chucked him under the chin. "What are you doing, thinkin' such deep thoughts for, huh?"

Batting her hand away, Teddy smiled and just hugged his mother back, thankful that today would not be that day. For a few moments the two parents simply lost themselves in hugging their kids and reassuring them that not only they but their friends were still alive. Neither, however, tried to hide the fact that their allies had taken losses.

"Which is why we're going to have a formal funeral later tonight for them," said Harry. "It'll be in the local Shinto style, but we'll be out late doing that, I'm afraid. Still, I think I have enough time to cook some dinner for us all before I have to get back to some paperwork I need to do before that."

As he had been speaking, Harry had moved into the kitchen, and the others followed him. Reheating and combining a few leftovers that Kalawarner had made took him only a few minutes, and the four of them sat down. They eventually made plans to send the three kids to spend that night in Kyoto with Yasaka, with Rias and Harry possibly joining them later. Since tomorrow was Monday, and they had school, the kids weren't going to get permission to stay up, but in this way they could at least have a mini-sleepover to help them get over the anxiety they had felt during the battle. Before that, however, they had work to do, and Harry smiled at them all. "Hey, how would you three like to help us out with a few things?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Smiling slightly, Rias nodded at her bat familiar, sending it back to its home with a wave of her hand before turning to look at her Knight. Kiba looked utterly exhausted and somewhat irritated with himself. His last minute mishap had been more than embarrassing for the Knight, and she knew that Kiba felt that he should have done a better job during the battle, but she thought he he had performed magnificently and made certain he knew that.

Yet at the present that was not so important as the mission she had assigned her little spies. "Don't worry, Kiba. You're not the only one exhausted after this fight. The two exorcists left Kuoh but immediately got a room at a hotel in the next district after making a phone call in its lobby. My bats didn't get close enough to overhear what was said, but I suppose they must have been wired some money, and, according to my little friends, they were certainly looking happier afterwards. But it's obvious they won't be picking up the trail of this ex-father Valper just yet. You have time to rest tonight, at least."

"And do I have your permission to go after them tomorrow, Buchou?" Kiba asked formally.

"Yes, you do, but not alone. I'll send Koneko with you and maybe ask Harry to go with you as well. If this chase requires magic or subtlety you'll need some help, and he can provide both," Rias replied.

Kiba nodded, bowing his head as he knew that Rias was also sending Harry along because she knew that he could control Kiba if he could not handle coming face to face with the man who, more than any other, was responsible for his friends in the Holy Sword Program dying when he was younger. "That is acceptable, Buchou. Thank you."

"Good. Now go take a shower, Kiba. To put it kindly, you stink. Heck, I imagine we all stink at this point. And I expect you to be presentable at tonight's ceremony." Kiba nodded, and Rias turned to head towards the girls' dormitory, waving at Harry who had looked out of the kitchen's windows where it was clear he was cleaning up after making the kids dinner. Rias sighed, wishing she could have joined them, but she and Sona had to write up a report to their siblings and parents about the day's events and then had to prepare for tonight themselves. Getting Issei to understand he had to dress up tonight in a formal men's kimono had been a trial, but thankfully getting Mittelt to see the point had been easy, and she had left Issei in the sartorially capable hands of the loli Fallen. And she knew the adults of the Potter clan would be equally presentable.

This left only one person who had to be prepared for tonight, and she sighed as she entered the former Gremory estate which had become the girls' dormitory, making her way upstairs to the bedrooms. _I hope that getting Koneko out of her room won't be as tough as it might prove._ _I could excuse her, I suppose, but that would only put off the problem. She needs to face her embarrassment sooner or later._ With that in mind she knocked firmly on Koneko's door and entered in the next instant, moving to the mass of blankets hiding her mewling kitten.

After making certain that Koneko knew that, no, she couldn't just hide way for a time until everyone forgot her loss of control, Rias blinked as she stared at a Patronus of a phoenix that had just flown through an open window. "Rias, could you and Sona meet me in the ORC clubroom? Yubelluna and I have been working on something we need your input on."

 **OOOOOOO**

Sona stared across the desk separating herself and Rias from Harry and then down at the paper she had been examining a moment before. She knew she was blushing; she knew that her breath was coming in gasps. She also knew that, at just this moment, she didn't give a damn. She looked over at her best friend, her voice somewhat plaintive as she asked, "Rias, can I ask you for a teeny, tiny favor?"

"No," Rias said sternly, her lips twitching even so. "You can't have him. I'm already going to be sharing him with Yasaka, Yubelluna, and Kalawarner in the wings." _And maybe one other too,_ she thought, remembering a few looks she had seen Harry and Akeno exchange. "That's more than enough, thank you so much!"

Sona would later deny that she whimpered, but Rias had the recording of it and laughed as her normally staid, self-controlled friend tried to regain control of herself, staring between the document in front of her and Harry. For Sona, while the body was certainly an important factor in attractiveness, it was barely ten percent in comparison to what was going on in someone's mind.

Intelligence was by far her greatest turn on. Whereas Rias had sometimes stroked herself to images of anime characters, Sona had several books full of pictures of the faces of famous chess masters and philosophers. Most of those faces were cut out and placed on the bodies of bodybuilders, but still, the sentiment was there. "This is, this is well beyond what I had expected you to come up with, Harry, let alone in the few hours it's been since the fight ended," she admitted. "I… Are you sure that this is a good idea? I mean, this will be a severe strain on your time."

"That's why I emphasized the fact that preparations for this site will take a while," Harry said smoothly. "That'll give me time to resign my current job, buy out the land necessary, and prepare everything necessary in terms of material for the building process and for…" His eyes flicked to Rias, a small smile appearing on his face that made Sona actually embarrassed to see it for some reason. "…for other things."

Rias smiled back, her lips quirking into a smile equally warm while also promising something more. At the sight of it both Sona and Tsubaki, standing silently behind her King, could only look away, embarrassed by the emotions in that simple exchange, even as they wondered what it meant.

"And you'll need someone, an expert in Devil magic, of course," Sona said slowly instead of commenting on that, looking down at a portion of what Harry was going to offer the Onmyodo. The rest of what he had written out as an offer to the Onmyodo government was relatively simple: an extension and enlargement of the agreement they had with the Youkai Association, making it a triple alliance rather than a double. But this…

 _A school. One where Onmyodo, European wizard, Devil and any other style of magic can be taught? That is tremendously huge! And not only would those magics be taught, but they would be researched too!_ What that could mean going forward into the future was huge. They had already seen what they could accomplish by mixing up the various magics here in the academy, but to have someplace where research into that could be organized, that was just an amazing advancement.

 _And we'll be a part of it,_ Sona thought to herself, almost giddy at the very idea. Something about this whole idea was calling out to her, not just the sheer intelligence that Harry was showing in come up with a formal plan for it so quickly. No, the idea of being part of a school was intensely intriguing.

"Have you decided, by the way, who will be in charge of the research? If you are going to set yourself up as headmaster, then I don't think you'll have the proper amount of time to oversee that aspect," Sona said before she could lose control of herself again.

"Are you volunteering?" Harry asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

A part of her yelled at her to say yes, but Sona knew her own strengths. "I'm afraid not. If you are offering a position as your secretary, perhaps," she said jokingly. "That is where my main strength lies, after all: organization, paperwork, diplomacy, and, admittedly, getting other people to do what they really should be doing in the first place."

"A secretary, Heh, no, that would be a gross misuse of your talents. I was actually thinking of offering you the job, Tsubaki," Harry said, turning to the other girl, who had been watching her King with some amusement.

Tsubaki knew that her King didn't actually find Harry all that attractive. Oh, physically he was handsome enough, but Harry's dreams for the future before this had been nothing that Sona could really see the interest of. But this whole idea of a school seemed to have mashed her buttons something fierce. But now she blinked in surprise, turning her own attention on Harry, her eyes widening. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I was thinking about offering you the position of head researcher," Harry said with a chuckle. "Well, you or Hermione. I'm afraid I might have to offer it to her lest she try to kill me when she discovers what we've done. But I could soothe her with the position of Chief Librarian. But you, Tsubaki, you've always been at the forefront of figuring out how our various magics work together. You're always taking notes, and you and Kalawarner have been working closely on furthering that runic project of hers. Your mastery of all three of the runic languages we have used in our wards are as good as my own, if not a little better, and you have also always seemed to enjoy it. That's always a major plus when talking about stuff like this. Or any kind of job, really."

"I…" Tsubaki floundered. "I wasn't, that is, I wasn't aware that you had noticed," she said, flushing a little embarrassment. "I just, well, it is rather fun, but I…"

She looked over at her King, who chuckled, taking her hand and squeezing it. "Tsubaki, it's fine. You can answer honestly however you wish. You don't have to think about your position when it comes to this. I suppose that we, our two peerages, will be involved in this school in other ways as well."

"I accept then," Tsubaki said, turning back to Harry and nodding her head so quickly she nearly sent her glasses flying. "Provisionally, anyway. There is no telling whether or not my own interests will change, but it certainly sounds like a fascinating idea.

"A most **intellectually stimulating** concept, wouldn't you say?" Rias said, emphasizing the two words while she smirked at Sona, who smacked her on the shoulder. "The rest of this," Rias went on, "I have no issue with it all. I've already written up the formal offers for repayment."

"I don't have a problem with that either, nor with the alliance you wish to offer," Sona said, very firmly nodding her head. "Politically that is a fantastic move, Harry, and socially too. Getting more teachers in the Onmyodo style to come here could be difficult, but if it actually works, the outcome will be magnificent."

"Excellent. In that case," Harry said with a smile, "I'll leave you with these notes and get back to writing up the formal proposal, shall I? I have lots to do before the ceremony, including speaking with the Onmyodo officials. It wouldn't do to just spring this on them at the ceremony after all."

 **OOOOOOO**

This was an unmitigated disaster. There was no other way to put it, Azazel reflected as he leaned back in one of the two remaining Fallen outposts in Japan. Not only had roughly a tenth of his people been wooed to join Koka-baka and his war faction, but the fucking idiot had led them into disaster. And then Vali had nearly lost control of his instincts and almost picked a fight with the survivors. _Fuck me, was I ever that young, thoughtless, and stupid? Meh, I must have at one point. Thank all the powers that exist that I don't remember it._

Thankfully for their family dynamic, limited thought it was, Azazel didn't need to say anything to Vali about his utter fucking stupidity. Shemhazai, Azazel's best friend, second in command and diplomatic attaché, was doing it for him.

"You utter fucking idiot!" the short, somewhat handsome looking silver-haired Fallen shouted at Vali, who sat stoically, not responding but simply staring straight ahead. "How the fuck could you possibly have just, just decided to attack like that?!"

Realizing that his friend had come full circle in his cursing out of Vali, Azazel raised his head from where he had been cradling his face in his hands and cut in. "Hang on, Shemhazai. I think you've vented your spleen long enough. Let's actually start trying to figure out the repercussions of this act. First, what can we expect on the domestic front from our fellow Fallen and our followers?"

"Not much for a while," Baraqiel, said. The father of Akeno Himejima, he had listened in something approaching shock as Vali described what he had seen of the aftermath of the battle, knowing that his daughter had not only been part of such a slaughter but had lived through it. It made him as proud as it terrified him.

"In this, our people being so spread out on Earth and in Hell is going to work in our favor. News like this won't travel very fast unless we spread it ourselves. Kokabiel's death will be something we'll have to report at least to the rest of the higher ups soon, but we can keep the full details quiet for a while longer. Once the news does break…we can blame the losses on the Khaos Brigade…maybe."

At that Vali shook his head. "Bah! I say we toss this whole peace project out the door. Kokabiel was an arrogant fool who didn't realize how weak he really was in the great scheme of things. But he had the right of it: if we take Kuoh, we smash this alliance the Devils are trying to build with the Youkai and can drag two of the Maou out to fight on our terms."

"One of whom is the most fucking scary bastard in all three Factions," Azazel said dryly. "Even if we tried to take him on together, I doubt we could beat Sirzechs. That man's a monster." He then went on more seriously, spearing Vali with a dark look. "And I haven't been working towards a true peace with the Angels and Devils for more years than you've been alive to just toss it aside because you can't get a hard on without violence, Vali. Reign your instincts in, or I'll do it for you. Continued war serves no one on any side of this conflict, not in the long term."

That was why Azazel was willing to overlook the loss of so many of his people. If their deaths were the price to pay for their continued existence as a society, he would pay it. The Fallen, like the other factions, if they were honest about it, could not afford a resumption of the war. _Especially not if this Potter guy is able to teach Devils to create such powerful wards. Fucking wizards. Why the hell did one of those inbred, insular fucks decide to play out here with the big boys now? And why in Kuoh? I need to find out more about him before his actions rattle the pillars of power more than they already have._

Hiding those thoughts from those around him with ease, Azazel held his foster son's eyes until the younger man looked away submissively and then nodded towards Baraqiel. "That's not a bad idea. We'll look into trying to excuse the losses like that. The priority, though, will be keeping our people from trying to attack Kuoh. We can't afford to lose anyone else on that kind of venture, let alone what it would do to the process of our peace talks."

Baraqiel bowed acquiescence, and Azazel turned to his other friend. "Okay, that's on the domestic front. What about the diplomatic side of things?"

"Prepare to eat crow and then say thank you sir may I have some more," Shemhazai retorted. "And that's only on the Devil side of things. Your near-friendship with Sirzechs might let us get out of that side of things with a full formal public apology. But don't get me started on what this will do to our peace talks with the Church. And that's without adding in Vali's heap of dragon shit on top of the already existing pile, which I doubt even Sirzechs will be willing to overlook on top of everything else, the freaking sis-con. UGGGGHhhh… Next time you decide to set me up for a reaming, Vali, could you do me a favor and at least buy me dinner first? This is going to be a fucking nightmare."

Vali rolled his eyes, but at his foster father's renewed glare he stopped from showing any further reaction. Then Azazel turned back to Shemhazai, and the two started to talk about what to expect when their opposite numbers reached out to them formally on this matter.

Sighing, Vali made certain he looked as if he was paying attention before turning his attention to other things. Namely, how to get that Potter guy to agree to fight him. _Him and my destined rival, that Nekoshou. I will beat both of them. That is my destiny, to become the strongest. It is inevitable._

 **OOOOOOO**

In a way, Harry's urging them to reach out to the families of the dead was unnecessary. After all, this was not the first time that men had died under Montoya's command or Husukai's, but both men had appreciated it nonetheless. Husukai personally returned that night several times with more than three dozen family members of the dead and others, as did Kalawarner, arriving at Kuoh with several dozen Youkai in two groups.

One such group included a family of three boys of ages ranging from eleven to eighteen along with their mother, a middle-aged woman who was still quite beautiful. But all of them were looking angry as much as sad, and they were scowling and combative with Husukai.

Only the fact that he had warned them to be on their best behavior was keeping them from lashing out as they were met by Tsubaki. She was dressed in mourning clothes and bowed to them and the other families who came with them. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you could please follow me."

"I don't know why we should; you're one of the people who helped kill our Tou-san, after all!" shouted the oldest boy, only to be hushed by his mother.

"I understand your anger, young sir. But we were not the attackers here. And I think you will find that we have shown your father, and those like him, as much honor as we possibly could. Please, follow me," the heterochromatic young woman reiterated, gesturing for them to follow her up the stairs to the temple.

Other groups like this were met by Rias, dressed similarly, along with Koneko, Kiba, Tsubaki, Reya, and Momoat the bottom of the steps leading up the hill to the temple. In groups of four, families like this one, the grieving Onmyouji and Youkai, were led up to the temple where they would, even as this group did, stop and stare.

While the temple was a historical tourist site, the temple itself should have been somewhat rundown, as should have been the ground around it. Instead the temple was in near pristine condition, the grounds well-cared for. Even the trees to either side of the temple looked well-cared for, the grass under them mowed back. Harry and Tonks had been very busy with repair charms, and Loup and Yubelluna had been equally busy taking care of the landscape for several hours by hand and magic.

They had had to bring in material when it became clear that repair spells wouldn't solve all their problems, but Tonks had saved the day due to knowing many specific transfiguration spells which could take building materials and mold them into a preexisting house. The temple had even been painted by the kids, something that had earned them all hugs from Suzuku and Akeno (though that led to issues with Teddy, who would have trouble meeting Akeno's eyes for a few days after feeling his head enveloped in her chest). The kids had also helped prepare the two dozen paper lanterns that lit the area, hovering in the air to give a more magical feel to the temple. All in all, it looked amazing, pristine, and well-cared for.

After letting each group gaze around them for a a few seconds, whoever was leading them would move them on through the temple, where they would be allowed to remain for a time to pass on final messages to the deceased. Then both the deceased and their mourners would move on. The deceased's casket was moved via magic to where it would join the others, in long rows behind the temple.

At the same time the mourners would be led to their places, about two hundred magically created red cushions sat in segments of six, facing the back of the temple. To the sides of these six were places reserved by blue cushions, where those members of the Sitri and Gremory Peerages not part of reception duty sat already, with a third special area denoted by cushions with tassels set up at the back of the area. Each segment slowly filled up, and when they did, Tsubaki and the others joined the rest of their peerages, Sona's on the left side of the prepared area and Rias's on the right.

At the front of this area was a large bonfire marked out by a four-sided box of heavy wooden logs, something Loup and Harry had put together under Suzuku's direction, the older Himejima having taken over the organization for this event. She had, as a priestess, been called upon to perform funerals before as well as other duties, and the Himejima Clan as a whole were well known in that area. Some of the mourners, somber and grief-ridden as they were, recognized Suzuku. Some of them would even think that it was an honor for the head of a famous clan to be leading this ceremony. Most, however, were of course too lost in their grief to think of such thoughts.

There were, much to Harry's regret, children there. Thankfully, none of them were toddlers or as young as Lily and Kunou were. The youngest were twin boys around Teddy's age, and their blank stares and tear-stained faces were enough. The older kids looked sober, but they understood, at least, that their father or mother or older sibling was dead, not just 'gone,' as would have been the case otherwise.

When she met with the five high-ranking officials, Rias bowed formally from the waist, her hands folded in front of her as she did so. "Thank you for coming. And thank you for many more things. We of the Houses of Gremory, Potter and Sitri understand that you had no real reason to fight with us, and aid given without prior payment is often the most important. But we will talk more about statecraft later. Please, follow me."

The officials all knew what to do, and they moved together as one, with the head of the Shinsengumi bowing deeply and formally towards Rias before leading his fellows up the stairs. Soon they were led to their places, and they watched as the ceremony began. The two priestesses prayed over the dead one by one, offering words of condolence, words of hope that the deceased soul passed on and would not haunt the living realm. They spoke of how the dead had shown courage in performing their duty, an important aspect for the Shinsengumi, as it would have been for any solider of Japan in ancient times or now.

As they passed along, mourners were allowed to give specific eulogies before they moved on to the next casket. Some did; many did not, simply standing and moving forward to offer small offerings to go with the dead into the next life, placing them on top of the casket.

Those caskets were not open as they should have been, even in a large scale ceremony like this. Magical combat was never pretty, and no one wanted the loved ones of the deceased to see what had happened to them. Imagination could be a horrible thing at times, but the reality would have been worse in many cases.

Throughout all this Yubelluna played in the background, a slow, sober song on her violin, while two of the Shinsengumi who had fought in the battle played kagurabue, special flutes. The Shinto religion did not have a place for music like this in most funeral ceremonies, but they tended to make an exception for larger ceremonies like this one, although even then they had no songs. Yet Asia, sitting in her place by Kalawarner and Loup to one side, and Yasaka and her party on the other, sang, and sang her soul out in an effort to make the passage of the dead easier.

"Merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus. Father, who takes away the sins of the world. Grant them rest, grant them rest. Merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus. Father, who takes away the sins of the world. Grant them rest, grant them rest. Lamb of God, Lamb of God, Lamb of God, Lamb of God. Father, who takes away the sins of the world. Grant them rest, grant them rest everlasting everlasting rest." **{Pie Jesu, Andrew Lloyd Webber}**

Asia sang in Latin and her voice wasn't the best perhaps, but the emotions and her faith shown through easily. Nor would her choice of music have scanned very well in Japanese, which could also be said of the phrases she spoke next as Asia fell into prayers for the dead.

But thankfully Sona and Rias had thoughtfully provided an area effect translation spell earlier that day. And as they understood the words, more than one grieving woman or man turned to the crying girl singing who seemed to mourn their dead as much as they did with gratitude clear in their faces.

And as they did, Harry could feel the tug on his magic as Yubelluna played. He allowed it, and he could see the magical energy begin to appear, causing a few gasps. But that was next to nothing to what happened next as Harry, sitting beside Rias, reached out to his magic and began to use it consciously and in a very specific way. Because when he did, the dead spoke.

Not to Harry; no, they had nothing to say to him, though his magic was the conduit with which they came back to the land of the living for a few moments, the power of the Resurrection Stone, which had initially been the ship Manannán Mac Lir used to ferry the souls of the dead to the afterlife, activating for the first time under Harry's direction. The spirits of the dead came back, but not in pain as had been the case when it's owners had used the Stone before. They instead came back in thanks to whisper words of encouragement to their loved ones.

Some were humorous. "Well it's finally happened. Forty plus years after your father threatened to do it himself for despoiling his little girl. Ha, I still remember it was you who seduced me! Ahh, good times."

"Now, don't go chasing after every tail you see! You don't want to give young Toshi a half-brother or sister too soon, do you?"

"Ah, my boys, why the long faces!? Didn't I always tell you to smile, whatever life threw at you? Bah, I bet your aunt would just love a chance to put some smiles on those faces with her tickle torture!"

Some were poignant. "I love you, but I ask you to live on without me. That is selfish, I know, but please, do not go through with what you are thinking. I have no wish to see you join me over here when you have so much more life to live."

Some were simply loving. "I remember, and will remember until I return to the great wheel, every day of our lives. Please, watch over our children for me too."

But the message was almost always the same: _Live on with our blessing over you. Live on for us. Remember us, love our memory, but in that memory live._ And in so doing, they brought heart to those who had been so bereft.

Only those loved ones heard those voices, but everyone there saw the spirits of the dead appearing one after another by their casket. And as that casket was lifted magically into the sanctified pyre, the dead would disperse, the spirits slowly sinking into the ground.

With the first such spirit the magic swelled, and Harry could feel something in the ground react, something magical occurring there with each spirit as the wards grew in strength, but he didn't draw attention to it. Such things could be investigated and, indeed, would have to be later on. Now was not the time for it. Instead Harry just kept the enchantment going, watching as the dead interacted one last time with those they cared for.

When it was all done and Akeno had finished the last note of the last prayer, Harry slowly stood up and moved to face the crowd in front of the giant pyre while Yubelluna and the others paused in their music. Even Asia, unable to see through her tears, felt the pause and stopped her prayers, bowing her head and clasping her rosary.

Facing the crowd, Harry licked suddenly dry lips. He had never having gotten used to the whole public speaking thing outside of the classroom, and the sight of the widows and the children staring at the graves of their parents was very off-putting, even if all of them looked more upbeat and thoughtful than they had when they arrived.

The sight also hardened his resolve, and he looked towards Rias for a brief second, and then to Yasaka, both of whom were smiling at him, before he took a deep breath. "A wise man once said, that there can be no victory without sacrifice. No battle won without blood. We could wish it was otherwise; we could wish our loved ones back, but it can never be. This was not the first battle I've been in. It will not, alas, be the last unless I am truly fortunate. And every one of them, every victory, was bought in blood and death. We do our dead a disservice when we do not remember their sacrifice, when we do not honor their lives given."

He paused then, locking his eyes with one grieving man or woman after another before going on, deliberately not looking at the five governmental officials. "To many here, this battle would seem unimportant, would seem a waste. Why did my father, my older brother, my wife or husband have to die here?"

He paused again, then gestured to the funeral pyre where those spirits had stood before disappearing forever. "They died because it was the right thing to do. Because the legion we faced wanted to break the peace of our times. A peace that protects you, their loved ones, as much as it protects myself and those of us who actually live here in Kuoh. They died protecting you, protecting their loved ones from facing similar battles in the future, and there can be no greater calling than that. So I ask you not to just mourn their passing, but to celebrate their lives, to celebrate your own existence, because it is that existence that they fought to defend."

At that he bowed his head, as did those in front of him, in a silent moment of reflection before he went on, turning first in the direction of the politicians before looking back at the rest of the crowd. "We, Rias of the House Gremory, Sona of the House Sitri, and myself, Harry of the House of Potter, are foreigners to this land, yet we have magically bonded with this land, making it ours in truth in a way that no one else could have. And yet, through the actions of your loved ones, you have shown that you too belong to this land, and we must honor that sacrifice in word, deed, and magic."

He moved through the crowd towards the politicians at the far back by the rear entrance of the temple. He was quickly flanked by Rias, Sona, Akeno, Tsubaki, and Yasaka. They all moved through the crowd until they were facing the political box, whereupon Harry held out a formal scroll.

One of the lesser retainers of the higher ranked politicians moved forward, taking the scroll and moving back to reclaim his space by his leaders as Harry went on, staring the head of the Shinsengumi in the face. "That is the formal alliance offered to you, the Onmyodo government, to join with the Kuoh Alliance that we have created here. To be part of what we are doing here, to be be taught what we have learned by merging our magics, and to teach in turn, along with a mutual defense treaty, which will demand that we, we three," he said, gesturing to himself, Sona, and Rias, and then over to Yasaka. "…as well as Yasaka of the Youkai Association, will come to the aid of the Onmyodo hovernment in times of war or disaster.

"We asked for help, and you came and died for us," he said making his words blunt as possible in direct opposition to his earlier more flowery words, most of which he had Yubelluna to thank for, the bandrui having both a mind trained in Devil law and a soul steeped in music. "Call in turn, and we will reply. And with this, with the signing of that agreement, that pledge will continue as long as our clans continue to exist.

"On top of this, I pledge to further create a school here in Kuoh where magics of all types, European Wizard, Onmyodo, Devil, even Fallen and Youkai type magics, can be taught to anyone willing to learn. There everything we of the Kuoh Alliance have learned of the interaction of the various magical schools will be continually researched, expanded upon, and taught to future generations. Including the child of any Youkai or Shinsengumi who died to defend Kuoh from Kokabiel and his followers," Harry finished, watching as eyes among the politicians widened in sudden and very sharp interest.

"Furthermore," Sona and Rias said as one, moving forward with their own pledges, handing them over as Sona began to speak for the two of them, turning to face the crowd who were all looking at this in a very different sort of shock then they had shown at the spirits of the dead returning. "We, along with this pledge of alliance, recognize that the alliance was not in place when this battle was fought. To that end we, the House of Sitri and the House of Gremory, do formally acknowledge the debt between us. While money cannot bring back the dead, we will pay reparations and monetary aid to those families who are mourning loved ones tonight."

"You will note," Yasaka said as she too stood forward, taking the place of the two younger women as she was flanked by Montoya and two others, including one ancient creature, an elephant Youkai, who looked decidedly out of place in his utilitarian garb and yet somehow right where he was standing behind her in the position of advisor. "That we, the Youkai Association, have already signed an agreement with them. This is a chance for all of us to come together, to perhaps make something greater than the whole. It was dearly bought, but I would urge you to seriously consider this."

Thanks to Harry speaking to them earlier that day, the officials had known this was coming. They had in fact, helped harry write out the formal document they had just been presented with. All of them had already agreed to sign on the dotted line in the coming days, although they would have to convince several other officials first. No, they had anticipated all of that, but not the ceremony itself. If Harry had wanted to make an impression beyond the one he already had during their discussions on this agreement, the ceremony had done just that.

Still, one of them, the most senior spoke up, breaking Japanese tradition in not relaying his words through a junior. He stood on creaky legs and bowed once from the waist before straightening and speaking formally. "We of the Onmyodo people thank you for your words and for the offers of alliance. We gathered here would sign here and now, but we are but a few voices among many. We will have to relay this offer to others and get them to agree in turn before accepting. Yet that only delays the agreement, never doubt it."

As this was going on, Kalawarner and several of the Shinsengumi who hadn't lost loved ones, along with many of Sona's peerage, had been moving through the crowd, handing out drinks, and Kala now moved about the formal area around Harry, moving in among the higher ranking officials and handing out drinks to them in turn. "Drink now," Harry said, holding a glass in his hands as he saw the locals do the same, turning around to once more face the pyre. He noted parents who had been looking on in awe at what was happening, parents looking at their children, children looking thoughtful, and many of them not happy, but no longer as horribly depressed or broken as they had been. "Drink now, to the honored dead."

"To the honored dead," came the massed voices back to him as all of them drank, and the ceremony slowly came to an end.

 **OOOOOOO**

Of course, magic was always a tricky thing, and Harry really should've remembered that Manannán Mac Lir's portfolio went well beyond being the god who guarded the river that led the souls of the dead to their destination…

In the United Kingdom there was a rook. But this rook was not a castle nor a member of a Devil's peerage, but a house shaped like a rook from chess. In this house there lived perhaps the oddest witch of her age. Indeed, Luna Lovegood would argue that she was easily the oddest, thank you very much; she certainly tried hard enough.

However, at the moment Luna would not argue any such thing, for she was staring off into the distance, her silver eyes gleaming as she stood in front of the giant window that had replaced one full side of the main bedroom as she began to sing quietly under her breath. As odd as Luna was, she did not have a good singing voice, but her husband, and ooh, did that not feel good to say even in her own head, looked on fondly from the bed behind her. _Or maybe it's just my naked derriere he likes. He certainly enjoyed touching it often enough last night._

Although she and Rolf had been together for years, they actually had not been married, though many had assumed they were. But recently Luna had realized this lack and had decided that not only was she ready to lose her virginity, but that they really did need to do something about that pesky marriage thing too.

Rolf had never pressured her on that score. There had been a time during the war against the Death Eaters where she had been captured. Her captors had just gotten around to starting to have fun with her when Ronald and Harry had rescued her. They had also pretty much colored the interior of the house she had been kept in red along with Luna herself, but she hadn't held that against them. But Luna had a major issue with being touched for quite a while after that beyond hugs and kisses.

She and Rolf had had a small private ceremony yesterday to formally unite their lives. Their only witnesses had been animals and other creatures of the forest present as they betrothed themselves to one another. The ceremony itself had been magical, with fairies of all sorts around and the stars above so visible it seemed they glowed just for the two of them. Then Luna had ridden the bucking bronco until the sun had risen high in the sky.

"How are you up and about, my Luna?" he asked blearily, looking at her as she raised a cup of tea to her lips.

"Secret Lovegood recipe," she said with a giggle that both was childlike and yet oh so wicked, sending a shiver from his head down to his spine.

Something underneath the covers stirred, he stared down at himself in shocked astonishment, and she winked at him. "There was a reason my family earned our name, you know. Love…good."

Her husband shook his head, trying not to stare as she continued to dance in front of the window, completely bare and utterly naked to the world beyond, though of course the wards of the house would keep anyone away. His eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he recognized a few snatches of what she was trying to sing, and he asked slowly, "Why do I get the impression that last night is not the only thing putting that grin on your face, my love."

"Oh, last night was wondrous, but it is not the only wondrous thing that is occurring right now." She became serious for a moment, turning to him, her smile turning grim somehow. "Something amazing, something wondrous, and something terrible. But our captain will be able to lead us through the storms to come and perhaps out the other side. He certainly has a better chance at that than any other."

Her husband, who had not fought in the wars but who had a great respect for the person that Luna at times called captain, simply nodded, a smile growing on his own face. "Well, as long as Harry is there, I suppose that's enough for me. Although, what is the storm going to be? Violence? Social turmoil? Changes to the magic of the world? Or something even worse?"

"Indeed," Luna said. Then, without making any attempt to elaborate, she continued to sing a song from the non-magical world. "…You bear the mark of my elven kiss, clear the way I will take you there, to eternal bliss…"

 **OOOOOOO**

"It's happening again!" shouted several people all at once, scattered around the United Kingdom.

One man, Daniel Pendragon or, as most knew him, Daniel Crag, took his irritation with the news of mysterious glowing marks, misty shadows, and other things scattered across Ireland, Britain, Wales, and even Scotland appearing once more a step further: he started to slam his head into his desk repeatedly as he growled out curses. "Cock!"

This took some time for him to finish, then he turned his head up to look at the ceiling, wondering aloud, "I wonder, though, if we'll finally get a little bit more information this time from the ruddy magical using arseholes we share these lovely isles with? Didn't they mention the last time that Ireland's in their purview too? Right snooty about it too, sneering at us for letting Southern Ireland go, they were."

"I doubt it," said his supervisor unhelpfully. "The Magicals all seem to have one thing in common: they don't like us non-magicals knowing about them at all, let alone knowing that there are things outside of their control in the magical world." He shook his head. "Your connection with that wayward niece of yours actually gave us more information than we got from the officially magical side of things. Any chance you could get in touch with her again?"

"I'll see what I can do. She'll certainly talk to me—Le Fay's a good lass that way—but if she'll be able to tell my anything new, I don't know. Though," he said with a chuckle, "getting in touch with them so easily, and now more than once, I'm certainly stretching the bonds of that little fiction that young Arthur has built up around himself. About having run away from the family, I mean."

"That's his problem," Daniel's supervisor said bluntly. "Not ours."

"True enough."

 **OOOOOOO**

Harry grumbled, his nose twitching, and a 'whuff' sort of noise coming from his nose as he started to smell some burning meat of some kind, something his hind brain told the rest of him was breakfast. His other senses soon followed his nose in activating, and he smiled as he felt two smaller bodies nuzzling into his back and chest. Opening his eyes, he saw Kunou draped across his chest, showing all the boneless nature of the young, with Lily nuzzling into his side. They were both still asleep, though Harry could see them starting to stir. To his other side, Rias was leaning against him, wearing a silk chemise.

For a moment that confused him, his brain unable to make the connection between Rias wearing clothing in bed (and not being his pillow, darn it) and the two kids, before remembering that, yes, those two things were connected. As was the fact that this was not their bedroom. Rather, it was Yasaka's in Kyoto.

Harry and Rias had, after dropping their various bombshells, helped to end the ceremony before retreating to Kyoto to be with Yasaka, who had returned there earlier that night. There they had spent a few cathartic hours with the kids and Tonks before all of them headed to bed. But only Tonks and Teddy had returned to Kuoh at that point. At Yasaka's insistence, Rias and Harry had joined Yasaka and the two girls in Yasaka's bed. "It's certainly big enough for all of us, after all."

And it had indeed turned out to be so, though it might not have been if all of them had not been very cuddly sort of people in their sleep—Yasaka, Kunou, Lily, and Harry because of their kitsune and werewolf heritages respectively, and Rias because…well, Harry was still bemused at times that a Devil like Rias liked to cuddle so much. That she was an aggressive, almost greedy cuddler he could have guessed, just not the need to cuddle in the first place. _Not that I'm complaining, mind,_ he thought in possessive amusement, squeezing Rias against his side and leaning over to kiss her cheek.

The only one missing from the large bed was Yasaka, who should have been on Lily's other side, perhaps. Harry wasn't certain, since the positions they had all been in seemed to have changed during the night. _But I seem to remember her tails covering us all like an extra blanket last night. The twitching was a bit strange, but not disturbing despite that._ Before he could question this further, his sense of smell told him that Yasaka had entered the room, accompanied by the slight sound of the door and the smell of yeast, soap, and flowers that he knew to be Kalawarner.

"Up and face the day, you four! After all, I believe that three of the four lay-abouts in front of me have school, correct?" Yasaka chittered as even Rias joined the groan this elicited. "And Harry has a mission to boot."

Opening her eyes, Lily scowled at that. She didn't like the idea of her Daddy having another possibly life-threatening mission so soon after this last conflict, but she had been told that Kiba would be going off to try and get some closure from something about his past, though she had no idea what that was. She still didn't like it, and this morning that was added to another night of weird dreams to boot. _I wonder if I should tell Daddy or Rias about them,_ she mused before her stomach informed her that the smell of sausage was much more important. With that she hopped out of bed, and she raced to help set the table with Yasaka, as Kalawarner continued to push in a tray of various breakfast foods.

Rias grumbled a little, then picked a still sleepy Kunou off of Harry's chest and rolled them both out of bed before standing there, her silk chemise only barely covering her panty-clad rear, the front of it tightening noticeably as she stretched, her chest looking as if it might burst out of the silk confines at any minute. And even that was a nod to the fact they'd slept with the kids in the bed the night before. Harry stayed in bed for a moment, drinking in the sight, a low growl of appreciation and desire rumbling from him before he twitched his eyes to Yasaka and Kalawarner.

There, though, he found two more feasts for the eyes. Kalawarner wore her habitual apron—'kiss the cook'—over what looked like a sports bra and tight exercises shorts, with nothing else. Her blue hair was also loose for once entirely, falling down her back in a wave. She smiled at him as she saw him looking and asked teasingly, "Well, aren't you going to come and…eat, Harry?"

Yasaka was even worse in a way. Oh, she had a robe on that was ostensibly covering more than either of the others. But it was loose enough that Harry could stare right down into her cleavage quite easily. Her blond hair was done up in an intricate display, while her tails were all out, switching and twirling behind her, which Harry was astonished to find actually added to the allure as she chittered softly. "I think he'd rather stay in bed and have someone else feed him. Feeling lazy, are we?"

"Ugh, what is this, gang up on Harry hour?" Harry grumped, hopping to his feet. A second later he obeyed the apron's instructions, kissing Kalawarner on the lips. _Might as well get Lily and Kunou used to our new dynamic now, I guess._ Kalawarner hummed in appreciation, kissing him back gently, but didn't fight as he moved away after a second rather than deepen it.

The two kids, though, seemingly didn't care about this new aspect to the family make up. They were much more interested in the food. Seeing this, Rias laughed, shaking her head. "Sweets before flowers, I guess."

"Hmm, whereas I am much more interested in flowers at present," Yasaka quipped, leaning into him, her lips parting as she looked up at him through her eyelashes.

Harry obliged, leaning down to give the much shorter Yasaka a far deeper kiss, letting his hand go down her robe-covered back before finding where her tails merged into her back under a specially designed hole in her robe. He felt her shiver against him, then moan into the kiss and begin to pant as he let his fingers caress her there before moving back and winking at her. He then sat between Lily and Kalawarner at the breakfast table. "So, are we ready for today?"

"Indeed. Loup's ready to once more cover you, and I prepared a recording of their voices to cover Koneko and Kiba calling in sick this morning," Rias replied, having helped set that up last night while Harry was talking with the Onmyodo officials while the temple was being cleared after the ceremony. "The only issue will be that Loup's not as good at English as you are, so Sona and I will probably have to coach him throughout the day."

As before, to cover their not being in school, Harry would create a lifelike illusion of himself, anchoring it around Loup. However, since he was going to be so far away, he wouldn't be able to direct Loup in teaching his class, which itself would be tougher than it had been previously, since this would be a full class rather than a test day. That meant that Loup, who was barely middling at English, would need to be coached by Rias and Sona. Even if you took away their Devil-given ability to translate any language into any other, the two of them were among the best in the school of any grade. Although concentrating on that and not giving it away that they weren't all there mentally themselves might be pushing it.

 _Still, hopefully they will be able to deal with it for one day,_ Harry mused, watching as Yasaka sat down, looking pensive. "What's wrong, Yasaka?"

"Oh, just something I heard from Montoya this morning. Normally he'd be three sheets to the wind by this point after a fight like what you all faced and that ceremony, but he wanted to pass something on to me. The problem is, I don't know if we're in any position to do anything with the information," Yasaka mused, frowning. "But it might allow us to actually land something of a body blow on the Khaos Brigade by removing one of their stronger members."

"I'm all ears," Harry and Rias said as one before looking at one another and laughing. But they were very serious when they looked back at Yasaka, since both wanted to see if they could take the fight to the Khaos Brigade; on their own or in conjunction with other forces, it mattered not to them.

"You know about Bikou?" Yasaka asked, looking between the two of them.

Harry snorted. "I remember him very vividly after reading his file you sent us. He's the Monkey Youkai whose grandfather is the head of the Monkey Youkai clan in China, correct? The one who's been called the best fighter among his generation of Youkai worldwide, and the one who stole his grandfather's magical staff? I can't remember the spells on it, though."

"Exactly, and those spells would be indestructability, enlarging and shrinking at command, and coming to his hand when called. Son Wukong, the head of the Monkey Youkai in China, works on his own to help suppress Khaos Brigade activity worldwide, but he's only one man and can only be in one place at a time. Currently he's somewhere in Norway, of all places, dealing with a few hundred trolls that were let loose from a one of your society's preserves there by the Khaos Brigade."

Harry sat up abruptly at that. "Do the European wizards know about the Khaos Brigade?"

"I do not believe that your Wizarding World knows the full extent of their activities," Yasaka mused. "But they might well be aware of certain individuals who work for the Khaos Brigade. Unless the Onmyouji have informed them about it?"

Harry winced a little at that. "Okay, that's interesting. Sorry, continue."

 _I'll have to send a message to Hermione and maybe Neville to be on the lookout for such things in the future. But how to do so without hinting at the three factions will be an issue. Hermione could probably keep a secret, but Neville… Neville's changed too much since taking up politics for me to trust him with that information,_ Harry thought sadly.

"In any event, Montoya learned that Bikou will be returning to China as part of a ceremony in two weeks' time. It's a sacred ceremony to the Monkey Youkai, celebrating the day when his grandfather came down from on high of Mount Huaguo."

"And you want us there to try and capture him, I take it?" Rias asked. "If we tried, how will locals react? Will we have to deal with the locals as well as Bikou and anyone with him?"

"Something of the sort, but not quite. I asked Montoya about that, and he said that while the monkey people won't follow him, nor will they fight for him, but they won't fight him either. That is part of the issue, since that includes those born here in Kyoto and Japan. Since the issue with the Crow Youkai, more than half of my security forces are Monkey Youkai, and without them I am in no way certain we have the manpower to be able to fight Bikou. So a smaller, more elite force might do better."

"But will the locals fight us if they see foreign troops there to take him captive?" Harry asked. "Or should we wait outside and ambush him? I doubt he could get through any teleportation block I put up, for example."

"We have no way of knowing how he's going to be traveling, so that's a nonstarter," Yasaka said with a sigh. "For all I know, he might have figured out a way along with whoever is really backing the Khaos Brigade to re-create Kin'to'un!" At Harry's blank look, she elaborated. "A flying cloud that Son Wukong used on his adventures at that age."

"A flying cloud isn't exactly all that impressive," Harry said dryly.

"It is if the flying cloud can go faster than most high-speed jets, come when you call it, and includes spells on it to keep the individual who is using it unseen by anyone while standing on it," she said with a smirk.

Harry paused. "All right, the speed is a bit impressive," he replied reluctantly. "And I suppose taking the other spells apart could be fun."

Yasaka laughed her chittering laugh at that while Rias rolled her eyes. "Focus, Harry. But seriously, Yasaka, stop dancing around the issue and just tell us how the locals will react if we try to take him captive at this sacred site or whatever."

"It depends on how much they've drunk," Yasaka replied, then chittered at the looks she was getting now. "Monkey Youkai ceremonies tend to be very riotous even in comparison to the rest of us Youkai's idea of a party, let alone a ceremony. If you start a fight with him, everyone else might take part, might back away, migth hoot and holler or place bets. We've no way of knowing. We do know that Bikou isn't very popular among the other monkey men—they think he's giving them a bad name—and a few of the terrorist activities the Khaos Brigade have done were in China, which is far too close to home for most of them to condone. While there isn't really a local magical community, the Chinese government does not react well to things outside its control. If they became aware of a community within their country that did not respond to centralized authority…"

"Right," Harry said with a nod. "That would be very bad. Especially with the numbers and weapons that the Chinese government could bring to bear. Unless you're saying that someone there could create a barrier of some kind that could see off a carpet bombing. So, a small force with various skills in order to combat Bikou and the ability to get away quickly too."

Yasaka nodded, but cautioned, "And you should know we can't send any ladies to this event. It's a for men only kind of thing, unfortunately. And, like I said, it becomes really, really raucous. I do not have any idea how the Monkey Youkai would react to women breaking in on their sacred ceremony, even Monkey Youkai women, let alone women from other races."

"So, Issei, Saji, Loup, Kiba, and me," Harry said with a nod. "If taking ladies along is a clear way to set the locals against us, it's best to not create more issues if we can help it."

"Actually, if we're thinking about this being an anti-Khaos Brigade operation, I could ask my older brother to send one of his peerage members there. Or better yet, my cousin!" Rias said with a grin. "He's been wanting a chance to get to know you anyway, Harry."

"That works," Harry said with a nod. "I can shift around my work schedule to make room for that weekend, so long as you and Rias are willing to watch the kids, Yasaka."

"Is that a trick question?" Rias quipped, pulling Lily into a sideways hug and giving Harry a bright grin along with his redheaded daughter, while Yasaka simply chittered in response.

Soon after the discussion about the Monkey Youkai's information finished, Kalawarner teleported back with the remaining food to the Potters' to spend the rest of breakfast with Asia. Asia had bunked with Koneko the night before and had seemingly worked through much of her reaction to the number of dead she was unable to save from the battle. She was still quite sad and fragile, but Harry had okayed the idea of her staying home for the day and knew that Kalawarner and Yubelluna would watch over her.

The girls would follow later after they were ready for school, with Yasaka walking them to school that morning. But Kalawarner wanted to get back to Asia, having left her to use the bathroom after praying with her earlier that morning. Soon afterward Kunou and Yasaka went off to get ready, and Rias, Harry, and Lily returned to their home. They found Asia ready for school, talking quietly to Kala and Koneko as Kala finished putting together a trio of bentos for Kiba, Koneko, and Harry.

The Nekoshou flinched when she saw Harry and almost moved to hide behind Kiba. But the Knight moved away adroitly, leaving the embarrassed Koneko face to face with Harry. Koneko had been able to ignore her embarrassment last night, but now, with Harry right in front of her, the memory of what she had done after Vali had left came back. She flushed to her ear tips, and her normal illusion covering her ears and tail started to fade, but she fought it back with difficulty as Harry smiled at her, shaking his head and not looking as if he held it against her. That smile helped her calm down somewhat, and her flush started to fade. She knew they would have to talk about what had happened, but it looked as if Harry was willing to let it wait until she was ready.

As they walked into the kitchen, though, Harry frowned, his attention shifting from Koneko to Lily as he saw his daughter yawning. Indeed, she looked to be nearly falling asleep on her feet. She hadn't had a late night before, and Lily also had her werewolf endurance. Yawning and looking tired after a night's sleep was not normal for her. "Lily, are you okay?"

"Ergle, don't know. Been having weird dreams. First it was only a time or two, but now it's every night. I still get some sleep, duh, but sometimes its like my brain doesn't want to wake up with the rest of me," Lily grumbled, slurring and even dropping some of her words in a way that the normally too-intelligent-for-her-own-good, near eight year old would not do. "Not used to it."

"When did these dreams start?" Harry asked, frowning and going to one knee in front of her, bringing his face level with Lily to show how serious he was taking this.

"Erm, about the same time we had that ritual to add Asia into the family. You know, when you, kind of, did something with the ritual that somehow, um, made me like you? Added whatever had been added to you to make you more than a werewolf to me?" Lily asked, frowning and thinking it through.

"Ah, you know about that, Lily?" Harry asked, surprised. He'd honestly felt that trying to explain what he thought might have happened in that ritual, that he had somehow shared some of his own divinity with her, might be a little too difficult for Lily to understand. After all, it wasn't as if there was a real physical change to look at after all.

"Hmm, kind of? Don't understand it up here, but in here," Lily replied, first tapping her head and then her heart. "It's kind of weird, but for a while it was like, there was a difference between us. Not like we weren't family or anything, just different. Then it went away."

"We're always going to be father and daughter, Lily, never doubt that," Harry said firmly, pulling her into a hug. "Although what I ever did to deserve a daughter as smart as you, I don't know." Lily giggled at that, rubbing her head against his shoulder. "But you were telling me about your dreams?"

"Hmm… It was stronger the last two nights. Before that I wouldn't remember anything but a smell, maybe, or a single piece of it. It's always about the ocean and rivers. Doors too, and then this white mist and a forest. I thought the forest was my werewolf side telling me something, since the forest's smell and image was the one I always remembered before. Now, maybe it's this new side of us." Lily shrugged.

"Hmmm, probably." _Could something hidden within_ _Manannán_ _M_ _ac Lir's power be trying to send us a message? Damn it, we still know so little about the nature of godly magic, and of Manannán Mac Lir too._ "But it sounds as if it was connected to the magic Yubelluna and I have used these past two days, the type based on music and her, um, her worship." He was still a little uncomfortable about that aspect, especially talking to his daughter about it, of all people.

When Lily nodded, he went on. "Well, if you still have them again tonight, tell me. But this weekend, you and I are going to sit down, and I'll go over with you what I know about that part of us, okay? Maybe doing so can help you figure out your dreams. But tell me, do you feel as if there is anything dangerous in these dreams?" _But if there is, what else could I do to protect her from it? This is coming from inside Lily, not from an external threat._

Thankfully, Lily shook her head instantly to that question. "No! I think it's weird, but it's like, like a scene from a home I haven't seen. Can't explain it better than that."

"Well that's good, then," Harry said with a sigh. "But we are still going to talk about them more sometime soon."

Lily nodded, then raced over to give Koneko a hug before Yasaka arrived to take her and Kunou to school. "Well, what do you think of that, Rias?" Harry asked.

"I think that we need to ask Tiamat about this, and frankly we are so out of our depth when it comes to deific magics that it isn't funny. You're learning how to use it: that show you put on last night with the souls of the dead tells me that. But where these dreams could be coming from, I have no idea," Rias said with a sigh. "It isn't as if gods ever wrote books or instructions or anything, and each of them were unique, which makes it all the worse."

"We need to head to Ireland. If there's any hint or leftover magic that might help me understand the power I have, it's there," Harry said firmly. He was getting a hang of it and had consciously used the power from Manannán Mac Lir last night and did it well. But using a power like that and understanding all the aspects of it were different matters. "Ireland; libraries in the Wizarding World; and I want to question Fawkes, where he, or she, whatever it is, can't just flash away. And perhaps speaking to the Unspeakables too. Anything to figure this out. I swear I'm stronger magically now than I was two days ago, love, and I don't know how. I need to figure this out."

"And that would give us the time to settle things with your ex-wife and her attempts to try and force you back on her terms. And that rot about you needing to live in the country or lose your lands there too. Don't think I've forgotten about either of those issues, Harry," Rias replied. _Or that Gabrielle girl. Grr… If either she or Ginny try to take Lily away or get between me and Harry, I'll introduce them to my Power of Destruction post haste!_

"Ah, that, yeah," Harry said, nodding. _Crud, I'd completely forgotten about that stuff, too, after Rias and I agreed I would transfer some of my money back to Gringotts to keep a foothold in that world._

Rias looked at him for a moment andthen smirked. "You forgot, didn't you."

Harry huffed, looking away, while Rias started to laugh. "Well, can you blame me? Honestly, with all the real threats we've been dealing with, Ginny and those issues just seem rather banal in comparison."

"True, but little problems can transform to big trouble if not looked after, Harry," Rias warned. She then paused for a moment, thinking while Akeno walked in from the backyard, looking at her and the others quizzically since it was getting on in time. "We have a break coming up at the end of March. Do you think we can put this off until then?"

"Yes. I can use that time to question Tiamat about all this too, as well as a few other things. As different as her magic is from the magic of the Tuatha de Danan, she still might know something about Lily's dreams and should at least be able to tell me why my magic's been growing stronger with every instant I use a 'Blessing,' i.e., magic connected to Manannán Mac Lir's sphere of influence. If what I gained from becoming the Master of the Three Hallows was all there was to his power, then that shouldn't be happening. But it is. I'll make the arrangements for us to head back to Britain then. Me, Lily, and…" He paused, looking at Rias and the others in the kitchen.

"Me for certain, Akeno possibly, and perhaps Kunou. I'd wager that Yasaka would like her daughter to get some experience of other cultures. And Koneko," she added, hearing an almost whimper from the heretofore silent Koneko. Harry too looked in her direction and winked at the girl, causing her to smile back before the issue of how she'd embarrassed herself came to the fore of her mind again, and she looked away.

"Still, I'll take care of our tickets. It's getting late, and those of us heading to school should be going." She hugged Koneko and gave Kiba a nod before kissing Harry on the cheek. "I'll see you all when you get back."

"I do believe we should be heading out too, Harry," Kiba added, nodding to the door. "We are rather on a time-table of a sort."

"Right. But remind me to buy our tickets tonight. I want to get a move on on this," Harry replied before kissing Rias lightly and then heading towards the door after exchanging a smile with Kalawarner, who nodded back at him.

As Harry led the way from his house out onto the street, he was surprised to find Issei there, crossing his arms indignantly as he stared at Koneko and Kiba. "Come on! Do you honestly think I want to be left out of this? If the two of you are going, I have to go too."

"Why?" Koneko asked quizzically.

"Because we're like the Three Musketeers: when one of us goes into danger the other two have to follow!" Issei said, flashing a thumbs up in a cheesy manner before sending a serious nod towards Kiba. "And if this is important for Kiba, then it's important for me too. You're my friend, man. Why would I want to be left out?"

Though Harry hadn't realized it, Kiba and Issei had bonded together over the past few weeks. They weren't as close as Harry and Kiba were, but they were still good friends, and, in a way, Kiba was more of a typical friend to the other young man than Harry could be. He looked at Koneko and Kiba, who both nodded agreement, and Harry nodded back. "Okay, you can come with us, then. But let's get a move on, shall we? I don't think any of us wants Xenovia and Irina to get too far ahead of us, for their own good if nothing else, since we have no idea what kind of force might have been left in Kokabiel's base camp."

"Oh, come on, Potter-san," Issei said with a laugh. "It's not like they'd charge in against overwhelming odds and expect the big guy in the sky to see…them…through…" Issei paused as he heard the words coming out of his mouth and sighed, hanging his head. "They would, wouldn't they?"

"I rather think so."

"Sounds like the baka exorcist combi."

"Is this a trick question?" Kiba, Koneko and Harry answered as one, the words different but the message the same.

"Let's get going, then!" Issei shouted, turning and racing off towards the distant train while the others quickly followed, Harry chuckling dryly and taking up the rear.

The four of them boarded a train which the bat familiar Rias had called Heero led them to and moved through it until they found a few seats away from other people. Kiba, Issei, and Koneko received a few odd looks from the other train-goers, obviously, being of an age where they should be in school, but as they passed Harry didn't even need to use a spell to get everyone to look away. Everyone on the train was simply more interested in their own business than anything else.

Issei and Kiba started a conversation, taking two seats across from one another. At the same time, Harry and Koneko took seats across from one another on the other side of the train, with Koneko very obviously looking out the window and not at Harry. It was so obvious that anyone could tell that her attention was on him even without seeing her eyes glancing his way every few seconds. Harry, on the other hand, simply waited, putting up a notice-me-not spell around them just in case, before pulling out a small book on local enchantments that he had been studying recently.

When Koneko looked up at him, however, he put the book away, turning to her with a faint smile. "Yes, Koneko?"

She blushed and looked away again, poking her fingers together before speaking. "I'm sorry, that's…just sorry. I, my body, it…"

"It was a surprise to me at the time, Koneko," Harry said gently, reaching forward to pat her on the knee. "But it's nothing to be so embarrassed over. Sometimes our bodies get more of a vote on our actions than other times. I completely understand. Remember, I'm a werewolf. I sometimes have to deal with issues like that myself."

"Still embarrassing," she muttered, looking down at her hands before looking up at him once more. " **Very** embarrassing," she emphasized. "That, that is not…" She stumbled then looked down again. "That is not…not how I see you."

"I don't see you like that either, kitten. Don't worry," Harry said, his voice tender as he used a nickname for her for the first time.

Koneko looked up, her heart in her eyes, her normal self-control fraying badly under the twin impact of finally getting these words out and hearing Harry use that nickname. "H, how do you see me, Harry?"

"You've asked me that question before, haven't you?" Harry replied with a soft laugh. "I told you at that point that you already had a family. But that family has already become mine. Kiba's my best friend; Akeno, a teasing cousin just like Tonks. Rias is my wife." He said it so simply, so possessively, that Koneko could only smile, wondering if he and Rias even knew how they got sometimes when talking about one another.

"All of you worked your ways into my heart in different ways, and you, you, little kitten, you were the first to start using the line between my house and Rias's peerage as a jump rope," Harry continued. "You, with the way you became friends with Lily, with the way you strove to protect her. The way you acted to my little jokes in class, how I had to work so hard to get beyond that impassive image of yours. Before I knew it I had found a caring girl beneath, the little girl who loves RPG games, sweets, and punching things in equal measure. The little girl who cares about all around her even if she only shows it by teasing most of the time. The little kitten who loves having her ears stroked just so. The kitten who opened up her heart to me and Lily, and then Asia, and even Kunou."

His hand rose from patting her knee to stroke her cheek with a gentle finger. "So is it really any wonder, Koneko, that I see you like as you see me, daughter mine?" He smiled tenderly at her as he saw the unshed tears in her eyes.

The smile that grew on Koneko's face as Harry spoke was a thing of beauty, and as he finished speaking she lunged across the intervening space to sit on his lap, hugging him tightly. "Nope," she said cheerfully. "Not at all, Father!"

Harry chuckled, hugging her back, and continued to hug her as she slowly fell asleep against his shoulder, all the irritation and embarrassment and emotions of both being in heat and everything else coming to a head and sending her into dreamland. Harry didn't care. He simply held her, stroking her head and listening to her purring in her sleep for the rest of their time on that train.

 **OOOOOOO**

The day after the battle against Kokabiel and his legion was almost surreal for Rias, Sona, and the others who had returned to school as per normal. Because that was what everything around them was: normal. There was nothing about the academy or Kuoh as a whole that showed what had occurred the night before. The violence, pain, and loss that they had faced against the Fallen legion, which had pressed them all to their limits, just wasn't there. All of them knew that was due to the fact the battle occurred in a dimensional bubble, but it was still strange to all of them that none of that battle had carried over into the real world.

 _In a way,_ Rias thought as she left her classroom for lunch _, the ignorance we are seeing from all the normal humans around us is part and parcel of what we wish to see, what we're trying to defend. In another, it's a little surreal._

And yet, she and the other Devils couldn't forget what had happened either. And, as the final bell rang for the day, they were reminded of the fact that, even among Devils, last night's activities had caused consternation and worry.

Exiting her classroom again and patting herself on the back for how she and Sona had been able to cover for Harry without anyone seemingly noticing, Rias looked up as she felt a dimensional doorway to hell opening with two people who had been read into the wards bursting out of it. The next second she and every magically sensitive individual on campus shivered as pressure built around them. Exchanging a startled glance with Sona, who had come out of the classroom behind her, she whispered, "Oh no, surely they wouldn't…"

"They did, idiotic parents. There was a reason why we sent our reports through the clan lines rather than straight to the government, darn it," Sona muttered, shaking her head. "Come on; I'd wager the price of that school Harry-san wants to build that neither of our siblings are in any mind to remember to cover themselves in illusions. We have to head them off at the ORC building!"

With that the two of them quickly pushed their way through the crowd of students, entering the nearest girls restroom and teleporting directly from there into the occult research clubroom. The teleportation was so abrupt that Sona stumbled a bit, but Rias caught her, and then the two of them were face-to-face with, not only their fathers, but their older siblings. Older siblings who were both radiating so much anger and fury that it was frightening for the two younger siblings to see, let alone anyone else, as they moved to the door. But Rias gathered her courage and shouted out, "Will you two calm down! The fight is long over."

Zeoticus, who had been manfully holding his son back despite the feeling of the wards buzzing all around him, smiled gratefully and then found himself on the floor as Lucifer threw him off, grabbing up Rias in a hug that was fit to crush her ribs. "Oh, I am so glad you're all right, Rias-tan! I can't believe this happened! What the hell is going on in with the Fallen Angels that an entire legion was allowed to attack here, I don't understand!"

"What's not to understand, baka Onii-sama!" Rias grunted, "Their leader's an asshole who can barely lead his way out of a paper bag, and even then only if it contains a porn magazine! Now let me go, darn it! You're doing more damage than the Fallen attack did!"

Sona too was getting this treatment from her sister, who was muttering about how she had basically threatened to encase the Fallen Angel ambassador to the Devils in ever renewing ice if a hair on her head had been damaged. Well that was what she said between bawling out thanks with the refrain of, "So-tan, So-tan, I am sooo glad you're all right! I am sooo sorry I wasn't here to help." Then she said something that threatened to stop Sona's heart. "Oh, that's it! I am so moving in up here in Kuoh to watch over you! That way the next time something happens I'll deal with it right away!"  
"Oh, by the darkness that spawned us all, Hells no!" Sona shouted, her self-possession pushed past the breaking point. She began to smack the top of the oppai loli that was her sister on the head as she was being held in the air, Serafall's face pressing into her far more modest chest. "If you think you can ruin my normal life with your Maou-be-cursed magical girl nonsense, you can think again. I'd sooner run away!"

"Nooooo! Never going to let go!" both sis-con siblings shouted as one, causing their younger sisters to groan again in exasperation.

The next instant the door opened, and the beleaguered Kings' two Queens quickly ushered in the peerage members who were there, which weren't many, of course, on Rias's side of things. All of them quickly bowed to the two Maou.

"See, Serafall," Lord Sitri said, reaching out to touch his oldest daughter's shoulder. "Now, come on. Let Sona go; she's going to turn blue."

"We knew you were all right, Rias," his father said, shaking his head as he tried to pry Sirzechs's arms off from around Rias. "But these two, they've been in a right tizzy ever since we passed on your messages. It's been all we could do to keep them from coming through the teleport circle before this. For my part," he said, beaming at his daughter. "I am proud, more than proud, of what you and your friends accomplished last night."

That was putting it mildly, to be sure. Astonished, appalled, concerned, and awed came much closer to what he was really feeling.

A few minutes later Akeno was bustling around the room serving everyone tea as the two peerages had mainly left, leaving Rias, Sona, Tsubaki, and Akeno to deal with the Maous that had come among them. Rias and Sona sat on one sofa, staring across from it at their siblings and fathers. Thankfully, Rias had been able to use a spell Harry had taught her to transfigure the second sofa into a much larger version.

"What sparked this attack? Do we know?" Sirzechs asked.

"It was all in the report I sent, Lord Gremory," Rias growled, staring at her brother and tapping her finger on her other arm as she crossed her arms underneath her breasts, glaring at him now while consciously not noticing how her father flinched at her use of his title rather than the term father. "What the heck, you mean to say you didn't even read what I sent in?"

Her brother looked a little sheepish, but Levia-tan stood up, weaving her hand. "Ooh, ooh, I did!" She recited the important bits for Lucifer, who frowned, slowly asking questions as the story came out.

"So, it wasn't just your two peerages and the Potter family, but your allies too. That puts it more in perspective for me. And the wards were that effective?"

"Very much so," Rias replied dryly, while both fathers nodded agreement, having had Sona read them into the wards while Rias had worked on enlarging the sofa. That was probably just as well, since Rias might well have let her own father sweat a bit before doing that. "They might not be strong enough to stop you, Nii-san, but they are monstrously strong even so."

"Was there evidence of this attack being part of the Khaos Brigade's ongoing campaign of terrorism? And you took no prisoners? Did all of the attackers die?" Sirzechs asked, wincing. _Fuck, this is not going to go over well with Azazel. I can't fault Rias-tan and the others, but, even so, losing a full tenth of their population? On the eve of peace talks? Ouch._

"We wiped them out," Sona said simply. "As for evidence of anything else going on, of this attack being related to the Khaos Brigade, we did find evidence of a Fallen priest working with them. Harry Potter and the majority of Rias's peerage are after him now."

"But I felt I had to stay here for a discussion much like this one," Rias added dryly. "We predicted that our parents would show up, but I thought they would have at least made certain you two had all the facts before telling you about what happened." Her father and Sona's had the grace to look sheepish at that.

"That's nice and all, but why didn't you call for help?!" Serafall growled, slamming her hands down on the table, her normal attitude shifting into something sterner and more violent but still slightly childish. "I know you two value your independence, and I've been proud of everything you've both done here before this. But there is a vast difference between that and facing a legion of five thousand Fallen Angels and a Five-wing Fallen like Koka-aho!"

"Because there wasn't time. Oh, we had long suspected for more than a day that some attack would be coming, but we did not anticipate an assault of this size, an overwhelming display of force from the Grigori," Sona said with a shrug.

"It wasn't sanctioned by them," Lucifer said hurriedly. "I've been in discussions with Azazel for years now, and he's about as antiwar as you could expect a Fallen Angel to be."

"That's nice, and that and a buck fifty will get you a coffee, maybe, depending on where you shop," Rias said, smirking as she gave that response her own little fillip even as she answered her brother seriously. "Considering that Vali Lucifer was here directly on the heels of the attack and attempted to interrupt Harry's killing Kokabiel, I have my doubts. Either Azazel is an utter incompetent or he's lying to you. I don't honestly care which. That Fallen Angel and his legion attacked us. I'm not going to apologize for wiping them out!"

"I'm not saying you should, Rias-tan" Lucifer said soothingly. "They made their beds; you made Kokabiel and his followers lie in them. That's fine. I'm just saying it's going to make peace talks more difficult on their end if word about this gets out to their population at large."

"Shouldn't they be?" Sona asked, pushing her glasses up her nose. "What is the point of peace talks if the leaders of the various groups discussing it cannot guarantee peace?"

Lucifer winced once more but nodded, understanding her point.

The two siblings and the pair of parents then began to question the two more closely about the information they had had leading up to the fight and their decision not to call in more help from the Devil side of things. It was all logical and understandable and showed that, given what they knew up to right before the battle, it seemed as if they hadn't needed the help. At that point, given how short a time frame they had to work with from the time they figured out it's severity to the time when the attack had been launched, there wasn't much the families could have done. Perhaps Sirzechs could have gotten there in time to do something, but even that was questionable, considering that he had worked out that he had been in a meeting at the time.

"We might be guilty of the sin of pride," Sona said for herself and Rias, "yet, we won, didn't we? Surely that should absolve us of that particular sin for now."

Leviathan pouted at her sister's words but nodded slowly while Rias went on for her friend. "I don't think you have honestly looked at what we've been doing here. The wards we've made, the alliances we have with Harry Potter and his family, the local Onmyouji, and even the Youkai Association. All of this we've been doing ourselves, and I think it needs to be taken into account the next time you think we can't handle something, and you feel the need to run to avenge us or whatever."

"Perhaps," Sirzechs said with a sigh. He looked at his little sister, shaking his head sadly. "It's just, you're growing up so fast. I'd rather you slow down a bit."

"Don't count on it," Rias replied tartly, then softened the words with a wink. "But don't worry, I'll still be your little sister whatever else happens."

"That's a relief at least," he said with a chuckle. Then Sirzechs leaned back as he scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Still, all of this makes it even better that we decided to hold the face-to-face peace talks here in Kuoh."

For a moment, all Sona and Rias could do was stare at Sirzechs, the words not quite registering. Then they did, and Sona scowled while Rias pinched her arm hard to keep herself from shouting. In other dimensions, perhaps, there were versions of Rias and Sona who would shout in fury at not being asked, instead simply being told that they were hosting this event. Perhaps in still other dimensions there were versions who would have been amazed at the honor being paid to them and meekly acquiesce.

This dimension, however, had versions of Rias and Sona who had grown past their former selves. Who had matured, learned to act for themselves, been involved in high end diplomatic discussions, and had become powers in their own right. They had learned control, and that stood them in good stead now. Which was probably just as well considering how the wards around them might have reacted to their anger at Sirzechs.

Sona and Rias looked at one another, and then Rias nodded very slightly at Sona, indicating that she should talk. Rias had to take a bit longer to gain control of herself so she wouldn't shout. _After all, as angry as I am, he is the chief Maou, and this is a policy thing. I can't yell at him for being a complete donkey's ass about this, as much as I want to._

"Excuse me, but what are you talking about, and why are we only learning about this now?" Sona asked coldly, her eyes flashing as she looked between the two Maou, ignoring their parents for the moment. The two of them didn't look as surprised, but that was an internal clan thing that she and Rias would have to deal with separately.

"I mentioned peace talks earlier," Lucifer said mildly. "It has to be held on Earth somewhere, and it has to be held in some place that is, if not neutral territory, is at least not a place that will not give a symbolic edge to one party or another, and that means here in Kuoh."

"There are other places on Earth where you could meet, you know," Sona shot back instantly.

Leviathan sighed, her face turning serious for just a moment. "The Angels are almost unwilling to come to the peace talks at all, and because of that the Church won't house them on any of its unsanctified lands for fear of internal strife. The Fallen could have hosted it someplace in Brazil or Hawaii before the incident here. But now, not only is their leadership thrown into question, but their commitment to peace at all. No one from the other two factions will want to show up if they try to say they can host the peace talks. That leaves us Devils, and since me and Sirzechs here are the ones pushing the most for these peace talks, we need to choose someplace connected to our families at the very least which means here in Kuoh. We've been pushing to host it here for more than a year actually."

Sona's teeth ground audibly as she barely kept herself from shouting at that last tidbit. "And it never occurred to you to check in with us on whether or not we would be fine with this idea? Not only is that a lot of responsibility, but this attack does call into question not only whether or not the Fallen Angels should be involved in the peace talks at all, but whether they should **happen** at all! If the Khaos Brigade is still out there, should we not try to look to our own affairs, to clear our own houses, as it were, before formalizing the reluctant peace we have already been enjoying?"

"It is precisely because of the Khaos Brigade that we need these formal talks. They've begun to launch attacks against all three factions, and they've been very good about using Fallen Angels to, say, attack Church and Devil targets like here in Kuoh, and using Devils to attack the Church and the Fallen to sow further discord. We need to make certain that we can stand united against them and against the power behind them."

"'The power behind them?'" Rias replied, the phrase helping her control her anger at the earlier announcement. "What do you mean?"

"There is evidence that a god of some kind, and a very powerful one, is backing them, Blessing them in various fashions. Possibly even more than one," Sirzechs said with a sigh, and everyone in the room save for Serafall stiffened, even Akeno who had been by the tea set.

Among Devilkind only Sirzechs himself could fight a god. Not a demigod like Harry, but a full-blown powerhouse god, like Zeus or the God of the Bible, although even Sirzechs knew he would've lost that particular fight. "There have been stirrings among the still existing pantheons out there, moves that point to them either being involved with the Khaos Brigade or also bothered by the collateral damage. We're uncertain which at this point, though, thanks to Serafall's efforts, we've begun to reach out to some of them. But if we need to fight those other pantheons, we can't be fighting the Fallen or the Angels as well."

Sona fell silent as did Rias for a time, taking in that information, which was something of a bombshell to them. Oh, they knew there were remnants of various older religions out there—the power Harry had gained would have pointed to that, if nothing else. Rias had known about there being remnants of the Asgardian pantheon, since her father actually had had dealings with Odin. And she and Sona both knew that none of the Three Factions could act at all in India. But to know that there might be more pantheons out there who were still intact enough to be called that? That was as big a blow to their world view, as big as learning about the wizards and Onmyouji.

Eventually Rias shook her head, setting that to the side to mention it to Harry when he and the others returned. "I understand that," Rias said. "But you should still have asked for our permission."

"*Ahem* As much as I know you don't want to hear it, you two, but technically he didn't need to," Zeoticus said holding up his hands placatingly to stop any immediate reaction. "You are our heirs, but you're not head of our clans yet, and only the head of a clan would need to be immediately notified that their lands were being considered for an official event of some kind."

"I realize that, but I also know it doesn't matter," Rias shot back with Sona nodding agreement. "This is still our land, sanctified by our blood and sweat and the blood of our allies. By our magic we have made this our land in such a way that no one can argue the point." Rias held up a hand and, gently reaching into the wards around them with her magical senses, caused the wards to come alive around them to the point where even her brother looked around in slight concern. They were even **more** powerful now than they had been before the fight, and more responsive too. Something about the ceremony last night had shifted them, changed them however subtly, and Rias wondered if Harry had been correct. Sacrifice was, as Harry had said, part of the oldest magics out there.

"Furthermore, there are our allies to consider," Sona went on, taking over from her friend smoothly as if they the two of them had practiced this. They hadn't, of course, but they had both been around one another long enough to know how each other would react, and on this issue they spoke with one mind. "The Youkai Association, Harry Potter and his family, and the Onmyouji."

"And in the case of Harry Potter, he is as much a part of Kuoh as we and our peerages are by this point, possibly even more," Rias interjected. "And you have to know, given their desire to seemingly restart the war between us, that these peace talks might be targeted. As such, holding them here paints an even larger target on Kuoh than already existed. As such, we and our allies need to think about whether or not it is even worth our time to hold it here."

"And before you say anything about simply telling us we're holding it, remember that if Harry doesn't agree he can use the wards just as well as us, and we are in no way willing to chance a break with him on this point," Sona said, knowing where Rias was going. Whereas as heirs the two of them could just be ordered to host the peace talks here, there was no way the same could be said of Harry. That didn't even mention the Onmyouji, who might well join them here in Kuoh physically even more than the Youkai had. So they had to emphasize that angle here or else they were relying just on their parents and siblings being unwilling to use that power.

"So I think it only right and proper that we ask for some concession, not just from you to have us allow you have these talks here—and don't kid yourself, Nii-sama," Rias said, taking over from Sona once more. "If we say no, and the three of us say no, you're not getting through those wards. Not without causing some great calamity when the magic within them snaps, anyway."

"In contrast," Tsubaki said softly, stepping forward from the wall and drawing all eyes to her. "If we can get our allies to agree to let these talks happen here, and, more, to provide security, that will be a major factor going forward."

Sirzechs smiled at her, nodding his head, while Serafall looked to be almost vibrating in place with the urge to glomp Sona and give her a big hug. "Playing hardball, are we? All right, what do you want?" he said trying hard to keep the pride out of his voice while her father looked on and smiled at the two. Lord Sitri's face was a bit more conflicted, but even he looked proud at how the young women were handling this.

"If you'll give us just a moment, please? After all, you did rather spring this on us," Rias said, smiling brightly at them, all her earlier irritation suddenly gone as they agreed to haggle. Without waiting for a reply, she and Sona quickly stood up, heading towards the doorway with their Queens quickly falling in step with them.

Behind them Sirzechs shook his head ruefully. "Huh, this is not going how I expected. But then again, maybe, given the maturity Rias-tan has been showing since this school year began, I shouldn't be surprised."

"I don't like it." All remaining eyes turned to Serafall at that declaration, and a second later they all rolled as well when she started to wail. "When did my cute So-tan start to grow up on me?! Mou! Her reactions would have been so cute, but now she's all in control and stuff! I don't like it!"

Outside, the foursome quickly got organized, whispering options and ideas before splitting up to perform separate jobs. Akeno was sent by Rias straight to Kyoto to get Yasaka, while Rias called out one of her three bat familiars to contact the one that was helping Harry and the others find the two exorcists. Staring into Duo's eyes, she intoned, "Harry, we have a sort of situation here. Nothing dangerous, but it could become irritating in the long run. Sona and I are in a bit of a bind, though, considering our positions as heirs, so we're limited on how we can deal with it."

From there she explained what was going on, while Sona worked to write up a semi-official looking document stating a few of their demands. One set would be personal, the other political, most of which would be passed on to the others who would be coming here for these peace talks. Tsubaki was sent to a certain bookstore to meet with Master Husukai too. Given the fact that they had already been told it was only a matter of time before the Onmyodo government agreed to join the Kuoh Alliance, they could reach out to them and ask their opinion on a few of the things they were going to demand. Especially since two of them were for the Onmyouji themselves.

A few minutes later Akeno returned with Yasaka, who smiled at them all. "Thank you for calling me in on this in such a prompt manner…this time," she teased, before nodding her head firmly and going on in a more formal tone. "I formally demand that the Youkai Association have a seat at these peace talks. But in return we will aid the rest of the Kuoh Alliance in providing extra security for the duration of the peace talks."

She then mellowed, her tails flicking out to tease Rias's face as the redhead spluttered and backed away quickly. "Besides, I was thinking of asking a few of our warriors to move to Kuoh fulltime, as it were. It would be a hard sell usually, but given the teleportation tunnel between Kyoto and here, I might be able to talk a few of our younger warriors into moving."

Rias nodded and then smiled as her little bat squeaked at her, its voice a high feminine squeal. Her three bat familiars could talk in a fashion, though not for very long and not in complete sentences, grammar being something that eluded them. Since they could communicate telepathically, though, that was an issue she could ignore with aplomb. "Harry, fine, trust Master. Squeeze. Love Master."

"Thank you, Duo, and tell Heero to tell him I love him too," Rias said with a tender smile as she dismissed her familiar before looking over at Sona. Tsubaki appeared then and nodded her own head, indicating that she too had been successful. "Well then, let's get those write-ups done."

Yasaka nodded firmly, and they all got to work. About ten minutes later, thanks to some Devil-style spells that helped with paperwork and writing, they were done.

With Yasaka following behind, the Kuoh natives reentered the ORC clubroom, finding the four they had left behind still there, with the two fathers engaged in a spirited argument over the chess board, Sirzechs lazing out on the coach, and Serafall just coming out of the small kitchen. "Excuse me!" Akeno said, somewhat affronted even by a Maou entering her kitchen without her permission. "Serafall-sama, if you want something…" She paused, seeing the amount of sweets the childish Leviathan had grabbed. "… Did you at least leave us something?"

Serafall giggled at the silly question—of course she hadn't—then her eyes widened as Yasaka followed the others into the room.

"Lady Yasaka!" Sirzechs said, quickly sitting up and trying to look more professional and authoritative.

Serafall didn't even try. She simply shouted, "Yassie!" and raced forward, greeting the other short woman with a hug that would probably have sent Saji and Issei into comas, given how their breasts pressed so hard together. The nine-tailed fox chittered in amusement and hugged Serafall back, saying it was good to see her before sitting next to Rias, with Sona on the redhead's other side.

Sona began the negotiations. "All right, we've had a thought, several of them, actually. First, on a personal level, we would like you and my sister to provide us with some more training on the weekends for our peerages, us, and anyone else who wants to join. While I think we all performed as well as we could possibly expect to, more training equals more combat ability, and that can never be a bad thing. We don't care how you do that. You can assign someone from your peerage to it, Lucifer-sama, or see it to yourself, but we would particularly like more help in bringing Kiba and Genshirou's Sacred Gears to the point where they can use Balance Breaker."

Both siblings nodded, and Sona went on, still looking at her sister. "On the political side of things, we will demand reparations. The leader of the Fallen is to formally accept and pay reparations, paying for the families of the dead among the Onmyouji and the Youkai as well as enough money to allow us to begin building the school that we wish to start here."

"School?" Sirzechs and all of the other Devils asked.

"That is part of our agreement with the Onmyouji, though it's also an amazingly good idea on its own that Harry came up with," Rias replied. "Were going to be opening a school that will teach magic, magic of all sorts. Onmyodo style magic, Devil magic, even Youkai Association style magic as much as other races can learn, and wizard style magic. Harry has volunteered to be the first principal, though he called the position headmaster. The school will also work as a major research center into how the various magics work together and what this could mean for our understanding of what magic is in the first place."

At the mention of the school Sona kept a smile off her face with difficulty. Even now she was still somewhat enamored of the idea for some reason. Just something about it called out to her. Still, for now she set that aside and just listened as Rias picked up from there. "Beyond that, we have a few personal demands that the Church and the Fallen will need to meet."

She paused until Serafall and Sirzechs nodded, while her father looked to be almost bursting with pride to one side. Yet to all their surprise it was Yasaka who spoke up. "First and easiest, we demand that the number of dignitaries they send be limited, and that we be informed of who they are in advance of any meeting. Ten per group should be sufficient, and that includes every group that is going to be represented. Not only the three Factions, but my Youkai Association and the Onmyodo Government will demand a spot at these peace talks. We will also be providing security," she finished, repeating what she had said to Rias and the others moments before.

Serafall nodded while Sirzechs looked bemused and the two fathers looked almost affronted, but Rias didn't let them speak, instead leaning forward aggressively. "We of the Three Factions have at times been dismissive and, in other ways, ignorant of the rest of the mystical groups that share Earth with us. Yet times are changing, and we have to realize that other brands of magic, other magical societies, have both merit and ability. It might be different than our brute strength, but it is there. To that end, any talks about extending the unofficial ceasefire between the Factions must include the other distinct cultures which have also had their peace threatened by the Khaos Brigade."

"You realize that giving magic using humans a seat at the table alongside the Church will be difficult?" Sirzechs asked, while his father frowned and leaned back, looking thoughtful now.

The older man wasn't honestly certain he agreed with all ths, but, after seeing how his daughter had grown, he also couldn't say she was wrong on that point. But it was a sign of how she and Sona had grown, not only as people, but in their world views, and he wasn't certain he was comfortable with that. _Such is the duality of being a parent, I guess. You want your kids to stay forever cute and biddable, and you also want them to grow up and be able to stand on their own. I can't say I'm happy to see how that has happened, but I can't argue with the results. For the most part, anyway. Harry and my daughter being magically married is still something I'd really rather not think about, though._

"We all realize that. I also realize that the Church sent into our territory perhaps the least experienced and least diplomatic exorcists they possibly could, wielders of Holy Blades or no," Sona said sternly. "I also know that there is a vast difference between mouthing the words that you want peace and actually committing to it. Giving a little on that score will show that they are willing do more than mouth the words."

"Agreed," Serafall stated crisply, causing Sirzechs to look at her. The Maou in charge of diplomacy shrugged her shoulders. "Honestly, the Church shouldn't have an issue beyond the spirit of the thing with the Onmyouji. European wizards would be a different matter, but if Harry is not there as a rep himself but as security, Gab-chan and I can smooth over even that. The issue of limiting their numbers will be harder, but still doable."

"All right. I suppose we can agree to that provisionally," Sirzechs acknowledged. "What else?"

"A personal issue," Rias said, her face hard. "This is not negotiable. Governor General Azazel will be one of the delegates, of course. But he will not be accompanied by the Grigori member Baraqiel. If that man shows up I will incinerate him on the spot." Behind her Akeno stiffened as a small but happy smile crossed her face at that, but Rias resolutely did not look in her direction. "Further, Azazel will formally apologize to myself, Sona, and the representatives of the Onmyodo government and the Youkai Association for running what amounted to black ops operations in our territories in direct contravention of pushing for these peace talks. Whether that is public or private is negotiable, but the apology must happen and be accompanied by the monetary reparations Sona already mentioned."

"I… We can't agree to that, but I suppose we can pass it on," Sirzechs replied. Azazel, he knew, wouldn't have a problem with apologizing for Kokabiel's actions or the trouble Rias and Sona had run into before that with other Fallen, but to do so in public might cause him issues with his own people.

Sona smirked, reaching forward to hand the semi-formal agreements over. "In that case, I suppose you all have your work cut out for you, don't you? Because, let me tell you, if any of these delegates think they can agree and then mouth off or cause trouble once they're here, they really should start wondering about the Fallen legion that we wiped out."

Yasaka chittered agreement. "Which doesn't even mention the fact Harry will be in charge of security and may call in Tiamat."

"That's fine, then," Serafall said before smirking and leaping over to land in Sona's lap. "In that case, I need to get my So-tan charge topped up now!"

"Onee-sama!" Sona yelped as the shorter, bustier Sitri sister started to fondle her. "Gleep!"

"You realize I wanted to have these talks occur in the next month or so?" Sirzechs said with a sigh. "Now, with them needing to agree to these demands and figure out who they're going to send, I can't see that happening."

"Good. I'd rather have put it off until after the two of us graduate this summer," Rias replied tartly. "We have other issues of our own to see to anyway."

When Rias refused to elaborate, Sirzechs sighed, set the papers into a small bag at his side, and then decided to follow Serafall's example, pulling Rias across the table into his lap and nuzzling into the side of her head with a sigh. "Sera-chan has the right idea: I need my Imouto batteries filled up before going back to Grayfia and getting her to help me start on this junk."

"GARRRH!" Rias yelped, trying to pull away without much showing for it.

Chuckling at how some things, at least, hadn't changed, Zeoticus asked, "By the way, do you want me to use what happened here in order to warn off Cousin Chalkas?"

"Who!?" Rias grunted, looking away from where she was trying to get out of her brother's grip. "Oh, him. I suppose. Given my read of the moron I expect he'll still try to challenge me. Just make sure he knows that anyone who tries to take my position as heiress away like this is no family of mine. And, gah, if you, if you get me out of this, Tou-sama, I'll show you around our territory!"

"Ouch," Zeoticus muttered, shaking his head. "And I think you can consider that a deal," he finished, reaching forward to try and disengage his son from his daughter, happy to take another step forward in bridging the gap between him and his daughter.

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time that Rias and Sona were dealing with their parents and older siblings, Harry and his group had reached the small port town where Rias' bat familiar, Heero, indicated that the two exorcists had gone. They had done so by taking one train, one subway, and then a short bus trip, but they had arrived at last.

Shortly after replying to Rias' message, Heero led them to where Rias' third bat familiar, Rei, was watching the two exorcists, who had apparently taken up position on a market's rooftop to watch what looked like a normal warehouse. The warehouse even looked like it was in use, and Harry recognized the logo on its doors as a food distribution service. Still, even as they watched the market's roof Harry could feel the magic from the warehouse. It was duplicitous, a illusion of some kind placed over the warehouse along with a few wards whose purpose he could guess at but was not at all certain of.

 _The illusion, though, that I can nearly see right through,_ Harry thought with some pleasure. His experiments in illusion magic and his working with Yasaka had taught him how to notice the slight hints of something being off. Here there was no one moving around the building, not even a worker on a smoke break. There were no birds on the warehouse roof. This close to the docks, that was a major sign of something unusual going on.

Elsewhere, Harry could also see, or see as much as one could with magic, at any rate, the fact that several large cargo ships and areas of the port had been similarly covered by illusion until recently. Only the illusion on the warehouse was still active, and regular life was slowly starting to take over elsewhere. _Still, I'll pass on to Husukai that they might want to send a large group of their equivalent of Obliviator teams down here. There's bound to be some residue here, since I doubt Kokabiel cared what chaos he left in his wake._

Harry was torn from his musing by Issei asking, "So, how do we want to play this? Up front or try to be sneaky?"

"Since we are still not in direct conflict with the Church and, in fact are here to help them as well as aid Kiba in his own issues, I think we need to play this straight. Issei, you and Kiba should lead us in, since Irina's your friend and all," Harry replied, gesturing the Pawn forward. "At least I hope she'll be happy to see you. You didn't do anything to her last night when she stayed at your house, did you?"

Issei hissed out a no, then moved from their own hiding place, leaping from the hotel rooftop they'd been on to the market rooftop where the two exorcists crouched with a surprising amount of alacrity. "Um, hey, you two, we came to help!" he said, while the others moved to join him.

To Harry's surprise, both exorcists actually smiled, and the taller girl, Xenovia, held out her hand to the shorter one, Irina. Irina snapped her fingers and pouted at Issei before putting a few bills in Xenovia's hand. "Darn it! I thought for sure that you would be the only one to come after us to help, Issei-kun."

"Whereas I believed that the devilish desire to avenge himself would, at the very least, force Kiba to come after us. Once we heard Potter-sensei tell us about Valper Galilei working with Kokabiel, it was almost preordained," Xenovia said, counting her winnings.

Having come closer by this point, Harry could see that those earnings were not money. Instead they seemed to be some kind of food coupons. _I suppose God's injunction against gambling doesn't extend to food coupons, then. Funny._

"Although your presence, Lord Potter, was not foreseen, nor was yours, Koneko-san," Xenovia went on, looking at the two of them. She addressed the werewolf and the cat girl more politely than she had Kiba, switching between the Italian and Japanese modes of address. Though the smirk on her face which had seemed to be somewhat friendly towards Kiba had disappeared.

This left Harry wondering how exactly she viewed him and Koneko, but after a few moments introspection he decided he didn't care. While the girl had mellowed, Xenovia had yet to apologize to Asia for the way she had spoken to her when they met, and that was not something Harry was going to forget anytime soon. "We're here because our friend is here; is that enough?"

"…I suppose so," Xenovia said before looking at Kiba closely. "I thought you said at one point, however, that you are no longer seeking revenge."

"My feelings on this point are somewhat complex but now are concentrated on Valper rather than you or your swords. I was wrong in blaming the object of desire that had so twisted the Holy Sword Project. But the individual who began it, Valper Galilei, he must be forced to face me. It is not just vengeance for my own sake either. No, this is justice for my fallen friends. There were more than thirty of us, and I was the only survivor. No, for their sake, if not my own, I need to see that Valper gets what's coming to him," the blonde swordsman said.

Both exorcists nodded at that, while Koneko moved to stand beside Kiba in a wordless gesture of support.

Harry clapped Kiba on the shoulder as he stepped around the two exorcists, heading to the side of the rooftop where they were all standing. "What have you discovered so far?" he asked.

"Can you not sense it?" Irina asked, blinking in surprise, while Xenovia shook her head. "That warehouse is full of Fallen Angel energies. We can sense it even through the dimensional bubble they put up in order to keep people away and the illusion too."

"We can tell where those begin, but beyond that overpowering feeling of Fallen magic, we cannot tell anything about what is going on under it," Xenovia said quickly.

Concentrating his senses in the warehouse's direction, Harry frowned slightly. He was no expert with sensing things on the magical level, but nor was he an amateur at it. And what his magical senses were telling him was weird. "There's a kind of foulness there, like something sweet gone wrong. I suppose that's the Fallen magic. But that's only in the illusion magic, matching the fading illusion. The dimensional bubble, the spell keeping people away, that feels different, almost…purer, somehow…" Harry mused aloud.

"It, it feels," he said after a little while, "almost as if someone else has put up another dimensional bubble underneath the original. Is that even possible?"

"Yes. Bubbles like that aren't really solid structures like the one we were fighting in last night. They are instead more suggestions of division from one area of the world to another," Kiba said, thinking about it himself. "A hedge, I suppose you could say, an artificial division, an edge written on a piece of paper. You can always put one edge underneath another."

"That makes some sense, I suppose. But then, why do I think that that's Holy Magic underneath the Fallen magic?"

Everyone around him blanched, most particularly the two exorcists. Godly magic, while extremely difficult to use (as Harry understood all too well by this point), was both amorphous and powerful when properly applied, having no real limit so long as the god in question had enough power to do so. It could be almost frighteningly direct in its application, even if it was hard to use.

In fact, coming from some conversations he'd had with Rias occasionally, Harry wondered if the application aspect wasn't why the God of the Abrahamic traditions had been able to defeat other pantheons. The Church's use of Holy Magic was easy to use, very specific in how it could impact minds and the physical realm, and was spread out among all of 'Gods' followers rather than a few chosen champions.

"Yes, well, setting that disturbing thought aside, the problem is that neither of us can figure out a way through the outer bubble without warning them we're there. And we don't know what kind of security were going to be dealing with," Irina said before glancing at Xenovia in amusement. "Both of us have had a revelation on the issue of arrogance in the face of the unknown of late and have no wish to make that mistake again.

Harry chuckled, shaking his head. It looked as if these two had actually begun to adapt to how their worldview had been expanded on this trip of theirs, and he thought for a moment that perhaps both of them could be people he might like to get to know in the future. _So long as Xenovia apologizes to Asia, anyway._ Right now was not the time for that kind of thinking, though. They had a job to do, and he wanted to be done with it and then head home to Rias and the rest.

He stared at the warehouse for a few minutes and then looked over at the others. "Would that kind of thing react to teleportation? And do the Fallen Angel's system of anti-teleportation wards work on the same methodology as everyone else's: that they have to know of a specific type of teleportation in order to combat it?"

"Yes," all four of the five other people on the roof said as one. This caused them all to smile wryly, while Issei looked at them in some confusion.

Harry smiled. "In that case I think we can get ourselves onto the warehouse roof with relative ease. Once we're underneath the outer illusion, we'll have to be careful. Am I correct in thinking that any use of magic within the bounds of the illusion field will cause a reaction?"

"That's how these quick and dirty setups usually work, yes," Kiba said with a nod.

"In that case, let's go." Without another word Harry held out his hands to the others, with Koneko quickly taking one, followed by Issei and Kiba swiftly afterward.

The two exorcists were quite reluctant at first, but also linked arms with the others and a moment later reeled way, gasping and shivering at their first ever experience with Apparition. "Yes, the stomach doesn't like being moved through space and time like that, I'm afraid," Harry said with some commiseration in his tone, patting them gently on the backs as they attempted to not hurl.

"You could've warned us," Irina growled, smacking his left lower leg with one hand even as she curled up and tried not to throw up her lunch.

"I could have, but I've gotten so used to using Rias's means of teleportation that your reaction to you using mine didn't occur to me. Sorry," he said. Then as the two of them grumbled he turned away and began to feel out the magic around them. The two exorcists soon started to do the same, while all three of the Devils looked around, wondering why they felt so uneasy, but their own senses failed to tell them anything else.

Xenovia was the first to put what they were feeling here into words. "This **is** Holy Magic! How are the Fallen able to throw around pure Holy Magic like this?!"

"What is the difference between Fallen magic and Holy Magic?" Harry asked. "Sorry, but I've only ever felt Fallen before this. Don't both Angels and Fallen use the same kind of magical system?"

"Only in terms of combat spellwork," the shorter, somewhat stacked brunette said, her earlier irritation with Harry forgotten as she frowned in thought. "The Fallen actually can't use Holy Magic outside of combat any longer. The higher end spells and usages are denied them once their wings grow black. They can no longer call what I have heard called the Heaven System of magic."

 _Heaven System?_ That sounded oddly specific to his mind. Regardless, he shelved that for now, looking at them all thoughtfully. "Okay, that makes some sense, but then what are they using here? It feels, I don't know, ancient to me."

Given his werewolf aspect, it didn't surprise Harry that his mind was unconsciously trying to fit what he was feeling into his mind in terms of smells, as it had earlier, though what his senses were telling him had changed. Earlier he had only been able to detect a hint of something pure underneath the cloyingly sweet scent of the Fallen magic. Now that pure smell had been replaced, like a picture might seem to be so many blobs before becoming clearer. It smelled now of…of dank places, of freshly tilled earth, of dust and the desert. It was all these things and more, things Harry couldn't describe in words.

Something in that magic was calling out to him, something powerful, but he knew that what he was sensing was based on his demigod status rather than his intellectual understanding of magic. It called to an aspect of Manannán Mac Lir's portfolio: the aspect of being a god who guarded the passage to the afterlife. It spoke to him of death.

"The Fallen actually use a broader system of magic a bit more based upon the Devil system of Ankhsera runes more than anything else," Kiba said with a nod. "Because their runes are the same, their wards are the same. Their ability to manipulate magic and so forth are all more consistent with the Devil side of things than the Holy. Considering the first Devil was the First Fallen, Lucifer the Morning Star, that makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Hmmpf," Xenovia huffed. "Holy scripture is more about prayer, group effort, and first building up magic from thousands of different sources and then using it towards a single goal as directed by an ordained priest."

Harry nodded, instantly seeing a parallel there between the rituals that he was more familiar with.

"But this isn't like that," Irina said, calling everyone's attention back to her. "I don't think this is coming from any group of individuals or anything of that nature." She looked directly at Xenovia, her brown eyes grave. "And it isn't Holy magic, not ours, anyway. I can't tell what it is, but it isn't anything that comes from the Holy Father."

She was so firm about it that even the devils could only take her words at face value, and Xenovia just nodded. "Regardless, the Fallen should never have been able to do anything like this. As far as we know, the Fallen would be incapable of even coming near such magic."

Harry sighed, wanting some more concrete answers for what they were all feeling, but he knew that that was asking for too much given the relative inexperience they each had with magic outside their spheres. _Indeed, I have to wonder how many people of any of the various magic-using groups understand magic beyond their own types? More reason to start the research academy, then_.

"Are you saying that Fallen angels would react to Holy magic just the same as, well, us Devils react to their own Holy weapons?" Issei said, slowly staring down at the rooftop beneath them and trying to imagine what was going on inside the building.

"Yes, that's it exactly," Irina said with a nod.

"Then perhaps they didn't?" Everyone else looked at him, and Issei shrugged. "Maybe someone else beat us here."

"Regardless, I think we need to go in under illusions with the understanding that we might run into severe resistance here," Harry said firmly, catching the two exorcists by the eye and making certain they knew his next words were for them. "No rushing in guns blazing. I'll put each of you under a separate illusion. Hold hands for now so that we can all see through it; that will let us all move around more easily inside. But we need to get the lay of the land before we start hacking and slashing. Something about this whole setup has my hair standing on end."

"Shouldn't that be fur?" Irina quipped, getting a laugh from Harry and Issei.

"Koneko, you'll be our scout," Harry said, taking command of the mission with an ease that even the two exorcists found more comforting than irritating. "Kiba, you'll remain in the rear. Everyone else, single file for now. Issei, eyes front when we get in there, Irina left, Xenovia right. I know we might find ourselves in a corridor without doors or something, but there are these things called illusions, and I don't think we can be complacent and just assume I'll spot them before they let someone inside spring a trap on us."

Koneko smiled proudly even as she called upon her new ability to transform her image into the body of a cat as she had for the ambush that Kokabiel had broken up during the battle against the Fallen legion. In that form her senses and body became somewhat like a cat's, and to everyone who looked at her, the image of her familiar, little Shiro, was all they saw. Even Harry had praised her for it when she perfected it, and he smiled at her now, the paternal look of pride in his eyes making her tail swish happily.

She padded towards the door, looking up at Harry inquisitively, and he reached for it, slowly extending his senses to make certain that it wasn't magically booby-trapped. It wasn't, and it wasn't physically booby-trapped either, though Harry's ability to tell that from this side of the door was somewhat limited, based more on his experience with the way the twins sometimes booby-trapped things than anything else.

He made a note of it, however. _There seems to be a certain amount of arrogance in the magical community that I have also developed. After all, magical attacks of that nature aren't the only way to attack your enemy. Sometimes a more normal, non-magical means of attack is even better. Kokabiel knew that, and if we hadn't prepared for it, the effect could have been devastating._

With a single wave of his hand, Harry silenced the door. Then he grasped the doorknob and used Alohamora, the same unlocking spell that Hermione had used in his first year at Hogwarts. The spell worked just as well now as it had then, and he pulled the door open, smiling slightly at the memory of that time while letting Koneko in.

Inside, Koneko moved forward, quickly disappearing into the dark of the corridor within. A minute later she was back, poking her head out over the door's threshold and meowing at them, nodding her head once to indicate that the coast was clear. All of them then entered, one after another, and she padded back along the corridor.

Inside, Harry shivered a little, resisting the urge to hold his nose even as he shifted into his werewolf form. The others looked at him, and he shrugged his shoulders, gesturing to everyone there at the back of his neck where the fur was now standing very visibly on end. "It smells in here," he said at last. _It smells of death...inferi? Well, those would be disturbing but little threat, really. Although this smell… I don't know, it's more like a crypt, I would think, than anything else. Reminds me of the graveyard in fourth year more than the inferi._

"Odd," Kiba said, cocking his head thoughtfully. "Koneko wasn't reacting to it. And I didn't think werewolf senses were that much better than cat girl senses."

Harry blinked. "Sorry. My mind's trying to figure out a way to explain what my magical senses are telling me; I forgot to pass that on. The smell's not a physical thing, it's more spiritual. Which, come to think of it, is probably worse."

"You think!?" Issei muttered, loosening his hands and getting ready to cast spells if needed. He still was nothing like a frontline combatant, but he was ready to do whatever he could, and, under the right circumstances, his spells could be devastating.

A few minutes later as they waited, Koneko came back, her stark white kitten form standing out in the darkness of the corridor they had found themselves in. She raced up to Harry and headbutted his lower leg, causing an impact that nearly sent him stumbling despite being in his werewolf form, having forgotten for a moment that, despite what they were seeing she was not a tiny kitten. He looked down at her, and she smiled up at him as much of it as a cat could, and Harry reached down and picked her up with ease despite the fact that she still weighed as much as she normally would. When he held her up to his ear, however, Koneko appeared perched there, the illusion of Shirou disappearing.

"There is something weird here!" she said in a whisper that only Harry could hear even from that distance, a bit of fear coming through her normal monotone. "There are several scientist monk types. I think they match Kiba's description of the group he and his team ran into on their mission a few months ago. But that's not the oddest thing. The oddest thing are the skeletons."

"What?" Harry asked just as quietly, looking at her quizzically and with a certain amount impending dread. "Are you talking about undead? Like inferi?" _Oh please, be something simple. Please don't let us have stumbled into some other major event._

Koneko shrugged, remembering Harry mentioning those in a few of his stories about the war against Riddle. "They're not zombies. There are skeletons, fifty heavily armored skeletons."

"You were able to count them?" Issei said as Harry relayed that to the others.

Koneko nodded before looking back at Harry. "They're not the normal undead from RPG games either."

"I don't play those, Koneko. You're going to have to elaborate a bit more."

Koneko huffed and might have rolled her eyes were she anyone else, but she explained readily enough. "They're patrolling the area down on the warehouse floor in groups of five. They are acting like a trained group of soldiers, and they almost look more intelligent and conscious. There are two that are larger and stronger looking, standing near this…this thing. Looks like a steampunk magical version of a giant cross. Can't describe it better than that."

Harry frowned, and then he was holding Fragarach, its form that of a hammer. "Let's go," he said softly after relaying that information to the others. "We stay hidden; no sudden movements, don't break the illusions I put on you. But I think we need to see the skeletons for ourselves."

Koneko hopped off of Harry's shoulder and, an instant later, was covered again by her special kitten illusion, leading the way. She paused deliberately here and there where she had noticed weak points in the floor, hopping over a few places and then stopping to stare at the others, indicating without words that she expected them to do the same. They all did so and made it through the area in relative silence. What noise they were making was covered by the slowly rising hum of electricity of some kind of generator in the background.

Koneko and Harry stood together, the Nekoshou once more sitting on the werewolf's shoulder as they crouched behind a heavy piece of some kind of equipment that had been left on the second floor, blocking the path to a few other doorways. Harry wasn't certain what it was and didn't care to speculate at the moment on that, his attention riveted on the skeletons making the rounds on the warehouse floor below. "You didn't mention their armor."

"What do you mean?" Koneko asked in another whisper. "It just looks like regular plate armor to me."

"Almost like that the Templars used," Kiba murmured to one side, nodding his head. "Not so much armor—their arms are free, obviously—but the chest pieces are the same. But what's unusual about that?"

The skeletons below were about eight feet tall maybe, taller than even his werewolf form. They looked to be broad in the shoulders, or at least they might have been if they had been alive. At the moment they were just skeletons. But they were undead of a type Harry had never seen before. For one thing they really did not have any kind of skin on them. They were simply skeletons, fully articulated skeletons, with not a hint of skin, muscle, or flesh upon them. They wore heavy armor plate on their chests, heavy armored greaves on their feet, and vambraces on their lower arms, along with helmets covering their skulls. Each of these were simple items that left their faces free but protected the backs and tops of their heads, looking almost like a pot made out of steel and placed on a skeleton. Their eyes glowed bright white blue, and occasionally, as they twisted this way and that, blue light would form in their mouths.

All in all they were a very eerie sight to the others. To Harry, however, the chest plates they were wearing glowed with magic. He could actually make out several different runes, runes of a type and variety he had never seen before.

Harry knew that, and he knew he had never seen them before. He knew that intellectually, and yet, as he looked at them, as he took in the runes on their chest plates and the rest of the tableau below them, a faint feeling of…not recognition so much as understanding hit him. It was as if he was looking at something written out in a different language, and yet he could decipher some of the meaning. It was altogether an odd feeling, and he frowned.

 _Undead, the power to ferry the souls of the dead from one world to another and control of the world of the undead in the Tuatha De Danan pantheon. Shit! Are we dealing with another demigod here, one who can call upon the powers of a similar deity? Or something worse?_

Reaching over, Harry gently pulled Xenovia towards him, leaning over to whisper in her ear. "Tell me, do you know if Holy Magic would work on something created by the remains of another pantheon?" he said.

Xenovia shivered, and not entirely in revulsion, at being so close to a werewolf. Harry's hot breath against the side of her neck and ear seemed to awaken something within her, something she was not altogether prepared to face at the moment. "Y, Yes," she whimpered, trying to control her body's reaction to Harry's presence. _What in heck is happening!_ "It, it's occurred before when bits and pieces of heathen religions have caused trouble. We, we can, our Holy Mmmmaaagic is far stronger than, than anything of that nature."

Harry didn't realize it, but he had actually released some of his own godly aura, and it was having an effect on those around him. Koneko felt as if she was in the warm embrace of a loved one and had to keep herself from purring up a storm, feeling happy, protected, and safe. Kiba and Issei felt as if they were in the presence of a leader that that they could rely on and had to fight the urge to not stand at attention and salute, even as they prepared themselves for combat at his side.

For Irina and Xenovia? Young women who had never been subjected to anything similar in their lives, indeed, who felt the very idea of lust was sinful? Their reactions were a little more primal, and Irina was barely keeping it under control by singing hymns under her breath. Xenovia was doing the same by pinching her thigh hard enough to leave a quite noticeable bruise later.

"Good," Harry said, stepping back and moving to one side, gesturing for everyone to lean in. This was absolutely the last thing that Xenovia or Irina wanted to do at that moment in time, but they did so anyway. Each of them then had to bite back another moan as Harry's aura washed over them from point blank range. Irina, though, was able to somewhat push past it by remembering that her friend Issei was right there, nearby.

But Xenovia found herself nearly overcome. Her eyes told her that Harry was a werewolf, and that she should thus be repulsed by this unholy creature, but her womanly senses were just too powerful to let that thought take root.

Thankfully for her and Irina, though, Harry's mind was full of the fight to come, and none of the men there noticed what they were going through. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. Koneko, you're with Irina and Issei," he said, knowing that those two would very much prefer to work together rather than with anyone else.

Idly he wondered if Issei had told his girlfriend that he was going to be doing this today, but intellectually he knew that that wasn't something he had to deal with and so set it aside. _Let the boy make his own mistakes and be better for them. Wish I had made my share of mistakes before tying the knot with Ginny, after all._

"Kiba, did you spot Galilei down there?"

"Yes," the Knight replied, his voice a growl as he pointed Valper out. Harry looked in that direction and saw the former priest in question having moved out of a small alcove to work on the cross thing that Koneko had mentioned before.

That device was huge, easily nine feet tall and shaped like a cross, but with several dozen tubes leading out of it into a mold of some kind at its base. To either side were what looked like metal tubs, steam rising from them and the smell of molten metal wafting through the warehouse to Harry and Koneko's senses. And everywhere on the device were nails, nails that had been stamped through talismans like the Onmyodo would use, runes from the Ankhsera school Harry had become familiar with, and more. The nails were so thick on the thing that it was almost impossible to see the original wood of the giant cross underneath the talismans.

In comparison, Valper Galilei was almost plain. He was a short old man who wore spectacles and had curly white hair pressed out to the side by a priest's skullcap, He was also wearing priestly-looking robes: they were in red, black, and gold, which was quite bizarre, but the design matched that of a normal Catholic priest. His movements were slow, but his hands seemed to shake, and he seemed to be licking his lips nervously.

As he moved, Valper was flanked by two even larger than normal skeletons. These looked as if they were titans of their type, two feet taller than Harry in his werewolf form, and their armor not only glowed to his senses, but, as the others looked in that direction, everyone else could make out a few spells on them too. In their hands they held, not halberds or the maces of the other skeletons, but massive claymores in a one-handed grip paired with a tower shield on their other arm.

Still, even with that, Harry had to stare for a moment at the device Valper was working on. _Oh yes, I want to examine that. I want to examine that quite a lot, in point of fact._

"Good. In that case, I'll make my way over there," Harry said, smirking evilly. We'll wait until are all in position and then begin the attack. Kiba, you and Xenovia will be in charge of making sure that no one escapes out the main doors and of capturing Valper. Koneko, your group will charge in from here and make sure no one gets out the back way. I don't care if you destroy the door to do it, but make certain no one gets away. I want that device secured, though."

"It, it could be the device that has let them make their fake holy swords," Irina said, her face slightly flushed, but her eyes were locked on Issei as she spoke. Thankfully for her dignity, Issei was still looking at the skeletons below.

"Exactly," Harry said, his lips peeling back from his large canines in something even the most mentally challenged wouldn't call a smile. "Now, let's get a move on."

However, Harry's plan of attack went pear-shaped the incident they moved forward. One of the two special skeletons turned the instant Koneko stepped foot on the first floor, shrieking out in a voice like that of a banshee rather than anything that might have once been human. "Alarm! To arms, my brothers!"

The rest of the undead skeletons instantly responded as a wave of some kind of foreign magic reached out and just…plucked the illusions off Harry and the others as easily as snuffing out a candle. At the same moment the nearest skeleton, the one who had sounded the alarm, brought it's halberd down towards the startled Koneko.

Koneko didn't let it, coming up into an uppercut with the Boosted Gear on her arm and slamming it into the skeleton's armored chest. With her own Rook's strength boosted in turn by the Boosted Gear, the skeleton came apart, its armor shattering before the rib cage underneath joined it in destruction.

"That's torn it!" Harry shouted, leaping forward and off the walkway he had been moving along while casting a wide area stunning spell on the odd monk-like scientists where they had been working in one corner of the warehouse. He couldn't quite get Valper with it, as one of the two special skeletons raised a hand and cast a spell that knocked the stunning attack away with its own magic. At the same time Valper instantly turned and raced towards the main entrance to the warehouse.

Kiba and Xenovia, however, had already gotten in position to cover it and leaped down now, with Kiba holding Holy Eraser shouting out, "Valper Galilei, vengeance for the dead has come for you!" With that he started hacking at the skeletons between them, and Valper backpedaled, looking around desperately for an escape.

The skeletons had reacted with the instant coordination and communication of a trained military unit, something that was utterly beyond bizarre to Harry, who knew that infreri could never think for themselves like this without someone there directing them. But these skeletons were somehow magically imbued with the ability to do so. Each group of five acted in concert, closing in and trying to envelop their targets.

That didn't work so well for them, of course. Despite being small, this group of invaders had teeth to spare. Issei was the first to truly do a lot of damage, to Harry's surprise. He lashed out with a spell, shouting, "Dress Break!" and the armor of the skeletons in front of him in a line from one end of the warehouse to the other, about fourteen, all told, shattered.

In an instant Irina flashed forward. Her sword, Excalibur Mimic, bisected two of the skeletons so weakened before she was forced to defend herself. She then speared a third, her sword's shape changing from a massive axe to that of a lance in an instant. "Nice, Issei-kun!"

Xenovia roared aloud, bringing her sword, Excalibur Destruction, into the side of a skeleton who had just overextended with its halberd. A second later there was an explosion and the armor of the skeleton, which had been out of range of Issei's spell, shattered. The armor pieces blasted back into the faces of two of its fellows. They didn't hesitate and kept on attacking, but Xenovia twirled away, and Kiba leaped forward into their faces, neatly slicing their heads off. But he in turn was caught between three more and was forced to defend himself.

The speed and skill of the skeletons was also well beyond what anyone would think just by looking at them, on par with Kiba in speed if not in skill. Their striking power too was at around the same level as the two exorcists, who had been trained to the highest degree humans could reach before being imbued further by their faith.

Yet even so, they weren't going to be enough to stop Harry as he made his way forward on their flank, leaving Xenovia and Kiba in place to defend the front door while he moved to capture Valper where he had retreated.

As he advanced the two larger skeletons began to cast spells towards them, gray, black, and an odd deep maroon color Harry hadn't ever seen before. All of them were simple energy-based attack spells, however—no conjuration/ transfiguration or anything of that nature—and Harry blocked them with an ease that seemed to take both skeletons aback. One of them stared at him before cackling loudly. "My, my! What do we have here, a little godling who seems to think he has power? Let us show you the error of your ways!"

With that he began to weave another spell as his fellow fell back, singing out in an old, ancient tongue. "Bide, be bound to the ground! Let leeches pour from thy wounds! Come, children of the fields, and feast!"

At these words chains appeared under the feet of Harry and the others with a speed and an accuracy that was surprising to all. Harry shattered them with physical strength, though, and then blocked the second spell with his own before having to create a fireball that ate the horde of locusts before it could spread to attack his friends.

All of this happened within a few seconds, but the others were able to get out of the chains holding them just as easily, if not as quickly, as Harry. But this did allow the skeletons to surround them all. The melee then became general, while Kiba, Xenovia, and Harry continued to try to move towards where Valper was. He had stopped running now and was instead standing behind the two skeleton generals, cackling madly as he looked around at the group of attackers.

Harry snarled, smashing several skeletons to the side, then bearing another to earth as Fragarach changed shape into a longer-hafted warhammer. The blows of the hammer shattered each skeleton it touched, while Harry used his free hand to launch spells at the two titan skeletons. They worked together seamlessly and seemed to favor insect-based attack spells, binding spells, and direct attacks spells, but their shielding spells were extremely good too, blocking all of Harry's spells for a time. Still, he had yet to break out his more dangerous spells, not wanting to damage the nearby device. But he was pushing them away from it slowly, and his lips peeled back into a wolfish smile.

"Are you having fun, Potter?" Xenovia asked as she passed near him.

"Somewhat," Harry said with a nod, smashing another skeleton's skull into flinders. "It's always nice to have a nice unambiguous kind of fight like this."

"Ha, I was gonna say you're more like a dog with a bone," Issei shouted from where he was fighting by Irina and Koneko.

"Hurtful, Issei," Harry said with a shake of his head even as he ducked under a blow from a mace as large as his chest. "Quite hurtful."

"Valper Galilei, if you value your immortal soul, surrender now! You are wanted by his Holiness's Inquisition for questioning regarding your actions and the actions of your group in the Holy Sword Project. Come along quietly, or I will not hesitate to use lethal force! Or let Kiba Yuuto, one of your victims, have you. Whichever seems more expedient," Xenovia shouted.

"You wouldn't hesitate to use lethal force anyway," the priest said dryly, sounding suddenly eerily sober as he watched the combat continue to unfold, his eyes gleaming.

Harry was the first to notice a shift in the battle as he cast a large Bone Breaking Curse on a group of skeletons, figuring the spell would do a lot of damage to creatures that were entirely skeleton. But the spell seemingly fizzled. The next second Kiba's sword stopped working as anything but a sword, the magic in it, Holy Eraser, just refusing to work. This nearly cost Harry and Kiba both, but they were able to link up for a few seconds and protect one another while Harry frowned, trying to figure out what was going on.

Then Issei nearly shrieked as he ducked away from a blow from behind. "What the heck!"

Behind him a skeleton had reformed from being cut in two by Irina, and its mace had nearly caught him in the side of his head. Only the skeleton's desire to land a killing blow had saved him, and he now was on the run. "They reform! That's freaking cheating!"

"Bloody hell," Harry muttered, watching as, indeed, every skeleton they had downed to this point reformed. He tried several spells, one after another, shifting from magical assault to transfiguration, conjuration, Illusion, both European and Onmyodo styles. All his spells fizzled out, and with each spell a feeling grew in him, as if some tremendous will was bearing down on him just out of sight. _It's, it's like some kind of Legellimens attack which comes with the aura the skeletons are creating, only instead of trying to get into my brain it's trying to break my will._

Despite the growing pressure on his brain, Harry roared aloud, "The skeletons are exuding some kind of anti-magic aura! Use only physical abilities for now while I work out what's going on."

Even as he tried to figure out what was going on, Harry noticed that only the two exorcists were still making much headway. When Holy magic fought against what could be called Holy magic, faith seemed to play a part, and obviously the two exorcists had more faith than the undead. That, and thankfully whatever was going on also seemed to inhibit the titan skeletons from using spells.

"Indeed, I'm afraid it is you and your companions who will die here, my dear," Valper said, addressing Xenovia from the safety of hiding behind the two titan skeletons. "My new god demands it, and his word is far more attractive to me than that of the false god that I used to believe I served."

"What are you talking about!?" Xenovia asked even as she crossed swords with one of the skeleton titans. "There is no god but that of the Holy Father! All others were but fakers, powerful creatures but not true gods!"

Valper laughed maniacally. "Oh, you are so naïve, Xenovia Quarta. Yes, I know who you are. You would be surprised at how far my former employer had been able to reach into the Church. I thought that under him I would be able to create it, the perfect sword. The ultimate holy sword."

He laughed again, a low, hollow sound as his grey eyes, previously devoid of emotion to a horrifying level, started to almost glow with religious fervor. "But now I know that that alone would never have satisfied me! My god has opened my eyes to the truth. The truth of the world. The truth of everything. War, eternal war without ending. A perfect laboratory to create the perfect divine sword! It will be so…so… **glorious**!" he shouted in ecstasy.

Locked in magical combat a few yards away from the priest, Harry hated the idea the instant it was out of the priest's mouth. He was not a warrior; he was a soldier. And what was a soldier who didn't want to put up his weapons and go home afterward? "Right," he said aloud, "I hate him already. Please tell me he wasn't that bizarrely creepy when you were younger, Kiba."

"No, he certainly was not," Kiba said with a sigh as he traded blows with four skeletons at once, dancing around them, using his greater agility to great advantage. But without offensive magic his swords were just not doing much. By this point Devil based magic was no longer doing anything to these things, fizzling out like Harry's area-effect spells. This left him with the cutting power of his swords, which was decent, but not much against enemies who reformed once they were struck down.

"You never served the Holy Father, false priest," Irina shouted in the first sign of real anger that Harry had seen from her. "You never would have, never **could** have acted as you did if you believed in the tenets of our Holy Father. Our Creator is a gentle Father at heart, who is only stern when he must be!"

For a moment, Valper's eyes cleared of the manic glint they had, but the impression he gave Harry wasn't any better now. Now those eyes looked dead, like some kind of fish thing from the deeps. Harry wasn't certain which look was more disturbing, but both made him want to carve the man into tripes.

"Oh, but I did," Valper said, his voice cold and and clear, cutting through the tumult of battle this time rather than rising above it as before. "I did serve God. I thought I served him very well indeed, creating weapons to put in the hands of believers so that we could excise the filth that had slain the Holy Son. But that was until I learned the truth. The one truth above all. That was before I learned that God is dead."

For a moment, everyone was quiet, simply staring at him in shock at this odd pronouncement. Then Xenovia and Irina shouted, "You lie!"

"How dare you try to trick us with such blatant falsehoods!" Xenovia went on, trying to attack through two skeletons only to watch the one she was aiming at dodge, letting the other one attack her in turn. She barely brought her sword back into the on guard position and was knocked several feet backward, her feet skidding on the floor of the warehouse.

"I do not lie," he said calmly, while the battle resumed as the normal undead began cackling in the background, adding an even stranger note to things. The former priest pointed at Harry and laughed, his sanity disappearing like someone had flicked a switch. "People like him and like my new lord would no longer be here, the power of their pantheons would've been absorbed by God, if he was still here. But he is not! He fell, fell to the blade of a traitor in the great war."

Once more Valper's tone became almost normal. "That is why the Church has been slowly losing ground ever since. And ever since, nothing, nothing since his death that we humans have done was to his glory or by his orders! Nothing we have done since, good or bad! Nothing! We all, you, me, the billions of humans worldwide who believe in God, Christian, Jew or Muslim, we have all believed a lie!"

"How darGHUuh!" Irina found herself falling, her attention on Valper having taken her attention off the fight, her weapon skidding away along the floor. A skeleton with a mace had caught her in the leg, and only her endurance and durability as an exorcist had enabled her to keep the leg. But it was now useless, the femur utterly shattered, and Irina could only stare up at her death.

Then Harry was there, smashing the skeleton into pieces and hurling them backwards. But like every other skeleton they had crushed since the start of the fight, it instantly began to reform. This time, though, Harry was staring directly at it with his eyes attuned to see magic via a spell. With that spell he saw a shadow, a ghostly image of the armor appearing in midair to his eyes, then pulling the spirit that had inhabited the skeleton back to life. An instant later the skeleton was back.

It was almost fascinating to watch, on an intellectual level, anyway, Harry reflected. _All right, there is something in the runes that inhabit, but are not melded to, the armor. The area of effect, though, it must come from the number of them, perhaps._ Whoever had created the skeletons had been a true master of Necromantic magic. _But the area of effect… If whoever is behind this, and it must be some kind of god of death, can do that, then…maybe so can I._

With that thought Harry growled angrily and then began to release all control of his aura. The effect was immediate, the skeletons all around him noticing and stumbling back before Harry started to push the twin powers of the mist that had once been the Cloak of Invisibility and the Resurrection stone out in one enchantment. Fog soon began to encompass the room, making the fight even harder for everyone, admittedly, but the next second, as Kiba smashed in the armor of an undead warrior, that warrior fell.

And it did not reform. There was a small flare of something visible even to Kiba and Koneko, the least magically inclined there, then it was the spell on the armor which fizzled out. They could make out the wavy image of something human-shaped in the mist before there was a low groan, and it disappeared into the mist. Harry staggered, grunting and shaking his head as more than one of the others shivered, wondering if what they had just seen was a soul allowed to finally move on to its final rest or something else.

Regardless, Kiba knew they had to capitalize on it. "Whatever you just did, Harry, it's working."

"Target the armor!" Harry roared before the two spell-wielding skeletons were on him. They seemed to have powered up in some fashion too, and Harry hissed as he felt a sword blow get through. But his werewolf durability protected him again, and he closed, flinging spells against them as they did the same back. One of them used a shield spell to protect itself for a second before the other one attacked Harry from the side.

Harry ducked, kicking the skeleton's legs out from under it, then flashed another spell out with his free hand, a simple Leviosa that caught the shielded skeleton, lifting it and hurling it toward the ceiling. At the same time Fragarach came down, and the second skeleton rolled away, lashing out with a spell from its eyes that acted like a battering ram, hurling Harry backward. Despite that, he rolled with it and then came back with another cutting spell, only to watch the skeleton titan deflect it with its massive blade while, above him, the other skeleton broke his Leviosa spell.

With much of his concentration on keeping the mist and its accompanying enchantment in place against the ongoing pressure from whatever was powering the spells on the undead, Harry could barely use the easiest of his spells, even now that it was slowly becoming an option once more. That made him far less dangerous, but it didn't make him helpless, and he howled, leaping forward and bearing that one to the earth, blocking the skeleton's blade with Fragarach as he shouted, "Smash their armor; they won't be able to reform!"

All around him he could hear the others start to follow his new orders. Irina was still down, but Xenovia and Koneko, and even Kiba and Issei, were still fighting. After seven more skeletons had fallen, the strain started to lessen up on Harry, and after ten more, he started to be able to concentrate enough on both the physical and the spiritual fights. A point blank Onmyouji-style metal spike smashed through a conjured shield and the tower shield of his enemy, impaling the skeleton to the ground. Then a Bombarda to the face blinded the second skeleton just long enough for Harry to smash Fragarach, in its warhammer form, into the first skeleton general's chest.

The thing's armor didn't just shatter like the lesser skeleton's armor had. Instead it exploded, and Harry howled in agony as the bits and pieces of it caught him in the chest and face, nearly taking out his eyes. But as he stared through the blood on his face, every inch of the skeleton within the armor turned to dust which fell into a pile on the floor. Even the rest of its armor quickly decomposed, swiftly turning into rust and then dust.

At the sight Valper, who had fallen silent as Harry had begun his magical counterattack, began to back away. Looking around desperately, he seemed to twitch then as if he was a puppet whose master had just pulled his string. He rushed over to the massive device and began to push a series of buttons. An instant later the thrum of the generator burbled, and there was a bright flash as the generator went critical and exploded, destroying much of the device. The rest of it started to turn to ash or simply disappear as the various magical bits failed.

Fire and smoke started to fill the warehouse, adding to the mist of Harry's aura, and everyone lost track of him for a moment. Under this cover Valper raced for the back door which Issei and Koneko, who had taken over guarding Irina, had left. Moments later he was out the door and still running.

Feeling his wounds healing and the pressure of the enemy's willpower abating further, Harry lashed out to the side with another simple Bombarda at a skeleton that was about to get the drop on Koneko, blasting its back armor into pieces. At the same time he bull-rushed the last titan skeleton, bringing them both to the floor. One of his hands grabbed at the enemy's shield, keeping it still, but the skeleton released its own blade and grabbed at Harry's wrist, holding his hand with far more strength than it had shown previously. A cold began to seep into Harry's limb from this touch, and he snarled, trying to wrench his arm free.

" _ **You think you can win here? This battle means nothing, Son of the Islands,**_ " hissed a voice, one that was most definitely not the same as the one the skeletons had used earlier. Harry blinked, staring into the blue eyes of the skeleton as the will that he had been fighting against made itself known, pushing its words through its created servant. " _ **You think because you were able to overcome my power at such a distance for a few moments that you are worthy of the power you possess? You know nothing, werewolf! No mortal can truly understand divinity, and you will never know how to wield the power within you well enough to face me!"**_

"That's rich coming from someone who had to fight through these undead proxies!" Harry nearly snarled, the feeling of the cold creeping into his body and the continued struggle against the will pushing out from all the skeletons around him cutting into his self-control severely. "Come and face me in person if you think me so beneath you!"

" _ **Why would I give you that honor? No, werewolf, you will never be worthy to gaze upon me, let alone do aught else!**_ " The voice barked a laugh, the skeleton's teeth clattering in a staccato rhythm. _**"Kakakakakaka! The time of gods is coming again! The Christian God kept us all in check, such was his power, but now his absence is finally telling! The time of gods is coming, Son of the Islands, and all those who live upon Gaea's surface will learn once more that they must worship or die. Those like the Devils and other created races will bow along with you or be wiped from Gaea's surface! Kakakakaka!"**_

"Oh joy, another egotist with a plan of world domination!" Harry growled through clenched teeth, losing the fight against the cold seeping through him now as the skeleton, now rimed with hoarfrost, slowly pushed against him. He was unable to fight it or even spare attention to cast a spell, such was the struggle against the will attempting to master the space around him. He felt the arm holding Fragarach freeze solid as if it had been dipped into liquid nitrogen. Bits started to shatter off, in particular around the skeleton titan's grip as he shifted.

But he was still able to look around himself, and as the smoke and fire from the earlier explosions cleared, he saw Koneko and Issei working together. Issei had cast a capture spell. "Fire, _Sticky, Sticky Cannon_!" From his outstretched hands came a veritable wave of glue which captured seven skeletons at once.

At the same time Koneko had gained some distance from all the skeletons. Now, turning around, her fist thrust forward with Ddraig gleaming on her arm.

His lips peeling back from his teeth ,Harry grinned for real this time as he addressed the unknown owner of the voice that had been taunting him. "But you seem to forget one advantage we humans have always had over you gods. We like to work together. I'm not alone here, and you forget that at your peril!"

For a moment the intelligence riding the skeleton titan faltered and then tried to push more of its will into the aura of the skeletons, trying to overcome Harry's will. But Harry didn't let it, pouring more of his own will into that contest, allowing the cold to nearly freeze his marrow from his wrist deep into his chest as he kept the enemy's willpower at bay just long enough.

" **BOOOST**!" howled the Boosted Gear, and fire so hot it looked like a solar flare crashed out in a straight line from Koneko's out-thrust fist, turning the skeletons and their armor to dust and ash.

The loss of that many of its anchors in this place caused the willpower Harry was fighting to falter on the physical plane for a second, the skeleton titan's strength ebbing. Harry lashed out instantly, rearing back, ignoring the agony as his frozen arm shattered, and then thrusting forward, maw gaping. The skeleton's blue fire eyes seemed to widen, and then Harry chomped down, shattering the titan skeleton's skull.

The willpower he had been striving against faltered instantly, the auras around the skeletons nearly disappearing as the spell in the armor of the skeleton titan activated, trying to bring it back from the dead. But Harry didn't let up. He howled, slamming his remaining hand down into the armor covering the skeleton titan's chest, blasting out with a blast of pure magical energy barely formed into a spell of shattering force. The armor exploded, hurling Harry into the air and away, but he rolled, watching as the titan skeleton's remaining body and armor decomposed like all the others.

With the last titan skeleton down, it appeared as if the willpower that had been controlling the skeletons had lost the ability to bring its full will to bare. It was almost as if the titan skeletons had acted like extra-large tunnels, Harry mused, while the smaller ones were small holes letting the enemy's willpower through. Now, without that more powerful local anchor, the enemy's willpower could not overcome Harry's, and the last skeleton collapsed in on itself a second later under a blow from Kiba.

Pushing himself to his feet, Harry could feel his new wounds healing almost instantly, the cold in his body receding while his arm started to regrow from its stump. A second later he began to rein in his aura, the mist signifying his will dissipating around them as he took in the warehouse, beginning to use fire suppressant charms as the smoke and mist started to dissipate. "Right, that was grossly unpleasant." Raising his voice he shouted out, "Roll call!"

"I am well enough," Xenovia reported stoically. She was covered in cuts and scrapes. Her Holy Weapon had been as suited to fight undead like the skeletons as Fragarach in its warhammer configuration.

"Irina is still down," Issei said worriedly. "Her leg's in a very bad way, and she took a blow that knocked her out, but she doesn't look to be injured otherwise. Oh, um, I'm good too," the pervert added as an afterthought, while at his feet Irina started to wake up, groaning, her hands scrambling to try and find her sword.

"Koneko here; I'm fine," Koneko said, coming through the smoke towards Harry. She stared at his re-growing arm for a moment, her eyes worried, but as the regeneration finished she breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Those things gave me the creeps, but I'm fine."

"Yes, you could say they gave me the creeps. They gave me every bloody creep in the world," Harry muttered, shaking his head at the memory of feeling the cold of the grave invading his body, the battle of wills he had only barely won. He ruffled her ears, hearing her purr and push against his large paw while he looked around them.

"Kiba here. I have a few scrapes and maybe a few broken bones; those things were tough! But, I'm fine too, I think…" Kiba's voice came from another area of the warehouse, by one of the walls, if Harry was judging distance correctly.

Irritated, Harry started to use a Onmyodo type spell. "Kaze (wind)!" With this spell he started to gather the smoke and remaining mist ans push it up to the roof, where it slowly started to dissipate. A second later he could see Kiba pushing himself out of the shattered remains of a metal cargo container. "You think?"

"One of them caught me just at the end there, when Destruction Sword was stuck in the ribs of his fellow. It turns out that the anti-magic of whatever aura was keeping our magic bound lasted a tad longer than I had anticipated. My arm is now a bit unresponsive. I think I might have dislocated it. I also took two shots to the ribs from a mace wielder," Kiba reported, moving very gingerly.

As the last of the smoke dissipated, Harry scowled, glaring around him and ignoring their wounds for a few minutes. "Anyone have eyes on the target?"

There was a curse of negatives, and Harry growled deep in his throat before marching over to Irina and crouching in front of her. "Hold still; let me set that leg of yours. You'll have to stay off it for thirty minutes to let strength return to the limb, though." With that he placed his hands on the inside and outside of her thigh before intoning a mending charm to set the bone. The spell might not have been useful against surface injuries unless you wanted a scar, but it worked very well for bones.

As he did, Irina bit back a moan, trying to force her body not to react. Harry's demigod aura was still running a bit rampant after the fight, and it was most decidedly having an impact despite her mortification at the fact.

Looking up at her, Harry quickly conjured a jacket, letting it fall over Irina's shoulders. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were cold."

Irina blinked and then stared down at the chest of her exorcist uniform. A uniform that was essentially a leotard made of blessed fibers. It gave her more protection than even the strongest armor against most weapons, but it did nothing to hide her hardened nipples. She squeaked, pulling the coat around her and thankful that Harry had misunderstood. "Um, tha, thank you!"

Actually, Harry hadn't misunderstood. Instead he had realized what was going on and started to pull in his godly aura under control once more. _Damn, I thought my self-control was better than that. Best not to make a big deal of it, though._ Luckily, Issei hadn't seemed to notice, and Irina quickly began to regain her own equilibrium once Harry had pulled in his aura.

Harry stood up, slowly shifting back to his human form, grimacing as he did so, and noticing that his clothing had been ruined during the fight, along with Koneko and Xenovia's. A few Reparo spells thankfully helped and earned him his first thank you from the prickly exorcist, who was looking over the remains of the device.

When Harry tried to use a Reparo on it, however, only a few portions of the device reformed. It was evident that whatever had been done to the thing had made it completely unworkable now. "Damn."

"Agreed. I believe the Church would have liked to examine it as well, if only to figure out where all the parts came from. It is evident that whatever Kokabiel was planning for Kuoh, he had created a large organization that backed up his ambitions. The parts of that device and the various magics built into it could have given us a means to find the rest of that organization. Even without him at its head they might cause trouble," Xenovia said.

She then breathed a sigh of relief and reached inside the wreckage of the device, pulling out the real version of Excalibur Rapidly, the holy sword she and Irina had been sent to find. She could tell it was the real version because, unlike all the versions they had gathered the day before, this version actually felt holy, matching her own Excalibur Destruction. "Ah, but at least whatever unholiness that was part of the device's self-destruct could not damage this Holy object of the Church."

"That's nice and all," Kiba said before breaking off with a gasp as Koneko set his shoulder. "Buttt—thank you, Koneko—but that device was not the reason for our being here, and if we catch the creator, you can ask him all the questions you want. So can we please get after him!?"

Snorting, Harry shifted back to his werewolf form and moved over to the last position he remembered seeing Valper, falling to all fours and sniffing the air to get the scent of the man. After a second he nodded. "I have a scent. Xenovia, Kiba with me." He broke off as Koneko appeared at his side, staring at him hard. "And Koneko too. Issei, watch over Irina for a bit. When thirty minutes pass, the two of you can come after the rest of us. Just try not to do something your girlfriend would disapprove of in the meantime."

"Oh, what kind of man do you take me for?!" Issei retorted.

That brought more than a few deadpan stares in his direction, and Issei huffed. "Fine, right. I won't do anything."

Harry nodded and, pausing only to cast several notice-me-not spells on them all, raced off out the back door.

Koneko and Kiba didn't hesitate, moving after him quickly, smacking Issei's shoulder in passing, murmuring words of thanks for his help in the fight before racing after the extremely fast form of Harry as he burst outside. Outside Harry leaped up onto the rooftops, and they followed, taking wing for a moment before racing on foot after Harry again.

Looking over to where Issei was helping Irina up against the wall, Xenovia hesitated. "Are you two going to be all right?"

"Go," Irina ordered. "Until we have Valper, our mission remains incomplete. Besides, he has to pay for those lies! Like Lucifer before him, his tongue is silver, and his heart is black!"

Nodding, Xenovia turned and raced away. She soon caught up with Koneko and then Kiba, the Knight's greater speed having helped him, but they had lost sight of Harry, who had sped on as quickly as he could. But Koneko could in turn catch his scent and started to follow it. In this manner they trailed him for about forty minutes, finally spotting him in a small town that looked almost like a vacation spot several miles down the coast from the port where they had been.

There the trail led to a man matching Harry's height in human form, but looking like a regular Asian man smoking a cigarette.

The illusion was so real that Koneko marched up to him, and snatched the cigarette out of his mouth before breathing a sigh of relief as it disappeared in her hands. "Sorry," she muttered. "Just hate the smell of smokers!"

"So does Rias, Koneko, so you don't have to worry about me taking up that bad habit," Harry said, wrinkling his nose at her companionably as he canceled his illusion, to which she smiled and leaned against the wall next to him.

"Well?" Kiba asked, also leaning on his other side, knowing that Harry wouldn't be just standing there if he didn't have a reason. "What exactly are we doing?"

"That is the million-dollar question," Harry mused, frowning very slightly. "I honestly have no idea. Someone set up a bounded field around that bar there to keep normal people away," he said, gesturing at the building he been watching. "It's a very subtle bounded field, but no one's gone in and no one's come out. And no one has teleported out either. But there is…something inside. And, before you ask, I threw up a teleportation block around the place the instant I got here, so he hasn't left, at least not via any kind of teleportation method I know about."

Kiba looked at him quizzically, and he shrugged. "Rias and I have talked about that a time or two, and she walked me through how Devils and Fallen angels teleport, while Yasaka told me the Youkai's methodology. Both of them are more power intensive than anything my people do and rather cruder, but I can block them. I won't say that someone couldn't overcome it, but if he's in there he certainly isn't leaving through magical means without me knowing about it."

"That makes sense. So, we just go in after him?"

"After the day we've had?" Harry drawled, looking at Kiba quizzically.

The Knight nodded ruefully while Xenovia snorted. "Right, probably not going to be that easy. So how do we do this? If they've thrown up a bounded field since he arrived, they're obviously going to be ready for us, right?"

"More than likely, which means no sneaking around."

He looked up as Issei and Irina joined them. Irina was leaning heavily on Issei, but they both still looked game, Irina having been able to follow the feeling of Xenovia to the others.

"Okay, here's what we'll do. Issei, you and Irina take the back door. Kiba, you go with him. The two of them stay outside while you enter. Xenovia, myself, and Koneko will enter from the front. And now, I hope you're all thirsty," Harry quipped, moving forward.

"The fruit of the vine is a sacred symbol, but one that should be drunk only in moderation," Xenovia warned, her lips twitching as Kiba led the others off, taking Irina around the waist and hopping up to the roof while ignoring the shorter exorcist's squawking in protest.

Issei scrambled to follow them, still not used to moving via the rooftops like that, but soon enough they were in position, and Harry and the others entered the building.

Inside there were about twelve people spread about, unconscious and snoring away in various states of disarray, knocked out by some spell, obviously. In one booth there was the man they had been chasing, sitting across from a very young girl who looked around ten, with long black hair down past her shoulders and out of sight below the top of the table to go with black eyes which had slitted pupils. Her ears stuck out very slightly from the hair, with pointed tips that looked like those of a fantasy elf.

She was dressed in the same Gothic Lolita style that Mittelt favored in black and purple, though she looked much more natural in it than Mittelt ever had, not that Harry would dream of telling the Fallen girl that. She was eating something, a kind of sweet from the scent of it, slowly chewing each mouthful as she stared at the man across from her, her eyes unblinking.

Next to the booth stood a very busty Nekomata, her tail twitching as she looked at them. She was dressed in an obscene version of a kimono in black with red highlights that was open at her shoulders, showing off her large breasts, which were close to those of Rias, to go with her long, flowing black hair. She had hazel eyes with cat-like pupils, and she wore a yellow obi and a set of large, golden beads.

Next to him, Harry felt Koneko stiffen as she stumbled, staring. "Kuroka-neesama!"

His eyes widened as he stared back at the girl in front of him, who was looking at them all inquisitively, her yellow, catlike eyes nearly gleaming with interest as she looked at Harry like he was a particularly juicy rat. For now he ignored that, however, saying, "If you expect me to take her on as another daughter, I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline, Koneko."

His mild joke caused Koneko to twitch out of her stasis at seeing her sister after so long, and she spread out to one side while Xenovia did the same to the other, bringing up her hands and getting ready for a fight.

Giggling, Kuroka moved forward, smiling at her sister. "Hello, little Shirone. You're looking well. And mrr… This would be Harry Potter… I've been wanting to meet you for a long while…" She sauntered forward, barely looking at her sister now, her eyes becoming heavy-lidded with lust as she looked at the man who had begun to entrance her every time she saw him.

She then had to duck under a punch from Koneko as the little girl cross the distance between them in a single instant, moving faster than her bigger sister had thought she was capable of, the Boosted Gear blazing on her arm. "Back off, Kuroka-neesama!" she shouted. "No hitting on Father!"

At that her older sister did back off, looking a little confused. "Father? What in the heck?"

The interaction between them was brought to a very violent end as a presence crushed down on them. This was very different from the willpower made into an aura that Harry had fought through their enemy's undead creatures. That had been cold, calculating, and arrogant and had been mainly seen through its effects by everyone but Harry, who had been the only one able to see more than the fact that his magic and those of the Devils were no longer working.

No, even Xenovia, Koneko, and Kiba, who had just come through the door leading into the back of the bar, could feel this. And the feeling of it was pressure, an overwhelming power and fear pressing down on them like a living thing. It was as if all of them were staring into certain, overwhelming, obscenely powerful death. Kiba gasped, slamming his twin swords into the ground in front of him in order to stay on his feet, while Koneko trembled but fought through it with the help of Ddraig. Xenovia gasped, grabbing at her sword and lifting it to kiss its hilt, reciting psalms to God in an attempt to center herself. Outside, Issei fainted, collapsing to his knees and frothing at the mouth. Irina too fainted dead away, collapsing against him.

Harry, on the other hand, wasn't exactly unused to such a feeling after his time fighting Lucifer. This presence made even Lucifer's aura pale, but Harry was not human. He wasn't even a werewolf any longer, though he still retained the feral nature of beast deep inside. No, he was a demigod, and he pushed against the aura, snarling his fury in its face. "What is this!?" he roared.

"Enough," said the little girl, setting her sweet down. She snapped her fingers, and Valper fell sideways, landing with a thump on the ground next to the stall with all the boneless quality of the recently dead. Looking down, Harry saw that the man's eyes had rolled back in his skull, and blood was coming from his mouth.

The little girl stood up from where she had been sitting and moved over to Kuroka, who had also fallen to her knees, whereupon the little girl nudged her with a foot, the impact of her presence canceling out around Kuroka at the same moment. "I did not bring you along so that you can act out some mating ritual. You asked to remain on the chance of seeing your sibling. You have done so. We will now move on to the reason behind my presence here, or I will destroy you."

The little girl who was decidedly not a little girl looked over at Harry, cocking her head to one side. "Is it not normal for sentient creatures to kneel in the presence of those stronger than them?"

"Grrrrrrah! I, I, kneel to no one," Harry growled out, using all of his inner strength to press against the presence this little girl had, his eyes flashing with fire of red and gold at her.

Beside him Koneko to had pushed herself to her feet, the armor of the Boosted Gear moving over her body as she did, though she made no move to close with this weird little girl. " **Be very careful here. That little girl is not a little girl at all. She is the Infinity Dragon, Ophis. A Dragon God above Dragon gods, the strongest existence in this world and many others. I don't know what the hell she's doing here or why she looks like that, but do not test her. Ophis could wipe out Japan and all of us with it in an eye blink** ," Ddraig warned aloud, the Red Dragon Emperor's words coming out from the green jewel on the back of the Boosted Gear.

The little girl looked at Koneko as the Boosted Gear finished speaking, nodding her head to it and then looking back at Harry before glancing down at the priest. Her eyes narrowed then, and she snapped her fingers. "You," she said, gesturing to Kiba, the feeling of her aura canceling out entirely. "Check him for a pulse. I believe humans have to breathe, do they not?"

Kiba hesitated, moving over to the man whose death he had longed for so long and touching his throat gently. Then he blinked, staring at the man who he had hoped to kill, to make him answer for his crimes against Kiba's friends. "He, he's dead. I… This…this is not how I hoped this would go."

Harry gripped his shoulder. "Revenge rarely does. Just ask yourself this, my friend: is the world a better place without him in it?" Kiba slowly nodded. "Then be content with that, even if you couldn't see to it personally."

Again Kiba nodded, but it was clear that was scant comfort. Harry, however, couldn't spend time trying to reassure the younger man right now. "May I?" he asked, gesturing down at Valper's body.

Ophis nodded, crossing her arms and staring at the body. While she personally had no interest in the creature, several of the people she had gathered to work for her had evinced interest in his work. After they had learned that Harry Potter had left the academy, presumably to come after him, Ophis had decided to use this moment to kill two birds with one stone: meet Harry Potter and retrieve this human. The retrieval operation Kuroka had executed seemed to have been going very well, but now she could sense some kind of foreign magic on the human, the methodology of which she did not know.

Harry cast a few diagnostic spells on the man, then hissed at what they told him, opening the man's mouth and staring inside. "Shit," he said, simply shaking his head. "He's dead. There was a spell on his tongue which made his brain explode inside his head. It's a nasty kind of dark curse I've seen before, one created by the Greeks, of all people. The instant he was captured the spell started a countdown, and when you actually started to take him into custody, it exploded."

 _So whoever was behind the skeletons not only has a god's power on his side but also access to wizards. Well bloody_ _ **fuck me**_ _. At least whoever it is hasn't moved against Kuoh and seems the arrogant arse type. Maybe I can bring his soul back and ask some pointed questions? Though, given the way this fellow seems to have access to necromantic power, that probably won't go as easily as I hope, if at all. But then we have this Ophis, with a truly horrifying level of power. Could this day get any worse?_

Ophis simply cocked her head thoughtfully to one side and then gestured, and Harry twitched backwards. The magic or remains of the spell that his diagnosis spell had detected suddenly appeared in midair like an amorphous blob of smoke. It was colored black and red with striations of green.

The short girl looked at it thoughtfully, then nodded and snapped her fingers, the magic instantly dissipating. _Power and the ability to use it in various ways,_ Harry thought. _0kay, this day did just get worse._

"I was not as interested in obtaining his services as I was in meeting you, Harry Potter, so at least one half of this mission will go according to plan," Ophis said, stalking back towards her original seating position and gesturing Harry into the booth across from her. "Sit and listen."

Harry winced, feeling a little uncomfortable sitting where someone had no doubt died a violent, if unseen, death a few moments ago. But seeing no choice and no way to win this fight, he agreed. Harry knew the power of this creature in the guise of a girl really was the strongest being he had ever met and was well beyond his own power at the moment.

Moving over to sit across from her, he looked at Ophis and forced a bit of humor into his voice, his lips quirking. "What can I do you for? I'm afraid I'm a little full up in terms of girls in my household at the moment, so if you're looking for a foster family, the best I could do is get you in touch with a few."

Koneko, who had just moved to another corner with her big sister, looked up at that, giggling, before looking back at her sister, her mouth narrowing into a thin line.

At the same time Kiba moved to stand by the door, gently pulling Xenovia up from where she had collapsed. "Are you all right?" he whispered.

"No," she said honestly. "No, I am not. First, that, that creature in man's clothing, Valper, won't be able to recant his earlier statements, and even from such a treacherous scum as him, they left a bad taste in my mouth." Xenovia then shivered, staring in something like fascinated horror at the young-seeming, black haired girl. "On top of that, Ophis, she has more power than I have ever felt in my life! I have been in the presence of the Pope. I have lived my life mostly in Rome. I have even seen Archangels, felt their holy presence. But what I just felt…it dwarfs all of that."

"I know the feeling," Kiba said with a shake of his head. "And I thought Maou Lucifer was a monster."

In the booth, Ophis began to speak. "As the child, Ddraig, told you, I am the Infinity Dragon, Ophis. I have no designs on this world or anything in it. Indeed, my goal is to leave this world. I wish to take back my home in the Dimensional Gap. To that end I have been gathering strong followers. Followers with strength, with intelligence, knowledge to breach the dimensional wall, and strength to help me fight the Great Red, the dragon that has taken over my home.

"I am here to give you an offer to join us. You and all of those with you in your new power structure in the area of these islands you have claimed. You interest me, beyond your demigod status, which would be enough to garner some interest in itself. Your spells, your wizard-style magical background, and even your ability to make friends, all of this could be of great use to me. Help me in attaining my goal, and anything you wish will be yours. I will loan my power to you in a Blessing, and you will be stronger than you could ever become on your own. Do you want wealth? I can give that to you. Do you want power? As I mentioned, that is easy. Name it, and it shall be yours.

"Moreover, It is immaterial to me if you have other objectives, other duties that do not coincide with my own mission. Simply help me with mine when called upon, and you may go your own way. I am not a totalitarian. Simply ask anyone who has joined me in the Khaos Brigade; they will tell you this."

For a moment the fact that he was face to face with the real backer/creator of the Khaos Brigade made Harry's mind stumble to a halt. Then he began to get angry. _This, this creature in a girl's guise is the cause of the turmoil the Khaos Brigade has been causing? She is the reason behind the attack on Kuoh, behind that bastard Diodora? Behind Kalawarner's orders? GRRRRRR…._

It took him a few minutes to regain control of himself, and he only did so by counting very slowly to ten while staring at Ophis, who didn't seem at all bothered by his taking so long to answer her. Luckily, at that point Harry was given some help in controling his temper from an unlikely source. Because, set to the side of the confrontation between the Infinity Dragon and Harry Potter, two cat girls were staring at one another, wondering who was going to make the first move.

Kuroka's emotions were a rollercoaster at the moment, far more so than she had anticipated at seeing her sister. Firstly, she loved seeing Koneko and seeing that she was strong enough to stand up for herself. She seemed the picture of good health too. But then there was the whole bit about Kuroka being a criminal and having left her behind, and everything Koneko had gone through before being placed in Rias's peerage and protected by Sirzechs. The look Koneko was giving her showed how much she too was confused by this meeting, unsure how to act, angry, and possibly even hating Kuroka, but also uncertain if she should at the same time.

Licking dry lips, the older of the two pasted a teasing smirk on her face, leaning towards her younger sibling. "Hehehe, you really are looking well, Koneko-chan. And you've even grown up a bit in the chest area too, if only a little~~," she teased. "You also seem to have also embraced your cat girl side. Do I detect a hint of Senjutsu training on you? That's fantastic! I was afraid my example would make you too afraid to embrace your full self. But what is with that 'Tou-san' thing? Are you into that kind of kinky play?"

Koneko blanched, looking as if she was about to be sick. "No! I'm looking well no thanks to you, and that's freaking disgusting!" _Anything like that comes from body, not my personality, and I will deny it ever happened, gah!_ She didn't say anything about the Senjutsu training, since she couldn't do much with it yet beyond enhance her senses occasionally.

"I don't know; he's a magnificent specimen of a man. And if you're not interested in him, what's wrong with me going after him? Come on, let your Onee-san have some fun~~" Kuroka continued her teasing assault gleefully, setting her interest in the Senjutsu aspect aside while also trying to not address the elephant in the room: the fact that she was a wanted criminal, the reasons for that, and the fact that she had left Koneko behind. Teasing was simply easier than being serious.

This was an error.

"That would be wrong on a lot of levels. And you're not my only sister any longer," Koneko said firmly, her eyes narrowing in anger. "I have little sisters now who look up to me like I looked up to you. But I'm not going to leave them. Not like you did me."

Kuroka flinched, then smiled wanly. "After I went all crazy and killed my King and the rest of his peerage, how was I supposed to take you with me? At the time I was a wanted criminal!" she said defensively.

"That would've still been better than my having to rely on the Gremory clan for protection and being, being traumatized by having to run away on my own when the Devils came after me at first! What about all the of the Nekomata living in hell at that time that were killed because of your actions!"

"I didn't know that would happen! How can you blame that on me!?" Kuroka said, now becoming angry. "That was the Devils jumping to conclusions, the old blood fuckers taking any chance they could to strike at anyone who could become strong enough to challenge them!"

"And you left me among those Devils, so you don't have a leg to stand on!" Koneko shouted back.

Before the shouting match could go any further, Ophis glanced their way, her presence flicking out for just a second as a frown marred her pretty features. But pulled out of his own anger, Harry quickly conjured up a Muffliato around the booth where they were sitting, which caused Ophis to smile slightly and turned back to him.

Shaking his head, Harry sighed, leaning back and staring and turning to Ophis once more. _Think, Harry. We don't know why she choose this form, but perhaps…could she perhaps have just never grown up? Wait, set that aside; there's an even more pertinent question._ "Why do it the way you have?" he asked aloud.

"What do you mean?" Ophis asked, cocking her head to them.

"If you wish to leave this world, Lady Ophis, I'm certain that the powers that be here would cheerfully help you on your way. Why not simply ask for aid? Why give power to those who have abused it, have shattered the peace of this world's mystical communities?"

"A Dragon does not ask for help," Ophis said, her face showing real emotion for the first time, that of disgust and contempt. "She demands a return for investment. I would never simply ask. Such is the action of a weakling. I wish to kick the Great Red out of my home, reclaim the Dimensional Gap and the silence there as my own. Everything else that the Khaos Brigade does has nothing to do with me."

"Nothing to do with you?" Harry parroted back incredulously. "It has everything to do with you! If you give someone a loaded gun in full understanding that they're going to use it on a crowd of people, you are no less guilty of their deaths than the individual who pulled the trigger."

"I only give them the gun. I do not choose what they do with it. Besides which, they are but humans or Devils. What matter their lives to someone like me?" Ophis retorted, showing no emotion whatsoever to his angry words, simply sipping at her drink thoughtfully and looking at him. "Now come. What do you want in return for your aid? What power can I give you? Everyone I have met here in this fragile realm wants power."

"I don't," Harry said simply. "I already have power, and I know all power is a sham, nothing, worthless if sought for its own sake. What I want is to go home to my family, my daughters, my loving girlfriends, and my wife and never have to fight again. But because of you and those who you have given power to, I will have to fight again, many more times, more likely. Your actions are reprehensible!"

Harry snarled, barely keeping his anger in check now. "When I listen to you, Lady Ophis, I do not hear the words of a powerful Dragon God. When I hear your words, when you tell me what your goal is, and I hear how uncaring you are of what happens here because of your followers, I hear a child throwing a tantrum. Only a child would be so prideful as to not care what happens to others so long as she gets what she wants. Only a child would choose that over asking for help from those around her."

The Infinity Dragon hissed, coming to her feet and hurling the table over Harry's head with a simple rising knee, not even noticing the impact as he ducked. The presence she had released before came back once again, crushing everyone there to the point that they were on their faces on the floor, shattering the Muffliato around the two of them in passing

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time the conversation between Harry and Ophis had restarted, the two sisters breathed a sigh of relief and, after moving to be as far from Harry and Ophis as possible in the bar, went back to glaring at one another. Kuroka's glare ended almost as soon as it began though, and she reached out for her younger sister, who twitched away before pausing, allowing the older girl to touch her arm but no more. "Look, this isn't how I expected this to go. I… Are you happy where you are?"

"Yes," Koneko said firmly. "I am happier than I have ever been. I have Rias, who helped protect me. I have the rest of my friends and family there: my little sisters, Akeno-nee, Rias-oneesama, and Tou-san."

"So…does that mean you've got no room in this new family of yours for me?" Kuroka asked sadly, her ears drooping.

Koneko stared back at her, then slowly shook her head, raising a hand to cover Kuroka's where it lay on her lower arm. "No, it doesn't mean that. But I'm not going to just overlook the fact that you're a criminal or that you left me behind. You've been with the Khaos Brigade! Do you have any idea how much trouble they've caused, worldwide! And don't think I don't know that you've been an active part of that. According to the reports I've seen, Senjutsu's been used a lot in the Khaos Brigade's attacks too. You ask me if I can let you into my heart, Kuroka, but you're acting like a terrorist!"

Like the rest of the Potter-Gremory clan, Koneko had access to all the information Rias was given by her brother. All of them knew about the issues the Khaos Brigade was causing worldwide in their attempts to cause violent confrontations between the Three Factions and the other magical communities out there. And Koneko had a vested interest in reading some of those reports, scattered though they were, in search of information on her sister.

"Well, a girl needs a home, doesn't she?" Kuroka quipped, then subsided as Koneko simply glared at her. "It's not all that you think. Um, I am an active member, but I don't go around murdering people or causing huge magical events to appear that have to be covered up by the various magical groups or anything like that. And it's not like we're all warmongers. It's just that we all want to change the status quo, this stasis that the Factions and everyone else have been in for so long. All of them are declining in a lot of ways, you know. So I'm just an…agent, that's all, who wants to see the world change."

"You're an agent for a group who wants to break the peace of the supernatural community!" Koneko rebutted. "How is that not a bad thing?"

"Says the girl who's part of a group that's also been ignoring all the rules, getting all of these disparate groups together and suchlike," her older sister shot back, trying to figure out something to rebut that statement with even if she knew it was feeble. "Do you honestly think the powers in the world won't notice how much back and forth there has been between Potter, a wizard, and you and the Gremory girl? There are a lot of reasons why various magicals don't want to intermingle like that, and eventually you'll run into people who won't want that to continue and have power enough to stop it. Then what will you do?"

"But we're doing it peacefully. Your group's doing it violently. Who's in the right there, huh?" Koneko asked belligerently.

Realizing she wasn't going to win that argument, Kuroka looked away again. "So you're saying, as long as I'm with this group, as long as you're with that group, I can't can't be with you. I, there are obligations there, reasons I can't just leave the Khaos Brigade."

"Obligations more important than your sister?" she asked.

"No, but they are there," Kuroka replied, shaking her head, and then she brightened, looking over at the table where Ophis and Harry were talking. "Maybe If he takes up her offer you all will join me too. Mmm…" Her thoughts trailed off as she stared at Harry. "That'd be nice on a whole lot of levels."

"Never," Koneko said, shaking her head firmly. "He'll never do that, which you would know if you knew him at all. Tou-san only cares about family and protecting us." She sighed, shaking her head. "So, so you don't even care about all the trouble you're causing? You think it's excusable because you didn't think you had a choice? Everyone has a choice, Kuroka-neesama. You just chose the one that was the easiest for you personally. Not thinking about the consequences. That seems to be a theme with you. So why would I want you around me or my new little sisters?"

Kuroka scowled, but once more could find no argument to make that would convince Koneko. She'd been prepared to argue about her having left Koneko in the first place, but that seemed to have been set aside with relative ease. But the fact that Koneko would have such an issue with what she had been doing since, that wasn't something she had anticipated.

The two sisters stared at one another but then blinked as the muffling spell around Harry and the infinity Dragon shattered just a second before they found themselves being crushed to the floor. And indeed, Ophis's killing intent spread out past the bounded field that Kuroka had put up earlier, causing several hundred men and women to freeze in terror as if faced with their worst fears come to life.

 **OOOOOOO**

But they were not her aura's target. That target was having it much worse on the other side of the bar as Ophis roared, "Who are you to speak to me like that!? I could destroy you where you stand with a flick of my fingers! Do not think my interest in your intelligence and spells will save you from my wrath!"

Harry shifted into his werewolf form and growled, yet even so, his entire body instantly started to ache under the pressure. But he did not kneel, staring hard at Ophis, his fangs bared into a grin. "Yes, you could, and thus prove my words accurate."

The Infinity Dragon stared at him, glared at him, really, pressing forward with her power, trying to push him to his knees. But Harry didn't yield. It took everything he had, all his magic and willpower, but he remained crouched to leap instead of kneeling, an attack position instead of a subservient one, his teeth bared at her. He could feel the bones of his body breaking and healing, the tendons snapping and reforming, he could even feel his organs start to fail. But he refused to bow to this child with the power of a god.

She stared back at him, and after a few seconds she almost smiled. This Potter was strong, and not just in magic but in willpower. Despite that thought, though, Ophis knew she could, indeed, destroy him. A part of her, the angry, deeply draconic part of her, thought she should kill him now. But it would be problematic to so announce herself to the world unless she killed everyone here.

 _But in so doing, Potter's words would be proven correct,_ a small, insidious part of her said. With that thought Ophis scowled but reined in her aura, and the others in the bar gasped, finally released from her pressure.

"We're done here," the Infinity Dragon said, growling the words. "Come, Kuroka. You will not get another offer to join me, Harry Potter. What I offer, I offer only once. And I will remember this refusal."

"I understand," Harry hissed through cracked and shattered teeth. A second later, however, his regeneration had begun to heal the damage, and he stood upright, breathing in deeply through crushed and perforated lungs, blood slowly dribbling down from his lips. "I would also urge you to remember, my lady, that you often get more with honey than with a stick. I urge you to truly think if the actions of the Khaos Brigade are helping or hindering your cause."

As she was once more staring Harry down, the two sisters looked at one another, slowly pushing themselves to their feet. As Kuroka moved to turn away to join Ophis, Koneko lunged forward, grabbing her sister in a hug before moving backwards. "Bye," she said simply, as if all the earlier talking had exhausted her.

"Maybe we'll see each other again sometime soon," Kuroka said, smiling sadly. "Hopefully it won't be across the battlefield. Until then, imouto-chan."

The Infinity Dragon at last broke the staring contest and shook her head, saying once more, "A Dragon does not ask for aid; she demands it in return for payment."

"Then perhaps you should see to figuring out what you can give in return for that payment," Harry retorted.

Ophis blinked at that, frowning, before turning away and moving toward the door.

Koneko moved over to Harry, sitting next to him and putting her arms around him, as Harry looped an arm around her shoulders, staring after the two terrorists thoughtfully.

"Well," Kiba said after a few minutes of silence, his voice laced with enough sarcasm to form a deadly poison. "This went well. We have met the face of one enemy, learned of the existence of a second, and I personally have been deprived of my revenge. Tell me, how exactly was this not an unmitigated disaster?"

"We're still alive. After meeting that creature, I'll call that a win," Harry replied, scowling. "Let's get the others up and then head back."

"What about the two exorcists?" Kiba asked, gesturing to where Xenovia was still slumped unconscious on the floor, having succumbed at last to the pressure Ophis had exhibited. "I honestly would not feel well just leaving them."

Harry sighed. "I think we're going to have to put them up for a few days longer. This mess is going to take a while to untangle, and I think we need both their leaders and yours to know about it."

"In other words, you want older and wiser heads to handle it?" Kiba asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Pretty much, yes, though you could also add in 'more powerful' there. I know my limits, Kiba, and at this point I don't think any of my tricks could overcome the sheer difference in power there. For now, let's get the others, and then I'll portkey us back to Kuoh before anything else happens. We've had enough adventure for one day, I think."

 **End Chapter**

* * *

I tried to use a different font for the voice of the enemy behind the skeletons, but it didn't work. If anyone knows how to get unusual fonts to carry over into fanfic, give me a PM please, and I will go back and use it there.

I will not be updating this fic in October because I will be working on ATP, and my track record of keeping the chapters of this work small is… not good to say the least, so I don't want to promise to get both chapters out in one month. I will say it will be back in the poll lineup (October's small story poll will be up by tomorrow) in November. Beyond that, I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.


	15. Chapter 15

FILFy teacher won the Large/Medium story poll this month, and as such here we are. In other news, can I just say there is more NaruCRAP in the DxD crossover page than I have ever seen elsewhere? WTF people, there are other male leads you can cross DxD with! That isn't to say all of them are bad, but more than two/thirds of the crossovers out there are Naruto, and of them only about ten are decent. Sad.

This has been edited by _Nad Destroyer_. I've also gone over most of it with Grammarly, but that's it. This no doubt means that there will be numerous mistakes throughout. I also apologize for getting this out so late tonight. It took me around five hours to go through once I got it back, and even now I know there will be mistakes.

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Religious XXX, Foxy Times, Monkey Business and Magic Too**

Given their positions in the governments that they both led, it wouldn't surprise anyone who knew about the Three Factions in the first place that when they met, Azazel and Sirzechs had to do so in such a way as to have no one to be aware that any such meeting took place. This was common sense given the opponents they had to the peace talks they were both pushing for, had pushed toward for many years even before the Khaos Brigade began their campaign of terror.

What probably would have surprised many of Sirzechs' advisers, or indeed anyone who knew him, was where their meetings routinely took place when Azazel was in charge of picking said meeting place. A case in point was the current meeting, which was happening not in some human hotel far away from any territory that either of their factions would be able to claim, not in some grand, well-defended Fallen Angel territory.

No, it was occurring in a titty bar. A titty bar in the human city of Maui in Hawaii. That was it. There was nothing special about it, nothing that stood out in anyone's mind. It was simply one den of sin among many. Which ironically, meant that both Devil and Fallen could fit in here without much effort. Admittedly given their personalities, Azazel did so far better than the current Maou Lucifer.

"Oh yes! Woo hoo! Take it off!" Azazel shouted, whistling and shouting along with the rest of the audience as he stared at the main dancer, who was some kind of big shot in the adult porn community, here to celebrate some important date or other. Azazel hadn't cared about that, no, what he cared about were the tits the woman was displaying. _Woo, who cares if they're real, those things are freaking amazing!_

Across from Azazel in the private booth he had bought for the evening Sirzechs was very pointedly looking away, and Azazel laughed. "Come on man! You're the Devil among us; you can't be that much of a prude can you?"

"Prude no, prudent, yes. You know who my wife is after all. Do you honestly think that I want to find out what Grayfia-chan would do to me if she caught me even coming to a place like this, let alone actually looking at the girls?" He tossed a bare glance towards the main pole and all of the other dancers and waitresses before going on, his tone turning from one of wry amusement to that of self-satisfied complacency. "Besides, put all of these women together, and they still couldn't hold a candle to my wife."

"Smug bastard," Azazel said, shaking his head. Still, he didn't deny the man's point, it was true after all. _Hell, if the woman didn't scare me almost as much as her husband did, I would probably make a play for her myself._

That was a thought the Governor-General of the Grigori would never share with anyone: the fact that he was scared of the current Maou Lucifer, more than he had been by his predecessor. Azazel was a survivor of the worst war that the supernatural side of Earth had ever seen, a three-way holocaust of destruction during which he had met the original Lucifer. He had fought alongside Michael, Lord Commander of the Armies of Light. He had spoken with Metatron, the Voice of God, seen the original Leviathan and Beelzebub in action.

And yet for all of that, only the original God had more power than the calm, red-haired man across from him. He and his friend Ajuka were so powerful, the Devils had coined a new term for them, Super Devils. Azazel knew this to not only be appropriate but to also be underselling things. So yes, Azazel was afraid of the other man, but he would never admit it, not to anyone. That would ruin his image after all.

Finally, he turned away from the pole dancers, smirking at the other man's discomfort. "If you want to get down to business we can." His tone became instantly serious as he moved on, leaning forward. "My investigators, even Tobio Ikuse and Baraquiel have not been able to find any hint of Ophis's whereabouts. What about you?"

"Nothing on our end either," Sirzechs replied shaking his head. "Whatever wards she is using to hide her presence, are magnificent, almost to the level of the European Wizarding World's."

"Yeah," Azazel drawled, "Isn't that an odd thought? That she is able to hide so well?"

Sirzechs nodded, also seeing the implications the other man was hinting at, but not voicing it just yet.

It had been four days since Ophis's being involved with the Khaos Brigade had been found out thanks to her attempt to recruit Harry Potter. And even now as he thought about that, Sirzechs had to shake his head at the sheer balls that his dear sister's husband showed by refusing that offer. And not only refusing but doing so in such a way that both infuriated Ophis and allowed him to get away with it. It was an astonishing act. Sirzechs had spent more than a few hours going over the memory of that moment with his best friend Ajuka after Harry had submitted it for their perusal.

He came back to the here and now as Azazel went on. "I think it's time we call off the search. I'm losing people to the damn Khaos Brigade whenever they feel like ambushing us, and besides which, what the hell would we do if we found her? It and whatever other allies or follower's she's brought together. Ugh, still wondering about it choosing a female form, and a child at that. Freaking me out, that is."

"It would be like catching a dragon by the tail wouldn't it," Sirzechs said musingly. "It would be an insane gamble to attack Ophis like that, even if we were able to gather the strongest of all three factions, or even add some of the other pantheons into the attack."

"Not fucking likely on that last one, freaking Hinduists." Azazel muttered, "They think they're all that just because they were able to stave off God's attempt to move into India."

"Well to be fair, they and their alliance with the Buddhists were one of only a few that was able to actually succeed at that," Sirzechs replied mildly, amused at Azazel's attitude. Azazel had still been an Angel at that point, and sometimes when he talked about that time of his life he reverted to the opinions he'd held back then.

"Could Potter help us find Ophis?" Azazel asked, turning back to the original question. "I mean he's met it, her, whatever the fuck it is, and from my limited understanding of Wizarding World type spells that means he should have a few ways to track her."

"I doubt it, not against the wards we know that she has up around her somewhere. And besides which, even if we could find her, as you just said, fighting Ophis on her own ground with the Khaos Brigade there to help would take much more might than we could possibly bring to bear without warning them we were coming."

"Yeah," Azazel muttered his eyes narrowing. "The Khaos Brigade's spies among our own people. Any luck on your end there?"

"Quite a bit actually," Sirzechs replied with a thin smile. "We've ousted a good portion of the Old Satan faction, shifted quite a lot of their attention to hiding themselves rather than making trouble. Although, I think we might have missed the biggest guns among them. Still, my rear is secure at least, so there's that. What about on your end?"

Azazel smiled thinly, sardonic humor clear on his face as he took along the gulp of his drink. Sirzechs didn't have any idea what was in that cup only that Azazel had brought it with him, sneaking it past the humans with ease, and that the smell of it alone was causing him to shake his head warily. "Well there, the attack on your little sister and her friends actually helped me. It looks as if that took out most of if not all of the more combative people who might have joined with the Khaos Brigade among my people."

"But that is most definitely an example of finding a silver lining to an utter fucking disaster," Azazel said, shaking his head. "My people are already noticing how many of us are missing despite how spread out our population centers are here on Earth and in the Underworld. Damn the Internet and social media anyway," he finished with a light growl.

"You didn't say that when it first came out, you said and I quote 'what a magnificent tool for narcissism and Sin, I'm certain that with this and about 10 years work, what little power Heaven has will dry up like grass'. Are you admitting you were wrong?" Sirzechs asked with a laugh.

"So the church did a better job at embracing the Internet then my people did, sue me," Azazel muttered. "At least we did a better job of getting into Hollywood than you Devils did."

"That's true," Sirzechs said, smiling brightly at him. "There are just some things that are far too dark even for Devils. Hollywood and its inner workings are certainly one of them."

The two of them looked at one another and exchanged a laugh before Azazel went on more seriously. "But anyway, there are going to be a lot of questions asked, soon. The rest of the Grigori and I are preparing for the fallout, but it's still going to be nasty."

"I would just remind you once again to not try to attack my sister or her allies in Kuoh. It will end very poorly for you all," Sirzechs said mildly though there was nothing mild about his eyes.

"Yeah, I sort of got that impression from what you passed on about the wards. I would love to investigate those myself…" Azazel said leadingly letting a smirk cross his handsome features as one hand moved to stroke his short goatee.

"No you wouldn't, you like being alive too much," Sirzechs replied dryly.

Azazel laughed. "There are ways around every ward, just look at how your faction infiltrated the Wizarding World."

"Yes, and look how long did that take us after they put up those gigantic Notice Me Not Wards, what, 130 years? More? We've only been able to get through them in the past year. Not exactly a good track record on our part when it comes to getting through human ingenuity."

"Oh, you could possibly repress them, but not for very long, and you couldn't break them. And the idea of you going to even take a look would probably end up with you dying, and in so doing restarting the war that we are trying so desperately to make certain never comes again

Azazel scoffed again and then shook his head. "If little Mittelt and sexy Kala are part of their crew now I don't see why they're so bothered about me sending the two of them and Raynare there. Raynare's orders were simple enough, once we were able to identify where the next Longinous to awake was going to reform she was only to watch, that's all. Nothing she did beyond that was under my orders and you know it."

"Yet you didn't do anything to rein them in when it became clear that they were bringing in Asia Argento or all of those exiled exorcists. And that's not saying anything about Raynare and her team being there, in territory claimed by Devils, in the first place. Make no mistake, it was the Grigori's presence at the peace talks that was the sticking point to having the peace talks in Kuoh, and it remains a sore point that you will be representing the Grigori personally."

"And the demand that he passed on that Akeno's father can't join us? That hurt him, I have to tell you," Azazel said seriously, remembering the stricken look Baraquiel had when he heard that demand.

Sirzechs again shrugged in utter unconcern. "If he wanted to have some kind of relationship with his daughter, he should've reached out to Akeno-chan before this. I won't say that their differences are irreconcilable, but it certainly isn't going to happen at the peace talks."

Azazel grimaced but nodded. "I suppose I can understand their point there, that is a bad place to try for a reconciliation. And how goes getting Michael and his lot to the table?" he asked in an attempt to change the subject. He was utterly annoyed at the Kuoh group's demands, but couldn't deny they had the leverage there, but to also deny him the chance to look at their wards? To a magical tinkerer like him, who loved to examine magical items like the Sacred Gears and other stuff; that was just painful.

"Michael is amenable," Sirzechs began with a faint smile, "indeed, Asmodeus's sweetening of the pot was more than enough to get his attention."

"And I still can't believe you're doing that," Azazel said with a sigh. "Handing over a blueprint for a system that the Angels could use to once more build up their numbers? It's ridiculous."

"It would be if they were still losing people. But they're not, and if not for the fact that the angels were actually the least of our worries. The Church is my chief concern there, and you know it," Sirzechs said repressively.

Azazel grimaced but conceded the point. It was a fact that he, of all the survivors from those dark days, knew more than most. To most who made up the Three Factions the great war between them had been a draw. But if you looked at the war more closely, and if you knew The Great Secret, that was so much bullshit. That secret was the fact the fallen priest Valper had shared with Potter and the others: that God, the biblical God who had once been called Yahweh before assuming other names, had died during the Great War. And with that, it became easy to see that Heaven had lost the war, **badly**.

Azazel could remember that time as if it was yesterday. Some things you just could not forget even if you tried. The news that God had died, the turmoil in the angel's ranks, Michael's assumption of command the bugles of Heaven sounding a retreat for the first time. He remembered it all. Azazel had known at the time with all the certainty of a veteran campaigner, that if the Fallen and the Devils were able to set aside their differences and turn their full force on the angels, not even Michael's genius for tactics would be enough to turn the tide. They could have defeated the angels for all time, shattered the Heaven System, and broken the power that would later become the church before it could even be built.

But they couldn't turn their attention just on the angels. The Devils and Fallen hated one another just as much as they hated the angels themselves. They refused to work together and had turned on one another with even greater ferocity as the Angels had retreated in good order under Michael's command.

And there had been another reason too: one that Azazel, looking back on it, could understand with more honesty than most: Respect. It was respect for Yahweh that stayed Azazel's hand and the hands of most of his brethren. Respect for God, and the fact that in the midst of a war for the future of his own religion, he had turned aside. Turned aside and then used the vast majority of his power to seal away an evil that would have shattered the earth, that would have made all of them into dust and ashes, that would have slain humanity, devil, fallen and Angel alike.

Where that creature came from Azazel still had no idea. Not from the void between dimensions for certain. Ophis and her successor the Great Red were the only creatures to have evolved there. No, 666 came from somewhere else, from **Beyond.** And it had been terrible. Even the other pantheons would've been helpless against the power of 666, the Beast of Destruction, all of them retreating in terror at its mere arrival on this plane. And then it was sealed away, sent back where it had come from by God's power.

That was another reason why Azazel wasn't exactly displeased to have learned Kokabiel had been killed in his attack on Kuoh. Kokabiel had been the one to strike God down when he was weakened when anyone with any pride or respect for themselves let alone God or his sacrifice, should have stayed their hand. Kokabiel had not.

Azazel hadn't known it at the time, no one had, but he'd put it together later, and hadn't known whether to be impressed by Kokabiel's dedication to the cause or appalled. And by that point, even sharing that information with others would have been a bad idea, since he honestly had no idea how the rest of the Fallen would have responded to that news.

After the war, the Fallen's ranks had continued to grow by Angels falling from grace, disillusioned with Michael's leadership or a world without their creator in it. Still more Fallen had learned they could have children. The Devils had rebuilt their numbers slowly for a time the old-fashioned way as well, and then came the discovery of the Peerage System, which helped them build their numbers even faster, although it did lead directly to internal divisions among the Devils which replaced the old New/Old Satan factions.

Both Devils and Fallen had to rely on conversion for most of their numbers since, for the most part, they had a lot of trouble getting pregnant. And the Fallen Angels were not as good at that as Devils were, even before the Peerage System was discovered.

The Angels couldn't rebuild their numbers at all. They couldn't have sex which, Azazel always said, was the number one reason why so many fell. They couldn't bring in human heroes any longer, only God could approve a soul for rebirth as a Saint, and God was dead. Michael might have been able to take on the mantle of the Heaven system, but he couldn't use all its powers.

So by any measure, it was Heaven which should be in the worst position of the Three Factions.

But that was only if you didn't consider the church: the human edifice that had been built around God, his teachings, and his followers. An edifice that, made the Angels the most strategically well-placed of the three factions.

But it was the humans of the Church, the thousands of exorcists the Church could call on for every one devil or fallen and the massive amount of magical potential that the church, and even the less organized Islamic and Hebrew faiths created through their worship, which truly made the Heaven Faction dangerous. That vast, monstrous amount of magical potential could be used offensively or defensively, although thankfully very few humans could call upon it without dying in the doing.

The Archangels were another matter, however, but there their numbers still played a part in how they acted in the human world. Yet the humans were far harder to predict, making them more dangerous. The Church as an entity was slow to act, slower by far to take offensive actions, but if they did, they could be devastating.

And even in the area of the power of individual members, the other two factions could be matched by the Angels because the church, although it was somewhat strained, had a mutual defense pact with the Buddhists and Hinduists of India. Their gods were still around, unwilling to proselytize, but also unwilling to give up what was theirs and many of them were counted among the top ten strongest mystical entities around. The only two of the Three Factions who could be placed on that list currently were the two Super-Devils, Sirzechs and Ajuka. Not even Azazel, for all his experience and skill, was on that list.

"How did Michael take the idea of human magic users and the Youkai Association being given places at the talks?" Azazel asked.

"Quite well actually, or at least according to Serafall he did. Reading between the lines I think he has, more than either of us, realized that what they lack in raw power, they make up for intelligence and applicability. Oh, even their strongest members couldn't match our strength for strength, but they could severely hurt us. The Church representatives might have a problem with it given their propaganda against magic users, but Michael has said he'll handle that. But I don't have any sources of information in the church, so…" He ended leadingly, looking at Azazel.

Azazel had a few contacts on the Church side of things, in particular among a few of the exorcist training academies, and even two Cardinals who passed on information to him in the hopes of keeping any violence from being discovered by the nonmagicals. For some reason that Sirzechs couldn't follow though they weren't willing to work with the actual devils.

"I'm hearing some rumblings of concern about the two Exorcists that were sent into Kuoh. They were there with Potter at the end and heard that ass Valper say Yahweh was dead. That kind of talk could destroy the Church obviously, so they are very leery about letting them back. But they also can't turn aside the Excalibur fragments the two have recovered and carried into battle there, so they have to eventually let them return home. Beyond that, I am hearing rumblings about a, call it an Anti-Potter faction among the Cardinals. They don't like the fact he's so strong, or some of the specifics the two exorcists have passed on about him. Some of the powers the exorcists reported worry them immensely, including his claim to demi-god status. But they aren't going to do anything about it just yet."

He leaned back, his head lolling to one side as he looked over at the dancers again. "The church has lost about maybe two hundred exorcists all told and thirteen Sacred Gear users to the Khaos Brigade, recruited or killed, although they've been able to keep a secret for now. They're also, of course, gaining headway among the caucuses and Russia, since there's no local pantheon there and the Russian Orthodox Church not being willing to reach out to the Holy See. What about you, anything new on the intelligence front?"

Sirzechs sighed, almost slumping in place. "I have it on good authority, as in six sources or more, that the Khaos Brigade is looking to recruit in India."

That made Azazel sit up and take notice and he turned his full attention on Sirzechs again. "Really? Are you certain!? That is really playing with fucking fire."

"That was my thought too. But it is confirmed. And… And Indra has reached out to me. Personally. He pretty much demanded a place at the peace table. He seems to think that something is going on which could break the secret of magic wide open and that it's connected to the Khaos faction," Sirzechs replied.

"That's not good," Azazel said.

"Especially not with what else I've been getting reports on lately. You know I've got contacts in the Wizarding World of course," Sirzechs began.

"Right, that's how you got Harry Potter to take an interest in your little sister's problems. How'd that work out for you by the way, are you happy with an older man banging her? Isn't that what you were trying to stop from happening?" Azazel said with a smirk, hoping to get a rise out of the other man. This conversation was too damn serious for his liking right now and he wanted a bit of time to think about the implications of the India Alliance getting involved with the rest of the mystical world again.

"Not as old as Riser is in comparison, and she seems to be quite happy with it," Sirzechs said, his face somewhat strained. "Let's just not talk about it right now. I'm still having control issues. I feel Hawaii sinking into the ocean would be very hard to explain to the rest of the world."

Azazel chuckled but didn't follow up on that one, knowing that there was more than a hint of truth in his words. _The Siscon bastard. Still, I've had my fun_. "You were saying?"

"Someone is recruiting wizards. Not just magicians, that's been going on for ages but among the Wizarding World population. Not just the humans either, but wizard-trained turned werewolves, turned Vampires, and nearly every other group hidden behind those massive wards the International Confederation of Wizards threw up all those centuries ago," Sirzechs replied bluntly.

Azazel's face went blank, all his earlier humor vanishing, and he leaned back, frowning angrily. "Okay, that's fucking worrisome."

Wizards normally weren't even a pinprick in terms of power. There were notable exceptions, like the so-called dark Lords and light lords that sometimes cropped up among them and like Harry Potter who they had just been talking about. But generally, it would take ten to fifteen wizards and witches to match even a low tier Devil, Angel or Fallen. But, that rule of thumb didn't take into account the use of the Unforgivables, spells which targeted the soul of their victims.

That was something that even Devils found anathema, something that even his own people wouldn't do. The soul was sacrosanct, simple as that. And that was true for every magical society except for the wizards. It was one reason why every other magical society out there had been more than happy to watch the wizards disappear behind their massive Notice-me-not arrays. Good riddance, in other words. Even the vampires and werewolves were happy to see their turned fellows go with the rest of them, which was saying something about the vampires at least. The werewolves, and how insular the packs were, made their side of that not so surprising

And then there was the general versatility of wizard magic, of their runes and wards. With all that if, say a hundred of that world's malcontents joined the Khaos Brigade, they were going to have an impact out of all proportions of their numbers. "What are we doing about it?"

"My contacts in that world are non-combatants; they can't go looking for these people. But… they were able to tell me about a few meetings, and I can get a few Devils under those wards for a bit. So we might be able to disrupt things. But one of those meetings is happening in South America, and your faction is stronger there than we Devils. Do you think you'd be willing to do something about that one?"

"Sure." Azazel sighed. "It'll give Vali something to do and give him a fight against some magic users like Potter, something he's been bugging me about." He looked at Lucifer closely. "But with everything that's been going on, the peace talks have become even more important. What are your sister and her friends… and lover," he added with a grin, "doing to make certain the peace talks go off without a hitch?"

"The formal peace talks are months in the future given everything we need to all agree to before that, but I can assure you that they are no doubt doing all they can to make Kuoh even more secure," Sirzechs said with one hundred percent certainty ringing in his voice along with a fair amount of pride. "I bet even now they are doing something that will either strengthen those wards or training themselves to be stronger."

"Since it's about an hour before dawn in Japan at this time, I doubt that," Azazael said, taking the wind out of the younger man's sails before once more changing the subject. They still had a lot to talk about after all.

 **OOOOOOO**

Rias's orgasmic scream echoed around their bedroom as she threw her head back, her spine arching, her eyes rolling up in her head while Harry finished inside her with a near-roar, unable to hold back any longer. She had been riding him cowgirl style, but as she went limp he held her upright by two hands on her breasts, his thumbs having been slowly working her hard nipples. Now those hands shifted, slowly moving around Rias's back, and drawing her limp body down on top of him, her sweaty breasts pressing into his equally sweaty chest as she rested her head on his shoulder, her breathing slowly returning to normal as she recovered.

Both of them were covered with sweat, and Harry felt his wizard's staff slowly sliding out of her, ignoring Rias's moan of wordless protest. A second later their mixed juices ran down to form another stain between their legs as they lay on their bed, and Harry shook his head woozily. _That was amazing. Woo._ For a moment, Harry could only lie there, breathing in Rias's scent, his hands gently running down her back, up and down, feeling the dampness of her skin, reveling in the touch as she murmured happily under his touch.

Tonight had been a little wild even by their standards, and Harry idly wondered how many times they'd had sex tonight. He'd lost count at around seven or eight orgasms for himself, and upwards of twenty-four for Rias. _One thing is for sure though this bed should thank all that is good and just in the world that there are cleaning charms. And the room for repairing charms too,_ Harry thought as he noticed one dent in a wall that they'd made in a particularly intense bout of lovemaking. Well, Rias had called it fucking at the time, but you don't tend to kiss people with your heart in your eyes and murmur I love you against their lips when you're just screwing someone senseless.

He then blinked as he stared at the window, and all thought about asking Rias if she was satisfied for the evening or willing to go again, because he certainly was, left his mind. Instead, he began to chuckle.

This caused Rias to blink, looking up at him blearily through sweat-wet hair matted against her forehead and face. "What is it?" She asked, her tone of voice showing no sign of being exhausted from their exertions

"Good morning Rias," Harry said with a smile, leaning down to kiss her tenderly.

She kissed him back readily enough, before pulling back, her brows furrowed in confusion. "Morning? What are you…"

Harry held up a finger in front of Rias's face then slowly directed her attention towards the window, where the sun was indeed rising over the horizon. Rias started, blinked, blinked again, and then began to giggle, as Harry chuckled underneath her, holding her tenderly to him. "Are you telling me," she said between giggles, "that we, we were making love all night?"

"Pretty much," Harry said with a nod. "I remember sleeping for a few minutes here and there I think, but no more than that surely. Are you feeling tired?" He asked solicitously. He wasn't, thanks to his werewolf endurance, even before becoming a demigod Harry would have been able to go all night, although he never had done so. Now though Harry had tested himself a few times and found he could go several days without sleep when working on a magical experiment.

"Not on your life I feel, I feel exuberant almost," Rias said with a laugh before leaning in and kissing him tenderly again, after which propped herself up on her elbows to look into his face. Indeed with her Lust sated, Rias felt almost revitalized, her demonic heritage letting her take sustenance from that like an old-time succubus in many ways.

The two of them just looked at one another for a moment, and then Harry leaned in gently and kissed her again. Rias responded just as gently but neither Harry nor Rias were eager to renew their activities of the night. They had other things to see to, and with her Lust still sated from their last lovemaking session, Rias was more than willing to start her day.

Gently rolling off of Harry Rias stood up and stretched unashamedly as she felt Harry's eyes on her, their mixed juices still dripping down her legs. Behind her Harry stayed in bed for a moment watching her, then roused himself, sliding out of bed on the other side from her, the better to keep from the temptation of dragging Rias back to bed. Now it was her turn to watch as he pulled on his boxers, unintentionally flexing as he did so. "Have you heard anything from your brother?"

Rias blinked at the question and then glared down at her body for a second _. Stop that, you've just had an entire night with the man, and not a bit of actual sleep did you get. I am in charge of my Lust, not the other way around!_ Looking back up at Harry she shook her head. "No, I didn't, not about the Khaos Brigade anyway. And Sona said yesterday that her sister hadn't yet told her anything yet either. I think they're running into a roadblock on their investigations, even with knowing that it's Ophis that is backing the Khaos Brigade. After all, she's not like a regular god who has a set territory we could search for her or anything like that. She could be literally anywhere on earth, warded against detection. Or maybe they just are having trouble figuring out what to do in the first place, given how strong she is."

"Well, that's annoying." The two of them exchanged a glance, and then shrugged philosophically. It was true that Kuoh was a tempting target, but it was also a tough one and would be getting more so over the next few months if everything worked out. Mainly thanks to Tsubaki and Kala's work on the magical side of things. Both of them and been hinting at some kind of breakthrough recently, and he hoped that they were right.

Harry had not actually been of much help on anything in that area since coming back from the mission with the exorcists. He had first spent his time preparing to pass on a bundle of memories from that mission to Lucifer, and then much of his free time had been taken up with meetings with the Onmyodo government. "Regardless we have other things to do."

"All too true. Although don't take this wrong way, Harry, but I hope that Lily and the other kids start acting a little better after this past week." The kids had not been very well-behaved the past week, dealing with a series of tests and boring projects at school. Some projects were sort of fun according to Lily, but the tests were decidedly not.

"Hopefully, but while they're good kids, even good kids can sometimes run into trouble like that," Harry said, holding out his elbow towards her. She laughed but linked her arm with his for the few steps it took to get to the attic's trapdoor, where he opened the hatch for her.

The two of them found Kala already awake of course, in the kitchen. Teddy was there too, sitting across from Akeno, as she helped him with his math. Tonks was utter pants at math, and Akeno had volunteered to help them with it instead. The boy had happily accepted, though Harry doubted that was entirely due to being grateful for the help, judging by the way his eyes were straying down to Akeno's chest as she leaned across the table to point at a mistake Teddy had just made. The girls were nowhere to be seen just yet, though Harry had heard them moving around upstairs.

Akeno smiled as she looked up at them. "Good morning, Rias-chan, Harry-sensei~." She stood up and moved over to a tea kettle, where she gently stirred a single leaf into it that hadn't already joined the rest of the liquid. She held two cups out towards them, and both Harry and Rias took one, whereupon she poured the tea into the cups one after another, gently humming to herself.

Harry smiled at her, over the edge of the cup, looking over at Teddy. "And how are you doing on your math with Akeno helping you Teddy?"

"It's a little hard even with Akeno helping," Teddy said honestly. "They expect us to know so much! I seriously think that there is something wrong with the school system here in Japan, or maybe back home in the UK if they didn't prepare us for this kind of thing."

Akeno giggled. "Ara, hard is it? Well, I hope I've made it easier for you then it would be otherwise. After all, it isn't you that I want to be causing a hard… time for," she murmured, smiling wickedly over her own tea at Harry.

"Heh, not bad, but I feel you had to work a little too much to make it fit," Harry replied to Akeno's habitual teasing, and then took a sip, and smiled. "This is good, thank you."

Koneko appeared then, looking a little drowsy. She waved her hands at the others, and Harry asked lightly, "Late night?"

She nodded, but at his look, she elaborated. "I was up late last night playing games with Gasper."

Rias nodded at the mention of her shut-in Bishop. "I'm going to try my darndest to get him out of his basement sometime this coming month. I think it's time you and he met Harry, and we've let him be alone as he wished to be for long enough."

"We've talked online several times, but it would indeed be nice to meet him in the flesh at last," Harry replied. "Is he really fine being locked away alone like that though? I know that would drive me batty," Harry said his tone that of extreme understatement.

"Yes, unfortunately, he does," Rias said with a sigh. "That and his immensely powerful Sacred Gear has made it hard to truly treat him as a member of my peerage."

Nodding, Harry moved over to help Kala with the breakfast, whereupon he started to flirt with her as Akeno started to set the table and Lily and Kunou came in dressed and ready for school, along with Yubelluna, who smiled at them all, having helped the kids get ready. Akeno also started to send little flirtatious comments Harry's way, who replied in kind.

Rias sat down next to Lily and the little girl leaned into her side as Rias put an arm around her sighing in pure contentment. A night full of lovemaking and a morning family scene. Although she knew others might've thought that blasphemous, considering her race, this was her idea of heaven. _But that is just it,_ she reflected with a chuckle as she watched Akeno fight back a blush at something Harry had just said that she had missed, _heaven really is a place on earth_.

She watched Harry and Akeno closely, smiling internally as Harry split his attention between helping Kala with breakfast and flirting with her, and trading flirtatious jibes with Akeno. _The two of them are coming to a boil quite nicely_ , she thought complacently. Rias hadn't had anything to do with it of course; in fact, she had very purposefully **not** had anything to do with it. Looking back on their former attempt at a relationship, Rias knew that she had pushed both of them into their relationship when, if for very different reasons, they weren't quite ready for it.

Akeno had yet to realize how much of a family man Harry was. At the time Akeno had yet to truly gain control over her darker urges, her desire for pain and sadism, as well as admittedly, her natural desire to be the priority of the man she was with. That had faded noticeably, as Akeno had become more certain of herself, more certain not only in her position but in herself as an individual. Harry's and Rias's continued support and reconciling with at least a few of the Himejima clan in the form of Suzaku had helped in that area.

Still having problems with the idea of a polyamorous relationship in the first place and with his own not-quite disdain for the idea of bringing pain into the bedroom, Harry had also had issues that stopped him from embracing a relationship with Akeno. _On top of that,_ Rias thought as she looked down at Lily, _Harry had his own issues with any woman in his life._ Rias didn't know, but she rather suspected that Harry knew at this point how much he had been pushing every woman he interacted with into becoming a kind of role model, a surrogate mother for Lily. But with Rias taking on that role quite happily that had stopped.

Akeno had thus been free to slip into her natural role as the teasing older sister, as evinced by what she had just been doing with Teddy, and Akeno and Harry had fallen back into gentle teasing, flirting and all-around fun. They had spent more time together both with the extended family, and alone than they had while going out, and Rias could tell their feelings were building up for one another again. She had seen it back when Harry had recovered from Blessing Yubelluna but become certain when they all went to that New Year's festival of the Onmyodo government.

Watching now, she saw Akeno turn away from setting the table, catching Harry looking at her, and she cocked an eyebrow inquisitively as she moved to prepare coffee for Tonks, the only coffee drinker among them at this point. He shook his head with a smile, allowing his eyes to linger just a little too long on her face, causing her to flush slightly and look away before he turned away to go back to fixing breakfast.

Of the people who lived in the main house or who routinely joined them for breakfast, Asia was still up in her room, but Harry and Kala had already set out a second bento for her to eat in her first class. She had been taking longer with her morning prayers since the battle against Kokabiel and his forces but none of the family had commented on it, knowing this was a coping mechanism for the young girl. Despite Harry's constant admonitions to the contrary, Asia still believed she was to blame for not being able to heal more of the wounded in that battle.

Today though, something unusual was going to happen this morning that would be taking up even more of Asia's time. "Are you sure you don't want any of us with you? More to keep help you keep a lid on your temper if they say something stupid to her than anything else," Rias said, adding the last with a quiet chuckle than anything else.

Harry laughed too, waving her off. "No, I think I'll be good thanks. Besides, this conversation is bound to include the use of the G-word a lot, and I'd rather not give you headaches if I can avoid it."

Lily frowned as she looked up from her own meal. "You're talking about that sword crazy duo's request to talk to Asia?" Harry nodded and his redheaded daughter frowned. Koneko frowned too, his Nekoshou daughter scowling irritably.

"I don't like it," she said bluntly. "They've stayed here for a week now without much contact with the rest of us, heck, Irina hasn't really left Issei's home much at all, and Xenovia hasn't left her hotel room, and now suddenly they want to talk to Asia? Suspicious."

The Devils and Harry had continued their observations of the two church exorcists, of course. As long as they were in Kuoh, that was simply common sense even if they all had full trust in his wards. There was after all the non-magical trouble they could cause if they wanted to cause trouble, although Harry didn't think they did.

Neither exorcist had recovered seemingly from the revelations that they had heard. Harry wasn't certain himself how to take it, that the God of the church might well be dead, slain before the church even had much of its power. But he had listened to their request to speak to Asia and had agreed to it. "Don't worry, I'll be here with her, and if they say anything, I'll toss them out of Kuoh entirely on their rears."

"Ara, I'm not certain I believe the whole idea that the Church hasn't been able to get them transportation back home just yet either. It sounds all too much like an excuse to linger around, but they haven't actually done any spying," Akeno said with a shrug. The only thing they've done is spar with Kiba and Issei." She then laughed wickedly. "Oh and in the case of Irina cause a fight between Issei and Ruruko and mooch off of his family."

Harry winced nodding. That had not been a pleasant day for young Issei he reflected, remembering how he himself had only seen the start of that little incident. Having walked Issei home that day to talk about further training his magical abilities, they had arrived at Issei's home to find Ruruko and Irina glaring at one another. Ruruko had turned to Issei and pointed at Irina angrily. "Issei! What is she doing here, living with you?! And when were you going to tell me!?"

Needless to say, Harry had given Issei a few words of advice then handed the problem over to his parents to solve with a certain amount of relief. Whether or not Issei's relationship with Sona's peerage member Ruruko would survive he didn't know.

 _She seemed somewhat shallow and self-centered, but then again, she was a teenager, and a lot of them were self-centered, just like teenage boys. Regardless, unless he comes to me for advice, it's not my problem_ Harry thought with a chuckle remembering his own forays into romance, and how more than one relationship he'd attempted at Hogwarts had floundered on the simple fact that Harry had chosen his friendship with Hermione and hanging out with her and Ron over dates with the girls in question. _Of course, Hermione and I were attempting to put together a self-defense club at the time, so there was that, and always the looming trouble with Riddle to think about._

"I still want to let them talk to her. I hope this is an attempt to apologize for how they treated her, which they haven't done yet. If it's anything else, I'll toss them out on their ears and you can use them as punching bags Koneko," He said, rubbing her head. Koneko purred under his hands pushing up against it as she nodded firmly.

The other kids soon were escorted upstairs to start getting ready for the day by Rias and Akeno, Asia and Tonks not having made an appearance yet. Harry was cleaning up with Kala and Yubelluna when the doorbell rang. He answered it and found the two swordswomen standing there looking apprehensive. He nodded to them and said formally, "Be welcome in my home for the duration of your stay." This audible pneumonic informed the wards just as a touched head would have that these two were welcome here for now but were not being read permanently into them.

"You wanted to speak to Asia correct?" When the two girls nodded he waved them inside. "She's upstairs praying right now, so if you could come with me I'll take you to her."

The blue-haired one frowned but said nothing, and Irina simply smiled and nodded, following Harry inside and up to the second floor.

On the second floor, Harry knocked on the room that Asia shared with Koneko, and when he didn't receive a reply opened the door. He found his adopted daughter kneeling beside her bed, her hands clasped in front of her with the beads of her rosary visible around them as she prayed. She prayed with the earnest, firm and almost childlike belief in God as she always had, and she did not look up as the door opened behind her.

She could feel already Harry there, warm and powerfully protective, filling the area around him with a sense of welcome, to Asia at least. Despite that, she did not interrupt her prayer, until she reached the end of it, standing up slowly as she crossed herself and turned to the doorway, smiling brightly. "Hello Irina, Xenovia. Thank you for waiting."

"Not at all," Irina said with a laugh. "It would be very silly of us to mind something like that after all."

The other one just nodded, saying neutrally "So you **do** still pray. It's one thing to hear that you do so, but to see it in person…" she shook her head.

Asia nodded at that, although her lips had firmed just little as she looked at the two exorcists. "Ano, I, I was told you two wanted to speak to me? Though I'm not at all certain what kind of help I could be."

The two of them exchanged a glance, and as always, Xenovia spoke for the two of them. "Yes. First, we that is, well, predominantly I, wanted to apologize to you in person. The way we treated you, the way we spoke to you when we first met, was wrong, and you were undeserving of such from us. I apologize for what I said, and how I treated you," she said, getting the words out eventually if without much enthusiasm. It was evident that she was not used to apologizing.

Asia looked at them for a few moments and then nodded, her lips spreading into a wide smile. "Apology accepted," she chirped. "And thank you, while I didn't really take what you said to me personally, it was somewhat hurtful to know that two fellow believers in the word of God felt so poorly about me. But is that all that you wanted to talk about?" she asked, as she sat back on her bed, and indicated the two of them could sit down on Koneko's across from her.

Harry stayed where he was in the doorway, not taking part in the conversation, but most definitely a presence, as firm a presence as the wards around them that the two exorcists had best be on their best behavior. But he didn't think he'd be needed here. The two girls didn't look to be here for trouble. Indeed, Harry felt they looked a bit lost.

The two exorcists looked at one another as they sat down, and this time to Harry's surprise it was Irina who spoke up. Did, did the werewolf, that is, did Harry…"

"Father," Asia said firmly. "I am Asia Potter please, and he is my Father."

Irina nodded, although she still seemed to have some issues with Harry having become Asia's father like that. Of the two of them, she had been the one that seemed to stare at Asia's hair, which had turned black with only a single blonde streak within it to show its original color. Perhaps the idea of blood-based magic was one that Irina was still having issues with even if she had accepted everything else as being if not completely false then certainly mislabeled among the church teachings.

"Your father then. Did he tell you about, about what, about what that former priest told us? That God was dead?"

"Yes," she said with a nod, "he did."

"And you still pray," Irina said gesturing. "I mean…" she looked to her friend for help, and Xenovia spoke up now.

"If God has been dead for so long then what is the church!?" She said, her tone angry. "We have yet to hear back from the church, but Harry, he said that Kokabiel, that he actually claimed to have been the one to kill God in his mantra to activate more of his power reserves. Even for Fallen Angels, those mantras must be true, or else they just don't work. So God may well be dead. If so, what truth is there in his teachings, what, what truth is there in our faith!?"

"Since learning the truth we have been dealing with doubts," Irina said, taking up the tale for her friend as Xenovia tried to calm down. "We are exorcists. We have been raised in the faith of the church since before we could walk. We have seen it as truth, the word of God our gospel. To know that we have been lied to, to know that much of what we think was the word of God was really the word of man, it has put a lot of doubts in our minds."

Asia cocked her head, frowning quizzically "Why should that matter, surely this is not the first time you've doubted?"

Both looked at her in surprise. "Of course it is, why would we have doubted before this, that is what faith is isn't it? To never doubt. To know that the word of God has been passed to the church and through the church to you, to give of yourself fully into His hands and know that by living by His words you follow His will," Irina replied.

Asia's brows furrowed and she looked down at her rosary, stroking it with a thumb and seeming to find some strength in the touch. She looked back up at them, and then looked over to Harry, who simply smiled encouragement. She smiled back and then turned back resolutely to the two exorcists. "I cannot speak for how anyone else feels, only myself. Is that all right? Will that help?"

"In all honesty, we had come here to ask you when you realized that the church might not be the place for you. When you realized that you would never be able to return. But yes, if you have some word of wisdom to share please," Irina said. Now that he was looking for it, both of the two exorcists looked extremely distraught to Harry's eyes and had bags under their eyes as if they hadn't been getting much sleep lately.

"I doubt often," Asia said very simply as if she were talking about the weather. The other two looked at her in surprise, and she simply smiled wanly. "Every day I question whether or not I am worthy of this great gift, Twilight Healing. Am I worthy to call myself a believer despite my ability to heal those creatures who have never felt His light? Am I worthy of the happiness I found here?" she said looking over at Harry, who raised one eyebrow at her and then winked. She fought back a smile as she turned back to the others. "I can only strive to do my best, can only strive to **be** the best I can, to follow the word of God as the book understands it and I interpret it in turn, and in so doing I counter my doubt and I find my faith."

Both exorcists still looked torn, frowning back at her, and Asia's habitual smile thinned somewhat as she shook her head slowly. "It seems to me as if true sin comes from too much certainty in yourself and in your own ego. We can only look to the dark times of the church itself for that."

Both of her listeners winced, but she went on after a few moments. After all, it was undeniable to anyone who studied history that the church had committed grave wrongs in its time because it had been too certain in its own probity and strength. Too certain it alone knew what justice and good were, and that anyone who did not follow the word of God was a heathen to be slaughtered.

"But the fact I doubt is part of why I love God," She said with a smile, a beaming bright grin. "Because we are free to doubt. Because we are free to find our own faith. In that manner, we build a faith that is true, even as it continues to doubt. Even as we continue to question, we are free to make our own choice, and in that, we find God's true gift to humanity, that of free will."

Her face hardened and with her green eyes, just slightly lighter than Harry's own, giving off a sense of hard-won serenity. "Were this not the case, I would reject God," Asia said simply shocking her listeners to sit stand up straight and look at her in shock. "I would turn aside and denounce God to the world. I love God because I am his creation. I am not his slave," she said, her voice like steel for a moment.

Then she seemed to what lose her poise, looking away, blushing and stammering.

As the two exorcists tried to calm her down and tell her that what she had said had actually helped them quite a bit, Harry watched from the doorway, shaking his head as he remembered an old line he'd once heard. _No strength as strong as gentleness_. _That line had been used to describe Dumbledore at the time, but I think it does much better with Asia than it ever did with him._

He clapped his hands together, and the three young women in the room looked to him. "I hate to break this up, but my daughter here needs to get ready to head to school. Will you two be leaving Kuoh today?"

"We will be leaving today yes," Xenovia said, nodding her head.

Irina frowned, "I wanted to say goodbye to Issei, but I think I've gotten him into enough trouble with his girlfriend. But I am not looking forward to going home."

The blue-haired girl smiled, looking back to Asia, then up to Harry. "I am strangely enough."

Harry raised an eyebrow, and she reached for her own rosary, visible as a lump under her blouse. "My doubts are my own, and I will treasure them, but I will still follow God's words because they are true and just, even if my interpretation has not been in the past. And if it does turn out that God truly is dead, that does not mean his message died with him. If the church decides to act against me for knowing that; that belief will not fade."

At that Harry escorted the two of them out to the street, where he stopped them and held out his hand to shake. "First impressions inside, the two of you have grown up a lot since we first met, and though I'd have to check with the others to make certain I think if the church does reject you, does not want you to rejoin them so that they can try to stop you from spreading the truth, if it is the truth, remember that you might have a home here. If you're willing to work at it."

"Thank you Potter-san," Irina said with a smile. "that means a lot. Although did you check in with Issei first? He gave me the same kind of speech."

Harry laughed shaking his head. "No, but that doesn't surprise me. The kid has too big a heart for his own good sometimes, despite his perversions."

She giggled, and after bowing from the waist to Harry, the two exorcists left walking down the road away from the Potter house.

Harry re-entered the house and moved up to Asia and Koneko's room again. Koneko had already taken Lily and Kunou to school, which left only Asia in her room ready to go. Kala and Yubelluna were still around the place, but each was doing their own thing as they always were in the mornings after breakfast.

He found Asia dressed in her school uniform, and without a word moved to her hugging her gently.

She hugged back, looking up at him quizzically, and he winked at her. "You said earlier that you have doubts whether or not you're worthy of being part of this family Asia, let me tell you, you will always be worth it. Because our love for you is free, given to you because of who you are, the gentle girl with a will of iron," he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead gently.

Asia Potter blushed and stammered at that, but hugged back, murmuring wordless thanks into his chest before letting out a very cute 'eep' as Harry quickly picked her up in his arms Princess style. "Now, let's get to school before homeroom begins, shall we?"

"Wait, you're not going to teleport like this, are you? There's surely going to be someone in the clubroom!"

"Heh, I'm not only going to do that, but I'm also then going to walk out onto the schoolyard carrying you like this, bwhwwhha!" Harry said with an evil little laugh.

"Father no!" Asia shouted, beating at his chest ineffectively. "That will be so embarrassing!"

"It's part of a dad's duty to embarrass his daughters, isn't it? I've read that somewhere I think." Harry replied before he resumed cackling maniacally as he disappeared from his house in a burst of teleportation magic, happy to have broken the serious, thoughtful air his daughter had around her after talking to the two exorcists.

 **OOOOOOO**

Elsewhere there was little humor to be found as Ophis looked over the newest members of the Khaos Brigade. After her return from interviewing Harry Potter for possible inclusion in the Brigade, Ophis, with Cao Cao and Vali both surprisingly – since they rarely agreed on anything - pushing for it, agreed to spend time recruiting, without doing anything too large-scale. And now not even a week later already their recruitment was bearing fruit.

Many of the new recruits were simple: killers, thieves and other lawless sorts from the fringes of mystical societies the world over. This was especially true about the group that originally came from India, or the territories around it which had once been part of India, men and women of the untouchable caste who wanted to tear the caste system down, or people who had committed heinous crimes in the eyes of the magical societies there. A Saracen assassin, who used magic and poison with equal dispatch, and who had come to enjoy their work. A brahmin caste man who believed that the power of runes could be used to capture and dominate gods and goddesses, who had barely escaped with his life thanks to Vali's intervention when a few of his fellows learned of his work's true purpose.

Several of the new Sacred Gear users were interesting, and she nodded as Cao-Cao introduced each of them to her. She didn't notice his eyes watching her every movement or the subtle nod he shared with one of them. As she finished looking over the information on the Sacred Gear users, she turned to Cao-Cao, looking at him with her nearly unemotional, uncaring eyes. "Your plans for dealing with this notion that the three factions of the Christian faith are going to be joining together? You said you had a plan," she intoned.

"I did. Their working together is a real problem," Cao-Cao admitted, his mind switching gears instantly from his own plans for the foolish creature in front of him, to the idea of dealing with the largest, most dangerous group of nonhumans that plagued this world. "I do have a plan however it is a bit more frontal assault type then I could wish. But if it is true that the peace talks are going to be held in Kuoh then guile and subterfuge will probably not serve us very well."

"No, not against those wards," Ophis said with a nod. Ophis had taken a look at them from afar, and their breadth had been impressive, even if their power had not been up to her own standards. "There are no ways around them, not if you can in any way become a threat to the individuals underneath them. The only way through time would be by brute force."

Exactly," Cao-Cao said with a nod. "That's why we've been working to bring in so many magic users. With them, we can at least suppress the wards long enough to get our forces inside."

Ophis shook her head. "No."

"I'm sorry?" Cao-Cao asked, scowling at the finality in that word. Sometimes when Ophis spoke it was like you were a child being dismissed by an adult. It was infuriating to Cao-Cao, the wielder of the Strongest Longinus and the reincarnation of one of the greatest generals to ever live.

"You do not understand the power of those things," She sighed shaking her head. "When it comes to it, I will probably have to be the one to suppress them. Or perhaps Vali and two of our other strongest members, like yourself."

"…If you think that's best," Cao-Cao said, internally rejoicing as suddenly things turned back the way he wanted them to. "Could this be a chance to kill two birds with one stone? Or rather three's birds with one stone, considering that I mean to feed the other 'teams' into that meatgrinder before jeopardizing my own?

"Regardless, stopping these talks from occurring is becoming more necessary since they have begun to reach out to other mystical societies. The Buddhists are apparently sending someone as their representative to it, as well as another faction called the Asgardians. My agents haven't been able to find much about them, only that they are weaker than the Buddhist/Hinduist societies. Regardless, we must stop them from creating a united front, and if we can prove that one of the factions was behind the attack or at the least allowed us in, all their diplomatic efforts will be crippled." _And in so doing I will sacrifice Vali and make life even worse for the Fallen Angels. Enough so that they might be too tempting a target for the Church, especially if my agents there can push for that outcome._

Ophis cocked her head, looking at him closely. "All of that is in keeping with your agenda," she said pointedly. "What about mine?"

"Hostages," Cao-Cao said simply. Her eyes narrowed, but she indicated with a flick of her finger that he should continue, and he smiled thinly. "There are a few among the Three Factions that are powerful enough to help us in our cause against Great Red but all of those have loved ones that we can take hostage while they are **at** those talks if we cannot strike at the few that will be there with them. If we can do that in secret, we can weld their power to our own in that future battle and can then move on to others."

Ophis nodded her head, her eyes shining with a bit of eagerness the no one ever saw unless they were talking about getting rid of Great Red, or sweets. "Two plans in one then. Excellent. Perhaps then we will have enough strength to face off against the Great Red."

"Perhaps," Cao-Cao cautioned. "But that attack will be a chancy thing even if everything goes well. I would prefer to make it more certain. To that end I…" he broke off, as the last person he wanted to see right now walked up towards them, his hands in his pockets, his silver eyes locked on Cao-Cao.

Ophis turned in that direction, nodding her head. "Vali, you have returned."

Vali nodded. "Sorry," he said roughly. "With everything that's happened, getting away from my foster-father is getting harder and harder."

"Understandable and unimportant for now," Ophis said with a chopping motion of one hand. "You have information?

"Information, and a few more possible recruits," Vali said with a nod, holding out a folder. "We'll have to go to them, a few of them are in America and South America, but I think their Sacred Gears make them kind of useful. The Fallen's Sacred Gear Sensor system that my foster father created is really amazing. Beyond that, I've found a few magical weapons I think that might be relics from extinct pantheons with some power left that weren't turned into Sacred Gears. What was this I heard about an all-out assault on Kuoh though?"

Cao-Cao made his sales pitch again, watching Vali closely. Unlike Ophis, Cao-Cao had more than a bit of respect for the brain behind the silver-haired youth's face, and the two of them had never gotten along. However despite that, as Ophis read through the folder that Vali had handed her, Vali simply nodded. "Good. I'll be part of that. I want to fight Potter and that kitten. Hopefully, by then she might actually be a challenge, even if she isn't fully bonded to the Boosted Gear."

Cao-Cao nodded. Then looked over the piece of paper that office Ophis was still reading. "Who did you find?"

"Three Sacred Gear users who have Anti-magic Sacred Gears. More importantly, Vali has found the location of objects which may or may not allow us to bring back Evil Dragons banished into dimensional pockets by the Hosts of Heaven during the Great War," Ophis replied, her eyes narrowing in cold calculation.

The folder that Vali had given her was composed of several profiles. The human profiles were composed of several dozen pictures of men and women, each of them with a bit of background that would have been typical of a police profile almost, save for the part of it which directly described the individual's Sacred Gear. Some of them were indeed Anti-Magic Sacred Gears, Sacred Gears which could counter magic, either a specific type or by creating an area in which magic would fail.

An interesting find, especially if they could counter warding schemes without the cancelation being detected. This was the kind of information that the Fallen Angels, thanks to Azazel's interest in Sacred Gears and his skill as a magi-technician, could routinely find before any of the others.

The placement of these people, in America and South America though would be an issue for the Fallen Angels, given the size and extreme paranoia of MACUSA. As she reflected on that, Ophis found her thoughts oddly paralleling Azazel's when he met with Lucifer: that European style wizards could have in impact out of all proportion to their magical strength thanks to the speed and utility of their spells.

Regardless, it wasn't the humans that had grabbed the majority of her attention. That fell to the various objects whose picture Vali had included because he thought they were weapons of various kinds. There were only three of them, and only one, a large, metal spear, would have normally been called a weapon.

The spear was stated to have been from an ancient statue of Poseidon, larger than a man was tall and that it had three heads like a pike, each of them different in shape. One was a straight, simple spearhead, another twined and doubles back on itself like a serpent's neck. The third was slightly curved away from the middle tine, the straight one, and was spiked every which way. Each head was also said, in the bit of information supplied by the copy of its museum placard, to be made of a different metal, iron, steel, and bronze.

The other two were simple, if very off pieces of art, according to the information about them. One was of an apple out of which a small tree grew, the apple made of gold, the tree of silver and emerald for the leaves and a vine moving up the trunk. The last was a statue, about the size of Ophis's own human form, in the shape of an odd creature that looked like a human merged with a dragon. It had the wings of a dragon and the neck and head of one, but the body of a human, covered in scales with talons instead of fingers. It was also incredibly ugly. Somehow the sculptor had worked in imperfections in its form, one leg longer than the other, a talon larger than it's fellows, the face of the dragon creature showing odd proportions.

The placards for them read that the apple piece had been found in a Zoroastrian temple excavated three months back in Iran, and then sent to one of Iran's best museums, though the importance of it was unknown. The ugly piece of statuary had been found, oddly enough, in the attic of a famous art collector who had recently died, leaving all his pieces to the Museum of Art in New York.

They were magical. The Fallen Angels had been able to determine that. They had no idea what that magic entailed, but they had actually moved in several teams to study each piece recently, and one team, in fact, was waiting for a proper time to remove the apple piece from the museum in Iran. But they couldn't move yet thanks to the local museum being very near a sanctified mosque, where Saracen Assassins were currently being trained.

Ophis, with her extra magical senses could tell what they were even through pictures like this. The power of the dragons they sealed, or somehow connected to the prisons of radiated to her. None of course were anywhere near her own level, but they were strong enough to challenge Vali. And they also radiated to Ophis a certain amount of what humans would call evil emotions: hate, rage, a desire for pain and conquest.

Vali blinked "Evil dragons? Really! Holy shit, I thought they were just ancient relics that could be used as weapons," He said excitedly, his wings appearing on his back as he activated Albion in delight at the thought of fighting the dragons within. Albion too was interested, remembering past battles with dragons that could be termed evil by humanity.

"Indeed," Ophis said with a nod. "They are all very powerful. Not up to my standards, but certainly enough to give us even more power for this attack of yours. And if the one connected to the apple jewelry piece is who I think it is, then we might not have as much trouble with the wards around Kuoh as I feared."

For a moment, the two men, or rather the one human and the Devil in Cao-Cao's opinion, watched as she frowned. Unbeknownst to them, the words of Harry Potter were still going through Ophis's head, how he thought she was simply a child, how she should have instead simply asked for aid rather than reached out to the darker aspects of Earth's mystical societies.

And yet, her response was still the same. "A Dragon does not ask aid," she hissed out, causing both of them to back away as she slowly started to release her aura. "It demands repayment for its investment."

And yet, as she turned away, the seeming girl child's pride was no defense against the whisper of her own mind a whisper that said 'What if he's right? What if, because of the means you chose, you have alienated those who could honestly have helped you? What if, for all that you have done and continue to do, you fail?'

Ignoring that voice, she almost glared at her two followers. "I will retrieve these pieces myself. Leave them to me. Take the newest recruits and get them assigned quarters and into teams. You will then conduct a series of wargames. Our recent setbacks in numbers have shown that the Khaos Brigade is lacking combat experience. We have a lot of combat junkies and many strong individuals, but we lack experience in working with others in teams and full-scale battles. You two will do something about that."

Both men nodded, turning to stare at one another as Ophis turned and left without another word. As Ophis disappeared down a tunnel, Vali stood forward, going chest to chest with the other man. Although Cao-Cao was taller, and the owner of the strongest Longinus in existence, he didn't doubt that the young man in front of him was his equal. So when Vali hissed "I don't know what you're up to, but if whatever it is stops me from having fun, I'm going to stomp all over you."

Cao-Cao smirked back. Vali didn't trust him, having somehow discerned the contempt and hidden hatred Cao-Cao had for nonhumans. Yet that understanding went both ways, and he knew how to, if not outright manipulate Vali, then at least aim him away from Cao-Cao himself. "What if I guaranteed you all the fun you could ever have?"

"Then it would depend on how many innocents you'll be burning to do it," Vali replied in a scoff.

Cao-Cao smirked. "Only one possible innocent will be harmed my schemes, and even then, only if you stretch the definition of the word innocent well past the breaking point."

Vali scowled staring into Cao-Cao's eyes, trying to figure out the meaning of those words, but his ability to read an opponent only helped so much here. Eventually, he stepped back, watching as Cao-Cao turned away. His eyes roamed across the new Sacred Gear users that Cao-Cao had brought in, a scowl forming in his face, before he turned, and marched away in turn. Cao-Cao's been adding to his own hero team, I need to add to team Vali quickly to match him. _Whatever his plan is, I need to be strong enough to either stop it in its tracks or survive it if it looks like he told the truth there. We'll have to see._

He turned as a large group of seventy men and women of various ages but similar looks moved towards him through the larger receiving area. All of them were dressed in the formal crested kimono for the men, and Taoist robes for the women. "Ah, at last. I've been hoping you could sneak away from those searching for you and your clan Shinra Oda-san…"

 **OOOOOOO**

"So where are you taking us, Harry?" Yasaka asked as she looked at her lover quizzically. Today, the weekend after the battle against Kokabiel was the first day that the two of them had been able to get together for a full-day type date. And as parents, they, of course, had immediately turned around and made that a day out with the kids, or at least the youngest two. Koneko and Asia were apparently having a day out together and Teddy was heading out on a shopping trip with Tonks, having been bribed into it by the Metamorph.

As an apology for it taking so long for them to have a date like this, Harry had told Yasaka to leave the planning of it all to him. Oh, they'd had a few dates here and there, mostly in Kyoto, thanks to Yasaka's issues with being away from the Dragon Nest underneath that city. Those had been nice, but short, even if they had ended with Harry occasionally sleeping over with her, which had never gone beyond third base, although they reached that point practically every time. They had never had a date to make the event special enough to go past that point.

Yasaka had never really taken that lack of attention personally. She was a leader too, and that was a full twenty-four-hour job, something she was certain Harry would realize soon enough. _Although_ she thought looking at him now as he pulled out his motorcycle and enlarged it back to its normal size slowly, _I bet he will rebel against it more than I ever have been able to. And more successfully too, given he was a parent first before becoming a leader, whereas for me it was the other way around_.

"You'll see," Harry said with a smile, gesturing her to the back of his motorcycle as he held out a helmet. The diminutive woman, who was clad in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt as Harry had requested, climbed on behind him, as Kunou and Lily hopped into the sidecar Harry had added to the motorbike, sharing the seat and buckling up as they cuddled.

The two of them had no idea out where they were going either, Yasaka having questioned Kunou about it, but they both trusted Harry to have discovered something fun for them to do. She, on the other hand, had issues with being kept in the dark, especially since she could sense Harry's amusement and anticipation of her reaction. Oh, she trusted Harry, so much that it oftentimes worried her given they hadn't known each other more than half a year by this point. But she was a Kitsune, and she very much preferred to be the one playing the prank rather than being the butt of it.

 _Still, when it comes to those I love I can do that too_ , she thought, purring gently as one of Harry's hands reached down to where her arms had gone around his waist. His thumb caressed the back of her clasped hands lightly before returning to the handles of his motorbike, revving it into life.

Within a few minutes, they were in the air, flying out from Kyoto up north through the airspace over the Kansai region covered by a powerful Notice Me Not spell that was tied into the motorbike itself. "Are we going to fly all the way there? "Yasaka asked into Harry's ear. "I don't think that my issue with being away from the Dragon Nest will be made any easier by not removing myself so violently as I would during a teleportation."

"While that's worth an experiment," Harry shouted back, his own voice almost lost in the wind of their passage. "We're going to be going quite a bit faster soon enough. I just want to get us away from the city before activating the turbo on this bad boy. As for your problems with being away, I already prepared a portkey back to your mansion, so when you're starting to feel bad though, you can return instantly."

Yasaka scowled. "Portkeys are all right I suppose, although they're not a candle to what Rias can do."

"Her ability with teleportation is leagues away from mine, I know," Harry shrugged. "But this is the best I can do since I put most of this together last night."

Whatever Yasaka would have said to that was blown away in the wind as Harry became satisfied by the lack of air traffic around them. He activated the booster than for some reason shouted: "Warp drive engage, Ludicrous speed!" That and his mad cackle was the last thing Yasaka heard for a time as the bike moved so fast it almost broke the sound barrier.

Yasaka grimaced slightly as the tugging feeling she always felt away from Kyoto began, but it grew gradually, with none of the sudden lurch she initially felt when going through the teleportation tunnel between Kyoto and Kuoh. It built though and continued to do so as they traveled, but she could deal with it. Still, she found herself grateful an hour and a bit later when they slowed to a stop. _So long as we don't move any further away, I think I can deal with this, for a time anyway._

Harry slowed the bike back down to normal flying speed and then pointed them downward. They descended in a spiral as Harry tried to pick out a place for them to put down, the two girls chattering excitedly to one another, as his daughter said, "I wonder if I can bring along Titan the next time we go flying like this."

"He might like it, Lily, although seeing as I'm going to start training you on brooms this summer, maybe you should wait to fly with him then."

"What!?" Three female voices said as one, one incredulous, one wondering, and one delighted.

Harry laughed. "I remember my godfather telling me stories about how he and my father had me up on my first broom before I could barely walk. I decided to wait a few years, but Lily has been on a broomstick before haven't you lovey?" He teased.

Lily huffed but nodded. She had indeed been on a broomstick several times over the years, but she hadn't been trained on one. She had stolen one a few times, crashing more than a few times, and once been taken up on one by her father. That was obviously, not the same thing as getting training on them.

"Of course," Harry went on, looking over his shoulder to exchange a wink with Yasaka "Whether or not you continue to get training on a broom is going to depend upon your keeping your grades up."

As Lily pouted at that caveat Kunou blinked raising a hand even though Harry couldn't turn his head to see her at the moment. "Does that mean that I could earn some broom riding lessons too?"

"That's up to your mother," Harry said diplomatically and Yasaka huffed.

"It would have been if you hadn't painted me into a corner," she whispered to him harshly, leaning forward and pulling one arm away from around his waist to peel the back of his leather jacket away from his neck. Leaning up she nipped at the exposed skin, a little harder than could be called affectionate, leaving a mark there, though it barely lasted long enough to be called that.

He growled at that, a sound that sent shivers down Yasaka's body, the very, **very** good kind of shiver. _That's it, old girl, I think we've danced around long enough. We've been dating long enough, propriety, whatever the heck that means in this instance, has been observed. Time to get me a full helping of werewolf tonight!_

However, she set those thoughts aside with all the ease of an experienced mother, reaching over to pat her daughter's helmet-clad head, both kids wearing helmets as the two adults were. "I believe, that is most certainly a possibility, with the same caveat as Harry gave Lily, okay?"

"Yep," Kunou said with a laugh throwing her arms up. Given Lily's issues with sitting down for long, Kunou, despite having less of a starting point had quickly caught up to Lily grade-wise. She struggled with history at times, and her writing was more in keeping with their age's normal skill level than Lily's but she still did as well in class.

By that time, they had once more leveled over a patch of road and Harry waited for a brief second until they were alone on the road going around a corner, and then flicked the control on the panel in front of him, which, though it looked like that of a regular motorbike's, was very much not. The next instant, they were visible to other people and merged into traffic on another road following it for several miles.

At that point, Harry asked Yasaka how she was feeling, and she frowned. "I'm feeling okay," she said slowly. "This has not been as distressing as the initial impact when I teleport into Kuoh, but I can feel the rubber band feeling growing with every yard we're moving away from Kyoto, so I think it kind of evens out really. I… think I might have about thirty more minutes or so before it gets to be too much, so while the transportation times added up to more, it really doesn't help much."

Harry sighed. "Well, there goes that experiment. But that wasn't why I wanted to come here anyway, I just think you're going to have a lot of fun here," He said as they left a small town behind, and moved up into the mountains behind it.

Yasaka blinked, looking at a sign that they just passed, then blinked again a few seconds later as she saw another. "'Fox Village'?" she asked incredulously. "What is this about?"

"You'll see," Harry said, as Kunou perked up along with Lily.

A few minutes later they were parking in front of what looked like a regular zoo or park, except that through the trees, Yasaka could make out tiny houses. Harry went and paid for them all then came back and took Yasaka's hand in his leading the way past an outer metal fence and into the forest beyond.

Harry smiled as all three of the others sniffed the air, and Yasaka and Kunou said as one "It smells of Foxes," with the mother of the pair "going on lots of foxes. What exactly is…?"

She broke off as their walk took them into a tiny play-town. There were little child-sized houses built here and there, little tunnels, little balancing beams scattered all over the floor of the forest. And as they came closer, the noise of foxes came to them. Harry saw the faces of Kunou and Yasaka light up in delight, followed a second later by his daughter's as they saw the sheer number of foxes around them. Some of them came out of the houses, some of them were playing around on the ground, all of them were yapping and making noises, and Kunou squealed in delight, looked over at Harry, who nodded, winking.

She gleefully ran forwards, and between one step and the next started to change, her tails coming out, her ears popping up out of her head as she assumed her natural Kitsune form. The foxes had already figured out what she was, but unlike with wolves and werewolves, foxes and Kitsune actually got along quite well, and several foxes ran to meet her as Kunou went down on all fours, yipping at them excitedly.

On her heels Lily raced forward too then paused, wondering how she would be received. But Harry came up behind her and put a hand on her back gently pushing her forward. "Go on lovey, I was here last night to make certain that this would work, and they didn't seem to care about my odd smell, so they sure as heck won't care about yours."

She beamed at him, and then transformed into her werewolf form, racing forward to join her best friend, trusting in her father to cover them both with illusion magic to hide their forms. He had already done so though back in Kyoto when he handed them their helmets, and the spells were still on them now.

Yasaka also swiftly shifted forms but she instead of changing into her Kitsune form shifted entirely into a fox form, racing forward with a loud yelp, as she dove through one house, then balanced on a beam before leaping up onto the next. Her tails, all nine of them, waved gleefully behind her, and the foxes all yelped in welcome.

"Well," Harry said as he strolled after the kids, keeping his own human form for now, "I think I can put this down as a success."

Hours later, the two girls were pouring over a brochure of the Fox Village as Harry explained how he'd found it to Yasaka. The four of them were sitting in a booth at a family restaurant in Kyoto. The restaurant advertised itself as being one which sold traditional American food, but Harry had looked at their lineup and thought of it more as traditional American fast food than anything else. Hamburgers, however, were always good. And the two kids had worked up quite an appetite racing around with the foxes for most of the evening and afternoon.

"Husukai has a nonmagical cousin who works there. Apparently part of what keeps the foxes somewhat docile is magical in nature. It was supposed to be for more magical species, as well, but the funding to gather and transport those species to the area fell through on the Onmyodo side. The non-magicals though continued the work on it and eventually opened it last summer."

He watched Yasaka nod and asked solicitously, "How are you doing?" She had been forced to take his portkey back to Kyoto barely thirty minutes into the time in the Fox village, which was in Miyagi Prefecture. But even with several hours to recover she still looked a little worn to him.

"I am alright, although it was rather more debilitating than I thought. I collapsed after returning here for a time, but I'm on the mend now and should be fine after I get some food into my currently empty stomach," Yasaka said, obliquely telling Harry she had thrown up upon returning to Kyoto. _It says something that I'm getting used to that kind of thing and still think this long-distance relationship more than worth the price._

Harry nodded, leaning in and kissing the top of her head tenderly. "Still, did you have fun for the little time you're there?"

"Oh yes," Yasaka replied with a chittering laugh that hearkened back to her natural Kitsune body despite the fact that she was in her fully human form of the moment. Yasaka was attractive in either form and the family of four had garnered some interested looks from both sexes, although those looks dissipated as the watchers slowly noticed the kids, far too slowly for Harry's state of mind. But he couldn't deny that Yasaka was so pretty it was hard not to stare.

 _The only way I would give Rias a leg up over her is height and red_ hair he thought with a chuckle. When Yasaka looked at him quizzically, he realized he said that aloud, and she pouted up at him, before sending him a lascivious little smirk. "Well, short people can be a fun~ too," she said, licking her lips. "I'll show you how tonight if you're lucky."

"I'm looking forward to it," Harry said with a laugh and a certain look in his eyes that caused Yasaka once more to shiver in delight. Putting an arm around her shoulders Harry turned to watch the two kids talking happily about what they'd been doing, his eyes softening at the sight. "You raised a magnificent daughter there you know."

"And you raised one yourself," she replied, knowing that the words meant far more than was obvious to anyone else.

They fell silent for a time simply hugging one another, then the food arrived, and the two ravenous monsters across the table went to work quickly.

The two adults continued to talk about current events, about information that Yasaka had garnered about the Khaos Brigade, and other events occurring on the mystical side of the world as well as the fact that Harry had indeed decided to go after Bikou when he returned to China for the ceremony on Mount would take Kiba, Loup, Issei, and Sairaorg Bael. Rias had passed on the idea of taking out one of the stronger members of the Khaos Brigade to him on the down-low, since no one was quite certain how much penetration the Khaos Brigade had on the devil side of things but they knew it had to be quite a lot even now with the Devils having attempted to purge that influence.

He had agreed, rather eagerly it must be said. "Apparently after hearing about the campaign we ran against Kokabiel and his legion, the idea of taking part in 'mere' Rating Games just doesn't do it for Sairaorg anymore," Harry said to Yasaka now rather dryly.

"Combat junkies," Yasaka said with a laugh. Then she looked at Harry quizzically. "The idea doesn't get you interested?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm not a combat junkie. I suppose I could be called an adrenaline junkie, and I certainly was an even bigger one in my younger years. But I'm not a combat junkie, I'm a soldier. I do the job, I go home. But if you're asking if I enjoy fighting, occasionally? The fight against Kokabiel and the fallen was just something we had to do. The fight against the skeletons was kind of fun though."

"Hehe, a dog fighting a mass of bones," Yasaka said with a chuckle.

Harry mock-glared at her, the arm around her shoulders shifting to poke her in the ribs. "I've heard that one before, thank you."

She shrugged unrepentantly, and Harry moved on quickly. "Anyway, no, the idea of a fight like that doesn't interest me as much as the idea of weakening the Khaos Brigade by removing one of their top agents."

Harry smiled at her, shaking his head. "But enough about that kind of thing. Is there anything new going on in the Youkai Association?"

"Quite a bit, but one thing will probably interest you more than the rest. I've gotten requests from ten different families and several single men and women that want to move to Kuoh. Your idea of a magic school has garnered a lot of interest among my folk," Yasaka replied. Her tone was airy, but the words were serious, and she went on has Harry nodded.

"I've even gotten a few teachers that might want to work with you. I'm not actually certain if you were introduced to one, He's my Runemaster, and he hails from India an ancient Elephant Youkai named Dutugamunu. He is rather acerbic, and not exactly good with working others, but he seems quite taken with young Asia. She apparently healed his arthritis for him that day after we signed the original alliance treaty."

"That sounds like her," Harry said with a smile as he thought about his blood-adopted daughter, who was currently out with Koneko, his other sort-of-daughter. The two of them were apparently planning to see an anime movie of some kind, one that Rias was also interested in and would be taking the kids to _. Actually, Rias should be here soon to pick up the kids for the night I think. After that well … we shall see._

As they were finishing dinner, Rias, Asia, and Koneko did arrive, entering the restaurant after spotting the foursome from outside.

Lily and Kunou perked up, waving their hands excitedly, and the other girls moved over to them, with Asia and Koneko sliding into the booth with the kids for a moment, as Rias smiled at Yasaka and Harry. "So how did it go?"

"I take it you knew about this Fox Village he was going to take us to?" Rias nodded, and Yasaka huffed in annoyance. As a Kitsune capitalized here? being out of the loop on a prank, even a minor one like this, was annoying to her sense of pride. "Well, it was certainly a nice surprise. Seeing all those foxes play around was hilarious, especially when that one male fox began to bite at Kunou's tails.

Her daughter whimpered. "That was the one part I didn't like," she muttered. "Mean bull fox."

Lily chuckled evilly. "Yeah, but it didn't go on for very long did it?" She had chased him off, since even though she was quite young, as a werewolf Lily was far stronger than any natural fox could ever be, and though ungainly in her werewolf form, also quite quick. The bull fox had only nipped at her tail a few times as Kunou was stuck in one of the tubes, then Lily had battered him aside with a single paw, then chased him through the woods until she had forced him to hide in one of the little houses she couldn't fit into.

"That's good," Rias said with a smile, looking down the kids. "And are you looking forward to the movie?" All four of the younger girls nodded and she looked down at her watch. "In that case, how about we grab an ice cream to go, and then we'll have some popcorn we get there. When watching a movie, popcorn is essential." She said with a pair of a connoisseur.

Harry chuckled at that, taking her hand in his and squeezing it gently. "I'd say thank you for watching them for us, except I think that you're going to get as much of a kick out of this movie as they are. Just try not to critique the styles or the voice acting until afterward, okay?" They'd been to a few movies together and that had been a problem before.

"I promise, although you're infringing on my rights as an otaku you know," Rias huffed before grinning back at him.

She then reached down, and helped Lily and Kunou out of the bank booth after Asia and Koneko, hugging the smaller redhead to her as she whispered "So, you chased away the big bad fox from your friend huh? Good for you!" which brought a grin to Lily's face. Rias then took one tiny hand in each of hers and nodded her head to the couple still sitting in the booth. "We'll see you all at home Harry, and Yasaka," she added with a wink, "have fun."

"I intend to," Yasaka quipped back, grinning herself now.

Harry chuckled, and as the kids left with Rias, raised a hand asking for the waitress to bring their check.

The two of them moved the date to a local bar where they danced for several hours. It was not the same one that he and Rias had gone to on their date here in Kyoto that night of the treaty signing. But another one that was a pure dance hall that didn't offer food. It was of more reminiscent of a place that he and Kala had gone to then anyplace he had taken Rias, techno-pop and heavy metal comprising the background music rather than anime songs or jazz.

Despite that difference, Yasaka still had fun, although she did profess that she preferred smooth American-style jazz to anything like this. "I don't know what it is; I think it's the saxophone noise that I really like."

"I'll remember that for the next time," Harry said as they exited the club. It was about an hour before closing time. The kids would be at home, all tucked into bed by Rias and the others, but to the two of them, the night could still be young, if Yasaka wanted it. With that in mind, Harry leaned down, using one finger to push Yasaka's chin up so that he could kiss her on her lips.

The shorter blonde woman clung to him, practically climbing up his front in order to kiss him harder. Her mouth opened and her tongue slid along his own for a brief second before Harry replied, his own tongue out and questing, pressing Yasaka's back into her mouth where they began to dance and swirl around one another. After several minutes of this Harry pulled back slowly, looking down at her, his lips quirking into a brief smile. "So, what do you want to do now?"

"Follow me," she said, a positively vulpine smile on her face as she pulled away tugging at his hand.

The two of them walked through the streets of Kyoto, ignoring the world around them as they moved through the darkened streets lit by the overhead lamps. They weren't the only couple out, although it certainly seemed that way for a bit when they entered the Youkai Association area of the city, with its old-fashioned architecture, and which had much less lighting.

But still, they kept on moving slowly, stopping to snog occasionally as they went. One time Harry lost control a bit and lifted Yasaka up in his arms, her legs wrapping around his upper chest as he pressed her up against the wall, to lean up and kiss her hard, their tongues out and questing as one hand snaked between them, to play with her breasts.

"You see," she moaned, "being little does have its advantages, doesn't it?"

"It would," Harry said between kisses, "If I couldn't do the same thing with Rias even with her height. Although, given how often you've mentioned our size differences, I have to wonder if you like being manhandled like this? Just asking to be would be a better idea than beating around the bush you know."

"Bah, that takes all the mystery out of it." Yasaka pouted, before nipping at his lower lip. She then pulled back, wiggling out of his grip and taking his hand with hers again, their fingers clasping around one another. "Come on. I have something special planned for tonight. Our first night as it were."

Harry felt as if his smile would split his face open at that, knowing what she meant. The two of them had dates, had even made out as ardently as they currently were, and had repeatedly 'exchanged favors' as Yasaka had done to Harry after he had woken up from his magical exhaustion induced unconsciousness. But they had never gone all the way and Yasaka's words implied that tonight they would be.

But Harry was in for surprise because Yasaka refused his offer to teleport them ahead to her castle. Instead, she kept on pulling him along, until they were in the area of the Kyoto forest run by the Youkai Association. There, she sniffed the air for a long time, and then asked, "Can you smell anyone else out and about?" _I asked for everyone to keep to their own territories tonight, wording it as if the wards were going to be tested tonight although I'm not certain my advisors were really fooled by that… Still, I hope they listened._

Harry sniffed first a few minutes himself then replied in the negative.

"Good," Yasaka said before slowly peeling out of her dress, which she had changed into before the two of them had gone out to dance after Rias had taken the kids. She pulled the straps off of her shoulders, and let the white and gold dress slink down her body to pool at her feet. She kicked it up into the air where she grabbed it, a move that she giggled at before the dress disappeared from her hand, and Harry gulped behind her, seeing Yasaka in all her glory once again. No matter how often he saw her naked, it was always an awe-inspiring sight.

 **{Lemon Start}**

Her skin with its porcelain color always looked so delicate, a concept proven false by the scar she wore here and there, on her arms and elsewhere. Her breasts, though an inch smaller if that than Rias's still looked massive on her smaller frame, and were tipped by dark red nipples. As she turned on her lithe, well-formed legs her rear was revealed, a magnificent example of the type, small but extremely pert and Harry knew soft to the touch.

Swishing her rear in his direction, Yasaka looked over one shoulder at Harry as her hands stroked down her sides, then her thumbs hooked into the sides of her panties which she slowly, agonizingly pushed down her legs. Even with only the light of the moon above, Harry could make out the glisten of reflected light on the wet dampness on her revealed slit, which he knew to be almost startlingly pink against the porcelain of her skin and trailing down her legs.

Then as she was still bending over, her hands moved back up her body to the small of her back where she undid her bra. Pulling it off in turn, she held it out to the side her head turned to look at him over one shoulder. "You're a little too dressed Harry," she quipped, still holding that pose.

Harry doubted he had ever gotten undressed faster than he did just then without the use of magic, but he was in for a further shock as he finished. Instead of simply beckoning him to her for a bit of outdoor fun right where they were, Yasaka finished dropping her bra to one side as he kicked his pants away. She then turned, swiveling on one foot like a ballerina in place several times before slowly changing into her Kitsune appearance. When she was done, her tails slowly dipped out of the way one after another. As they did Harry caught a glimpse of where her tails merged into one directly above her rear. From her head two long foxlike ears popped out, twitching this way and that.

"Flipping heck, you are so gorgeous, no wonder people used to worship Kitsune as goddesses," he said slowly.

Yasaka laughed a throaty, animalistic thing that was both wild and sexy at the same time. "You're sweet Harry. But I think I've had enough of 'sweet Harry' for now. I want wolfy Harry for the rest of the night," she said, her fox eyes going half-lidded as she smirked at him. "Do you understand what I mean?"

"I think I do," Harry said, his own lurking smirk a reply in and of itself since he knew how much Yasaka had come to enjoy his werewolf form. Indeed, several times she had requested a repeat of their time together after the Rating Game against Riser. With a thought, his body started to shift. His rose by three inches as his shoulders shifted outward. His cock grew too, adding a bit under two inches to its length while it thickened as well, its shape changing to look more like the point of a dog's penis than a human cock.

But to his surprise, Yasaka hadn't stuck around to watch him change as she always had before. Instead, she had turned away and as his transformation finished she was already a hundred yards distant, racing off through the woodlands on all fours. "Catch me if you can!"

Harry rumbled deep in pleasure. So the foxy girl really wanted to play fox and hound, did she? Well, while Harry hadn't done this before, his werewolf instincts certainly knew what to do. _Especially with her scent on the wind, holy hell has she ever been this turned on before? Well, far be it from me to not give the lady what she wants._ With a literally wolfish smile and a baying howl, he was off streaking after her through the woods.

How long the chase went Harry couldn't tell but eventually, his greater speed was enough to close the distance on Yasaka despite her knowledge of the terrain. With a mock yelp of fear, she looked over her shoulder, just as Harry launched himself forward. But then she dodged at the last minute, and the chase resumed.

Eventually, he caught her, baring her to earth with her his greater weight, panting as he lay on top of her, her tails between them and around him, each of them twitching and moving. "That was fun," he whispered into her ear, biting at it lightly.

Taking a brief moment to look around, Harry realized they were near the stream where the Swanhilde lived. Luckily they were downstream quite a ways, so none of the swan-women were around. They were in a tiny clearing the stream bubbling along in front of them, with several ancient sakura and oak trees around them, the ground littered with their leaves.

Then Yasaka moaned under him, humping back against her, putting her legs out to either side to further stabilize her and capturing his attention like a giant magnet while her tails parted, allowing Harry's crotch to bump against her rear. As she felt his hardening length press against her quivering mound she moaned out, "The fun is just beginning."

At those words Harry leaned in kissing her ardently, their mouths working against one another, their tongues, longer and coarser than in their human forms, twining around one another like snakes. Pulling back Yasaka hissed, "No foreplay! I'm so drenched I resemble more of a waterfall than anything else! In, **now**!" She howled at the moon above.

Ignoring her words Harry pulled his hips back to tease her for a few seconds with the more pointed tip of his cock moving up and down her tiny slit. Seeing the difference in size even by the moon above he was honestly worried for a brief, lucid moment that he wouldn't be able to fit. _Or worse, I might hurt her if I'm not careful._

But then she turned her head and bit at his throat lightly with her teeth. In Kitsune form, her jaw was subtly different from a human woman's and her teeth were more pointed. They actually drew a tiny bit of blood as she nipped at his. "Don't even think about going slow Harry! There's a time for that, and this isn't it! We can make tender love later. Right now, I want you to screw me into the freaking ground!"

With that, his concerns about her being able to take him went away as he went back to teasing her. Pulling his head back, Harry then dove down to nip and bite at her own neck, working over the fur-covered back of her neck in particular.

He kept his cock moving up and down her slit whatever she tried to do, dominating her, controlling her movements. He did this until Yasaka could no longer form a coherent word, her mouth open in a near-constant moan interspersed with little yips as Harry bit at her neck. And then he thrust forward all at once, hilting himself inside her with a single thrust as she had demanded.

Yasaka's eyes widened in shock and pure bliss and she howled in delight, her hands clawing at the ground underneath her as she was pushed flat against the ground. She could almost feel her insides spasming as Harry's cock invaded her pussy, touching places even her late husband had never reached. She could barely react as Harry pulled her head around once more to kiss her, her lips barely moving, her tongue unresponsive as she let loose a continuous low moan.

That moan became a whimper as Harry slowly pulled back out, his pointed tip dragging along her insides. "Noooo," she whimpered and then yelped as he thrust in again, slower this time. He continued to modulate his thrusts, pulling out a few inches then thrusting back in quickly, or nearly pulling out entirely then slowly working himself back in.

The noises this evoked from the kitsune could not truly be called human, but then again Harry had left words behind too, simply growling, huffing or yipping as he proceeded to dominate Yasaka in exactly the way she had desired for months. It had taken time, first to get Harry used to the idea of polygamy, and then to be more willing to follow his desires, while also integrating his werewolf side into their love-making. Now however it was paying off handsomely and Yasaka howled her way through one orgasm, then a second as Harry continued to rut into her from behind.

It only got better as he reached under her. His larger, fur-covered hands clasped her breasts and kneading them like they were dough, began to use them as handles while his hips continued to move slowly, then faster and faster. He also started to play with her nipples, something that caused her to howl in delight almost as loud as she had when Harry had first begun to piston in and out of her.

For Harry, the experience was something else. Yasaka was almost painfully tight thanks to their difference in size, though thankfully she wasn't nearly as volcanically hot as Rias. But nor did Rias always squirt when she came. Yasaka was literally dripping a river by this point, and her pussy was feeling better and better as it slowly acclimatized to his size.

But Yasaka wasn't the only one who had been worked into a frenzy despite his greater self-control. The snogging sessions, her grinding against him, the sheer sight of the foxy woman had been pushing him into a frenzy, and now his self-control finally started to fade, his attempts to use different speeds and strokes failing as he began to just thrust into her as fast as he could.

"YEEEESSSSS!" Yasaka screamed, having finally gotten used to Harry's pounding enough to try and take part, thrusting herself back into him. She tried to twist around and kiss him, but Harry wasn't having any of that. Instead, he pulled back and bit the back of her neck, just hard enough to leave a mark, his werewolf form's teeth just grazing her skin as he sucked at her neck.

That did it, and she clamped down in her biggest orgasm to dates as her tails, which had been twisting to either side of her rears, flew into the air and around Harry. As her pussy clamped down around him nearly hard enough to be painful her tails wrapped around him, holding him in place. This and the sheer pressure around his shaft pushed Harry over the edge and he howled as he hilted himself in Yasaka as deep as he could as cum erupted from his cock flooding her insides.

Harry's legs threatened to collapse, but he held himself up off of Yasaka with one arm. The other shifted to pull her against him holding her upright, as he leaned around to kiss her again.

"Mmm…" Yasaka mumbled against his lips, and then slowly scooted forward, her tails falling from where they had held Harry. She then turned around and, with her tails flattening out under her, sat on her rear, her legs spread. She looked down in something like bemused shock at the amount of mixed juices that were flowing out of her, a flash of delight in her eyes. But when she looked up at Harry, her eyes were still practically blazing with need, a need that grew as she saw that Harry's length hadn't flagged. "More?" she practically begged, one hand moving up behind his head and pulling him down on top of her, yipping in delight as Harry's long, werewolf tongue started to flick over her nipple as he pressed his shaft into her once more.

 **{End Lemon}**

 **OOOOOOO**

The next morning, Harry was back home before the sun rose to make breakfast with Kala, flirting with her as the two of them wound around one another, his hands falling to her hips or trailing her side as she returned the favor. Kunou, Koneko, and Teddy were nearby finishing a fun bit of homework that they had been given over the weekend. Looking over the multi-colored map Kunou was working on and the storybook Teddy had created Harry felt it was evidence that perhaps the Japanese teachers at the elementary level did, in fact, understand that too much testing wasn't exactly a good thing, something he was very happy to see.

Rias came in just in time to hear Kala mention that the cooking competition she had wanted to take part in had been postponed until the start of March, but that she was happy enough about it. "This way, I get you all to myself for a weekend before you hare off to Jolly Ol' England."

"Heh, well, me, Lily and Koneko anyway," Harry quipped, before turning to look at the newcomers.

Rias's hair was still wet from a shower and she was washing Lily's hair with a large white towel as the younger redhead walked in front of her. But she paused in the doorway though looking at Harry quizzically. "Funny, I thought you'd still be with Yasaka."

Harry shook his head. "No, I have group projects due today in Koneko's class, and I want to get over there and set up the room first." Koneko nodded, from where she was helping Kunou color in a bit of a map of Japan. Lily moved over to them, and Rias moved to help with breakfast, as Harry continued to speak. "After that, I want to head out and talk to Tiamat. I have a few things to say to her I doubt she's going to want to hear."

Rias looked at him, and he winked at her. Causing the redhead to nod, indicating she knew what that conversation was going to be about. _Tiamat might be incredibly powerful, but she is far too disconnected from the rest of us, she needs to start taking part in our lives here in some fashion. Especially going forward._

After breakfast, Rias decided to see how Yasaka felt the date had gone. She appeared in Kyoto in Yasaka's palace, coming out of the teleportation tunnel in the main hall of the palace before making her way to Yasaka's room. Halfway there she stopped as she spotted one of the swanhilde in the hallway leading to Yasaka's chambers. It was highly unusual to see one of the swan-women inside, and this one was looking both annoyed and affronted.

The sight was so unusual she stopped and asked, "Miss, is everything all right?"

The swanhilde turned, showing a face that even Rias had to admit was attractive, in keeping with the legend about them. The agitated look on her face, and the bags under her eyes though, took away from the other woman's appearance. "Oh, Gremory-sama, um, I was here to talk to, or really more complain at Yasaka oujosama really."

"About what?" Rias asked, thinking that if Yasaka was anything like her after her first night with Harry the last thing she would want to do today is deal with any official business. "Is it something I can help with?"

"Um…" the swanhilde, a woman, Rias suddenly realized, who looked to be younger than her, blushed rosily, visible on her very fair skin, almost as fair as Rias's own. "Um, could, um, that is, could you, when she and um, Po, Potter-sama have relations again, they, they keep it inside? Or at le, least away from our territory." By this point the poor girl was covering her head with her large, white swan wings and as if steam should by all rights start coming out of her ears.

"Ah," Rias said, holding back a guffaw of laughter with all the self-control of her noble upbringing. "I will most definitely remonstrate with them both, and I'm sorry you had to go through that experience."

"Th, thank you. It was so embarrassing!" the swanhilde grumbled, letting her wings fall and still looking a little embarrassed. "The older women made it even worse of course, making ribald comments every time we, we heard them, but even they thought it was a bit much after the two of them started up a third time. Not," she added hastily, "We don't understand why Yasaka-oujousama's was so enthusiastic. Heats are bad like that regardless of your position, and I hope she and Harry are blessed."

Rias's face froze in her polite noblewoman's face, but she still nodded at the other woman. "Oh, I think you might have to wait to congratulate them on that score. But nonetheless, they should have been more respectful. I'll tell Yasaka you complained, and you won't have to have this conversation again alright? Go get some sleep."

Not realizing the proverbial landmine she had stepped on, the teen swan-woman nodded and hurried past Rias, her white wings brushing against the Devil woman who moved to the door leading into Yasaka's bedroom. When she opened the door, Rias rolled her eyes at the earthy, heady smell coming out of it. _Huh, I guess they continued their activities after they returned here._

Moving quickly through the room, she opened every window she could, airing it, ignoring the whimpers from the bed as she had been forced to pull back the blinds to do so. Indeed, she took a rather vindictive bit of pleasure from it.

Only when all the windows were open did Rias move to the bed. "Yasaka, are you all right?"

"You, you are an evil woman," said the mound from the bed. "You, you created a freaking monster!"

"Huh?" Rias blinked at that, her thoughts side-tracked. "What do you mean?"

Yasaka poked her head out from the bundle of blankets on the bed, glaring at Rias. Her hair was disheveled, her lips were bruised, there were hickeys all over her neck and she was still very naked, what little of her chest was visible in the blanket looking like it was still sweaty. "Don't pretend you don't know!"

"I swear I don't have any idea what you're talking about," Rias said shaking her head and ignoring the desire to see where that sweat trail falling down Yasaka's chest led. "If Harry wore you out, that's nothing to do with me. He routinely did that when he and I got together at first to me too."

"Oh really? There's a difference between him wearing me out, and him literally dominating me three of the five rounds we went through the damn night! Woman my I hips I can't feel my hips… or anything else below my navel! My legs and everything else are just a pile of tingles. And he was still good to go when I finally fell asleep. No, not sleep, I just collapsed… I honestly have no idea how I got back to my room come to think of it."

"Hmmf, I would think that you'd be alright with that given your plan," Rias said, remembering she was supposed to be angry with the other woman.

"What do you mean?" Yasaka said, suddenly looking shifty, refusing to meet Rias's eyes.

"I mean the fact you're in heat! One of the swanhilde was here to complain about your night's activities occurring too close to their territory, and let slip that you are in heat around this time of the month, or however long your cycles last." Rias growled, her fingers twitching. "I thought we had an agreement."

"No, you said you would be the first of us to get pregnant then Lily and Kunou interrupted our argument," Yasaka said, shaking her head and wincing, flopping back onto the bed. "Ooh, I'm too tired to even argue. I would apologize, but you yourself have said you have to wait until you graduate high school at the very least."

"Ugh," Rias grunted as that shot hit home. Not that most would understand why she would even be thinking about a child even then, as young as she was. But Rias had no desire or need to go to college, and regardless of the fact they'd been going out only for four months by this point, she and Harry were married magically speaking. On top of wanting to have a formal wedding at some point, they were both also wishful to have more children, regardless of Harry's relationship with Koneko and Asia, and even Kunou. "Well I hate to tell you, but Harry cast that Blueballs spell of his before coming to Kyoto."

Yasaka tsked, but then sighed. "I suppose that is fine really. After all, I haven't mentioned kids with Harry before this either."

"Yes, well, I have. We've decided no more kids until after Ophis and the Khaos Brigade are no longer a threat. Them, and whatever that Death God who sent those skeletons too," Rias sighed, shaking her head. "I'd like to not wait longer than that though; we don't want too many years between Lily and Kunou and their younger siblings.

"I… suppose I did jump the gun then," Yasaka said with some chagrin, bowing her head towards Rias. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine. It's not like I can't understand where you're coming from anyway," Rias chuckled wanly, sitting down on the bed and gently pushing Yasaka's hair out of the way, to kiss her still sweat-streaked forehead. "I'll get some cloth and clean you up a bit I think, and then take you to your bath. I'll at least have time to set you in it before I have to get to school." She then smirked wickedly. "And I suppose I could take **some** of the blame for Harry's assuming you could handle his endurance. He is after all used to sleeping with a Devil."

At an interrogative noise from Yasaka, Rias explained. "Devils and Fallen like Kala, who Fell to the Sin of Lust, can gain a bit of power by giving into Sins, or in the case of Kala, the particular Sin. And lust is, after all, a part of love, so my body can be sustained through lovemaking rather than eventually exhaust itself. Indeed, Harry and I recently discovered we could both sustain ourselves through a night of lovemaking just as well as through a good night's sleep, which was something of a relief let me tell you. But it might take some time for Harry to realize that isn't the case with you."

"…That really pisses me off you know," Yasaka said, leaning against her side as her earlier anger left her. "Still, at least now I understand why you never objected to the idea of my joining you both, as well as the other girls."

"Well, partly," Rias said with a laugh. "Not so much you. After all, we've talked about how I'd like to partake in some experimentation in the future between us," she said, leaning down to now kiss Yasaka lightly on the lips, she didn't want to even act as if she wanted anything more from the exhausted, sore woman on the bed. _I suppose Fox Youkais don't have the same natural endurance as werewolves. Oh well, Yasaka certainly reaped what she sowed, even if there was no actual sowing going on._

She spent a few hours taking care of Yasaka, talking quietly with the woman, and then left her to sleep, arriving at school as homeroom ended, taking over from a simulacrum almost seamlessly. _Gah, I wish I could get away with sending a simulacrum every day, but I suppose I made this particular bed didn't I? It was Sona and I who pushed our parents into letting us come to a normal high school. I never thought that my normal school would be more a bother than a highlight of my day._

Regardless, it wasn't as if they couldn't turn their time in school to something more productive. Nodding over at Akeno, she whispered, "I'll look at that bit of history homework for us both if you want to start work on that question Harry was posing yesterday, the one about adding more magical reserves into the wards?"

"Ara, thank you Rias-chan. And after I work on that up until lunch, I can take over while you work on that advanced observation spell you and Tonks were trying to work out," Akeno replied, and Rias nodded, happy that her friend had stopped calling her Oujosama. With that, she raised her hand and covered them both with a mix of Devil and wizard spells to hide what they were doing at their desks while allowing them to be aware of the world around them. This way they would be aware of the class and also be able to work on their own work.

Both women smiled later that day as Harry walked into the classroom in the period before lunch, his own gaze moving over them, his emerald eyes making Akeno smile back before looking away coquettishly as Rias just smiled, before Harry's eyes swept on. There was nothing in that look to give the game away, so to speak since they still couldn't be open about their relationship in school. Which, Rias reflected, was a major contributor to the whole school scene wearing on her.

If Harry was facing the same problem, there was no sign of it as he addressed the class, as usual. But even as he addressed the class, Rias felt his eyes stray to her and Akeno more often than the other students. "Good afternoon class. I hope everyone had time to do their homework over the weekend. Remember that tomorrow, we will be having our 'Play's the Thing' competition, so you all should be ready to present your play and the scene you've memorized." He then chuckled, winking at the class. "And as you might have heard from your kohai (younger students) I do appreciate people attempting to speak with accents to match the characters, so let's make it epic ladies and gentlemen."

From there class continued as Harry worked the class through more than two dozen new English terms, moving them through the meaning and how to verbalize them as always on a Monday. From there, he asked students several questions about current events they had to answer in English, with him stopping them if their sentence structure was off or not.

Through it all, Rias and Akeno also worked on their own projects though Harry did call on them occasionally. Akeno took the opportunity as Harry was moving around the room to flirt with him as she could letting one foot out to rub against his lower leg as he moved by, or leaning over her desk and reading from a newspaper as she quoted a story about a corrupt politician being caught out with his mistress, letting those in front of her a very nice glimpse down her uniform's blouse.

Harry rolled his eyes at her when none of the other students were looking. But, when he could, flirted back, running a hand through her hair from behind as someone else read off from a newspaper, or staying still and simply watching her, or Rias with a certain look in his when no one could see.

And then near the end of the day, he stepped in harshly when a boy attempted to pass a message to either Rias, calling the boy out and telling him that the classroom was not for that kind of thing. "If you want to woo a girl, Saito-kun, do it on your own time and in person rather than a letter. Girls prefer a personal touch."

Rias giggled at that while Akeno and the rest of the class laughed. Even Saito took it good-naturedly. He didn't seem happy later though when Akeno turned him down without even seeming to think about it when Saito approached her at lunch. "I'm sorry Saito-kun, but at the moment, I am not in a position where I would be able to be in a relationship with someone."

"But, Himejima-san, you're easily one of the best students in the school, surely you could, that is, we could take time to ourselves rather than school and not have our grades suffer," he said, looking at Akeno pleadingly. Or rather between her face and her chest.

Akeno barely stopped herself from lashing out magically, and then looked up as Harry came back into the room and she decided to take a bit of a harder stance. "No thank you Saito-kun. After all, besides time, there has to be a mutual attraction between the people thinking about going out. And I am afraid that is not the case here."

The boy slumped, but before he could try again or make a scene, Harry came back from the teacher's lounge holding out his bento. "I have that monkfish dish you wanted to try Gremory-san. But I believe you promised to let me try some of your family's spicy curry? And did you want me to look over that essay you submitted to Tokyo U, Himejima-san?"

Rias and Akeno both smiled at him as Akeno moved to start up a cup of tea as Rias answered in the affirmative whispering a thank you to Harry as she went and putting an extra swing in her hips as she did, feeling his eyes follow her for a brief second longer than they should have. With a reason for the three of them to eat together, the class emptied, with several of the girls pulling Saito along since they wanted to 'talk' to him about so approaching one of the Two Great Ladies, especially when they were both so busy preparing for their future. While some were sad they had no time for romance – and others wondering about the lack – all the girls among the student body was certain of one thing: there wasn't a boy on campus worthy of their magnificent Oneesamas. That hadn't changed since the start of the school year.

The three of them ate together as the two girls shared what they had done that morning with Harry giving Akeno a few runes to look at in particular as points where more runic arrays could be tied into preexisting, working wards. He couldn't help Rias much with her own project, but he could give her a possible example of what she might want: the Marauder's Map, something that could update itself from the wards. "Whether that will carry over when we're talking about wards that are created by a mix of three different magical schools, I don't know though. You can have it, for now, see what you can do, but I'd recommend you get Tonks and Kala in on this too."

After lunch, however, Rias's time to concentrate on her own magic projects ended as she took over a Simulacrum of Harry. Through the use of an Onmyouji talisman to change her voice, she took over the classes in the afternoon. Harry had a discussion with a dragon to see to.

 **OOOOOOO**

 **"And what brings you to my abode this time Harry Potter?"** Tiamat rumbled, making no effort to open her eyes or even turn her head to look at him as she lay out in the bright sun above. While warm-blooded, there was no denying that Dragons did have some lizard-like qualities and enjoyed the same things.

"A thinly-veiled plea couched as a request and a question," Harry said. He stood to one side of Tiamat's massive form, one head cocked to one side as he stared hard at the Chromatic Dragoness. "You and I have this familiar bond between us, and while your power and intelligence make us equals, that doesn't mean you can simply come and go as you wish. It means I should be able to rely on you for help and aid when needed. But while you took part in the battle against the Fallen Legion, you retreated here the instant it was over. You barely offer to help at all unless cajoled. And there are far too many ways you could help us more than you are currently for me to allow that to continue. I asked you to return to Kuoh the night I returned from facing Ophis and you didn't even reply!"

 **"'Allow'?"** Tiamat asked dangerously. **"You overstep yourself, Potter. We might have this contract between us, but do not doubt I would still take poorly any attempt to control me."**

"I'm not trying to control you; I'm trying to ask you for help since apparently you won't do it without me doing so!" Harry growled back almost letting Fragarach form in his hand for a second but fighting the urge. "You cannot have it both ways Tiamat, simply taking part when the mood suits you and not giving your aid all the time."

He softened his tone as he went on, moving forward so that he was face to face with Tiamat, who had at last opened her eyes. "I am appreciative of the help you have given us, helping the others to understand what happened to me when I collapsed, attempting to help me to figure out my divine powers and to protect the academy during this fight. But with Ophis out there and with the other threats, we, my family and friends, need you to be involved more. Please."

At this second mention of that creature, Tiamat shuddered. There were very few beings she was scared to measure herself against, but Ophis topped that list _. Even so, why in the name of the primordial vortex did the Void Dragon take on the form of a little girl? For some reason that makes it even creepier **.**_ **"Is it true you stood up to IT, to Ophis?"**

"I did. Did you think my message to you lied?" Harry asked, biting the words out. "If that thing had changed its mind, if it had attacked Kuoh, we could have used you."

 **"And I would have died along with the rest of you. Nothing can stand against the Void Dragon Potter, not even monsters like Sirzechs or Ajuka could do that,"** Tiamat sighed, trying to push past her concerns about Ophis and it taking a female loli as its chosen body, to the idea of being cut off from Harry, and through him her Nookie Source, or as the Nookie Source called himself, Ddraig. **"Still, I… have been indeed reluctant to involve myself in your affairs. That has been a mistake on my part. I will attempt to be more present in the future. Just don't expect me to be involved in your day to day affairs,"** Tiamat warned. **"I still don't like shrinking myself or being in my human form, and I refuse to spend time in that form more than I must."**

"Fine, but I request you join us on specific tasks when asked, and that you come and join us for a day every week for dinner and discussions. For all that you aren't able to help me much with my divine powers, you can perhaps help us further our understanding of magic in general," Harry replied, happy Tiamat had given in. While it was true their familiar bond hadn't really seemed to help him much, Tiamat's knowledge and her own power was another thing entirely.

 **"Humph, so long as you don't attempt to make me a teacher at this school…"** Tiamat's eyes widened and she broke off, instead beginning to thump her head against the ground hard enough to cause tremors. **"I am a freaking idiot! Why didn't that occur to me before! A teacher, yes! You need a teacher who can walk you through using your Devine powers! GAAAH, how did I not think of this before?!"**

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, surprised.

 **"Gah… never mind. It will take me months to follow up on that idea, finding someone who doesn't want to be found and has had centuries to perfect that skill is not going to be easy. But if I can, perhaps I can introduce you to someone who will be willing to walk you through your divine powers."** Tiamat suddenly laughed, a deep bell-like tone that shook the ground underneath her. **"Indeed, while finding the damned bird-headed bastard will be tough, you've provided me with a mighty fine carrot in that school of yours. A place where multiple magical styles can be taught, he'll jump on that to be sure!"**

"Who exactly are we talking about here?"

But Tiamat would not be drawn yet. **"I honestly am not even certain he's still alive, and I refuse to look the fool if I am wrong. But I might have something by the time you get back from your break in March."**

With that, Harry had to be satisfied, and he left to head back to Kuoh, annoyed by her reticence, but satisfied that Tiamat would become more of a member of his clan going forward. That meant they would all be safer, and that made him truly happy.

 **OOOOOOO**

If Harry had expected his week to get less busy from then on with the agreement with the Onmyodo government now hammered out, he would have been bitterly disappointed. Luckily neither Harry nor any of the rest of his growing family and friends were so stupid. A case in point that week was both Serafall and Sirzechs showing up one after another to train the combined peerages and Harry's family. Of course they were supposed to come once every week, but being Siscons, both of them insisted on being first to honor their agreement with Sona and Rias. This led to much weeping and pain for Harry and the others, but even that wasn't the highlight of his week. No, the highlight of Harry, Kiba and Issei's week came that weekend, when they headed to Mount Huaguo.

Kiba, Harry, Issei, and Montoya all blinked in the bright sunlight overhead as they came out of the teleportation array on top of a small apartment complex. They had gone down to the Underworld and then come back up, using a teleportation ring that another family, the Agares Clan, had to their holdings in Hong Kong. They had met briefly with the family heiress, an up-and-coming High-Class Devil like Rias and Sona named Seekvaira, who Rias apparently was quite friendly with. According to Rias, they shared "Similar interests, although hers are far more narrowly focused," whatever that meant.

That and the girl seemed to have a subtle torch for the last member of their party, although only Harry seemed to have seen it. Sairaorg Bael had indeed decided to join them for this mission, more to see if this Bikou fellow was a challenge than anything else

"So, where do we go from here?" Harry asked, looking over at Montoya.

The older man shook his head, pulling out a flying carpet and enlarging it before setting it down on the ground. "Get on. We have a ways to go yet to get to Mount Huaguo. A pity the holdings in Hong Kong are only two such Devil holdings in China, but there you are." The Devils, like most of the other mystical societies, didn't have much territory in China, thanks to the magical portion of World War II, and the coming of Chinese-style Communism and the stranglehold it held on the mainland's economy.

Montoya's prediction was accurate. The flying carpet was a decent ride, and more than large enough for all of them, but it wasn't as fast as a broom. Indeed, it was barely as fast as a nonmagical passenger plane. As such it took them about five hours from where they came out to reach the mountain range within which Huaguo was hidden among the strongest wards the Monkey youkai and their Buddhist allies could create. And that had been the closest point to the so-called holy site.

As they went, Montoya told them what to expect, but when they arrived, that hadn't really helped them all that much. It was one thing to be told that this ceremony was more of a giant kegger. It was another to see it in real life. The party began to be noticeable as soon as they crossed over the wards, which, Montoya commented, were divine in nature, put there by Sun Wukong and his allies when he achieved Enlightenment. But wondering about those wards left Harry's mind as he stared around him at the mountain thus revealed.

First was the noise. A raucous cacophony of actual monkeys, shouts from monkey Youkai, and hoots and hollers of all sorts reverberated from higher up the mountain. The second was the view. Whereas elsewhere in the mountain range this high up there should have been fir or other high altitude trees and some snow, here was literally every tree Harry had ever seen and then some all mixed up haphazardly. And all of them were in full bloom, even those that shouldn't be, and there was life and the smell of fruit and growing things everywhere.

And the smell of alcohol, so much so it stung Harry's nose even in his human body. _Right, no turning into werewolf here without a spell to deaden my nose. I'd be next to useless here._ "It is a beautiful spot but I can't imagine that a mountain this size can be hidden so easily under wards. What kind of other spells cover this area?"

"The easiest spell of all, deterrence," Montoya said with a chuckle. "When the Chinese developed nuclear missiles, one of their earliest testing centers was near here, one where there were several radiation leaks, nothing like Chernobyl, but large enough to make them abandon the area. It was an easy matter to fudge their records to include the area around Mount Huaguo to make the whole area a no go zone. The fact people who come up here without the proper equipment sometimes disappear helps that cover immensely."

As they moved up the mountain, the hoots and hollers got loud enough for Harry to cast a low scale _Mufilatio_ on his ears, deadening the sound slightly. Yet he was still able to hear the noise of drums as they continued on their way up a wide trail through the impossible woods. At first, it sounded almost as if someone was beating out a song, but then it sounded started to sound far more raucous, the beat becoming far more haphazard, and wild.

After that, they started to spot actual Monkey Youkai. Most of them were drunk off their asses and laid out here and there on the ground her up in the trees. Some of them were even dangling from their tails or legs, whereas others were asleep more normally. A few of them were awake enough to see the outsiders, but since Montoya was leading them, they didn't bother them.

"Any idea where he and all of this turmoil our quarry is going to be?" Harry asked, before ducking as a regular monkey and a Monkey Youkai flipped through the area he had just vacated on two vines, the Youkai shouting out something about the monkey having stolen his beer.

Sairaorg boomed a laugh, shaking his head as he sidestepped two Monkey Youkai and then leaped over two more who were wrestling furiously yet with all the body control of a pair of toddlers. "Yeah, you told us this was going to be a huge party, but this is way more than I expected. Reminds me of those American movies about their colleges and frat parties."

As they continued through the mountainous terrain, they saw more and more monkey people and started to garner more attention. A few Monkey Youkai stopped what they were doing to stare at them, while monkies sat up on their perches to take notice, hooting at one another. More than one turned and present their asses to the newcomers, and Kiba had his hands full keeping Issei from racing after them.

"Is it that unusual for outsiders to be here?" Kiba asked, hauling Issei away from a shouting match with one ape. The Monkey Youkai had seemingly thought that was great fun and had been chuckling all the while.

Humans come by occasionally, my type of Youkai regularly intermarry with humans, and the men are invited to this or other such ceremonies as a sort of rite of passage," Montoya said with a shrug. "It is unusual for Devils and wizards to here though. In fact, I think only about three marriages in a thousand or so would be between Youkai and other mystical societies."

Three drenched Monkey Youkai raced past, shouting and whooping at one another, as a fourth raced behind them, carrying what looked like the world's largest, most evil-looking water gun. Next was a single monkey Youkai who was racing away from two more who were down to their underwear, the first carrying orange jumpsuits. "Gonna burn the jumpsuits! Orange is the color of the devil!"

"No it isn't," Sairaorg said with a chuckle. "Just ask my grandfather he'd tell you the color of the Devil is black. 'The blackness residing in every man's soul'!" he intoned in a deep voice, laughing, as Harry and the others rolled their eyes. Harry liked the younger man and had talked to him for much of the trip, although he'd been very clear on not taking the man's offer of a spar. Rias had been very explicit on that point.

By the time they were halfway up the mountain, Issei, Harry, and Sairaorg were all laughing and joking and Montoya, was hooting with two gourds full of the local mead in his hands, drinking from one, then the other as he danced along with them, actually lifting himself on his prehensile tail a time or two. "Are you trying to do a Tigger impression?" Harry asked as he changed the beer in his hand to water, doing the same for Issei after a second's thought. The other two were adults in his mind and could be trusted to know their limits and keep the mission in mind.

"Funny thing, the author, of that, you know he married a, a Monkey Youkai," Montoya said, stumbling over his words as he was drinking at the same time.

"That," Harry said after a few minutes silent thought. "Must've been one hell of a wedding night. Bet he wished his wedding tackle was made of springs then."

That comment caused hoots and laughter from all around, as many of the monkey monsters had overheard, and more than one of them shouted a ribald response. "Broke the bed they did, it's a tradition!" "It's a goal, lads! Always leave them with a smile!" "Once you go Monkey, you don't go back!"

Kiba looked around; shaking his head "This is a little much."

"Oh lighten up!" Issei said, throwing an arm around the knight and squeezing lightly. "This is a party!"

"That is self-evident, thank you very much," Kiba said with a laugh. "It's just, there's something weird in the air here isn't there? Or is that just me."

"And it's not just you," Montoya said, with a laugh. "There is definitely something in the air, these trees that look like Sakura trees, they're not real Sakura trees."

Harry frowned at that, and quickly reached out to a falling petal grabbing it out of the air. It was thicker and more rubbery to the touch than a normal Sakura leaf should be, almost as if it was some kind of plant-like aloe rather than a Sakura leaf. "Interesting, let me guess, some kind of drug from the smell of them decomposing?"

"A very feel-good sort of drug," Montoya said with a nod. "It's one of the few remaining magical tree species that have never been transplanted out of China. And it's a major export. In fact, I know of at least four different attempts for it to be put out into the non-magical world, and I know Sona-sama is pushing for Yasaka-hime to add it to the trade goods."

"Are there any negative effects," Harry asked, feeling a little wary despite that statement.

Montoya shook his head "No. At least none that I know of. The smell just acts like a kind of low-powered laughing gas."

"OOOOOHH what've we here, some Devils come to Master Wukong's Sacred Mountain!? I will toss you out!" Shouted a large Monkey Youkai. Several others gathered behind them hooting and hollering. It didn't seem personal or vindictive. Rather, it seemed as if they were just looking for a fight.

Harry shrugged and decided to hand this problem off to his own rowdies. "Sairaorg?"

The young man nodded, stepped forward, and smashed the large Monkey Youkai with a single punch, tossing him aside. "Huh, I just meant that as a greeting. He was a lot weaker than I thought."

"Next!" Harry shouted from behind him.

There were hoots and laughter, but only two more takers stood up. Then Kiba and Issei both stepped forward, and they pushed past the group of rowdies, moving up the trail.

Now, at last, the forest slowly started to give way to a wider trail. This trail led them to the bottom of a cairn, a series of waterfalls falling down the mountain and ending in a large pond whose color was almost too blue to be believed. And at the top of the waterfall leaning was a giant tree. It was a crab tree of some kind, though its fruit was huge and looked edible whereas most of that type did not. And of immense size. It looked almost like a miniature hill stuck outside of the mountain, with several branches rearing across one of the waterfalls straight across to the other side, which seemed lined with cherry trees and peach bearing bushes of some kind.

The very top of the waterfall disappeared under the feet of a massive Buddha statue. It was a huge, stone thing, not golden save for its halo and a single series of beads around its neck. The rest was stone, and the skin of the Buddha's hands and feet and face and arms were all covered by intricate markings Harry could tell were runes even from here. That had to be the source of the wards guarding this place, but looking at the statue, Harry was suddenly worried; wondering if that was all it did.

There were about a hundred Monkey Youkai lounged around, joking, drinking, fighting and swimming with another bunch up in the tree. Instantly, Montoya pointed to one of them in particular. "That's him," he said, and as the man turned, Harry realized that is who they were here to capture.

Bikou was gamboling about, laughing and cackling with a few others, reenacting some kind of fight, with a staff in his hand. Around him were several dozen other younger men, all of them whooped in delight as he continued his story. It seemed to be about Bikou fighting a swordsman named Arthur.

Regardless of the story, it was evident that whatever his terrorist status among most of the Youkai Association, he was something of a minor celebrity here. _Or should that be a major celebrity?_ Harry thought. More of the monkey monster were watching him than were watching the newcomers as they moved through the crowd.

He frowned, his eyes narrowed as he tried to think of why he suddenly felt that they were about to walk into a trap, but none of the others seemed to feel anything amiss, not even Montoya, and Sairaorg moved forward with a whoop, leaping up toward the waterfalls, bouncing off rocks to land across the waterfall from the man they were here to capture, taking a martial arts stance. "Isn't it more fun to have an actual fight than to reenact one!" he shouted, "Bikou of the Monkey Youkai, I, Sairaorg Bael, challenge you!"

Bikou turned towards them, and Harry was now close enough to see more of his features. Most of it matched the picture he had been given several months back: a handsome, well-muscled young man, with a thin looking face, short-cropped brown hair, with a circlet on his head, and a face made to smile or laugh, with expressive eyes. That face was now somewhat flushed with drink, but he was sober enough to nod towards Sairaorg, flipping his staff around himself in an intricate display before leveling it tip first at the other young man. "Challenge accepted!" he bawled out then leaped forward.

Sairaorg too leaped forward, and the two met midair over the waterfall, the staff flashing out in an intricate attack, thrusting, swishing through the air, then the Monkey Youkai was twisting around Sairaorg's blows, lashing out with a kick that nearly caught him in the face. Sairaorg dodged back at the center of the exact moment he had to, but Bikou's movements were so uncoordinated and wild, that he couldn't get a blow in himself.

And it was evident that he wasn't nearly as home in fighting in the air as Bikou, but since Bikou wasn't using magic, Sairaorg wasn't using his Devil power of flight either. _Actually, I haven't seen him open his wings yet at all. Odd that._

"You face a master of Drunken Style!" Shouted one of the other monkeys, hooting and hollering as he danced on the edge of another tree branch. "You'll never hit him!"

"Wushaaaa!" shouted the rest of the crowd, cheering on the local boy.

Sairaorg took this as a challenge, something Harry had anticipated the moment those words left the Monkey Youkai's mouth, and he attacked all the harder. But his personal style was a hard style, which, as far as Harry knew, was built around hitting power and endurance. His speed was tremendous too, as fast as Kiba going at his fastest if not more, but so too did Bikou's. If Sairaorg could've landed a single blow, Harry was certain that he would've ended the fight then and there.

However, the Monkey Youkai was simply too wild, his movements too chaotic for Sairaorg to get a handle on. Every time it looked as if he was, Bikou would bend or dip out of the way that was frankly unnatural even for someone as mobile as him. "GRAAH, it's like fighting freaking Gumby!" Sairaorg roared out as he leaped backward to a rock before moving forward again.

Eventually, the two of them bounced away from one another, with the Monkey Youkai rolling across a few steppingstones set in the river before rocks, lifting himself into a handstand, before actually balancing like a monkey on the tip of his staff is it was thrust into the ground. He held out a hand, and another monkey tossed a gourd towards him which he grabbed, and guzzled down, whooping, then lifting himself up onto his feet and thrusting his hands out in either direction as he continued to balance there. "Who's the man, huh?!"

"Bikou's the man!" All of the monkeys roared.

Sairaorg scowled irritably, having simply landed on his the other side of the cliff, shaking his head. "Dammit! Stop dancing around like that, fight me like a man!"

"I'm not a man," Bikou replied, taking up a stance like a monkey as he scratched at his armpits. "I am a Monkey Youkai!"

This seemed to be the height of hilarity for the monkeys all around them, and Harry groaned, shaking his head. Kiba and Issei both laughed too, and then Kiba of all people, leaped forward to the stone that Sairaorg had used previously, whipping out a sword. "Then let us see if you can handle a Knight!"

Harry's eyes narrowed and he looked over at Montoya as Bikou leaped forward again, and the two of them exchanged blows once more in midair over the stream. "If we interrupt these one-on-one matches, is that going to be a bad thing or will the rest of the locals not care?"

Turning his attention from the match going on reluctantly, Montoya frowned looking around them as more and more monkey monsters appeared through the woods. "Do you think you can teleport us away from here?"

Harry frowned, looked around, and grabbed up a stone from nearby, creating a port key instantly on it, then dropping another stone on top. What should've happened was both stones should have disappeared, but nothing happened. The stones remained where they were. And he narrowed his eyes before concentrating, using Apparition which should have carried him away to the bottom of the mountain. Nothing happened. _Damn it, I wish I was able to use the Gremory style teleportation, but it's so freaking math-intensive it's impossible for me to use it without hours of prep time._ "Apparently not," Harry drawled, almost glaring at Montoya now. "That would've been important information to have before we arrived."

Montoya shrugged. "I didn't know. Or rather I knew Buddha's Blessing was on this place, but I didn't know what it would do to your magic."

"So, the question has to be asked, will we have to fight our way out of here?"

"Probably," Montoya said with a shrug. "And I'll probably be barred from any further festivals too. That's a damn shame, the mead they have here is amazing!"

"That's nice," Harry said resisting the urge to reach out and choke the older man. _This is the second time I've run into an anti-magic field. From now on I think I'm going to need to get Sirzechs to train me in more hand to hand combat than magical combat._ "Still, we came here to do a job, not have fun."

"Issei, you know that spell of yours, the one you use to cover your enemies with ropes? Get ready to do your thing!" Harry ordered, pointing over waterfall towards the other Monkey Youkai, those who he had seen would definitely follow Bikou whatever happened.

Issei pouted at that, having eagerly been waiting for his own turn to challenge the Monkey Youkai. At the same time, Kiba actually landed a strike, his greater dexterity allowing him to catch Bikou, although it wasn't exactly a telling blow, a cut across his opponent's open shoulder. "First blood!" he shouted.

This caused him to miss the staff coming around in an arc. It smacked into the side of the head, sending him down into the waterfall. Bikou bounced away, cackling even as one hand raised to wipe away the blood. "Who said we were just fighting the first blood baka!" Bikou crowed.

The assembled Monkey Youkai all hooted and hollered their delight at the somewhat underhanded move, shouting, "More! More!"

Above them, the mighty Buddha statue looked on in something like amusement, Harry thought, even as he stepped forward.

"My turn," he said, nodding over to Issei, whispering, "now.

Issei pouted, but complied, gathering his magical power rising within him. Despite being only a pawn, his magical reserves had grown from the near-constant training, and he began to visualize the effect of the spell to come. But instead of the Sticky-Sticky Cannon Harry had ordered him to use Issei used a new spell he had learned in the past few days of being without a girlfriend and wanted to perfect before turning it on his true opponents. And, it had to be said, like Kiba and the others he had been somewhat affected by the light narcotic in the air. "Take this, advanced _Incarcerous, Bondage Style_ : _Tentacle HELL_!"

All of the Monkey Youkais in sight shrieked in unison as the tentacles rose up from the ground all around them. They were thin, prehensile vines almost, which dripped with white stuff that Harry prayed was glue. They grabbed and tied up dozens of Monkey Youkai in a bare few seconds as the semi-drugged Issei whooped. "Oh yeah! I cannot wait to use this on Sona's peerage the next time we spar against them!"

The atmosphere around them changed instantly at Issei's attack, but Harry was already moving, racing up the side of the waterfall. At the same time, more and more of the monkeys that had gathered to watch the fights began to hoot angrily, some of them cracking their knuckles, others grabbing at gourds of drink or food plates and tossing them towards the interlopers at the bottom of the waterfall. One of them nailed Issei in the head and tossed him into the water,

"It was all fun and games until you brought tentacle porn into play!," Bikou shouted in hilarity having dodged his way through several tentacles. His Drunken Fist style gave him an astonishing range of movement, backed by his normal Monkey Youkai dexterity.

Harry hopped forward onto the rock across from Bikou and shifted into his werewolf form, going down into a wrestler's stance, his arms outstretched, as if he was prepared to fight Bikou too. This caused several of the Monkey Youkai to pause in their 'attacks' on his fellows, and Bikou took the bait whooping in delight. "Woohoo! Awesome! I've wanted to test myself against you since we first heard about you and your abilities Harry Potter!"

With that, he started to bounce between several rocks on his side of the river before he whirled his staff around in a wide arc as he shouted, "Power pole extend!" The pole extended from where his side of the river towards Harry in a whirl of red.

If Bikou had thought that would surprise Harry, he was grossly mistaken. And if he had thought that Harry would simply fight him with martial arts, that too was a mistake. Harry ducked, and then reached up with the same reaction speed that had made him such a deadly Seeker even before his change, catching the staff as it was flying by his head. Then, even as Bikou twirled himself around the poll, Harry thrust out his other hand, and a wordless blast of stunning energy slammed into the Monkey Youkai as well as several hundred monkey Youkais on the other side of the river.

Harry had overloaded that spell something fierce; enough so that even an extremely strong, powerful Monkey Youkai like Bikou, with his races decent magical Resistance, was knocked unconscious. Because of where he was, Bikou collapsed, falling from the power pole down the side of the waterfall. The other Monkey Youkai were actually blasted off of their feet even as they too succumbed, hurled backward from the blast.

With another flick of that hand, Harry grabbed Bikou out the air magically, pulling him towards him, with an Accio spell. Even as he did though Harry frowned, feeling the amount of magic he'd had to pour into the spell to get it to work. _That's not a good sign._

He grabbed the now unconscious Monkey Youkai, tossing Bikou over one shoulder, and hopping back to his fellows. "Let's get out of here!" he shouted, even as the crowd of Monkey Youkai roared their disapproval. Now rather than gourds of mead or plates of food being tossed their way spears, large rocks, and sticks were also being flung their way. Dozens more Monkey Youkai closed with them, shouting and hooting in fury, bringing with them some actual monkeys too.

Slamming one fist into his other palm, Sairaorg laughed and moved to meet them. "Now this is what I'm talkin' about!" He slammed into the oncoming wave of enemies like a freight train, punching, kicking, and slamming their heads together occasionally, as he roared out, "This is my kind of party! Woohoo!"

Kiba joined him, while Montoya and Issei closing up the rear with Harry and their prisoner in the middle. Thanks to his speed, Kiba was able to guard both of their flanks, but Harry cast a protective spell around himself, watching as it slowly started to flicker away, grimacing irritably. "That anti-magic field which was keeping me from teleporting is now impacting my spells," the werewolf growled, glancing over his shoulder towards the statue of Buddha. That thing he knew was the center of that spell, but they'd already drawn down enough bad blood, and Harry didn't want to cause a true diplomatic incident by destroying it. Not turning in a terrorist was one thing, protesting after he's taken into custody is another. "Let's get a move on gentlemen."

They fought their way down the mountain in a forty-minute running battle as more of the Monkey Youkais became involved. Some of their attacks were dangerous, boulders the size of small houses being tossed their way, only to be shattered by Sairaorg or Harry punching them out of the way. Spears were constantly being flung their way, simple sharpened stakes of bamboo for the most part, with one or two looking more ornate.

Kiba was their main defense against those. With a blade in each hand, he zoomed around the others, the magic in his body not being impacted by the anti-magic field thankfully. That meant his Sacred Gear was still workings, and he occasionally lashed out with wide-angle attack spells, though those failed quickly. In contrast, Issei was their main long-range attacker for a bit, his Devil magic based spells taking more time for the Buddha statue to shut down for some reason, but eventually, he too could no longer use magic.

When his attempt to use the original Bondage style failed and several of the spears sailed through the air towards him. "Gah, I'm out guys!" He then dodged desperately and then moved to hide behind Sairaorg. "Eep, it's all you big guy!"

Indeed, a lot of the Monkey Youkai also attempted to close, but Kiba, Harry, and in particular Sairaorg kept them at bay, with Sairaorg actually having a lot of fun laughing and shouting as he met their charge. "Gahaahaha, come on then!"

What wasn't so fun was the rest of the Monkey Youkai's attacks, because as they continued on, they came under attack from the more drunk Monkey Youkai and they didn't just fling spears, or rocks. No, they threw the alcohol-filled gourds, they threw the torches that had been sputtering here and there, causing fires occasionally that Harry and the others had to divert around. And, even worse for the Devils and Harry, they threw their own feces.

The first time that happened, Issei had just dodged a spear thrown his way, only to run straight into a flung bit of poo which slammed into his chest and exploded. "Gross!" he gagged, turning his head away from the point of impact and holding his nose. "What the hell man!? Who flings shit, honestly?!"

He looked at the Monkey Youkai all around him, who were hooting and hollering as they continued their attack; while more than a few had doubled over with laughter shouting drunkenly, "More! More! Hahaha, hit the shits with the shit!"

"Goddammit!" Issei groaned.

"Oh shut up, at least none of you have my sense of smell," Harry grunted. "The spell on my nose is fading too!"

Now the feces began to fly even more liberally, so much so that only Kiba was able to dodge them all successfully. And since Harry's shield spell had long since sputtered out, his magic no longer able to overcome whatever kind of field the Buddha statue had created all of them were hit at least a few times as they raced on.

Even Kiba was eventually hit. He sliced through one spear, deflecting it, and then cut through the next thing flying at him, only to wince as it came apart, splattering him with shit. "Well…crap."

Worse was the amount of alcohol that was being tossed their way. Soon enough all of them were smelling of shit and alcohol, and still attempting to get out of the area. "Oh god, the smell is getting even to me!" Sairaorg shouted. "This isn't funny anymore."

Harry tried to use his magic occasionally, now concentrating on cleaning charms and anti-smell charms, hoping that they would start working before he just completely lost it, and started to kill every Monkey Youkai around them for the effrontery that this battle had devolved into. One of them worked all of a sudden, gifting him with several breaths of air that didn't smell of monkey shit, and he bellowed, "Everyone, gather round! We are so out of here!" _And the next time I fight a bunch of Monkey Youkai I am going to say sod it to any diplomatic issues and just burn them with fire!_

He grabbed up a stone from the ground in front of him, and held it out, creating a portkey, as all of the men around him grabbed at his arms, even Sairaorg having had more than enough of this. The next second, they were gone, taking their captive with them.

They reappeared on the roof of the apartment complex where they had teleported up from Agares estate initially. "Thank God," Issei muttered, flopping down, only to grimace as he squished as he did so, reaching behind him and groaning angrily. Dammit, besides my face I don't think even a single bit of me isn't covered with freaking crap!"

"Showers and baths all around, I think," Harry said with a nod, shaking his head as he looked at them all one after another. All of them, even Montoya and Kiba were splattered with feces and alcohol, and Sairaorg was looking extremely angry and disgruntled. _And why wouldn't he?_ Harry thought. _You don't fight a freaking High-class Devil with freaking shite. But they sure as hell did! Still, the man actually kept to the briefing and didn't kill any of them, so I'm honestly happy he came with us._

Tossing Bikou from his shoulder, Harry conjured up several manacles, clamping him down. As he did so though, Bikou woke up, and began to cackle, causing the others to pause from where they had been about to troop into the building to the first apartment they came to which had a working bath.

"Are you still drunk?" Harry asked incredulously. "I've never been hit by a stupefy while being drunk, but I imagine it would probably knock most of the alcohol out of your system."

Bikou didn't reply. Instead, he continued to laugh until Montoya reached over and slapped him upside the head. "What are you laughing at youngster?!" he barked.

" **You** old man," Bikou said with a laugh. "All of you. Did you honestly think that it would be that simple?"

"Simple?" Sairaorg barked, gesturing down at himself, where his chest plate, silk leggings, and shoulders all the rest were covered in alcohol and shit. "You call this simple?"

"I call that smelly sure!" Bikou laughed again. Then his tail rose, and he smacked the tip into his nose. An instant later he disappeared in a poof of smoke. His body just simply disappeared into a replaced by a flash of smoke the color of smog, leaving behind a single hair glowing in midair, to denote where he had been before it slowly drifted to the ground.

Harry stared at it, then over at Montoya who looked appalled. "That, that is one of Sun Wukong's personal tricks! No other Monkey Youkai has figured out how to do the Hair Multiplication Trick! How the hell did he pull that off?"

"More importantly," Sairaorg said as he stared down at his body then up at Montoya, real anger in his face now. "Are you telling me that we went through that entire escapade for **nothing**!?"

Harry too looked down at himself with a sigh, shaking his head. "Yes well, again at least you lot aren't werewolves. Even with my spell impending its senses, I think my nose has sought employment elsewhere at the moment, and won't return without certain promises being made. To that end gentlemen, I suggest that we all get showered and changed. Bikou put one over on us this time, and I for one refuse to let it end like this."

The Devils and Harry took over the penthouse of the apartment complex, using _Alohamora_ to unlock it. Then they covered the area with a Notice Me Not so they wouldn't be disturbed, before using the bath and showers they found there. Numerous cleaning charms from Harry helped to clean both them and the baths after they were done.

As they all lounged around in the magically enlarged bath, Montoya let his body sink into the water, groaning. "The Monkey Youkai are going to spread the word of what happens today far and wide. We are going to be laughing stocks among the Youkai community."

"Oh no they won't," Harry said with a grim little smile. "I was serious when I said that I wasn't going to let it end like this. I think it's time to take a chance and see if wards around wards can help us out here. Will that party still be going on despite our interruption?"

"Yes, the ceremony will still be going on," Montoya said with a nod. "They wouldn't let our attempt to steal Bikou away stop them from partying, especially with all the fun they had trying to stop us. Hells, Bikou might still be there."

"Good," Harry said with a grim nod. "In that case, I have a bit of work I'll need to do there. And now that I've been to the base of the mountain once, I can portkey us all back there once we're done with our baths."

Montoya looked at him, and Harry shrugged. "Thanks to how I was testing it as we went along I can tell where that anti-magic field ended, and I can put up a series of wards around it. Some will be memory charms to erase our faces and presences from their memory. Their memories will be disjointed, but none of those Youkai who leave will be able to connect our identities to what happened. That's about as much as I can do with wards. I could do more if we caught the Monkey Youkai as they left, but I wager they all leave in different directions, and there's not enough of us to cover the mountain from every angle. I can only hope that Bikou will either be leaving on foot or via a magical means I know about."

"Can you block flight?" Montoya asked intently. "A lot of my people like to use flying carpets or other things."

"Flight is surprisingly easy once you break it down," Harry replied and Sairaorg leaned forward intently. "Any kind of magical flight still has to move through the air, and you can base a ward off of stopping that from occurring, making the air harden around them so they can't move."

Montoya grinned gleefully while his eyes sparkled with a true prankster's delight. "In that case, we still might have a chance at this. Bikou's certain to use Kint'oun to travel, and there are a few ways to figure out where, or rather at what altitude he'll be…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Bikou laughed gaily as he thrust his fist in the air to the cheers of some of his fellow Monkey Youkais who were staying behind to clean up Mount Huaguo after the party. They'd lost a series of games of chance, and thus had been forced to stay behind, not exactly a fun duty for anyone. But they would be repaid next time the ceremony occurred by being the first to drink from the sacred mead, and getting the choicest bit of food. Bikou had been there when he was younger, and he could say that it was indeed a decent pay for what was otherwise scut work.

But that wasn't what had put a smile on his face. No, fooling Harry Potter and the Devils who'd come with him, that had been hilarious. _Oh, learning that Harry could so easily overwhelm My magical resistance wasn't fun, but, fighting the others with my Drunken Fist had been great. And then being able to fool Harry by switching out with a hair clone right before I attacked him with that overdone swing of my Ruyi Jingu Bang? That was a fantastic idea if I say it myself._

"I am so damn glad I spied on my great etc. grandfather practicing that technique. I still can't use it in combat really, not often anyway, but for his escapes it's great fun," Bikou mused as the original Kinot'un floated up through the air, carrying him up into the air above Mount Huaguo.

"Hah, and then all of those guys… those other monkeys… why was I… what the heck did those four do to deserve the shit storm?" he mused, his memories of what had occurred suddenly becoming disjointed as he crossed over the first ward in the area. Eventually he shrugged and grinned. "Meh, whatever, they challenged me, and then they paid for it."

Soon he reached the altitude he wanted and the island turned toward the distant ocean, speeding up. He was still grinning at the memory a second later when the cloud slammed into something invisible in the air in front of him, almost throwing him off of it if not for the magic inherent in the Kinto'un keeping him aboard. "What the heck!"

A second later his surprise faded into shock as Harry appeared in midair nearby, already casting a spell towards him. " _Stupefy_!" Harry roared.

But Bikou, being an alive and therefore paranoid terrorist was already moving diving off of his cloud in a move that surprised Harry. The cloud raced down after him, getting underneath him automatically. Yet still more Devils appeared in the air, one he recognized as one of the up and coming young High Class Devils named Sairaorg Bael. The other was Kiba Yuuto. The twosome moved to bracket the panicking Bikou. This was made worse by Harry flashing more stunning spells towards him, and Bikou yelped again as he dived between them, moving faster and more agilely on his cloud than even Kiba could match in the air. Harry though was closing quickly on his heels from have been thrown off by his first desperate dodge, and Bikou knew he was running out of time quickly.

"Damn it!" He snarled, wondering how the heck they had found him, still unable to connect Harry and the others to the people he'd made fools of earlier. _Have to get out of here, now! Damn it, I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this, but…_ With a grimace he lifted one hand up to his earing, pulling it apart. The spell within a prepared teleportation of the sort a dragon or god could use to appear wherever it controlled the surrounding area, activated instantly as the loop broke. An instant later he disappeared, appearing several time zones away in the Khaos Brigade's main base, landing with a thump whereupon he rolled to the side and threw up on the ground.

"Nyaa, what the heck happened to you Bikou?" Kuroka asked, blinking as she stared at him dancing away from the smell.

"Ugh… just … shut up. Need some alcohol to get over this," Bikou groaned.

Back in the air over Mount Huaguo, Harry just stared at where Bikou had been, and then around, his face furious. "What, the cocking shite kind of teleportation was that?" he asked, looking around at the others. They all shrugged their ignorance and Harry growled angrily as Montoya and Issei rose up on the Monkey Youkai's flying carpet. "Fucking hells!"

"…So despite our best efforts, this has been a wash from start to finish?" Sairaorg asked, rubbing at his face irritably.

"Yep." Kiba said, groaning.

"I vote that we all never speak of this again and just make as if none of this ever happened. All in favor say aye," Harry said, holding up his hand.

"Hah!" Kiba grunted a laugh while the others all raised their hands. "You think Rias-sama and Yasaka-san won't be able to tell something happened the instant they see us?"

"Damn it let me dream man!" Harry growled.

 **OOOOOOO**

"…So he was already gone?" Rias asked, shaking her head as she stared at Harry, giving him a long, steady not-quite-glare.

Beside her Yasaka grinned in a truly vulpine manner as she looked between her lover and her captain of the guard, who was looking mighty shifty. _Really? That's your story? Ooooh why do I think there's a juicy story involved in this?_ The two of them had been waiting here in Kyoto for news about the capturing team, but had been disappointed. That disappointment though was slowly disappearing as both women came to realize something truly embarrassing had happened to their beau.

"Yep. Already gone. And the locals didn't seem to take our being there too kindly, so after a few hours of searching we left Montoya there to question them and hightailed it out of there," Harry said, nodding his head firmly as he tried to match Rias look for look. _That's my story and I'm sticking to it._ "Now, what have you all been up to today?" He asked in an effort to change the subject. It didn't work and soon enough male heads were hanging as feminine peals of laughter rebounded through Yasaka's room.

 **OOOOOOO**

A bare two days after their disastrous attempt to capture Bikou, Harry and Loup leaned against a concrete wall side by side in companionable silence by a designated ingress point that Harry had created over the past week. Originally an abandoned parking lot, next to a store that had gone out of business years ago - a retail store which had closed and never been bought up again - the two Devils had created a teleportation welcoming zone there much like the area the Rias his family had in their mansion. Here people could teleport in via a portkey by Harry and be formally read into the wards of the area.

He was waiting here for the first group of Onmyouji, those families and single men and women who had decided to move into the area now as part of the new alliance between the Onmyodo government, Harry and the others. These families wanted to learn right away, wanted to be part of the construction process, the creation of the school Harry had proposed. Among them were about fourteen who had professed a desire to learn from him and Tonks European style combat magics.

Thanks to the groundwork they'd already laid, it really hadn't taken long, in political terms at least, for the agreements between Harry, Rias and Sona to be ratified by the Onmyodo government. About two and a half weeks of back and forth talk between Harry and the Onmyodo government and the agreement had been finalized and signed. _Now if Sona's plan to buy out that adult toy store works, we might be able to buy out the rest of that strip of stores and break ground sometime this summer. That'll be nice. I just wish I could say that the Khaos Brigade and whatever god was behind the skeletons would let us get on with our lives like that._

This was something Harry, Rias, Sona, and Yasaka were all clear on: that the school, while fascinating and a major draw, was a goal for the future, the goal now was to get stronger. It was why Kiba, Issei, and the others were training so much their grades were suffering. It was why Tsubaki, Akeno, and Kala were looking into a few long term magical projects, why Harry was training with Koneko and Rias every other evening rather than simply having family time. There were dangers out there, big-time threats that could destroy what they were building here if they didn't get stronger.

And it was threats, for certain. Harry was actually more worried about the Death God that had been behind the skeletons more than Ophis. Ophis and the Khaos Brigade as a threat was a freight train trying to run you down. You could dodge it or maybe redirect it if you could see it coming, maybe. So long as Ophis herself didn't get involved in any actual fighting. The Death God? He was a shadow, hiding himself away and attacking only by proxy, his goals unknown, and his resources hidden. That made him more dangerous.

 _Unfortunately I don't know if Sirzechs agrees with me on that. He seemed utterly blindsided by the idea of Ophis being in this dimension at all, let alone being the one behind the Khaos Brigade. So much so he didn't seem to care about the Death God and the skeletons nearly as much as I think he should have been. Still, I know Sona sent a copy of my memories to her sister, so maybe if Sirzechs follows up on the threat of Ophis, that'll mean 'Levia-chan' will follow up on the Death God threat._

The pop of an incoming portkey broke Harry out of his thoughts and he stood upright, moving forward with a welcoming smile on his face, which widened into a real one when saw who the first person popping into being was. "Good morning Lady Himejima," he said, holding out his hand.

Suzaku Himejima disdained the hand, and pulled him into a light hug, before looking over at Loup, a small smile on her face as the other young man blushed, scratching at his nose. She smiled, and moved over to give him a hug in turn even as she addressed Harry.

"As part of the agreement between the Onmyodo government and the powers of the Kuoh prefecture, we have come to offer both numbers, and aid in return for training and magical knowledge," She said formally winking over at Harry. When she finished, she leaned against Loup's side, letting him move one arm around her waist.

Suzaku was a rather petite almost middle-aged woman, an inch or so shorter than Akeno but equally busty. Loup on the other hand was as tall as Harry in human form and a college age young man, so seeing them like this was an amusing dichotomy. Harry wasn't certain that these two were in a relationship, or if they were still at the flirting stage, but whatever the case, it was very obvious that Suzaku was in the driver's seat.

"As one of the leaders of the Kuoh alliance I formally welcome you into Kuoh and reiterate our agreement: we will learn and grow together, protecting one another from all foreign threats," Harry said equally formally, before looking at her in expectation as more pops were heard. "I was told to provide ten portkeys, and that there were a few experts coming in, on Onmyodo runes and ritual-style magic?"

"Well, for that second question, that would be me," Suzaku said pointing at her face with a giggle. "As Himejima clan head, I am an expert in rituals, as well as having a bit of knowledge at least specifically about summoning rituals, calling upon other-dimensional creatures, what most would call gods and suchlike. We have another two experts in magical combat, and the use of seals in combat as well coming in, although they will demand the chance to start learning European wizard style combat right away."

She turned, looking around as more people arrived. "That'll be those two over there," she said, nodding to a pair of middle-aged men. They were dressed in formal kimonos but looked fit and tough looking. As they turned to look at Harry he saw they also had a certain look in their eyes which he recognized as that of veteran soldiers.

He nodded to the men and they nodded back, moving to clasp hands with him as Suzaku went on. "We also have about six families and fourteen young men and women who are unattached who wish to be in on things from the ground up, so to speak, although only nine of them are with us today." Suzaku said counting them off with her finger as each popped in. "The six families all have young children still in elementary or middle school and will be in a follow on group." Suzaku then leaned in, whispering, "Most of those are families of men or women who fell in the defense of Kuoh. Many want to move on, too many memories in their old houses, or other issues of a similar manner."

Harry smiled at the crowd, holding up a hand for silence as the children in particular had begun to talk to one another. "First of all, have you all been able to finding housing?" Harry asked.

Once warned that there were people who wanted to move into Kuoh right away Harry, Rias and Sona had talked about that. After all, this was Japan, and housing was a premium practically everywhere on the islands. Rias had in turn reached out to one of Akeno's tea ceremony clients, who happened to own an apartment complex, while Sona worked with Tsubaki to buy up a few houses which were on sale, turning them over to a few of the more needy families. They had also both begun to work with Yasaka to prepare similar arrangements for if, or rather when, Youkai started to move into the area too.

So when a few of the unattached men and women said they hadn't yet thought that far ahead, assuming they could just stay in hotels as they looked, Harry handing over the man's contact information, stating, "Tell them Gremory-san sent you and they'll give you a discount. As for the families here, if you need help getting your kids acclimatized to the local schools, my daughters Lily and Kunou go to Kuoh Elementary. Both are very friendly and will help you get settled in. Teddy Lupin goes to the same school in a higher grade and can also be counted on."

"Beyond, that, are there any questions?" Harry asked. After fielding a few questions about the wards, where they could set up their own wards so as to practice magic, and numerous requests for maps and questions about jobs and such like, one of the two combat experts asked, "Have you decided on a location for the school?"

Everyone around him instantly started to listen in and Harry nodded. "Rias and I are in the process of buying out the land where one of our runic foundations is, we feel that'll be a good place for it." That was in fact the nearby adult toy store and the rest of this very block, but Harry didn't mention that at the moment. "In terms of areas already sourced out to training, we have a training center for full scale combat in the basements of the occult research club, and Tonks will be exchanging lessons in magical combat in a dojo Sona-san recently purchased for our use."

The combat experts, and many of the younger men and women, all nodded eagerly at that and Harry moved on. Now if there aren't any more questions, me and my lovely assistant Loup will start showing you around." The light laughter his small joke received and the lack of further questions announced the newcomers were ready as well, and he gestured them out of the parking lot into the street beyond.

Over the month of February more Onmyouji arrived. With Suzaku helping, Akeno and Tsubaki, as senior representatives of the Kuoh Alliance, helped each group get settled in turn. Tonks and Harry helped out as well, while Rias and Sona worked the non-magical system, getting the kids into the schools and helping the parents or single men and women to find jobs on the nonmagical side. At the same time, Tsubaki and Kala, who had respectively stepped up as the organizer and chief researcher on the magical side and Harry met with Suzaku every evening, for a few hours to discuss the rituals they had done, as well as what the effects had been, both those they had aimed for and those they hadn't seen coming.

Unfortunately for Harry, Suzaku too was somewhat bemused by what Harry was describing. "A secondary source, somewhere out there reacting to when you and Yubelluna-san use your powers? I'm sorry, but this whole issue about you being a demigod and able to call up more powers, I can't understand it… the only thing I can think of is some kind of, of phantasmal residue left over from Manannán Mac Lir's pantheon."

"What do you mean phantasmal residue?" Harry asked confused, along with Yubelluna, who had joined them for this discussion, and Tsubaki, the latter's eyes narrowing behind her glasses. Although if that was because of the conversation, or because she was glaring at Suzaku's chest in barely disguised envy, Harry couldn't tell. Kala looked as if the phrase was familiar to her, but she had no idea where the busty woman was going with this.

In reply, Suzaku stood up, and moved to one side of the shrine's back patio, where they were currently meeting. She had instantly moved in here, along with two maids and four other members of her extended family, taking over the shrine maiden's duties with the ease that of long practice.

Harry had anticipated this would cause issues on the nonmagical side of things, since the temple was a local tourist site. But Suzaku had been open about what was going on, and the news that the temple had been bought and was currently being renovated by a Shinto priestess – which Suzaku was – had actually gone over very well with the local population. Now she and her fellows were slowly removing the spell which had kept Harry and Tonks's previous work on the temple hidden from the nonmagicals to make it seem as if they were slowly refurbishing it.

Turning back toward them Suzaku held up seal in one hand while her other hand moved in a series of gestures, as she intoned several words in Japanese, a mantra of some long incantation that ended with a crack as a giant bird made of fire and lightning appeared behind her. It was huge, standing there on its claws it loomed over the Himejima clan leader, its beak almost as long as her body. It was shaped like a heron, a long sinuous neck and wide wings on a small body, but it had the tail feathers of flame and lightning and its eyes were blue pools of fire as it looked around.

It then bent its neck to Suzaku as she reached up and begin and scratched at its fiery chin as if it was a living bird. "This is the sacred beast the Vermillion Bird, the sacred beast that my family can call upon, she said simply. It is one of only three remaining fragments of the Sun goddess Amaterasu. They are remnants, pieces of the goddess left behind when the original died, during a series of mystical conflicts with Taoism, the Christian religion and Buddhists."

She shook her head with a faint sigh. "Ironic that, since Toaism and Buddhism has been sort of absorbed and changed by the Shinto faith here in Japan, but the faith has survived while the gods and goddesses that make it up have not." The Vermillion bird beside her unsummoned itself since there was nothing for it to do at the moment here brought Suzaku back from her musing on that point. "At any rate, given how you describe these Hallows they were something similar, but far larger, imbued with far more of a specific gods powers than the Vermillion Bird, but less of his personality. But when gods die they leave behind pieces like this occasionally, which can have specific powers or abilities, and more often a phantasmal residue of their power. That residue can be absorbed by their killers, which is what I believe happened when the god Yahweh started to rise in prominence."

She looked at Kala who just nodded. "Yes, God became stronger as we spread our Faith taking believers and power from other Faiths. The Greek and Roman pantheons, who were already in the process of amalgamating into one, were the first to be defeated. The Zoroastrians lasted longer, but they were falling to his power too when I Fell. You'd have to ask an Archangel for more information on those campaigns or his later ones though. I know he defeated the Tuatha De Danan and Ireland has since become a bastion of Catholic faith, but can't tell you any details, sorry."

"But going by what you're saying you think that didn't happen when the Tuatha De Danan died?"

"It would explain there being a kind of external source of power Harry and you can call upon when you pray," Suzaku said teasingly.

"But what about the visions Lily has been seeing? Where do they come into things?" Harry asked. Rias and he had sat down with Lily and explained more about Manannan Mac Lir and his pantheon, but that hadn't helped Lily explain her weird dreams any better. Not knowing why the little girl was seeing such and Harry and Yubelluna weren't, Rias had created a mental defense array based on her devil power, fearing that Harry's magic could itself be the conduit for these visions. Since then Lily hadn't seen more. "And why don't I feel this power responding when I use my 'godly powers' on my own?" Harry asked, making air quotes about the term.

"That's an easy one. Rituals are stronger the more people take part in them. Two points of worship or connection would be stronger than one," Suzaku said. "But how best to utilize it, how to do so in a controlled manner, I can't tell you. Nor can I tell you about the visions. The only thing there that I could think is if perhaps Lily, as your daughter, is also connected to the pantheon, and is seeing the images of where this phantasmal residue remains in this world? It's the only explanation I have; though it does have a few holes in it I'm afraid."

"I am getting used to being told that kind of thing unfortunately," Harry said with a shake of his head. "My so-called familiar is unable to tell me anything about it either, despite herself having once been called a goddess."

Suzaku nodded. Harry's demonstration of power over the veil between life and death had a most remarkable effect among Onmyouji who had been there. Many of them were wondering if he was some kind of new God and should thus be approached and prayed to. Others were wary, as all right thinking people should about someone who could call the dead back to life. Necromancy was after all, a taboo almost every magical society agreed upon, and given how different those magical societies were, that was rather amazing in and of itself. Still, the majority of the reactions had been positive ones.

"Dragons have always been something different entirely to Gods though," Kala said addressing the rest of what Harry had said and at the same time making Harry remember for the second time in as many minutes, how old she is despite not seeming any older than a college-aged woman. "Historically speaking, dragons have been a completely separate power structure from Gods and the faiths which built up around them. Dragons don't need it; their power comes from who and what they are. Dragons are sort of like those creatures in that annoying Dragon Ball Z show, the ones with the tails. They grow stronger as they battle and age. After a certain point Gods must take their power from faith."

"Exactly," Suzaku replied. "That is why I say this secondary power source is coming from a remnant of some kind. But I have to ask, has it really been an issue before this? Surely the added power actually has helped you."

"Yes and no, it's just that it's not under our control. If this power is just, hanging out there, who's to say it's really under our control? Who's to say we're the only ones using it? Since these visions my daughter is seeing come from it, then could an enemy somehow use it to send magic through?"

"Ah… to that, I unfortunately have no answer," Suzaku said with a sigh. "You would have to visit the UK and Ireland, examine the bits and pieces of heritage left behind by the Tuatha De Danan to find more."

"We already have plans in place for that, it's just a question of timing and who all is going," Harry said with faint eye roll. "After all we can't all go, that would just be silly. And overkill in dealing with a few other problems brewing at home."

Suzaku looked at him quizzically at that, but Harry turned the attention over to Tsubaki, who hastily gulped down a bite of the tasty pastries Kala had made for this meeting. After clearing her throat the bespectacled queen asked, "You said you were an expert on rituals? Arithmetically, what is the proper number to build upon a preexisting ritual-enchantment mix with five stabilization points?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Nor were the Onmyouji the only newcomers coming into Kuoh that week. The Youkai who Yasaka had told Harry wanted to move into Kuoh began to do so that same week the first of February, again despite the fact it would be a year or more before the school was built. Indeed, for many, being in on something like that from the ground up was part of the charm. Hearing that, Harry was puzzled that no more Devils had come forward with requests to move into the territory, but Rias and Sona explain how entering the territory claimed by another clan was a big deal even if your family was allied with one of the clans in question, let alone if you were not. Then too, the word about Harry's school idea, which was so fascinating to the Onmyouji and to the Youkai Association, had not spread among the Devils yet.

"Really?" Harry had asked, cocking an eyebrow when he heard that. "I would've thought you told your siblings about it during that meeting you had when I was off with Kiba and the others or when you passed on my memories of that mission."

"I would have, if I wanted my sister to stick her nose into my business, as I don't particularly," Sona applied tartly "I did not mention it very deliberately because I can very easily picture her wanting to show up and become the mascot of the school of some such nonsense."

"It's much the same for me I'm afraid," Rias admitted. "Oh, I'm not blind to the fact that Nii-sama could be a big help but with him helping me, there's always this line where he goes from helpful, to just sort of taking it over and doing everything he thinks I want to. That's a problem with having Siscons for older siblings."

Sona gestured vaguely towards the east. "Oh we both intend to get them involved when it comes to actually building the school itself. At that point, they can help with the construction project and even empowering any further enchantments or creating any internal bounded fields needed inside the school."

"And," Rias added, "my brother has people in his peerage who are actually quite good teachers if we can get them interested. That would be a huge help. But that's a ways in the future. At this point if any of them came in, they'd simply try to take over, and that wouldn't sit well with the Onmyouji, whom we want fully aboard in all this considering that this school is going to teaching their magical style as well."

Regardless, many of the Youkai did want to move into Kuoh. Of course, the Youkai Association didn't really stop people moving away from Kyoto, but it was highly uncommon for them to do so. There were always people from the various Youkai groups who wanted to live among humans for various reasons but those who could be trusted to do so were few and far between. And there was always space in the area of Kyoto that the Youkai Association already ran or directly nearby for those people.

But it was the interest in the school, in learning new magical styles that drew them. They would be at the heart of something, the heart of creating a place where numerous different types of magic were brought together and learned, growing all the while.

"That's the thing," Yasaka said, as she stood in front of the teleportation array on the floor of her mansion with Harry, Rias and Asia, the only member of his family who could get away from her other duties of schoolwork at the moment. "When one type of magic society has interacted with another one will either take over, as was attempted by the Onmyouji when it came to the Association, or in World War II when the Onmyouji and the Chinese went to war, and then when the Onmyouji fought the Americans and European wizards and lost horribly. Youkai and humans becoming Devils or joining the Fallen is much the same: their societies absorb and replace those individuals magic, with their own. They make use of our unique talents, but they don't learn them.

The two of them had talked about this with Rias and Sona. There were numerous areas of magic where the Youkai Association was, to put it simply, better than even the Onmyouji or European wizards let alone the three factions. Who, as Harry put it were brute force monsters. Much of that magic had to do with plant life, with the kind of stuff that Yubelluna could do as a Druid. Illusion magic was another area, which Harry and Yasaka had spent hours upon hours talking about, refining his own illusion magic, to the point where Yasaka felt it was 'acceptable, if barely'. Their wards were nothing to sneeze at although they lacked the subtlety of the wizard type, or the power of the Devils fallen Angels and church variety. Their direct combat magic was abysmal, though many Youkai made up for this in having specific combat magic based around what kind of youkai they were.

"You have no idea," Yasaka went on as the other doors opened, and one of her servants walked in. The servant, a Kappa, bowed towards her, and she nodded at him signaling he should lead the travelers in, before turning back to Harry. "You have no idea how many magical styles and societies which have disappeared over the centuries, overcome by others. This school could perhaps bring some of those lost magic back, or push ahead to new horizons."

"I'm beginning to get that impression yes," Harry said dryly, looking down at his own hand, and suddenly holding Fragarach as he gave Yasaka a droll look.

Yasaka smiled at that sheepishly, and was about to say that yes, she supposed that that had sounded a bit pompous when the doors reopened, and the people who are going to be transferring into Kuoh. Many of them were young, already in their human guise, but others were not, and Harry blinked at the sheer number of different types of Youkai he saw, many of whom Harry hadn't seen before. Nor had Rias, if her blinking in surprise was an indication.

One such group had four arms, blue fur, with the men having red manes to go with lion-like faces. The womenfolk had tiger-like faces and four arms as well, but their bodies, like those of the men, looked human. Her kids were just adorable, pushing and shoving at one another, seven of them, all young, with three perhaps around Teddy's age and the others older. There were a few Cow Youkai – the local equivalent of Grecian Minotaurs - like the woman who worked as a go-between the nonmagical and magical side of things. Two Tengu looking very nervous brought up the back of the crowd. A number of Monkey Youkai, and several horse Youkai too.

Looming above the rest of the crowd was surprisingly one of the advisers that Yasaka had brought with her to the ceremony for the dead after the battle in Kuoh. But Harry hadn't met him formally then, being too busy with other things at the time, and only now really understood how big the guy was. And he was big. _Even if had transformed into my werewolf form I t think he'd have a good foot or more on me_ Harry thought, staring at the large man as he made his way forward.

He was also extremely old, his body covered with wrinkles and he moved with the sort of ponderous dignity that only came with age, having nothing whatsoever to do with his actual size which was definitely eye catching in itself. It was as if someone had merged a sumo wrestler with someone of Hagrid's size, he was that large. He had a beard falling down his chest, neatly combed, and a few dark brown tattoos visible on his forearms thanks to wearing a T-shirt, and long, Indian style pants. He had a few golden earrings, and he wore a pair of spectacles.

"Oh, Master Kandula," Asia said, clapping her hands as she too spotted the man. "Are you going to be moving into Kuoh as well?"

Many of the other Youkai looked at her in surprise, but the big man simply smiled, and moved through the others, who parted before him respectfully. "Ah, little Asia, how are you doing?" the man asked, his voice creaky with age, but deep, a sort of basso rumble to make trained singers weep.

"I'm quite well, thank you, but how is your arthritis doing?" She looked at him quizzically. "If it's come back I could probably do a better job now thanks to my Twilight Healing evolving."

The man, who was the Elephant Youkai Yasaka had mentioned to Harry, stared at her in surprise. "Evolved, how?"

To that, Asia simply held out her hands, and her Sacred Gear appeared. Instead of silver looking rings, the elephant Youkai saw Asia wore bracelets on either wrist that gleamed red and gold, like a flame hammered into a bracelet on which a single diamond stood out in the center, the sides of which gleamed with all the colors of the rainbow. "I've been thinking of calling it Dawn Healing now," She said shyly.

The Elephant Youkai leaned down, examining the bracelets closely before straightening up with some difficulty nodding his head as he leaned on his cane, a large, metal reinforced thing which looked as if it would do as a weapon with ease. "That is amazing young Asia. I have very rarely heard of a Sacred Gear becoming more powerful, the normal process is called Balance Breaker. But this, this is something else entirely… truly amazing!"

He then shook his head. "But no I do not require more of your healing, save it for those who require it more than I. Indeed, I have not felt so good in years child, your aid was magnificent, and is partly why I am well enough to move away from my current domicile."

"Harry Potter, of House Potter be known to Master Dutugamunu Kandula, Rune and Ward Master," Yasaka said proudly, gesturing to the elephant Youkai with one hand, and ruffling Asia's brown and blond locks with the other.

As she did, Master Kandula bowed his head along with the kappas, while everyone else there bowed towards her. This was unusual for the laid-back Youkais, but it was a sign of the deep respect that they held for Yasaka. And it was not just because of her position. The Association after all was just that: a collection of a lot of disparate groups that all too often were too different to really get along. Indeed to call the Youkai which made up the Association freewheeling, rambunctious and often violently opposed to one another was to put it mildly. Yasaka's leadership rested more on her own strength of personality and willpower more than most kings or noble-born ever did.

Yasaka turned toward her, winking as if she understood what Rias was thinking at that moment, before she went on speaking to Harry. "This old irascible fool has asked to move into Kuoh, and despite his importance to the Association as a Rune Master, I've decided to allow this. Primarily, because he basically told me that he would be moving regardless of my own wishes on the matter, but that's neither here nor there," she ended teasingly.

"Your wards were fascinating to feel when we were there for the funeral, and yet there is room for improvement I think," the Rune Master said bluntly. "I'd have to look at the schemes to be certain, but I think you missed a few tricks, or a few tricks could be added. With runes as you should know it is a very thin line. And frankly, while rank amateurs like yourself and those young Devil girls may have gotten lucky, there's nothing that can overcome trial and error of a master.

While Rias scowled, Harry kept a lid on his temper, trusting that Kala, Tsubaki and himself would be able to prove their bonafides to this old arse. "We're always willing to learn," Harry said with a smile. "I think that in point of fact sort of should be our motto going forward."

The old elephant nodded, smiling at that response. "Good, because I am almost certain, that I could make those wards even stronger…" he paused then, looking as if he was sucking on a lemon. "…Not any more responsive. That aspect, I'm not certain even I could pull off." He went on more brusquely, moving past that admission quickly. "But I think strength certainly. We'll be working on an entirely new extended schema I think, but again I'd want to look at the information first. Rituals and runes are tricky to mix, but if you do it right you can create magnificent effects. And if you are able to bring in more magical styles the effects can become greater every time.

Harry simply nodded his head, deciding it was time to lay down the law a bit. "We'll work with you but don't think that just because you are a Rune Master that we will give you carte blanche to change anything we want. Those runes and those arrays were created over a period of months and then changed again later on, after we worked out what worked, what had to be added, and what we had to change to make them better. Your input is one thing, your demands to command or simply order us about another. We are not amatuers whatever you might think."

The Rune Master's eyes narrowed, but he slowly nodded. "Very well, indeed, I will work with you and these others Harry Potter. So long as none of you are complete incompetents or nitwits, as far too many of my students have proven to be over the centuries."

"Centuries?" Harry queried.

Yasaka coughed delicately. "Dutugamunu has chased off seven of his students over the time I've known him, including his own son. Most Youkai tend to live a lot longer than humans do, but Kitsune and elephant Youkai are among the most long-lived. _And thank you Harry for not asking me my own age,_ she thought. The fact she was actually more than two hundred years old was something she had hinted at occasionally, but Harry had never evinced any interest in asking her age or anything similar, and she was more than happy to leave it at that.

"I was young when the British came, and pushed us out of our ancient territories in India. Their non-magical kind treated our non-magicals as if they were second-class, as if they were beasts rather than men, so too did the magicals hunt many of us for parts for their cursed wands and wizard staffs. I remember when that slowly faded, when they finally started to realize that we too were sentient and tried to give us back what they had taken in the first place, as if they were doing us a favor! I remember leaving, I remember the wars, both world wars in the magical and nonmagical worlds," the elephant Youkai currently wearing a human form said with a shrug.

He then looked at Harry and Rias shrewdly. "I remember much, but in all that time Harry Potter, do you know what I do not remember, what I have never seen?" He flicked a large finger towards Yasaka, and then Rias, then Harry and finally bestowed a smile on Asia. "I have never seen magical societies willing to learn from one another without conquest, without violence. Your school will have long-reaching consequences, far more I think than even you realize. You will force magic to evolve, as young Asia's amazing gift has already. That is what I want Harry Potter. That is what I wish to be a part of. I will deal with all but the most inane imbeciles to be a part of that."

"I know," Harry said simply, looking over at a beaming Yasaka and feeling Rias silently take his hand in hers. "I intended it to have long-reaching consequences. I know that the Onmyouji keep up with science and technology, but to say it bluntly, eventually, science and technology are going to find the various magical societies. I know for a fact that they have already discovered what my people call the Wizarding World. And it's only a matter of time before they discover the other societies in some fashion."

"And in many ways technology has already surpassed magic. After all, it wasn't magic that put people on the moon, but science," Rias said. The two of them had talked about this before and both wanted to see magic push its 'known boundaries'. "It is science which has pushed past the boundaries of the upper atmosphere, not magic. And in many ways, the clothes we wear, the fashions we follow, all of that comes from the non-magical world. If we're not willing to admit that, if we're not willing to see that magic needs to change, and our societies with it, we are in danger of being left behind."

"I refuse for magic to be left behind," Harry said simply squeezing Rias's hand in his. "I want magic to grow, and to do that, we need to continue to learn from one another, not fight amongst ourselves."

Master Kandula smiled at that, nodding his head. "In that case Harry Potter, you have your first teacher here," he said, thumping his chest with a massive hand that looked as if it could crush a normal man's head. "But with that attitude, I doubt I'll be the last."

"In that case," Harry said with a smile. "I welcome you all to Kuoh, and I hope you enjoy your lives there."

 **OOOOOOO**

If anyone from Kuoh Academy had asked Harry and the others what they spent the most time on in February, that individual would have been astonished that it would not be schoolwork. Indeed, schoolwork, as opposed to being at school, was barely in their top five of time-consuming activities.

Training was number two, taking up three hours every day during the week and seven hours every Sunday, when Sirzechs or Serafall would stop in to help train them. For Kiba, Mittelt, Loup and most of Sona's peerage it was even worse, since once they were done with individual training, they would head to Kyoto to fight Youkai there under Yasaka's instructions or with Tonks and Master Husukai with the Shinsengumi who had moved into Kuoh and those Youkai who also wanted to fight for their new homes.

Beyond that of course, Harry, Rias and Sona integrated the newcomers into the magical wards, made rules for their local community and generally speaking made these newcomers feel welcomed and part of the community. Nor were they the only newcomers to be so integrated, because as February began and Dutugamunu and his fellows started work on examining the runic arrays, Harry was pulled from overseeing this activity to meet Gasper, the last member of Rias's peerage.

Lily, Koneko and Kunou raced ahead of Harry, Rias and Mittelt down the long corridor. "Is this all really necessary?" Mittelt asked, as she looked around. "I'd heard about how powerful your last bishop is, but this seems a bit much."

"It depends, how powerful do you think the ability to stop, restart and slow time is?" Rias asked tartly. She sighed, shaking her head as she stared ahead of them. "I wish I could have done a better job of trying to integrate him, of trying to teach them how to control his powers, but at the time, I was only ten, and my own power wasn't enough to help stabilize his. Now that's no longer the case thankfully."

Smiling faintly Harry put an arm around Rias's shoulders, squeezing gently. "Well, you're reaching out to him now, that's all that really matters. And it isn't as if he was totally cut off from human contact. Those games he likes to play with Koneko and the others, the online discussions and so forth will have gotten him used to speaking and communicating with others at least."

"Maybe, but I'm afraid letting him remain a shut-in as I have will have also reinforced his eccentricities," Rias replied with a sigh.

Eccentricities?" Mittelt asked.

"You'll see. In fact that's why I wanted you with us Mittelt. We might need your expertise with clothing here."

"Now you've got my attention," Mittelt said with a grin.

Harry blinked as they came to a doorway, which was covered from one side to another with Ankhsera script. "All right, this is a little much isn't it?"

"Harry, your people created stopwatches that could rewind time. Your idea of what that actually means is grossly out of sync with the rest of the world," Rias said mock-sweetly as they joined the kids in front of the door.

As they did, Koneko was speaking through the door to someone on the other side. "Come on, you've met them both before."

"Y, yes," said a tremulous voice from the other side. It was a young voice, that was for certain, although just by hearing it, Harry felt he would have been hard-pressed to say what gender the speaker was. But despite sounding so fearful, Gasper was able to at least speak in complete sentences and not stutter over much. "But that wasn't in person! That was through games, where I could stay in my box, and they could stay where they are, and we wouldn't see each other for real! But this will be in person. In person is scary! I like being alone, I like my boxes, I like the dark."

"But you don't really," Koneko said shaking her head. "If you did, you wouldn't always like to play those RPG games where you're exploring the world. You wouldn't always choose a bard or a warrior who can get along with everyone."

"But those are games! They're not real."

"You're right. But real is better," Koneko replied. "You can't get hugs in games."

"Sure you can! There are games which have romance in them; they're great for that kind of thing."

"I don't think that I want you to talk about those kinds of games in front my daughters all right? Harry said, interrupting the back and forth as he rested a hand on Koneko's head, rubbing at her scalp and ears. "Even if Koneko seems to know about them already," He said, looking down at the cat girl with a suddenly gimlet glare.

She shook her head, although not enough to dislodge his hand. "Those are romance games, not erotic games. There's a difference."

Harry's eyebrows rose but he nodded. "Hmm, well, I still would like veto power on any such game that you were let Lily and Kunou around. Asia can decide on her own though." _And maybe she'll be able to experience dating without actually experiencing it. That would be fantastic to my mind._

As Harry had been talking, Rias had been running her finger along the runic array in specific spots, deactivating it as she went. Now, the wards fell around this room, and she pushed the door open. "Hello, Gasper?"

There was a shuffling from the dark, and a squeaky voice wailed, "Rias-sama?! No, I'm not ready, this isn't… I'm not ready for this!"

"If we all waited to be ready for something, we would miss out on a large portion of our lives," Rias replied stepping into the darkness beyond, one arm moving to the side of the doorway. She found a light switch and a second later lights came on. They were dim, set into each corner, and only giving about as much light as you would find under a bridge on a cloudy day, but it was more than enough to see the extremely plain room by, and more than enough for the so-called vampire they were here to squeal, and bolt towards another doorway on the far side.

Koneko raced to block him, saying "None of that Gasper!" But then Harry felt something happen, and suddenly the door was slamming shut, and Koneko was still only halfway to it.

"That was interesting," Harry said with a nod. "His time freeze I believe?"

"Yes," Rias said with a sigh. "Now you see how dangerous his ability can be." With that, Rias moved up to the other door, knocked on it and said in as kindly a voice as she could, "Gasper you don't have to be afraid, we're here to meet you in person. You don't have to come outside today if you don't want to, but I want to formally introduce you to Harry, and I think Lily and Kunou want to meet their gamer playmate."

Lily took this opportunity to march up to the door and push it open without even pausing, causing Rias to nearly lose her balance as she had been leaning against it. "Hello!" Lily shouted in a loud voice. There was a squeal and the sound of running from inside as Lily went on, with Kunou joining her. "Ooh wow you're fast, but I like the dress. The box though is a little weird."

"I know it you see I can't get along with people, I like being inside my box!" Gasper shouted.

But Lily went on overriding his shout as if he hadn't said anything. "I like to see the face of the person I'm talking to."

"No!" the box shouted as Harry looked inside.

Crouching down in a corner was a small cardboard box, which was currently shivering. What little of him could be seen seemed to be wearing a dress or robe, Harry wasn't certain witch. Kunou and Lily were kneeling in front of him, with Kunou feeling the ham of his dress.

Koneko moved forward, reaching over the two's shorter girls, putting her hands to either side of the box and pulling it away quickly. "That's enough of Mister Box; we want to talk to Mister Gasper."

"Gah!" Gasper flinched, his pinkish eyes widening.

But before she could do anything, Lily was in her his face, staring brightly. "Wow, you really are pretty for a boy!"

Kunou started to poke his cheek with her fingers, and then took both her hands and began to pull on his cheeks. "For some reason, that makes me a little annoyed."

Mittelt too leaned over the two shorter girls, whistling. Gasper was a very slight, thin youth with a completely androgynous body. _Holy crap, he really does look like a girl. Heck, take away the hair Lily would look more like a boy than him._ He had platinum blond hair and pinkish-violet eyes. His hair was styled in short bob cut with several small fringes over his forehead, which did nothing to help with making him look like a boy. _Of course, if he had an issue with that he shouldn't be dressed in a dress. Especially not a frilly little number like that._ "Who did your tailoring? That looks pretty decent, but it's obviously a little too big on you."

"Stop!" Gasper groaned. "People are scary!"

"Scary," Lily said "How can you be scared of Kunou! She's not a foxy monster, she's a hug monster."

"You say that is if you're not one," Kunou said with a laugh, pushing her best friend in the shoulder.

Lily giggled too, and then reached forward, and wrapped her slim-looking arms around Gasper. Before the taller boy could protest, she was standing up, and lifting him up onto his feet. He blinked at that, looking down at her. Seeing that Lily pouted. "I've told you I'm a werewolf. Didn't you believe me?"

"W, well seeing and hearing are two different things," the boy mumbled, looking away and poking his fingers together.

"Gasper, we've come with more food for you, and we want you to join us outside for the day. You don't have to if you're not feeling up to it, but that just means will be back tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that. Every day after school we'll be down here," Rias said, not unkindly but still somewhat sternly. "Because I was so weak at the time, we couldn't handle the power of your Sacred Gear. Now I am stronger, and I know how to train you to be in control of your powers."

She moved forward and as Lily set Gasper o the futon in the center of the room, she sat down next to the extremely girly looking boy, putting an arm around him and drawing him into a hug. He stiffened at the contact, and then sort of melted against it, sighing and mumbling against her chest.

Lily nodded. "Yep, Rias gives good hugs!" Even Kunou nodded at that one, although she personally of course felt her mother made gave better ones. She wasn't going to have that argument with Lily again though. It was pointless.

"I realize you need to be alone sometimes but hiding you away like this is just not the best way forward for either of us. If you want to have a quiet room to yourself in the boy's apartment, or even if you want to continue to live down here, that's fine, although we will renovate the place. But we need to train you to get a better handle on your powers, and you need to start getting used to being around other people again."

"Wow, that was impressive," Kunou whispered. Lily nodded too, staring at Rias. She hadn't seen the stern mother type from Rias often, but it was actually kind of scary how well she did it.

Harry nodded, reaching out to shake Gasper's hand. "Hello Gasper, I'm Harry, Rias's husband. Tell me, do you like the box because it blocks people from seeing you, or because you can hide yourself in it?"

"U, um, he, hello Potter-sama," Gasper replied, the hug calming him down enough to actually speak to these strangers somewhat. Besides, considering that Rias was holding onto his arms, that looked to be an impossibility anyway. The question made him think for a second too. "Umm, I think I like it more because it blocks people from seeing me. I mean, well, you know, a lot of people have problems with boys who like wearing dresses, and it makes things easier if I if people don't see me. I don't have to talk to them, or take part in anything."

"True, but as Rias just said you sometimes need to be able to interact with other people. However, I think between us," he said gesturing to Rias and himself "We could probably figure out a way to hide your features magically."

"But my box, Gasper said looking down at it forlornly. "I like my box."

"You'll like this too." Rias said squeezing him very lightly as she nuzzled into the top of his head.

"What I want to know is why the heck you're wearing a dress that looks like you took it from the Middle Ages? Is there some poor peasant waif back then missing her dress?" Mittelt said with an eyeroll. "I bet I could whip something up that looks better than that in five minutes."

"Prove it. Make a school uniform or something he can be seen in outside," Koneko said, moving to join her King in hugging Gasper. As she went, she pulled Lily and Kunou with her, smiling more openly than Gasper had ever seen. "Gasper, this is Lily and Kunou, my little sisters. Want to go to the sweet shop? Sweets make everything good."

 **OOOOOOO**

Yet integrating Gasper was relatively straightforward: Harry and Rias delegated the job to Koneko, Asia, the kids, and, surprisingly, Issei. After trying to flirt with Gasper once and turning to stone upon realizing Gasper was a guy, Issei made it his life's work to "man him the bleep up! It's bad enough he's disturbingly cute, he can't just go around dressed like that and acting so girly! There will be more casualties like me if that happens, and as a pervert myself I can't allow that!"

But for Harry, Akeno, Tsubaki, Rias, Sona, and the others, there was something else that took up far more of their time even than training: adding more strength to the wards. With the Khaos Brigade being backed by Ophis, they knew there might come a time when their home was attacked by a force even more dangerous than the legion, and they refused to let their greatest tactical asset rest as it was, it had to be made better. And with Dutugamunu and his fellows, they had the minds to do it. Every day they spend hours in discussion on this point, pouring over the existing wards, studying every type of runic schemata they knew about, trying to figure out what they wanted to do, and how they wanted to do it.

And finally, near the end of February, indeed, two days before the end of it, which would be marked by Akeno's singing audition, their research bore fruit in a series of new runic arrays that could be conjoined to the existing ward pillars. Accompanying those was an entirely new, divinely powered ritual designed by Suzaku, Dutugamunu and Harry to move them deep within the earth when they were done.

Harry smiled as he looked at Kala, Tiamat, Dutugamunu and Asia, who was carrying a crystal filled to the brim with Lily and Kunou's magical powers. Walking the two little girls through how to fill it up had been a good exercise for them both and Harry had been impressed by how much basic magical power his daughter had.

The dragon-turned-woman was grumbling irritably, but seemed to only do it half-heartedly, looking around in interest. Harry was currently standing on the same pillar point that he had enchanted when they had moved the wards underground. Now, blocks of heavy granite were set up around him, ready to accept the runes that they would be creating soon.

Elsewhere, other groups were also waiting to begin their part of perhaps the largest ritual that had been attempted in the last forty years. Sans Tsubaki and Saji, Sona was with her peerage waiting on the roof of the now bought out adult toy store along with one of the runic apprentices.

Indeed, each of the pillar points was Dutugamunu or one of his four students. Harry had been introduced to each of them with the words, "They're not entirely incompetent, but they're not exactly brilliant either, a disappointment in many ways, but one works with what one has." The looks of long-suffering on the faces of the four students told Harry everything he needed to know about how high a standard Master Kandula had, but considering that they were playing with wards Harry wanted to have protect his family, he was fine with Dutugamunu being a perfectionist.

Two of Dutugamunu's apprentices had confided to Harry that they had actually even taken their examinations in the Onmyouji style, but they kept on coming back to their master, because there was always so much more to learn. He wasn't just a highly experienced runic master; he was something of a savant, always figuring out new and interesting ways to shift their understanding.

The apprentice with Rias had taken the position of Tonks, waiting with her peerage minus Akeno. Though in her case Rias also had a crystal in which Yasaka had injected her power. With Rias talking her through the process, she had filled a few crystals with her magic, as had Yubelluna, and those crystals had been given to Harry and Rias to use as part of the ritual they were going to be creating here.

It was the two queens who held the majority of those however, as well as having the majority of the people who had moved into the territory since the battle of Kuoh. Akeno had Tonks with her along with crystals for Yubelluna and Teddy. With Master Kandula's apprentice, a young Cow Youkai named Mikasa, she had been joined by her aunt Suzaku and one of the two kitsune who had moved into Kuoh.

Tsubaki and Saji were also ready. They were joined by Loup, Master Husukai, who had been one of the last Onmyouji to move into the area, another apprentice, another Shinsengumi, and a crystal Kala had put her own power in. In this manner, with her power entering the ritual from three points, she would be able to simulate three different Fallen being part of the ritual, with Mittelt being the third. This would add in Fallen style magic into the ritual which would then transpose itself into the wards, despite the fact both used the same runic language. Three was a magical number, as everyone knew.

It'd taken more than a month and a half to work out the arithmancy and the arrays to enlarge the power of the wards around Kuoh without damaging the ones they had already put up, but the Khaos Brigade had given them that month. Indeed, the world over, the Khaos Brigade had gone silent. According to reports passed to them by Sirzechs and the Gremory's own espionage efforts, the Khaos Brigade were concentrating on recruiting at this point, wanting to rebuild the numbers they had lost in the four months before this.

Harry tried to convince himself that was a good thing, with scant success. Everyone was waiting for the next shoe to drop. _But part of what we're doing here is to make certain that if the shoe does fall, it'll fall somewhere else, lest it get a foot full of spikes._

This ritual, which was an expanded ritual based off the first one during which they had created the wards in the first place, was based on the power of five by seven by seven squared or forty nine. Five pillars, but with six additional sources of strength added to the one original at each point. The five gave the ritual stability, as they were simply adding to what was already done. Harry and the other four pillars of the original wards retained those positions, acting as conduits for the fellows around them.

With the power of Yubelluna's bandrui powers mixed in, thirty nine more newcomers would join their power into the ritual from a centralized location along with the kids, whose powers had indeed been mixed into the ritual to sink the wards into the ground. Six more would be acting as an orchestra and singers to go with Yubelluna, while the rest would join the party. They wouldn't be adding all that much to the magical power of the ritual, but every little bit would multiply over itself, creating a more powerful effect and aiding Harry's magic to bind it all together.

 _My magic, but controlled by Yubelluna and her violin._

 **OOOOOOO**

Yubelluna smiled around at the Youkais and Onmyouji who had agreed to join this impromptu band with her. Several of them had proven to be quite adept but it had still taken several weeks for them to start to play together as one band. But now, was time to put on a show.

Dutugamunu, Tsubaki, Harry and the other researchers had determined that the best way to make certain that Harry's powers read spread evenly was to not just use the same wireless speaker setup as before but also to have Yubelluna and her band play in the direct center of the pentagram that the five pillars had created. Luckily, there was a park near that point that could be used, it was small; more of a football field and playground than anything else, but it would have to do.

The musicians had garnered some looks of interest when they started to show up, and that interest had quickly risen as they set up for their impromptu concert and more of the newcomers arrived. Lily and Teddy led most of the Youkai and Onmyouji kids out into the playing field, where they'd started to play soccer at first, then drifted back over to the band when they began to tune-up.

"Are we ready yet?" Kunou asked excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She hadn't joined the football game, preferring to stay by Yubelluna, trying to draw her face as the purple-haired woman tuned her violin.

Yubelluna winked at her, her bowstring raised, and pointing at Kunou. "I should be asking you that question, since you're going to be leading the dance."

The little fox girl blushed, but as Yubelluna began to play the song 'Fox Hunter' began.

Kunou look giggled having been told about the name of the song, as she began to lead the other kids into an impromptu dance that was more twisting, twirling and pouncing than an actual dance. But she did at do a few pirouettes in midair, so perhaps it could be called a kind of ballet?

 _Heh, mosh ballet dancing,_ Yubelluna thought, smiling at this as she continued to play, high striding around the small open area in front of the band, slowly getting lost in the music.

Nearby, one of the cat faced Youkais whispered into a phone. "We've started, get ready everyone."

 **OOOOOOO**

With a nod, Harry began to reach out for his magic and felt the tug from Yubelluna almost instantly. _It's_ true then that having her in a more central position is going to help even more than having the speakers carry the music, he reflected, as he raised his hands and began to move them in such a way as if he was carving out runic arrays in the air reaching down into the ground to the ward pillars, finding a few glowing runes there and pulling a strands of magic loose to be connected into the new magic being woven in the air above them.

At first, this ritual went pretty much the same as the others, Harry felt the tug from Yubelluna, asking him for his power, and then both of them felt the other power out there. Prepared for it, all of them reached for it more quickly now, as the magic of the music reverberated around the five pillars from the speakers.

Elsewhere Rias and the others also felt it, the call of the magic in the music coming through stronger, louder, joining their own parts of the ritual. The wound around each pillar then into the array, slowly opening doorways between the wards that were already there, and the magic of the new spells and wards that were going to be added in by the six people around them.

The crystals were the first to be used, each at the same time. Harry could barely concentrate enough to see Asia raising her hands containing Lily and Kunou's magical power. With a brief shout, Harry's most self-effacing daughter thrust the crystals up above her head and they began to glow, the magic within slowly siphoning into the existing enchantment.

Soon Harry could actually see the magic around him as the fog he had noticed in the first musically accompanied ritual spread out, wild with potential. Each kind of magical scheme was a different color as it joined with the fog. Yellow for the Onmyouji, the fog white for his own demigod powers, black for the Devils, red for the Fallen, purple for the demonic magic from Tiamat and then, he watched as blue was added in from the local Youkai, orange from the Onmyouji, and then green was coming from Master Kandula and his fellows where they stood on Hindu-style runic arrays, adding their own powers.

There had only been three colors before, despite the fact that there were five pillars, since Kala and Mittelt hadn't been part of that ritual, instead only helping out with Yubelluna's part of it. But now, both Fallen were involved. Indeed in the case of Kala, Harry could feel her nearby, working on her own portions of the runic arrays. He could even picture her in his mind, kneeling down as she worked on them, her fingers glowing with red magic, her tongue stuck out of the side of her mouth as she concentrated. But as the ritual continued the impact of the enchantment slowly started to change even more, especially when the Hindu magic in the wards began to merge with the other magics.

Master Kandula hadn't told Harry where some of those runes had come from, but they were actually religious in purpose. They literally called upon a God for protection, as Yubelluna was doing with her music toward Harry. As with any such prayer, they could be replied to. And one Hindu God actually decided to do so at this time.

Harry felt it as another power source reached through those runes towards him, a consciousness. It brought to mind his battle with the will that had empowered the skeletons, an aura that blanketed out his own magic. He was gathering his will to fight it off in a millisecond, fearing what would happen to the wards and everyone in the ritual if he didn't, but a voice intoned in his head, flowing up his own magic into Harry's mind. " _Wowa, dude, look at the colors!"_

 _"…What?"_ Harry thought, all his worries suddenly disappearing into confusion _. "Just what?"_ If he had to put a face to that voice, he would've put the someone who had just partaken in marijuana or some other equally mind altering substance. Not a god. Certainly not a god like the one he'd sensed behind the skeletons in the warehouse.

 _"Dude, the colors are amazing man, I've never even seen that color. Oh, Japanese wizards, huh? That's cool. But whaddarya doing dude, wha's the purpose of all this?_

"…We're trying to raise power in order to strengthen the wards of our home territory," Harry said slowly, wondering what the heck was going on here, and if he should kick Master Kandula in the head a few times for doing this to him _. What the hell did he do?! He never mentioned anything about those freaking runes being alive, or whatever this is. Could this really be a god? A god of hashheads?_

 _"Oh don't think it's all Kandula's fault dude, you told him you are a demigod, he just didn't think that'd matter to us. But it seriously does with the way the world's get going all wig-shaped,"_ the voice replied, still sounding upbeat and optimistic in an artist just taken a pull from a bong kind of way.

 _"Wig shaped,"_ Harry drawled, getting his mental feet under him at last. _"Really?"_

 _"Really dude! Everything's getting' all screwed up, the fabric of the universe becoming like a ball of yarn after the kittens have been after it. Cute little critters thought. Old religions coming back, new faiths being questioned, and magic seeping into the world from elsewhere to. And all it's just because that big bromander Yahweh is dead and this Void Dragon's in the world now. It's enough to harsh my buzz man."_

 _"Ahh. with his power, the god the Jews, Muslims and Catholics kept a lid on all that?"_

 _"More like a cork in a bottle but yeah. And now all the magic within the bottle is like reacting like crazy thanks to different people inside rattling around. Magical progress goes fwooosh!"_

Harry nodded internally. While the wording was…colorful, the voice was talking some sense. Harry had figured out much of that already going from his discussions with Rias and the others based on what that Death God had hinted at and what they had sensed. _"And does that mean that you wish to partake of this ritual?"_

 _"No man no, just wanted to know reach out and touch someone. I won't even add my power into the arrays if you don't want."_

 _"Can you do so without actually being here, or without leaving a hole that someone else from your pantheon could use to get in?"_ Harry asked quickly. Having a God, no matter how much hophead he seemed to be, take part of the ritual would be great, adding an entirely greater level of power to them.

For a moment the god fell silent, and then it replied, its voice sounded a little more sober now. _"Nah. I'll just give the okay for some of my power to be used through Dutugamunu and his followers. Although, you'll have to tell them for me, that his son Moji wants to see him, and he's a dick for not contacting him for twenty years._

 _"Harsh, did they have an argument or something?"_ Harry said, his own thoughts derailed by the idea of not seeing one of his children for twenty years.

 _"Nah, he's just forgetful like that, he just sort of forgot about his son."_

 _"Right, adding that to my list of things to smack them upside the head for,"_ Harry said.

 _"Righteous thought man. So I'll just let you go now, and you go do that voodoo, that you do so well!_

With that the mind at other end of that strand of power receded, but not without leaving quite a bit of power behind to be used echoing in Harry's head. _"The names Shiva baby, and remember Magic Man, the colors, the colors don't lie!"_

 **End Chapter**

* * *

One of my patrons pointed out that Shiva isn't just the god of destruction but of Creation, the arts, preservation and a lot more, but that his personality was more stoner artist type than vengeful destroyer. I wish I could find the specific comment Wesley made, but the search function on patty on sucks ball sacks and I, stupidly, didn't save it to my computer. In any event, I was looking for a god who could at least be friendly towards Harry and co. and I decided to run with it since it amused me greatly. As does what I have planned for him.


End file.
